Saint Raphael's Cathedral (Madison, Wisconsin) facts for kids
Saint Raphael's Cathedral was once the main church, called a cathedral, for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison. A diocese is a church area led by a bishop. This church was in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.
Sadly, in March 2005, the cathedral building was badly damaged by a fire and had to be taken down. Later, in 2012, the church built a park on the same spot. It's called Cathedral Square or Cathedral Place and has a special path called a Way of the Cross. In 2023, it was announced that St. Bernard's Church in Madison would become the new cathedral instead of building a new one at the old St. Raphael's site.
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History of Saint Raphael's
In the early 1840s, many people from Ireland moved to the area that would become Madison. They soon formed a church community, known as a parish, and named it after the Archangel Raphael. On August 15, 1842, Father Martin Kundig held the first Mass (a Catholic church service) in the old capitol building. Governor James Duane Doty, who was friends with Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, gave the land for the church buildings.
From 1842 to 1853, the parish didn't have its own church building. They often held Mass in homes or at the state capitol. The first wooden church was built in 1848. It was about 20 feet by 24 feet (about 6 by 7.3 meters), which was big enough for the people at that time.
In 1853, Father Francis Etchmann started building the church that would become the cathedral. The first stone for this new building was laid on May 28, 1854. Bishop John Henni from the Diocese of Milwaukee dedicated the new building. He did this because the parish was part of his diocese back then. A tall, pointed roof called a spire and bells were added in 1885. A house for the priest, called a rectory, was built in 1897, and a new school building opened in 1911.
Becoming a Cathedral
On January 9, 1946, Pope Pius XII created the Diocese of Madison. This new church area covered 11 counties in southwestern Wisconsin. Parts of this new diocese came from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of La Crosse. St. Raphael's was then chosen to be the main church, or cathedral, for the new Madison diocese.
When St. Raphael's became a cathedral, Msgr. William Mahoney was the pastor (the priest in charge). Bishop William O’Connor became the first Bishop of Madison on March 12, 1946, in a special ceremony at St. Raphael's.
In October 1952, plans were announced to update St. Raphael's so it could work better as a cathedral. Construction started the next year. A basement was dug under the church, creating a hall, kitchen, and other rooms. A new two-story room for priests' robes and sacred items, called a sacristy, connected the cathedral and the rectory. Old sacristies, altars, and the back wall were removed to make more space for church services. A new marble altar with a wooden canopy and a mosaic (a picture made of small pieces) of St. Raphael and Tobias were put in. The marble for the altar came from Florence, Italy, and the mosaic was made in Venice, Italy. The updates also included new lights, decorations, confessionals (small rooms for confession), and stations of the cross (pictures showing Jesus's journey). Cardinal Samuel Stritch, who was the Archbishop of Chicago, rededicated the updated cathedral on March 10, 1955.
The Cathedral Fire
On March 14, 2005, a fire badly damaged St. Raphael's Cathedral. This was a sad event for the church members and the entire diocese.
The fire caused the roof to fall into the building. The walls and the steeple (the tall tower with the spire) stayed standing. Water used to fight the fire also caused damage. People worried the steeple might fall, but it was found to be stable. The mosaics had smoke and water damage, and the stained glass windows were damaged but still in place.
It was found that someone intentionally started the fire. A person was arrested and held responsible for causing the fire. The fire started in an office/storeroom under the spire.
On June 10, 2007, Bishop Morlino announced that the church building would be taken down. A new, larger church that could seat 1,000 people was planned to replace it. On March 13, 2008, the Diocese of Madison said St. Raphael's would be demolished by June of that year. Some items from the old Cathedral were saved, including the spire, the three bells from the steeple, three mosaics from the special area called the sanctuary, the marble pieces from the sanctuary, one large undamaged stained glass window, three smaller semicircular stained glass windows, some decorative stonework from around the doorways, and other stones from the building. The plan to demolish the building caused some discussion in the city, with some people wanting parts of it to be saved.
On July 1, 2008, the St. Raphael parish joined with two nearby churches, St. Patrick and Holy Redeemer. They formed a new Cathedral Parish of St. Raphael. The idea at the time was for the parish to use the buildings of the other two churches until a new cathedral could be built.
On June 24, 2011, the parish bought the building that used to be St. Raphael's School from 1963 to 1970. The parish took down this building. In late 2012, they created a park across the entire property, which includes a special path called the Way of the Cross.
A New Cathedral for Madison
In December 2022, Bishop Donald Hying talked about three ideas for the cathedral. These ideas were part of a plan for the diocese called Into the Deep. The ideas were:
- Build a new cathedral where the old one stood.
- Keep things as they are, with no main cathedral, and use other church buildings for big events.
- Choose an existing church to become the new cathedral.
Bishop Hying felt that building a new cathedral would be too expensive. He also thought that having no main cathedral was not ideal. In January 2023, the bishop suggested that he ask the Holy See (the Pope's office in Rome) to name St. Bernard's Church in Madison as the new diocesan cathedral. This would cost less money and could be done with a smaller fundraising effort.
Bishop Hying held a press conference on January 24, 2024. He officially announced that the Holy See had agreed to name St. Bernard's as the new cathedral for the Diocese of Madison. Once a $15 million renovation project for the church building is finished in mid-2025, St. Bernard's will be officially made the cathedral in a special ceremony.
See also
In Spanish: Catedral de San Rafael (Madison) para niños
