Cathedral of Saint Mary (Austin, Texas)

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Saint Mary Cathedral
Cathedral of Saint Mary (Austin, Texas) is located in Texas
Cathedral of Saint Mary (Austin, Texas)
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Location 203 E. 10th St.
Austin, Texas
Country United States
Denomination Roman Catholic Church
Website www.smcaustin.org
History
Consecrated 20 April 1884[1]
Architecture
Architect(s) Nicholas J. Clayton
Style Gothic revival
Groundbreaking 1872[1]
Completed 1884
Specifications
Materials Limestone
Administration
Diocese Diocese of Austin
Clergy
Bishop(s) Most Rev. Joe S. Vásquez
Rector Rev. Albert Laforet
St. Mary's Cathedral
NRHP Reference # 73001981
Added to NRHP 2 April 1973[2]

Saint Mary's Cathedral is the cathedral parish of the Catholic Diocese of Austin located in Austin, Texas, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, as St. Mary's Cathedral.[2]

History

The origins of this church date back to the 1850s when the Catholic community in Austin (then the new state's temporary capital with a population of around 600) built a small stone church named St. Patrick on the corner of 9th and Brazos Streets. In 1866, the church was renamed Saint Mary, and the parish decided they needed a new church and could afford masonry construction. In 1872, after Austin was made the permanent capital of the state, the parish laid the cornerstone for a new church choosing a location one block north of the original building.

The parish had laid out a basilica-shaped foundation and begun raising the walls, which were 5 feet (1.5 m) high when the architect Nicholas J. Clayton began to design their new church. Eventually to become the foremost Victorian architect in Texas, Clayton had never designed a church, and Saint Mary's was his first independent commission. Born in Ireland in 1840, Clayton learned masonry and building design in Cincinnati, and came to Galveston in 1872 on behalf of his Ohio firm. At the time, Austin was part of the Archdiocese of Galveston, and it may have been through the Holy Cross fathers that the bishop connected Nicholas Clayton with the first Catholic parish in Austin. This church began Clayton's long, prolific career centered in Galveston, building primarily ecclesiastical structures but also commercial buildings and homes.

Originally, this parish belonged to the diocese of Galveston. When the new Diocese of Austin was formed in 1948, this became the cathedral of the newly formed diocese. At that time, the church was remodeled, many of its neo-Gothic decorations were removed, the neo-Gothic altars and altar rail were replaced with 20th-century marble and the baldachino with its cactus and bluebonnets, evocative of central Texas.

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1973.

Gallery

  • Saint Mary's Cathedral Austin Texas Altar.jpg

    St. Mary's altar

  • Saint Mary's Cathedral Austin Texas Front Entrance.jpg

    Front entrance to St. Mary's Cathedral

  • Saint Mary's Cathedral Austin Texas Nave.jpg

    The nave inside St. Mary's Cathedral

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "nris" defined multiple times with different content

External links

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