Administrator’s note:  At the close of this monumental restoration achievement for so many who have sacrificed, worked and waited, we would love to include the beautiful words of Father Wilson published on March 7th, 2010 in the Cathedral Parish News:

“After our first brownstone Cathedral burned from a citywide fire on December 11, 1861, less than ten years after it was built, the parishioners of the Cathedral did not lose heart. They persevered through a war and a major earthquake, raising funds for a new Cathedral for forty-five years. Finally, in January of 1890, Bishop Henry P. Northrop, the Fourth Bishop of Charleston, together with a group of determined parishioners, solemnly laid the foundation of our present structure.

The South was poor from the ravages of civil war, and the city of Charleston was no exception. Fundraising continued for seventeen years until they had finished enough of the church to open it for divine worship. A fund was set aside to raise money for completing the project with its spire.

Years went by along with two World Wars and a Great Depression, then more wars and conflicts, and the idea of the steeple faded from most people’s memory. Some opined that the building should be left unfinished.

The great cathedrals of Europe often took over 100 years to build (Notre Dame in Paris took about 182 years, beginning in 1163 and ending in around 1345). This actually allows multiple generations to join in the work of their parents and grandparents, and allows newcomers to help join themselves to the project as well. We, too, are joining those who have gone before us to finish what we started. No longer will Catholics of Charleston have an unfinished church as we were once an unaccepted religion.

One hundred twenty years after the cornerstone was laid, we will finally finish the structure of this very symbolic church. This is history in the making for us.”

To learn more about the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, South Carolina and its rich history, please visit: http://www.charlestoncatholiccathedral.org/