Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Philadelphia)

After being erected by the Vatican in 1808, the Diocese of Philadelphia used two different churches as cathedrals before building Saints Peter and Paul. • Saint Mary's Church was designated as the new diocese's first cathedral in 1810. • The need for a larger cathedral prompted the diocese to designate Saint John the Evangelist Church as its cathedral in 1838. However, it soon became inadequate due to the burgeoning Catholic population in the city. In June 1846, Bishop Francis Kenrick announced plans to construct a larger, new cathedral in Philadelphia. it was to be dedicated to Peter the Apostle and Paul the Apostle. A year earlier, the diocese had purchased a building at 18th and Race Streets for $37,200. The diocese tore down the old building and started construction on the cathedral that same year. The cornerstone of the cathedral was laid in December 1846 Kenrick wanted to avoid raising the debt of the diocese while building Saints Peter and Paul. He sold burial lots at Cathedral Cemetery and New Cathedral Cemetery, both in Philadelphia, to help fund it. The archdiocese added the Chapel of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament to the cathedral in 1955. The cathedral underwent another renovation in 1956, with the construction of a new apse. Saints Peter and Paul was designated a minor basilica in 1976 by Pope Paul VI. In 1979, Pope John Paul II celebrated a papal mass at the basilica. The tabernacle was moved to the main altar in 2007 Pope Francis celebrated a mass there in 2015. ==Building==

prior to the addition of the apse (1903) With its grand façade, vaulted dome, ornate main altar, eight side chapels and main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 worshippers, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally notable structures in the city of Philadelphia. The basilica was built in a Roman-Corinthian style of architecture, modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles (San Carlo al Corso) in Rome. On the basilica exterior, the Palladian façade and aqua oxidized-copper dome are in the Italian Renaissance manner The basilica interior features an oversized apse of stained glass and red antique marble in proportions reminiscent of Roman churches. A baldachin made of Italian marble covers the main altar. The three altars on each side aisle are designed in Italian Renaissance style. The Crypt of the Bishops is located in the basement of the basilica Architects and designers To begin the cathedral project, Kenrick in 1846 tasked Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore with drawing the initial plans for the structure. Kenrick hired the Philadelphia architect Napoleon LeBrun to run the project. LeBrun had previously built the Philadelphia Academy of Music. LeBrun used the Basilica of Sant' Ambrogio et Carlo al Corso, a Neo Classical style Italian Renaissance church in Rome, as his inspiration. Constantino Brumidi painted the ceiling mural in the dome, The Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven in 1868, and the round portraits of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John on its pendentives. Architect Henry D. Dagit renovated the cathedral interior in 1914, adding the apse behind the high altar. D'Ascenzo Studios executed the apse's stained glass windows and mosaic murals. ==Crypt of the bishops==

Opened in 1869, the crypt is located under the main altar of the basilica. Other notables The crypt also contains the remains of several cardinals, auxiliary bishops and priests with ties to the archdiocese. It is also the repository of Mother Katharine Drexel, a saint. • Francis Patrick O'Neill, priest and pastor of St. James Parish in Philadelphia, died in 1882 • Maurice Walsh, priest and apostolic administrator in Philadelphia, died in 1888 • James Corcoran, monsignor and professor at Saint Charles Seminary, died in 1889 • James J. Carroll, bishop of Diocese of Nueva Segovia, died in 1913 • Francis J. Clark, priest and rector of the basilica, died in 1918 • Katharine Drexel, saint and founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Founder. Died in 1955. Her remains were transferred to the basilica from St. Elizabeth's Convent in 2017. • Cletus Joseph Benjamin, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, died in 1961 • Gerald P. O'Hara, bishop and apostolic delegate to Great Britain, died in 1963 • Francis Brennan, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, sixth cardinal, died in 1968 • Gerald Vincent McDevitt, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, died in 1980 • John Patrick Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, seventh cardinal, died in 2011 • Martin Nicholas Lohmuller, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, died in 2017 ==See also==