Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France

History & Significance

Basilica · Est. First church on the site opened in 1727; present structure completed in the 1850s; designated a minor basilica in 1964

The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, fronts Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. The parish was established in 1720 and named for Saint Louis IX, King of France; the first church on the site opened in 1727, a second was destroyed in the great New Orleans fire of 1788, and a third was built under Spanish rule in 1789 and raised to cathedral rank in 1793. The present church, the result of a major rebuilding and expansion completed in the 1850s, is widely cited as the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. Pope Paul VI elevated it to the status of a minor basilica on December 9, 1964, and Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral in September 1987.

Spanish Colonial origins extensively rebuilt in a French-influenced design with three steeples, completed in the 1850s

• •Seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans (mother church of the archdiocese)
• •Often called the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States
• •Designated a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI on December 9, 1964
• •Faces Jackson Square in the New Orleans French Quarter
• •Visited by Pope John Paul II in September 1987