Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

On a bitterly cold December day in 1850 the Diocese of Mobile, less than 35 years old, celebrated its patronal feast, the Immaculate Conception, by consecrating a cathedral whose cornerstone had been laid in 1835. It represented a monumental expression of faith on the part of the Catholic community, led by Bishop Michael Portier (d. 1859), assisted by benefactors in France and Rome, and, closer to home, those whom one contemporary paper called “their fellow-citizens of every creed!” Bishop Martin John Spalding of Louisville who preached for the occasion said of the edifice: “It is almost worthy of God.” https://mobilecathedral.org/in-depth-history