Founding The charter for the parish was granted on December 27, 1830, the feast of St. John the Evangelist, by the Bishop,
Francis P. Kenrick, to the Rev. John Hughes, although the location for the church was not chosen until the following year. The church finally was consecrated on Passion Sunday (April 8) in 1832. The interior of the church, at the time (it was since damaged twice by fire), included a fresco painted by Nicholas Monachesi, who became renowned as a local portrait painter and, in 1834, the United States premiere of
Mozart's
Requiem Mass was held at the church. It was later that year, on August 1, that the first fire on the block occurred.
Cathedral and Nativist Riots In 1838, the church was designated as Philadelphia's Proto-Cathedral and the bishop took up residence in the rectory. [The previous cathedral, from 1810 to 1838, was
Old St. Mary's Church at 4th and Locust Streets.] In 1844 the
Nativist Riots, in which several dozen people were killed, broke out. After two Catholic churches (St. Michael's and St. Augustine's) were destroyed, General
George Cadwalader placed cannon near the cathedral to protect it and the disturbances did not damage the church. In the 1850s, two future saints were connected with the parish;
Katherine Drexel received first communion and was confirmed at the parish while
John Neumann, Bishop Kenrick's replacement when he was named Archbishop of Baltimore, arrived to become bishop on March 30, 1852; as bishop he lived in the parish (then the cathedral) rectory. At this time (1855–1860), the Jesuit order took over administration of the parish when the pastor entered the Jesuit order. In 1864, the current cathedral, the
Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Logan Circle, was named the diocesan cathedral and St. John's again became an ordinary parish. During St. John's time as cathedral, Philadelphia had 170,000 Catholics.
Fire of 1899 In February, 1899, the church was burned in a fire which destroyed much of the block where it was located, and there was also damage to the rectory. Three firemen died when the building collapsed atop them and a fourth died later of pneumonia, contracted while battling the blaze in the February weather. A Mass to pray for them was held later that month in the Academy of Music, since the upper church was unusable. In recent years, an annual Mass for this purpose is held each year. Later in 1899, the parish school was moved out of the basement area of the church which was converted to a lower church for the celebration of the Sacraments while the main (upper church) was repaired. ==International ties==