Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar
The Cathedral of St. John and St. Finbar was the first Roman Catholic cathedral in Charleston, South Carolina. The cathedral followed the first Roman Catholic Church in Charleston, St. Mary's, founded around 1800. Construction began in 1850 with the cathedral consecrated on April 6, 1854. It was destroyed on December 11, 1861, in a fire that ravaged much of Charleston. A new cathedral—the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, built on the same site-was started in 1890. It opened in 1907 and was completed in 2010 with the addition of the long-anticipated steeple. History The first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston (previously the diocese of the Carolinas and Georgia), Bishop John England (of County Cork, Ireland), originally conceived of the Cathedral. In 1821 he purchased the site of a garden in Charleston called “New Vauxhall”. A house was on the lot, and on December 30, 1821, Bishop England blessed it as a temporary chapel and named it in honor of St. Finbar, the patron saint of Cork. He then set about planning and raising funds for a cathedral for the see. However, Bishop England did not live to see the Cathedral constructed. The Right Reverend Ignatius Reynolds