inSPIREd Sunday

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January 2017 - San Antonio TX


San Fernando Cathedral (also called the Cathedral of Our Lady of Candelaria and Guadalupe) is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church located in downtown San Antonio. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the seat of its archbishop. The cathedral is also known as the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y Guadalupe and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is notable as one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States.

We first saw the cathedral at night.

John Paul II visited in 1987.

 The original church of San Fernando was built between 1738 and 1750. The walls of that church today form the sanctuary of the cathedral, which gives rise to its claim as the oldest cathedral in the State of Texas. The church was named for Ferdinand III of Castile, who ruled in the 13th century. The baptismal font, believed to be a gift from Charles III, who became King of Spain from 1759, is the oldest piece of liturgical furnishing in the cathedral. The cathedral was built by settlers from the Canary Islands, for this reason the interior is a picture of the Virgin of Candelaria, the patroness of the Canary Islands.

In 1831, Jim Bowie married Ursula de Veramendi in San Fernando. We'll come across Bowie later and also at the Alamo.

In 1836, the cathedral, still a parish church, played a role in the Battle of the Alamo when Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna hoisted a flag of "no quarter" from the church's tower, marking the beginning of the siege.

Burial Tomb of Davy Crockett, William B. Travis, and Jim Bowie.

We were back the next day and found this statue behind the cathedral.


A bronze statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe gazing at Juan Diego was installed behind the Colonial section of the Cathedral December 8, 2015.