St. Joseph Proto Cathedral

About this property

The Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral is a Catholic parish church at 310 West Stephen Foster Avenue in Bardstown, Kentucky. It is the original cathedral of the present Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, originally erected as the Diocese of Bardstown — "proto-cathedral" means the original cathedral of a see that has transferred or moved. During its years as a cathedral, the pastor was Benedict Joseph Flaget, the first bishop of Bardstown. The cornerstone was laid on July 16, 1816, with construction beginning thereafter. Materials used for its construction were found in the immediate area. The architect and builder was John Rogers of Baltimore. By 1819 it was sufficiently completed for Mass to be held. The interior was fully complete by 1823. Many of the paintings and interior decorations were donated by Pope Leo XII, King Louis-Philippe of France and others. The gift from the King of France included paintings by Murillo, Van Dyke and others. Gifts of royal embroidered vestments—the handwork of the queen and her court—and sacramental vessels were also made. The Coronation in Heaven of the Mother of God, Murillo On November 12, 1952, nine of the paintings were stolen. Thieves entered the church in the middle of the night and cut the paintings from their frames. The stolen paintings were: “The Flaying of St. Bartholomew,” “The Coronation,” “The Descent of the Holy Ghost,” “St. Anne,” “The Blessed Virgin,” and four Stations of the Cross. The paintings were recovered by the F.B.I. in April 1953. Four were found rolled up in the trunk of a car in Chicago, and five had been purchased by a New York buyer. The paintings remained in good condition. Twelve men were arrested in connection with the robbery, but only one, Norton Kretske, was sentenced. His conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court due to lack of evidence. The paintings were returned in 1957 and were rehung in the church in 1958. == Painting from King Francis I of the Two Sicilies == The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, Mattia Preti, was painted in Naples around 1650. In the early 19th century, King Francis I of the Two Sicilies made a gift of the picture to the Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Kentucky, where it remains to this day. After suffering many years of neglect and misguided restorations (including complete over-painting of the surface in the 1950s), the picture was sent to the Getty for study and development of a plan for treatment. Two years of difficult work have restored the picture, and the exceptional character and quality of the original is once again visible. The painting was returned to Bardstown in time for re-consecration of the Proto-Cathedral as a Basilica in August, 2002.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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