Co-cathedral

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A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the honor of being a bishop's seat, or cathedra, with another cathedral. Instances of this occurred in England before the Protestant Reformation in the dioceses of Bath and Wells, and of Coventry and Lichfield, hence the names of these dioceses. In France the bishop of Couserans (a see suppressed at the Revolution) had two co-cathedral churches at Saint-Lizier, and the bishop of Sisteron (a see also suppressed) had a second throne in the church of Forcalquier which is still called La Con-cathédrale.

1 United Kingdom
2 United States
3 See also
4 References

[edit] United Kingdom

In the case of York the collegiate churches of Beverley, Ripon and Southwell were almost in the same position, but although the archbishop had a stall in each he had no diocesan cathedra in them, and the chapters were not united with that of the metropolitan church in the direct government of the diocese, or the election of the archbishop, nor had they those other rights which were held to denote the cathedral character of a church.

[edit] United States

In the United States, there are several instances in which a Catholic diocese maintains two Episcopal See cities, each with their own cathedral or co-cathedral. Examples include the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Basilica of Saint Mary in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota and St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica and the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas.^[1]

Other instances include Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

There are also three instances in the United States in which a cathedral and its co-cathedral are in the same city.^[2] This usually occurs when a historically important cathedral becomes too small to serve a growing population, and a larger co-cathedral is constructed to accomodate larger services. Examples include:

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, both within walking distance of each other in Diocese of Honolulu
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph's Co-Cathedral in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen serving the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In the Episcopal Church, both the Diocese of Iowa and the Diocese of Minnesota each have two cathedrals, both located in different cities; however, they are not styled "co-cathedrals."