St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Current cathedral dedicated February 14, 1926 (parish founded 1851)

St. Mary's Parish was erected in 1851 by Bishop François Norbert Blanchet, and St. Mary's Church was designated his cathedral in 1862. After an 1885 cathedral was destroyed in the 1894 Willamette River flood, Archbishop Alexander Christie authorized the present cathedral, designed by the Portland firm Jacobberger and Smith and dedicated February 14, 1926. It serves as the seat and mother church of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, formally erected by Pope Pius XI in 1928.

A mix of 20th-century Romanesque and Byzantine styles

• •Cathedral (seat) of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
• •Present building dedicated February 14, 1926; first services held February 19, 1926
• •St. Mary's Parish established in 1851 by Bishop François Norbert Blanchet; church designated cathedral in 1862
• •Designed by the Portland architectural firm Jacobberger and Smith
• •An earlier (1885) cathedral on the site was destroyed by the 1894 Willamette River flood