The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, located in Charleston, South Carolina. Designed by Brooklyn architect Patrick Keely in the Gothic Revival style, it opened in 1907. The Most Reverend Jacques E. Fabre, the fourteenth Bishop of Charleston, was ordained and installed on May 13, 2022

History

The first brownstone cathedral was built in 1854 and named the Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar. It burned in a great fire in December 1861. The rebuilt cathedral was named for St. John the Baptist and was constructed on the foundations of the earlier structure. Architect Patrick Keely designed both the original cathedral and its replacement. The cornerstone was laid in 1890 by James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, and the church opened in 1907. The cathedral seats 720 people and is noted for its Franz Mayer & Co. stained glass, hand–painted Stations of the Cross, and neo-Gothic architecture. The lower church includes a crypt where Bishop England (with his sister, Joanna) and four other Charleston bishops are buried. The spire was not built at the time due to the lack of funds during the construction of the cathedral and its numerous renovations. The church was finally completed on March 25, 2010, with the addition of the steeple and bells. Significant to the history of the city of Charleston is that the present day cathedral also includes land to the right, which was St. Andrew's Hall. The front iron fence to the east, is all that remains of the 1815 St. Andrews Society Hall, which also burned in 1861.

Architecture

P.C. Keely designed the cathedral in the Gothic Revival style; it is constructed of Connecticut brownstone. The pews are of carved Flemish oak. The plans for the reconstruction were along the lines of the original, but D.C. Barbot made some changes too.

Chapels

Windows

The cathedral is noted for its Franz Mayer & Co. stained-glass windows. It has a couple of one-of-a-kind windows.

Organ

Renovations

In 2007, Bishop Robert J. Baker and Cathedral Rector Rev. Msgr. Joseph Roth announced plans to renovate and complete the cathedral nearly one-hundred years after it opened. The stained-glass windows were refurbished in December 2007. The brownstone has been refurbished, the mortar has been replaced and, after 103 years of waiting, a spire with three bells now tops the cathedral. A $6.2 million contract for restoration and the steeple addition was completed on March 25, 2010. In 2019, interior renovations were begun by Conrad Schmitt Studios.

Cathedral clergy

Bishops

Rectors of the cathedral

Associated Clergy Reverend Father Bonaventure Di Camilo, OFM Reverend Father George Landry Reverend Father James Parker Reverend Father Mark Smith Reverend Father Gary D. Dilley Reverend Mr Samuel E. Hanvey (1976 - ?) Reverend Father Gregory H West Reverend Father Duane T Riplog Reverend Father Ernest Kennedy Reverend Father Eugene L. Condon Reverend Father John Laurence Manning

Spire and bell tower

The cathedral with its new spire is the seventh tallest building in the city. The spire is covered in copper lattice and is topped with a 16x9 foot gilded copper Celtic cross. The arches below were fabricated from a special fiberglass used in ship building, which was then clad in copper. The arches are decorated by brown cast stone pinnacles on each corner. The belfry section is also constructed of brown cast stone. It has copper louvers. The new spire was designed by Glenn Keyes Architects using a sketch of the steeple from the original 1851 building.

Bells

The bells were placed in the cathedral tower on November 16, 2009. Together the three bronze bells form an E major chord. These bells were cast by Christoph Paccard Bell Foundries in France and blessed by Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone on October 15, 2009.

Music

Director of Music

Choirs