Cathedral of Saint Patrick (Charlotte, North Carolina)

The Cathedral of Saint Patrick is the seat of the Diocese of Charlotte of the Roman Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Charlotte and is the seat of its bishop.

History

Saint Patrick's Church

Saint Patrick's Church in Charlotte was the forerunner of the Cathedral of Saint Patrick. During the early 20th century, Saint Peter's Parish, founded in 1851, was the only one serving Catholics in Charlotte. By the late 1930s, a second parish was needed in the city to meet the needs of the growing population.

On March 17, 1938, construction began on Saint Patrick, a mission church of Saint Peter's. It was funded by the philanthropist John Henry Phelan. The congregation hired the Austrian architect Frank Frimmer to design the church.

Cathedral of Saint Patrick

In 1972, Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Charlotte and designated Saint Patrick's Church as the Cathedral of Saint Patrick. Monsignor Richard Allen was appointed as its first rector.

A permanent copper roof was installed on the cathedral in 2000. In 2007, the parish installed a bell in the bell tower. It was originally cast in 1875 in St. Louis, Missouri. A family life center was added to the church campus in 2008. Five months later, the diocese was forced to close the cathedral for several months to repair leaks in the copper roof and address water damage to the plaster walls in the building. They also used the shutdown to add gold leaf to the stations of the cross and the arches.

The diocese postponed its plans for a new cathedral in July 2025. They decided to instead raise money to assist parishes that had suffered hurricane damage. In addition, they learned that since the proposed site was outside the Charlotte city limits, it could not be designated as the see of Charlotte.

Architectural features

Description

thumb|284x284px|Nave and main altar (2016)

Saint Patrick has a gray stucco face and a 77-foot (23.7m) bell tower. The nave seats 400 worshippers. The cathedral has two side chapels, serving as shrines to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The ceiling has 300 tiles.