Catholic Church of St. Catherine
Encyclopedia
The Catholic Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Russia. It is part of the Archdiocese of Moscow headed by H.E.
Msgr.
Paolo Pezzi
. It is located on the Nevsky Prospekt
.
In 1738 Empress Anna
granted permission for the church to erect a structure on Nevsky Prospekt
, the main street of St. Petersburg. The project, however, met continued problems. The initial designs were based on work by Domenico Trezzini
, the architect who designed the Peter and Paul Cathedral
and was then deceased. His designs, however, were abandoned in 1751. In the 1760s, the French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe
drew designs for the church, but he returned to France in 1775 and it fell to the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi to complete the church. On October 7, 1783, the church was completed. Because the Empress at the time was Catherine II of Russia
(also known as Catherine the Great), the church was named after St. Catherine of Alexandria
.
), as was, in 1813, the French general Jean Victor Marie Moreau
. One parishioner of the church was Auguste de Montferrand
, who would go on to build the Saint Isaac's Cathedral
. Auguste de Montferrand married in the church and later had a wake here before his wife took his coffin back to France. Even in Imperial Russia, several well-known aristocrats had accepted Catholicism.
The church was run by different monastic orders in its history. Originally run by Franciscans in 1800 Emperor Paul I
turned the church over to the Jesuits. In 1815, the church was run by Dominican
s, and finally in 1892, the church ceased to be governed by an order and fell under the auspices of Diocesan
priests, though a Dominican community remained at the church. On the eve of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the church membership numbered more than thirty thousand parishioners.
of St. Catherine's Church, Monsignor
Konstantin Budkevich
, was shot in the Lubyanka Prison on Easter Sunday, 1923. The church, however, remained open until 1938. In 1938 the church was closed and ransacked. Artifacts, icons and books from the church's splendid library were thrown out to the street. The church was further damaged by a fire in 1947, that destroyed the internal decorations of the church and its organ
.
For 30 years, the building was used only for storage until plans were made to rebuild the church as an organ hall for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. These plans were never completed, however, as the building was again ravaged by fire in 1984. Instead the government used the building as offices and apartments.
was opened. The main altar was completed and blessed in 2000. The restoration of most of the church was completed in 2003, and the central gates were opened. Restoration of the interior of the church is ongoing.
of the church is crowned by a large cupola
. The temple is 44 m in length, 25 m in width, and 42 m in height. The sanctuary has room for about 2,000 people. The main facade of the church has a monumental arched portal, which rests on self-supporting columns. Above the facade is a high parapet, with the figures of four evangelists and angels on top. Above the main entrance is an inscription from the Gospel of Matthew
(in Latin): "My house shall be called the house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13) and the date the church was completed.
Excellency
Excellency is an honorific style given to certain members of an organization or state.Usually, people styled "Excellency" are heads of state, heads of government, governors, ambassadors, certain ecclesiastics, royalty, aristocracy, and military, and others holding equivalent rank .It is...
Msgr.
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
Paolo Pezzi
Paolo Pezzi
H.E. Msgr. Paolo Pezzi, FSCB, also known as Pavel Pezzi, is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, currently serving as Latin Rite Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow .-Early life and ministry:...
. It is located on the Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Avenue |Prospekt]]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander...
.
Construction
On December 12, 1705 Peter the Great signed a charter that would allow the construction of Catholic churches in Russia. The church itself (though not the building with which it is today associated) was founded in 1710.In 1738 Empress Anna
Anna of Russia
Anna of Russia or Anna Ivanovna reigned as Duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730 and as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740.-Accession to the throne:Anna was the daughter of Ivan V of Russia, as well as the niece of Peter the Great...
granted permission for the church to erect a structure on Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Avenue |Prospekt]]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander...
, the main street of St. Petersburg. The project, however, met continued problems. The initial designs were based on work by Domenico Trezzini
Domenico Trezzini
Domenico Trezzini was a Swiss Italian architect who elaborated the Petrine Baroque style of Russian architecture.Domenico was born in Astano, near Lugano, in the Italian-speaking Ticino . He probably studied in Rome...
