Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Boise, Idaho)

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, also known simply as St. John’s Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in Boise, Idaho, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Boise, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The first Catholic church in Boise was dedicated on Christmas Eve 1870 and was destroyed in a fire 18 days later.^[2] Another frame structure was built that would serve as the cathedral of the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho, established March 5, 1883, and the Diocese of Boise after it was established on August 25, 1893.^[3] It was located on the northwest corner of Ninth and Bannock Streets.^[4] As the city started to grow a larger cathedral was needed and Bishop Alphonse Joseph Glorieux purchased property bounded by Fort, Hays, Eighth and Ninth Streets. He laid the cornerstone for the present cathedral in 1906. So as not to be a financial drain on the parish, the church building was built in stages. After the lower level was completed the parish worshiped there. The walls and roof were competed in 1912, and the cathedral as it is known today, was completed during the episcopate of Bishop Daniel Mary Gorman. He dedicated the church on Easter Sunday 1921.

St. John’s Cathedral was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a part of the Tourtellotte and Hummel Architecture Thematic Resource.^[1] The rest of the buildings on the block were added to the National Register in 1982 and are listed as St. John's Cathedral Block.

Architecture

St. John’s Cathedral was designed by one of the first architectural firms to work in Boise, Tourtellotte and Hummel. It is built in the Romanesque Revival style and the Cathedral of Mainz in Germany was the model for its design.^[5] The stone for the exterior is Boise Sandstone that was quarried just outside of the city at Tablerock. The building is cruciform in shape and measures 170 feet (52 m) from front to back, 95 feet (30 m) at the transepts and 65 feet (20 m) in the nave.

The building was designed to have two towers topped with spires flanking the main façade. They, however, have not been completed. A rose window graces the front of the church. The center gable above the main entrance features a statue of St. John the Evangelist on its peak. Corbeling, a continuous band of small projecting arches, encircles the building at the roofline.

The stained glass windows in the nave depict scenes from the life of Christ. The large widow in the north transept depicts the Adoration of the Magi. It is flanked by widows portraying St. Alphonsus Ligouri and St. Theresa of Avila. The south transept window depicts the Ascension and is flanked by windows portraying St. Patrick and St. Rita. The windows in the sanctuary depict St. Joseph on the north and the Blessed Virgin Mary on the south. In the apse are windows portraying the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are flanked by windows portraying the Four Evangelists. The windows were installed in 1920, except the window portraying the Holy Spirit in the center of the apse, which was installed in 1979. St. Cecilia is depicted in the window above the pipe organ.

The interior of the church had a major cleaning in 1952 and an exterior restoration was carried out in the 1960s. In the late 1970s a major renovation of the interior was completed. The altar was moved under the transept and the seating was brought closer for better participation by the laity. The baptismal font was redesigned as a pool and the former font was repurposed as an ambry to hold the holy oils. A reservation altar for the tabernacle was created in the south transept. The canopy was from the former high altar. St John’s received an Orchid Award in 1981 from the Idaho Historic Preservation Council for outstanding work in restoration.^[5]

References

External links

• Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Web Site
• Diocese of Boise’s Web Site