Cathedral of the Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky) Informations

The Cathedral of the Assumption is a cathedral and mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. Joseph Kurtz, D.D., the fourth Archbishop of Louisville, is in residence at the Cathedral. Michael T. Wimsatt, S.T.D., serves as administrator.

In 1811, a small group of Catholics in Louisville formed Saint Louis Church at 10th and Main Streets. Previously, Father Stephen Theodore Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States, called the "circuit rider priest," had served the Louisville area, along with much of the American frontier.

In September 1821, Father Philip Hosten became the first residential pastor of Saint Louis Church. Fr. Hosten died one year later during an outbreak of yellow fever in the city. By 1830, a larger Saint Louis Church was built five blocks south of the Ohio River on Fifth Street. The Cathedral of the Assumption stands on that site to this day.

The Diocese of Bardstown, the first inland diocese in the United States, was established in 1808, with Benedict Joseph Flaget as the first Bishop of Bardstown. The diocese included most of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

In 1841, the diocese was moved from Bardstown to Louisville, and Saint Louis Church became Saint Louis Cathedral. Bishop Flaget, now the Bishop of Louisville, decided in 1849 that a new cathedral should be built. However, Bishop Flaget died on February 11, 1850, a few months after the laying of the cornerstone for the new church building. His remains rest today in a chapel in the Cathedral Undercroft.

The project begun by Bishop Flaget was completed by Bishop Martin John Spalding, the second Bishop of Louisville. On October 3, 1852, the new Cathedral was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Cathedral of the Assumption. The new Cathedral was almost an identical but larger replica of its predecessor, St. Louis Church. The new Cathedral was built around St. Louis Church which, when the cathedral was completed, was disassembled and carried piece by piece out the front doors.

The Diocese of Louisville was elevated in 1937 to become the Archdiocese of Louisville and the metropolitan province for all the dioceses in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The newly built Cathedral of the Assumption was nearly destroyed soon after its building due to anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant bigotry in the city of Louisville. On Monday, August 6, 1856, George D. Prentice, editor of the Louisville Journal, placed an article of his own opinion in the paper that speculated the possibility of takeover by immigrants: German and Irish. This also included accusations of vote tampering. Fearing for their safety, the "Know Nothing Party" of Nativists bombarded and ambushed local immigrant workers with ammunition, in total killing 22 German and Irish immigrants across the city. Also, the Cathedral and the newly built St. Martin of Tours (completed in 1854) were believed to house weaponry in their basements. They were threatened to be burned, but the mayor of the city at the time, John Barbee, himself a "Know-Nothing," inspected the churches and cleared them of such accusations.

With the 1982 arrival of the Most Reverend Thomas C. Kelly, the third Archbishop of Louisville, the Cathedral of the Assumption began anew as an archdiocesan center, under the pastoral direction of the Archbishop and the William L. Fichteman, the current Rector of the Cathedral.

In 1985, the establishment of the Center for Interfaith Relations (formerly the Cathedral Heritage Foundation) began a push for renovation of existing facilities, expansion of the Cathedral complex, and revitalization of the Cathedral's mission to the broader community as a spiritual center in Louisville. Together, the Cathedral Parish and the Cathedral Heritage Foundation have brought the Cathedral into the new millennium.

Renovation began in 1988 with the removal of sections of the Cathedral spire, along with the finial and cross. The year 1989 saw a comprehensive restoration plan adopted. In June 1991, after one hundred years of disuse, the completely restored Cathedral undercroft was reopened. Finally, in February 1993, renovation on the main Cathedral space began and continued for nearly two years. The grand reopening of the Cathedral was celebrated in 1994, with a completely renovated Cathedral space.

In May 1994, Archbishop Kelly moved into the Cathedral rectory, making him the first bishop to live in Downtown Louisville in one hundred twenty years. In June 1998, the Cathedral spire and bell tower were completely renovated.

In May 2005, the first phase of renovations began on the Cathedral School building, which now houses the Cathedral Parish office. Phase one renovations will provide more space for the parish offices while phase two will provide renovated, state-of-the-art practice space for the Cathedrals renowned choirs.

The Cathedral complex now houses the main Cathedral building, with a Eucharistic chapel to the rear, as well as the Cathedral undercroft and St. Louis Hall, the Sandefur Dining Room for the homeless, the Patterson Education Center, the Cathedral school building (housing the parish offices), and the rectory, providing housing for the Archbishop and other Cathedral staff.

During the renovation of the Cathedral by the Conrad Schmitt Studios, the walls were faux finished to resemble stone blocks. The effect is convincing enough that many visitors to the Cathedral are astonished to learn that the walls are not actual stone. In addition, much of the architectural work around the Coronation Window is a faux finish.

The stained glass that formerly stood in the side windows was removed to allow the congregation to view the surrounding buildings, in order to facilitate a sense of attachment to the community. The panels are now displayed in the front windows of the Cathedral's Patterson Education Center.

The nave, the body of the church, accommodates nine hundred sixty-six people for daily Masses and other ceremonies. The nave has no pews, utilizing individual, movable chairs, complete with kneelers. Usually arranged in straight rows facing the altar and allowing for a center aisle and two side aisles, the chairs may also be placed in rows the length of the church, facing each other across the center aisle for special services such as those of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. It may also be noted that during the renovations by Conrad-Schmitt, the entire building was cracked down the middle and deeply in danger of collapse. To resolve this, steel strand beams were mounted from wall to wall in the nave to provide a counter push and pull action, keeping the building from falling in or out.

The baptistry holds a prominent position in the church because through it one gains entrance into the Church. A person being baptized may choose either immersion in the pool or infusion, pouring of water from the font. The old baptismal font was relocated to the rear of the nave, immediately inside the entrance doors, and an immersion pool, crafted of red granite, bronze, and marble from the original Communion rail, was added in the last renovation.

The altar, the center of worship in the church, incorporates a base of gray marble and a red granite table like the granite of the Baptismal pool. The gray marble was taken from the original high altar, which was removed from the back of the sanctuary in the renovation following Vatican II.

The brass Lamb of God, in Latin Agnus Dei, is a symbol of Jesus, the Paschal sacrifice offered on this altar. The gray marble base of the altar has carved on the right side an open book and several keys, on the left a bishop's mitre and crozier. The book represents God's word found in the Holy Scripture, the foundation of the bishop's teaching. The keys remind us of Christ's words to Peter, "I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 16:19). The shape of the crozier recalls its origin as a shepherd's crook, or staff, suggesting the bishop's pastoral role, "Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep" (John 21:15–17).

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