St. John's Cathedral [Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy]

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Parish established 1882; current cathedral dedicated June 7, 1903

St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Fresno, California, traces to a parish established in 1882, when Bishop Francisco Mora y Borrell dedicated an original brick church to St. John the Baptist. The present red-brick cathedral, designed by Thomas Bermingham, had its cornerstone laid in 1902 and was dedicated by Archbishop George Montgomery on June 7, 1903. It became a cathedral when the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno was formed in 1922, and since the 1967 split it has served as the mother church and seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

Gothic-Romanesque red brick

• •Seat and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno
• •Parish established in 1882; original church dedicated to St. John the Baptist by Bishop Francisco Mora y Borrell
• •Current cathedral cornerstone laid 1902, dedicated June 7, 1903 by Archbishop George Montgomery
• •Designed by architect Thomas Bermingham in a Gothic-Romanesque style of red brick
• •Became a cathedral with the 1922 creation of the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno; seat of the Bishop of Fresno after the 1967 split