Downtown Harrisburg's Catholic cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, and it is right in front of you. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Harrisburg and the seat of its bishop, and is a contributing property in the Harrisburg Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Catholicism came to Central Pennsylvania before the American Revolutionary War.
German Jesuits established the Conewago Chapel in 1730 and St. Mary’s Church in 1743 in Lancaster, and by 1806 there was a small Catholic mission here in Harrisburg. Property in Allison Hill was bought in 1813 and a chapel was built on that site. As the city developed, Irish immigrants arrived, and the Rev. Patrick Leary bought property on State Street in 1824; the cornerstone for the first St. Patrick’s church was laid two years later.
That church was built for $6,500. You can imagine parish life as St. John Neumann, then bishop of Philadelphia, visited in 1855 and again in 1857. On March 3, 1868, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Harrisburg and St. Patrick’s was named the pro-cathedral of the new diocese.
Notice the neighborhood and buildings that frame this historic site.