St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-28
RAV0UX REMINISCENT.
The Building OF the Present Ca
tilediFal of ST. Paul.

The Building Of the Present Ca
tiletiFal of ST. Paul.
Late in the autumn of 1850 the bulls
were sent from Rome to the Very
Rev. Joseph Cretin. He had been
elected bishop of st. Paul In a
letter received from him shortly aft
erwards he told me that he was
about to start to Europe. In reply
[ urged him to come to st. Paul be-
fore his departure, in order to buy q
location for his cathedral, informing
him that entire blocks in a suitable
place began to be scarce, and that
perhaps at his return he could not
big price. After his departure for
France, aware of the necessity of
securing some lots for the cathedral
and for other purposes, I bought of
Vital Guerin tWenty-one lots for
$500, and for $100 the. lot on which
bought for another person, who had
already some lumber on the ground
for building. He had bought the
same of Mr.. Guerin on credit for
$50. He ceded me that lot for $40
profit.
My first interview with the right
reverend bishop and his compan-
ions was on the boat, where
[ went to meet them. I had
the honor of accompanying them
from the boat to the episco-
pal palace. 1t did not take his
lordship much time to visit all the
apartments of the palace and the
cathedral. The episcopal palace was
a building one story and a half high,
about seventeen or eighteen feet
square, and the cathedral was log
building about forty-five feet long
by eighteen feet wide. The bishop
Immediately put his hand to the
pillow, and, faithful to the advice of
the Savior, he did not look behind.
Before the lapse of five months after
his arrival in st. Paul he had
erected on block 7, in st. Paul
proper, a brick building eighty-four
feet long by forty-four wide, three
stories and half high, including the
basement. That building became
Immediately the second cathedral of
ST. Paul, and also the second resi-
dence of the right reverend bishop,
of his priests and his SeminarianS.
In July, 1854, was begun the work of
the excavation for the basement of the
present cathedral, and two years after
wards the corner stone was blessed by
the Rt. Rev Bishop of Buffalo, Mgr.
Timon. On the last day of October
the walls were up to the water table.
If the work advanced so slowly it was
not for want of energy and eXertlon on
the part of the Ri. Rev. Bishop,
but for want of money The Catholics
living in st. Paul were, with few ex-
ceptions, not able to help him much,
and the price of work and materials
was very high. He was afraid of
mourning a debt by borrowing. In
February, 1857, he had already eXpend-
ed $1,000 towards the erection of the
cathedral.
In March, 1857, after the death of our
devoted bishop, I receE~ed a letter from
The Most Rev. P. r. Kenrick, arch
bishop of ST. Louis, in which he ap-
cese, sede vacante. None of my duties
appeared to be more pressing than that
of continuing the erection of the cathe-
dral. The room used fer divine ser
vice since 1851 could scarcely contain
one third of the congregation. AT the
death of the bishop the walls OF the
new cathedral were scarcely up to the
water table. The dimensions of the
building were 173x70, the price of a
days labor for masons was So, for car
penters at least 81, for team Of
horses So.
On the 18th Of July was begun the
work which did not cease until the
cathedral was under roof, and on the
18th of June, 1858, though unfinished,
and not even plastered, it was opened
for divine service. 1t was to me a
great consolation to have Il place
spacious enough to contain the whole
congregation. We should have been
very ungrateful to God had We not rem
dered thanks to Him for His divine as
sistance, and I hope no one forgot
that important duty.
A. RAVOUX.