About
St. Mary's circa. 1920
St. Mary's today.
About Us
History of St. Mary's Cathedral
St. Mary’s Cathedral is the oldest Catholic parish in the Pikes Peak region. On October 14, 1860, Fathers Machebeuf and Raverdy, traveling from Santa Fe in their wagon, celebrated the first Mass in the Pikes Peak region in an unfinished stone building, the home of James Broadwell in El Dorado, later renamed as Colorado City. Father Joseph P. Machebeuf became the first vicar of Colorado-Utah in 1868. Home Masses continued in old Colorado City from 1860 until they moved to the reading room of the Colorado Springs Gazette, located on the northeast corner of Tejon and Colorado, in 1873. (This is the current location of the United States Olympic Committee.) The Holy See split off the Utah Vicariate from Colorado in 1868, and Machebeuf became the first Bishop of Colorado when it became a diocese in 1887.
It appears that St. Mary’s history as a parish began around the time that Mass was celebrated at the old Gazette offices in 1873 because, on December 27, 1873, General William Jackson Palmer, Colorado Springs founder and pioneering railroad man, donated a property located at Rio Grande and Sahwatch that became known as St. Ann’s Catholic Church. Bishop Machebeuf began the first parish capital campaign on January 17, 1874, and construction for the first parish church was finished in 1876, the centennial of the nation’s finding and the year Colorado became a state.
St. Ann’s was a bit of a gypsy in the years that followed, moving to the corner of the corner of Cascade and Vermijo in 1882. In 1884, the rectory burned.
The following year, three Sisters of Loretto--Sisters Columba Gallifan, Walburga O’Sullivan, and Jovita Mills—moved from Denver to Colorado Spring to start a Catholic grade school for girls called Loretto Academy. It began in the Clark House, a rental property at 425 N. Tejon. That same year, 1885, the Sisters of Loretto bought the land at the intersection of Bijou, Kiowa, and Sierra Madre from the General Palmer’s Colorado Springs Company for $1,900. This land generally comprises the western parking lot of the present St. Mary’s Cathedral. The sisters built a school and convent there. The school became St. Mary’s Catholic School, the predecessor of today’s St. Mary’s High School.
In July 1888, St. Ann’s Parish bought the property adjacent to and east of the Loretto Academy for $3,100. In 1889, the parish began construction on the underground church, and the Gazette began referring to the parish as St. Ann’s-St. Mary’s.
On Palm Sunday, 1891, Bishop Matz dedicated the underground church, build for $12,000, and the parish was re-christened as St. Mary’s Parish. Faithful Catholics with faithful pastors have continuously celebrated Mass at this location for almost 125 years. On December 21, 1898, Bishop Matz dedicated the upper structure of the church that was completed at the cost of an additional $50,000. The pastor, Father Frederick Bender, announced a new capital campaign for the purchase of the two great transept windows eight days later.
By 1902 the bell towers were installed, and the bells of St. Mary’s continue to be heard in Colorado Springs. Work continued on the interior and exterior of the church. Between 1902 and 1906 Gothic arched plaster ceilings, six side-aisle windows and electric lights were added inside. In 1907 the two towers were extended and the steeples - visible today from I-25 and throughout the downtown area - were installed. The east steeple is 73 feet tall and, to this day, remains the tallest church steeple in Colorado Springs. In 1916 the original pipe organ was removed and a new one brought in. This organ would be used in St. Mary’s for 94 years, until it was replaced in 2005.
In 1923 and 1924, the apse and clerestory windows were installed.
In 1930 limestone facings were added to the three main entrances and adjacent windows. A rose window (the current window is a later addition) was added over the choir loft. Main entrance ramps (since removed) were built in 1961. In 1963, the interior was modernized with new lighting, a new sacristy, and new pews.
In January 1984, the city became the see for the new ten-county Diocese of Colorado Springs. St. Mary’s Parish became St. Mary’s Cathedral. Richard Hanifen became the first bishop.
In 1998, parish members formed Nehemiah Committee to begin planning a major renovation of the cathedral and expansion of underground classroom and choir rooms. The plans sought to be faithful to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Sacred Constitution on the Liturgy. There were many changes. Italian artists hand repainted the statues and Stations of the Cross. The cathedra and the altar table were moved closer to the assembly. A baptistery large enough for immersions was built and relocated to the entrance of the church. Convex shaped seating was installed so parishioners could see the face of others in the assembly that itself was one of the signs of the presence of Christ. Ground was broken in May 2002, and Bishop Michael Sheridan rededicated the church in a grand celebration on May 31, 2003 when two prior pastors, Father John Slattery and Father Donald Dunn anointed the walls with sacred oil.
In February 2013, the Parish renovated the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, acquiring art from two local artists, Michael Greer and Geoffrey Keating. Greer’s artwork includes a stained glass window of Christ the King and the Agnus Dei, a bronze bas relief Byzantine crucifixion panel for the tabernacle door gilded in 23 carat gold; two large painted Byzantine angels to the left and right of the tabernacle. Keating crafted mortise and tenon walnut kneelers so parishioners might pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Mary's Today
In 2023, St. Mary's Cathedral renovated the reredos and placed the tabernacle back in the high altar with a new altar and reliquary. In the reliquary we have the relics of St. Benedict and St. Anthony of Padua. In the old tabernacle, we have the Relic of the True Cross.
