The second Cathedral of Saint Paul was a building that served as the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Saint Paul in Minnesota from 1851 to 1858 and then as the Cathedral School, predecessor of Cretin High School, until its demolition in 1889.
Construction
When Joseph Crétin was appointed as the bishop of the newly established Diocese of St. Paul in July 1851, a log chapel served as the first cathedral. However, even prior to Crétin's arrival, Father Augustin Ravoux urged him to purchase land for a new cathedral to serve the fast-growing population of Saint Paul as the log chapel was proving too small. Ravoux ended up buying twenty-two lots at the intersection of Wabasha and Sixth streets for $900 ($32,962 in 2023) for the purposed of building the new cathedral.[1]: 5 [2]: 58
Crétin was initially hesitant to accept consecration as bishop of the new Diocese of Saint Paul because of its financial situation and the need to build a cathedral.[1]: 6 Crétin asked for assistance from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith but, receiving little help, went to Europe to ask for more funds.[1]: 7 The original plan called for two buildings, a church and a residence, but the lack of funding required the one building to be a combination church and school.[1]: 8 The cornerstone was laid in late July or early August 1851. The foundation and lower walls of the first floor were made of native Minnesota limestone quarried from nearby, while the remaining floors were made of brick.[1]: 11
Cathedral
The multi-purpose cathedral and school building, with the third cathedral in the background
The new building was three stories, and 84 feet (26 m) by 44 feet (13 m). Parallel to Sixth Street and with the front entrance facing Wabasha Street,[3] it opened in November 1851 with a library, kitchen, and school facilities on the first floor; the church itself on the second floor; and offices and living quarters for Crétin, his staff, and seminarians.[4][2]: 77, 581 [1]: 17
The building was often referred to simply as the new Catholic school, without consideration of the building as a church.[1]: 13 Education of girls began in November 1851, with the boys school opening in December.[1]: 13 Crétin began education of seminarians in early 1853, selecting two boys, John Ireland (bishop) and Thomas O'Gorman, out of the regular school.[1]: 24 In the summer of 1853 Ravoux brought them to France to continue their educations and returned in 1854 with seven more seminarians, four French and three German, who then were educated at the cathedral school.[1]: 25 [2]: 90, 99
The second floor on which Mass was said was sparse. Crétin himself said "the diocese has not even any church for a cathedral" and "I cannot apply that name [of Catholic Church] to the large room where we say Mass".[1]: 13 Only around 500 people could fit in the pews, even when extra benches were placed out. There were four confessionals in the walls, arranged so that the confessor sat in the sacristy and the penitent knelt in the sanctuary.[1]: 13 Augustin Ravoux feared that many souls were being lost because of the small capacity of the hall.[1]: 43
With the edifice still too small and not dignified enough for the needs of the diocese, Crétin started plans for a third cathedral in 1853.[4][2]: 58, 77, 581 The second cathedral building would serve as such until 1858, when the third cathedral was completed.[3]
A view of Saint Paul from Fifth and Wabasha c. 1857, with the third cathedral under construction center and the second cathedral to its right
Cretin's School
After the building was no longer the cathedral, it still served as a school.[3] In 1862 or 1863, Bishop Thomas Grace opened the Ecclesiastical Preparatory Seminary of St. Paul in the building. Twenty seminarians were educated in this way on the second floor until necessity required a merger with the coeducational cathedral school on the first floor.[2]: 159 [5]: 190 [1]: 46 This school, while formally known as Cathedral High School, was informally known as Cretin's School.[5]: 359
Father John Ireland, rector of the cathedral, had long been asking for the Christian Brothers to come operate the Cathedral School. In 1871, after the great Chicago fire destroyed two Christian Brothers schools, two brothers moved to Minnesota and took charge of the institution.[5]: 358 A fire severely damaged the building in November 1886.[5]: 358 The damage was repaired, but in March 1889 the education of students was moved to a new location.[1]: 47 The institution would eventually become Cretin High School.[5]: 359
^ abcdeO'Connell, Marvin Richard (2009). Pilgrims to the Northland: the Archdiocese of St. Paul, 1840-1962. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN9780268037291.
