Saint Augustine Cathedral (Part of the Cathedral Parish)

St. Augustine's Parish was established in 1842 by Rev. Thomas J. Synnott to serve the growing Catholic population of Bridgeport, after the earlier St. James Church at Arch Street and Washington Avenue had become inadequate for the size of the congregation. The cornerstone for the present Gothic Revival church was laid on August 28, 1865, on what the National Catholic Register notes was the feast of St. Augustine — a fitting tribute to the parish's patron. Bishop Francis McFarland of Hartford dedicated the completed church on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1868. Designed by Patrick Charles Keely of Brooklyn — America's most prolific 19th-century church architect, who designed 26 cathedrals and more than 600 churches — the edifice was, according to The Bridgeport Standard, the largest church in the state of Connecticut at the time, seating 1,500 souls. Its granite tower and spire, completed in 1894, rises 180.5 feet (55 m) and has served as a Bridgeport landmark for more than a century, visible for miles from its prominent position atop Golden Hill. In 1953, when Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Bridgeport from territory taken from Hartford on August 6 of that year, St. Augustine's was chosen as the new diocese's cathedral. Several furnishings and traditional elements were removed during renovations in 1978 for the diocese's 25th anniversary, although the splendid stained-glass windows and Keely's decorative work — columns, capitals and rosettes, some bearing shamrocks as signs of the Trinity — survived. In 2003, then-Bishop William E. Lori launched a $4.5 million renovation to restore the cathedral's traditional Gothic character while making it suitable for the post-Vatican II liturgy. Architect Henry Hardinge Menzies of New Rochelle, New York, designed new elements — including a marble altar and a unique arched baldacchino inspired by the one at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City — to look as though they had always been part of the original building. The 2003–2004 project installed new Italian marble in green and white diamond patterns throughout the sanctuary, repainted ceilings, and expanded the worship capacity to 750. On December 2, 2004, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, celebrated the dedication Mass; Bishop Lori and 12 other bishops from around New England and New York concelebrated, in the presence of Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore. Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford preached the homily. In 2014 the cathedral's pipe organ was rebuilt and expanded to 42 ranks by the A. Thompson-Allen Organ Company of New Haven, Connecticut (Opus 124). Today the cathedral shares its life with St. Patrick's Church as The Cathedral Parish of Bridgeport, serving a diverse, multilingual Catholic community in Fairfield County under the leadership of Bishop Frank J. Caggiano (fifth bishop of Bridgeport, installed 2013).