The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the mother church

Mother Church

In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...

 of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

-External links:**...

 in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

. Located on West 6th Street, the cathedral is located in the Quaker Hill Historic District

Quaker Hill Historic District (Wilmington, Delaware)

The Quaker Hill Historic District in Wilmington, Delaware is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The 1979 listing covered 110 contributing buildings over . The listing was increased in 1985 to include 41 more contributing buildings over an...

.

Architectural history

The church was designed by Pierre Bauduy, who also designed Wilmington's town hall. The cornerstone was laid in 1816; the 30- by 40-foot (9.1- by 12-meter) Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 church was executed in brick and dedicated on September 12, 1818. The first Mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

 was said inside the structure the next day by Father Patrick Kenny. In 1829, a bell tower was installed and the church was extended to its current length of 60 feet (18.3 m).

Extensive remodeling was performed between 1870 and 1905—improvements included work on fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es, the addition of a marble baptistery

Baptistery

In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...

, three altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

s, a chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 railing, a barrel-domed roof, and the bishop's cathedra

Cathedra

A cathedra or bishop's throne is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...

. (The Diocese of Wilmington had been erected by Pope Pius IX in 1868.) The refurbishment was completed and the church was ready to be consecrated as the diocesan cathedral in 1905. When the apostolic pro-nuncio

Nuncio

Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...

 arrived, however, he noticed that the church was joined to a rectory

Rectory

A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...

 and a school—since a cathedral must be free-standing and debt free, he refused and it was designated a pro-cathedral

Pro-cathedral

A pro-cathedral is a parish church that is temporarily serving as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese.-Usage:In Ireland, the term is used to specifically refer to St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin since the Reformation, when Christ Church...

 instead. The necessary changes were gradually made, and the church was eventually designated the cathedral of the diocese.

The cathedral's Munich-style

Munich-style stained glass

Munich-style stained glass was produced in the Royal Bavarian Stained Glass Manufactory, Munich, in the mid-19th century.King Ludwig I of Bavaria planned for the first time in Continental Europe the revival of the art of stained glass and established in 1827 the “Königliche Glasmalereianstalt” /...

 stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 dates from about 1900, and was probably created by Franz Xavier Zettler, master glass painter to the Royal Court of Bavaria

King of Bavaria

King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished...

 from 1870 to 1910, or his pupil, Franz Mayer.

Further renovations were made in 1981 to repair structural damage, as well as to modify the sanctuary of the cathedral in accordance with the liturgical style in vogue after the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

. Flying buttress

Flying buttress

A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...

es were added to support the transept walls in 1991, and a steel substructure installed for the pillars and choir loft.

By 2007 other structural problems had become apparent. A plaster rosette came loose and fell from the ceiling into one of the pews, and earlier work designed to fortify the arches leading into the side chapels had left two eye-sores: metal poles which went from floor to ceiling, blocking the view of the tabernacle

Tabernacle

The Tabernacle , according to the Hebrew Torah/Old Testament, was the portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built to specifications revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, it accompanied the Israelites...

which had already been removed from a place of prominence in the cathedral (the cathedra had been put in the tabernacle's original place). Leaks in the roof were spotted and it became clear that major work was needed to maintain the building as a safe place in which to worship.

Thanks to a grant from the Catholic Diocese Foundation, the entire roof was replaced over the course of a nine-month period. The work was done in such a way that the cathedral was able to remain open for worship throughout the project.

With the assistance of the cathedral's rector, Father Joseph Cocucci, further renovations were undertaken. The bishop's cathedra was returned to its place on the side of the sanctuary, restoring the tabernacle to its original place of prominence. A shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary that was accessible to those with physical disabilities was created, and the baptismal font was moved to its proper place near the entrance to the church. In his concluding remarks at the first Mass celebrated once the repairs and renovations had been completed, on 22 November 2007 (Thanksgiving Day), Bishop Michael Saltarelli thanked Father Cocucci "for putting the Blessed Sacrament in His proper place and for putting the bishop in his proper place."{http://cathedralofstpeter.com/historyofthecathedral.html}

Rectors

The cathedral parish of Saint Peter has had sixteen rectors since its founding in 1804:

1. Rev. Patrick Kenny (1804–1840)
2. Rev. Patrick Reilly (1840–1850)
3. Rev. Jeremiah O'Donohoe (1851–1855)
4. Rev. Parick Prendergast (1855–1859)
5. Rev. Patrick O'Brien (1859–1867)
6. Rev. Matthew McGrane (1867–1868)
7. Most Rev. Thomas A. Becker (1868–1886)
8. Msgr. John Lyons (1887–1916)
9. Msgr. John J. Dougherty (1916–1948)
10. Msgr. Joseph Sweeney (1949–1968)
11. Rev. John P. McLaughlin (1968–1977)
12. Rev. James E. Richardson (1977–1982)
13. Msgr. Paul J. Taggart (1982–1994)
14. Rev. William B. Kauffman (1995–2001)
15. Rev. Michael J. Carrier (2001–2005)
16. Rev. Joseph M. P. R. Cocucci (2006–present)

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
• Cathedral of Saint Peter