St. Peter Cathedral, Erie
Encyclopedia
St. Peter Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in at 230 West 10th Street (at Sassafras Street) in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

.

History

Plans for the building of St. Peter Cathedral were initiated in 1873 by Bishop Tobias Mullen
Tobias Mullen
Tobias Mullen was an Irish-born clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Erie from 1868 to 1899.-Biography:...

 of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie
Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie is a Roman Catholic diocese in western Pennsylvania. It was founded on July 29, 1853. It is one of seven suffragan sees in Pennsylvania that make up the Ecclesiastical Province of Philadelphia, which is headed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.-...

. The cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...

 was laid in a formal ceremony held on St. Peter in Chains Day (See General Roman Calendar as in 1954), 1 August 1875. After years of construction and a fundraising campaign that involved parishes throughout the diocese, the cathedral was completed in 1893. The architect was Patrick Keeley
Patrick Keely
Patrick Charles Keely was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York and Providence, Rhode Island...

 of Brooklyn, a prolific designer of churches whose works include 21 cathedrals in the eastern United States.

Specifications

The cathedral is Gothic revival in the French Victorian tradition called Second Empire. Much of the stone for the foundation came from dismantling the locks of the Erie Extension Canal , which closed in 1871. The exterior consists of red sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 from Medina, New York
Medina, New York
Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2000 census, making it the second most populous municipality in the county after Albion, the county seat. The village was named by its surveyor...

 and white sandstone trim from Amherst, Ohio
Amherst, Ohio
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,797 people, 4,459 households, and 3,388 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,646.1 people per square mile . There were 4,603 housing units at an average density of 642.3 per square mile...

 and Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 116,638. Its county seat is Mercer; Sharon is its largest city....

.

The central bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 stands 265 feet (80.8 m) tall, while twin Norman style
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 towers at 150 feet (45.7 m) each bracket the central tower. The bell tower contains a chime
Chime (bell instrument)
A carillon-like instrument with fewer than 23 bells is called a chime.American chimes usually have one to one and a half diatonic octaves. Many chimes play an automated piece of music. Prior to 1900, chime bells typically lacked dynamic variation and the inner tuning required to permit the use of...

 of twelve bells weighing 14 tons cast in 1903 by the Andrew Meneely Bell Foundry
Meneely bell foundry
The Meneely Bell Foundry was a bell foundry established in 1826 in West Troy , New York, by Andrew Meneely. Two of Andrew's sons continued to operate the foundry after his death, while a third son, Clinton H. Meneely, opened a second foundry across the river with George H. Kimberly in Troy, New...

 of West Troy, New York
Watervliet, New York
Watervliet is a city in Albany County in the US state of New York. The population was 10,254 as of the 2010 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by the town of Colonie. The city is also known as "the Arsenal City".- History...

. The E. Howard Clock Company
E. Howard & Co.
thumb|Street clock by E. Howard & Co.The E. Howard & Co. clock and watch company was formed by Edward Howard and Charles Rice in 1858 after the demise of the Boston Watch Company...

 of Boston, New York, and Chicago, installed the clock in the tower
Clock tower
A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...

, also in 1903.

The 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...

 in the sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...

 and transept
Transept
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...

 was installed by the Franz Meer firm of Munich, Germany and includes depictions of the Annunciation, the Birth of Jesus, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Second Coming. Large side windows show the Conferral of Keys to Saint Peter and Jesus' supper at the house of the Publican. There are also stained glass windows of the Life of St. Peter and four of the Western Doctors of the Church. Renovations in 1992-1993 included the resetting of all the stained glass and the installation of many glass prisms to refocus sunlight into the interior.

The cathedral 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...

, which expresses a great variety of organ timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...

s in the French tradition, was built by Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères is a prominent Canadian company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building fine pipe organs since 1879. As of 2008, they have produced over 3800 organs.- Company history :...

 of Montreal, Canada and installed in 1977. Additions were made in 1999. It is the third instrument since the building was built.

From the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 of the church, one can see a collection of the likenesses of the diocese's nine bishops and Auxiliary Bishop Edward P. McManaman, who served as Cathedral Rector from 1936 to 1948.

The cathedral has a new 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...

. The center aisle is of Spanish and Italian marble. Carved onto the marble at the front of the church is the large seal to the Diocese of Erie with the coats of arms of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

 and Bishop Mullen on the right and those of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 and Bishop Trautman
Donald Walter Trautman
Donald Walter Trautman is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as Bishop of Erie.-Biography:Donald Trautman was born in Buffalo, New York, and attended Niagara University in Lewiston. He studied theology under Karl Rahner at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, from...

 on the left.

The sanctuary area contains the 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...

, with the reliquary chest
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...

 beneath it, 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...

 and the ambo for preaching. The Blessed Sacrament
Eucharist (Catholic Church)
"At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood."...

 is maintained in the tabernacle
Church tabernacle
A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....

 on the north side of the cathedral. The marble high altar constructed in 1911 was used until liturgical changes were made after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

External links

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