The Cathedral of Saint Patrick is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Harrisburg and is the seat of its bishop. It is a contributing property in the Harrisburg Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
thumb|left|View up the nave to the sanctuary
Catholicism came to Central Pennsylvania before the American Revolutionary War. German Jesuits established the Conewago Chapel (1730) and St. Mary's Church (1743) in Lancaster. By 1806 there was a small Catholic mission in Harrisburg. Property in Allison Hill was bought in 1813 and a chapel was built on the site. As Harrisburg began to develop, Irish immigrants arrived in town. The Rev. Patrick Leary bought property on State Street in 1824, and the cornerstone for the first St. Patrick's church was laid two years later. The church was built for $6,500. The parish was visited by St. John Neumann, who was the bishop of Philadelphia and therefore the parish's bishop, in 1855 and 1857.
The Diocese of Harrisburg was established by Pope Pius IX on March 3, 1868. St. Patrick's was named the pro-cathedral of the new diocese. Bishop John W. Shanahan proposed at a diocesan synod in 1902 that a permanent cathedral be built in the diocese. A committee was formed and they accepted the plans of Philadelphia architect George I. Lovatt, Sr. Bodies that had been buried in the parish cemetery had to be relocated to the new Mount Calvary Cemetery. Ground was broken for the new church in 1904 and it was completed on March 1, 1907. The cathedral was built for $250,000. The exterior of the building is covered in granite from North Carolina. The interior featured wainscoting covered in oriental marble topped with Connemara marble. The main nave is flanked by granite columns that support a vaulted ceiling. There are forty-four stained glass windows in the nave that were imported from Munich, Germany.