St. Joseph Cathedral

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Parish founded 1792; present cathedral built 1853–1856; elevated to cathedral 1961

St. Joseph Cathedral traces to a parish founded in 1792 as Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, renamed for St. Joseph in 1828. The present Gothic Revival church was built from 1853 to 1856 to a design by Jesuit architect Father John Cambiaso. When Pope John XXIII erected the Diocese of Baton Rouge in 1961, the church became its cathedral, serving as mother church of the diocese under its first bishop, Robert E. Tracy.

Gothic Revival (neo-Gothic)

• •Seat and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge
• •Parish founded in 1792 as Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores; renamed St. Joseph in 1828
• •Present church built 1853–1856, designed by Father John Cambiaso, S.J.
• •Became a cathedral when the Diocese of Baton Rouge was erected in 1961 (first bishop Robert E. Tracy)
• •Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 22, 1990