, the architect who designed the Peter and Paul Cathedral
Peter and Paul Cathedral
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733 on Zayachy Island along the Neva River. Both the cathedral and the fortress were...
and was then deceased. His designs, however, were abandoned in 1751. In the 1760s, the French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe
Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe
thumb|St. Petersburg's [[Imperial Academy of Arts]]Jean-Baptiste Michel Vallin de la Mothe was a French architect whose major career was spent in St...
drew designs for the church, but he returned to France in 1775 and it fell to the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi to complete the church. On October 7, 1783, the church was completed. Because the Empress at the time was Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
(also known as Catherine the Great), the church was named after St. Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
.
During the Russian Empire
The Catholic Church of St. Catherine is connected with many important personalities of Imperial Russia. In 1798, Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland was buried at the church (in 1938, after 140 years in the crypt, he was returned to Poland), as was, in 1813, the French general Jean Victor Marie Moreau
Jean Victor Marie Moreau
Jean Victor Marie Moreau was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte to power, but later became a rival and was banished to the United States.- Early life :Moreau was born at Morlaix in Brittany...
. One parishioner of the church was Auguste de Montferrand
Auguste de Montferrand
Auguste de Montferrand was a French Neoclassical architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg.-Family:...
, who would go on to build the Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city...
. Auguste de Montferrand married in the church and later had a wake here before his wife took his coffin back to France. Even in Imperial Russia, several well-known aristocrats had accepted Catholicism.
The church was run by different monastic orders in its history. Originally run by Franciscans in 1800 Emperor Paul I
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
turned the church over to the Jesuits. In 1815, the church was run by Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
s, and finally in 1892, the church ceased to be governed by an order and fell under the auspices of Diocesan
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
priests, though a Dominican community remained at the church. On the eve of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the church membership numbered more than thirty thousand parishioners.
Soviet Persecution
Under the Soviets, the activities of the church were repressed. The rectorRector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of St. Catherine's Church, Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
Konstantin Budkevich
Konstantin Budkevich
Konstanty Romuald Budkiewicz was a Roman Catholic priest executed by the Soviet Union as part of their repression of religion. He remains under investigation for possible Sainthood...
, was shot in the Lubyanka Prison on Easter Sunday, 1923. The church, however, remained open until 1938. In 1938 the church was closed and ransacked. Artifacts, icons and books from the church's splendid library were thrown out to the street. The church was further damaged by a fire in 1947, that destroyed the internal decorations of the church and its organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
.
For 30 years, the building was used only for storage until plans were made to rebuild the church as an organ hall for the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. These plans were never completed, however, as the building was again ravaged by fire in 1984. Instead the government used the building as offices and apartments.
Restoration
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church in Russia began to operate once more in the early 1990s. In February 1992, city authorities decided to return the building to the Catholic Church. That same year, the church began rebuilding. According to the church, after being closed by the Soviets in 1938, a 20-year-old woman went into the ransacked temple and retrieved the crucifix out of the sanctuary. When the building was returned to the Catholic Church, she returned the crucifix. The first stage of restoration was finished by October 1992, with a temporary altar in place for worship. In October 1998 a Chapel of the AnnunciationAnnunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
was opened. The main altar was completed and blessed in 2000. The restoration of most of the church was completed in 2003, and the central gates were opened. Restoration of the interior of the church is ongoing.
Architecture
Like many churches, the building is in the shape of a Latin cross. The transeptTransept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
of the church is crowned by a large cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
. The temple is 44 m in length, 25 m in width, and 42 m in height. The sanctuary has room for about 2,000 people. The main facade of the church has a monumental arched portal, which rests on self-supporting columns. Above the facade is a high parapet, with the figures of four evangelists and angels on top. Above the main entrance is an inscription from the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
(in Latin): "My house shall be called the house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13) and the date the church was completed.
External links
- Church of St. Catherine official Web site (in English; in Russian)