On November 14, 1852, Bishop Connolly announced to his congregation at St. Malachi’s church his intention to have a cathedral erected on a small tract of land on the outskirts of the city. Bishop Connolly established a committee which met on November 21, 1852. Members of the building committee were: George Carvill, John Doherty, James Gallagher, John McSweeney, John Dooley, Charles Doherty, Michael McGuirk, Thomas McElroy, Michael Finn, Henry McCullough and Timothy Warren Anglin.

Charles F. Anderson, an Anglo-Irish architect from New York, was hired to prepare plans and specifications. However the Cathedral was ultimately erected from a design by Matthew Stead. The design is English Gothic design.

The costs of the building were considered so high that volunteer labour was used to proceed with the structure. Mr. William Smith, a prominent Orangeman, was chosen to oversee the construction. It should be noted that on March 28, 1853 “fully 400 men, labourers and various trades and callings were crowded around the site of the proposed edifice, enthusiastic volunteers in the work of digging the foundation”¹.

The excavation began in the spring of 1853. The foundation stone was laid in May 1853 and by November of that year the walls were up and the roof laid. Bishop Connolly celebrated the first mass on Christmas day 1855. There were estimated to be 3,000 people in attendance.

In 1859 Pope Pius IX appointed Bishop Connolly as the Archbishop of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

On Sunday February 12, 1860 it was announced that Rt. Rev. Dr. John Sweeney, Vicar-General had been named the new Bishop of Saint John. Bishop Sweeney erected the spire in 1871 to a height of 230 feet to the top of the cross, this being equal to some 300 feet above sea level and about the highest point in the city at that time. The cross originally faced in an east-west direction and was believed to have served as a navigational aid for vessels entering and leaving the harbor.

In 1861 Rt. Rev. Dr. John Sweeney (born 1821 Ireland) would continue with the construction. Brooklyn architect, P.C. Keely’s designs were forwarded to Bishop Sweeney for the main portion of the Cathedral as well as the side chapels. Mr. Patrick Morrissey was selected to do the work plans for the confessional and pulpit and Mr. S. Lamb was chosen to plan the chapel alter. The carving of the main altar was credited to Mr. Seaborn as was the twelve-foot marble statue of the Blessed Virgin placed on the front of the Cathedral.

The new organ arrived on May 1, 1876. It weighed ten tons, was fifty-eight feet wide, thirty feet high and fifteen feet deep.

Bishop Sweeny solemnly dedicated The Cathedral on July 16, 1885. The chimes were installed in 1885 and first rang out on Christmas day of that same year. They consisted of ten bells, the largest about 3,000 lbs. in weight. They were manufactured by McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Md.

During the episcopate of Bishop E.A. LeBlanc (1912-1935) the tower of the Cathedral was repaired and consolidated by the addition of an interior concrete wall. Under the direction of Bishop Patrick Bray (1935-1953) the upper section of the north transept wall and the upper sanctuary underwent extensive renovations. A new pulpit and sound system were installed and the altar and throne remodeled and enlarged. Notably in the altar transformation was the addition of the life-size image of the crucified savior. A statue of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Cathedral, was set in a beautiful Gothic shrine on the pillar situated on the throne of the sanctuary. During the episcopate of Bishop Alfred Leverman (1953-1968) the interior of the Cathedral again underwent extensive renovations.

The present organ was built by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1952. There are some 3,000 pipes, the largest is 16 feet and the shortest is less than one inch. On March 23, 1956, the Most Rev. Alfred B. Leverman consecrated the new Main Altar. The relics of St. Matthew, St. Andrew, St. Barnabas and St. Ambrose, which were the original relics in the old altar stone, were now placed in the new altar stone.

Among the many stained glass windows is one in the transept, on the right. The center panel St. Patrick with St. Colomba of Iona on his right, and St. Brigid of Kildare on his left.

On the right when you enter the Cathedral, you will see a statue of the Pieta (Mary holding the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion.) The statues in the back are St. Anthony on the right and St. Theresa of Lisieux on the left. All around the Cathedral, in the nave at a higher level, are the statues of eleven of the apostles. On the far side of the right transept, is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and on the left transept, St. Joseph. In the Virgin’s Chapel, in the right alcove is St. Anne with Mary as a child and in the left alcove is St. Francis of Assisi.

[1] Sister Catherine Hennessey and Anne Marie McGrath, Peter Murphy, Fred Horgan, Ronald Horgan and Bonnie Harley, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 1885-1985, Diocese of Saint John, privately published, 1985, p. 2.

 

_______, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, unpublished pamphlet (no date)

Hennessey, Sister Catherine and Anne Marie McGrath, Peter Murphy, Fred Horgan, Ronald Horgan and Bonnie Harley, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 1885-1985, Saint John Diocese, privately published, 1985.

McGowan, Rev. Dr. Michael, Pax Vobis A History of the Diocese of Saint John, its Bishops and Parishes, Strasbourg, France, Editions du Signe, 2004.