September 21, 2025 - "Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle"

The parish of Saint Matthew the Apostle was the fourth established in the District of Columbia in the northeast corner of 15th and H Streets NW it was dedicated on November the 1st 1840 and served its parishioners throughout the 1890s. 

 

In 1892, its-then pastor, Monsignor Thomas Sim Lee, purchased the land on which the current church structure is located on Rhode Island Ave. NW. He commissioned the architect Christopher Grant La Farge to work on the design of the new church structure. LaFarge had worked on the plans for the cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City and the cathedral of Saint James in Seattle. His church design was accepted in 1893. The cornerstone was laid and blessed in 1893 and the first mass celebrated in 1895. Construction continued in various stages with the dome put in place in 1913. After Monsignor Lee's death, the new pastor, Monsignor Edward Buckley completed the interior.

 

In 1939, Saint Matthew’s was designated a Cathedral when the combined Archdiocese of Baltimore and Washington was created under the leadership of Archbishop Michael Curley of Baltimore. Upon Archbishop Curley’s death in 1947, Washington was separated from Baltimore, and the Archdiocese of Washington was established. Saint Matthew's became the Mother Church of the new archdiocese. In 1974, the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

On November the 25, 1963, the funeral of the 35th President of the United States, John F Kennedy, was celebrated in the Cathedral and is memorialized by a marble plaque imposed in the floor immediately before the gates of the sanctuary commemorating the place where casket was placed for the funeral Mass and rites. Funeral services have also been held at the Cathedral for other notables, such as Chief Justice United States William Rehnquist and Associate Justice William J. Brennan.

 

Mother Teresa visited Saint Matthew’s in 1974.  A statue of Mother Teresa and the homeless man, sculpted by the Russian artist Leonid Bodnia, was installed in Our Lady’s Chapel to commemorate her visit.  On October the 6, 1979, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass for the clergy of the Archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore and Dioceses of Arlington Richmond and Wheeling Charleston.  A bust in the commemoration of his visit, sculpted by Gordon Kray, is displayed in the Saint Anthony chapel.

 

In 1999, the Cathedral underwent a major restoration with major repairs in the to the exterior dome, along with extensive work on the interior to refurbish the mosaics and other artwork in the interior, to upgrade the lighting and sound systems and other functional parts of the interior. The extensive effort was completed in 2003 with the grand celebration on September 21, 2003, the feast of Saint Matthew. A plaque commemorating the stewards who gave generously to the restoration is located at the entrance to the baptistry.

 

Pope Francis led Midday Prayer with the United States’ bishops at the cathedral on September 23, 2015, during his apostolic visit the United States. Pope Francis’ visit to Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in 2015 is memorialized on a commemorative plaque on the wall behind the statue of Mother Teresa and a homeless man.

 

Until next week,

Fr. John