Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales (Oakland, California)
Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales | ||
---|---|---|
Style Gothic Revival | | |
Completed | 1893 | |
Closed | 1989 | |
Demolished | 1993 | |
Specifications | ||
Materials | Brick | |
Administration | ||
Diocese | Oakland |
Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Oakland was an 1893 church, which served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Oakland, California, from 1962 until it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Origins
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San Francisco Archbishop
The new archbishop,
Father Mc Sweeney with the approval of Archbishop Riordan acquired property on Grove Street between Hobart and 21st Streets. The practical decision, delay a permanent church. A temporary building, constructed, the church upstairs with a ground floor, school. Archbishop Riordan blessed the new St. Francis de Sales Church/School on February 27, 1887.
St. Francis de Sales School opened July 18, 1887, an elementary school for boys and girls and a girls high school. The Sisters of the Holy Names staffed the schools. St. Francis de Sales Girls High School closed May 31, 1931. After ninety years, St. Francis de Sales Grammar School closed June 10, 1977.
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Father Mc Sweeney had a predominantly Irish congregation. He sought about $15,000 to build a modest church. Mrs. Mary J. Canning (1830-1904) and her husband, James (1810-1892) would allow Mc Sweeney to build a grand church. Their first donation was $75,000. Mrs. Canning would donate $142,000 to build the church. Archbishop Riordan laid the cornerstone of the permanent church September 13, 1891. The structure was designed in a Norman Gothic Revival style, made of red brick, with a steeple and stained glass windows. The architecture, Charles Devlin's work on St. Francis de Sales, impressed Archbishop Riordan. Devlin was awarded the task to design St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California.
St. Francis de Sales Church was dedicated by Archbishop Francesco Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States on July 9, 1893. Cardinal Satolli gave personal greetings from Pope Leo XIII to Mary J. Canning for her financial support in building St. Francis de Sales.
Father Mc Sweeney led St. Francis de Sales for twenty-three years, his health broke with a series of strokes in 1909. Archbishop
St. Francis de Sales had four pastors in the 1920s, Father Francis X. Morrison appointed in 1920, died September 18, 1924. The new pastor Father Edward Dempsey, formerly pastor of St. Mary's in Oakland. Father Dempsey led a group of pilgrims to Rome. On May 24, 1924, the small group from St. Francis de Sales met Pope Pius XI, who gave Father Dempsey the honor of Domestic Prelate. Dempsey died January 21, 1928.
Archbishop
Archbishop Mitty appointed Father Richard A. O'Donnell, native of St. Francis de Sales Parish. O'Donnell had been an Altar Boy to Father McSweeney, a graduate of St. Francis de Sales Grammar School. In 1914 O'Donnell entered St. Patrick's Seminary, and was ordained on June 24, 1920. Pope Pius XII on May 25, 1947, made Father O'Donnell a Domestic Prelate.
Diocese of Oakland
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San Francisco Archbishop John J. Mitty, died October 15, 1961. Pope
February 4, 1967, Bishop Begin presided over St. Francis de Sales rededication.
The musical program at St. Francis de Sales achieved acclaim in the 1970s and 1980s. Local newspapers referred to the "Oakland Cathedral Sound," which earned a national reputation. Contributing to the musical program was a Schoenstein pipe organ, installed in 1982.
Bishop Floyd Begin died April 26, 1977, he was buried in a bishop's crypt at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, not the cathedral. Bishop John Cummins was installed at the Oakland Auditorium on June 30, 1977, not St. Francis de Sales Cathedral.
The cathedral suffered extensive damage October 17, 1989, in the
A new cathedral, called
Rectors of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral
Monsignor Richard A. O'Donnell, 1962-1968
Monsignor Michael H. Lucid, 1968-1971
Monsignor Joseph Skillin, 1971-1973
Father Robert Fontaine, 1973-1975
Father E. Donald Osuna, 1975-1986
Father James T. Keeley, 1986-1993
See also
- List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States
- List of cathedrals in the United States
- Francis de Sales
References
- The Catholic Voice September 27, 1982, Article Msgr. John Connolly
- Father Thomas McSweeney, Obituary Oakland Tribune July 30, 1915
- Monsignor Joseph M. Gleason, Obituary Oakland Tribune October 31, 1942
- Bishop Patrick J. Keane, Diocese of Sacramento
- 1886-1986 Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales
- The Monitor - San Francisco 1885-1962 & The Catholic Voice - Oakland 1962-1993
- ^ Legacy of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral Archived December 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine