St. Joseph Cathedral (San Diego, California)

St. Joseph Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in the Cortez Hill neighborhood of downtown San Diego, California. It is the seat of the Diocese of San Diego.

St. Joseph Cathedral
St. Joseph Cathedral's location in Southern California
32°43′16″N 117°09′42″W
Location	1535 Third Avenue San Diego, California
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.sdcathedral.org
History
Founded	1874
Architecture
Architectural type	Mission Revival
Completed	1941
Administration
Diocese	San Diego
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Most Rev. Michael Pham
Pastor(s)	Rev. Peter Navarra

History

Funeral of Father Ubach in 1907 at former brick St. Joseph's Church, since replaced by the Cathedral

The parish was founded in 1874 and the first sanctuary was a frame building at Third and Beech built in 1875 under the leadership of Antonio Ubach on land donated by Alonzo Horton.^[1][2] Adjacent to the church was an adobe house where Ubach lived. The church was dedicated the same year by Bishop Francis Mora.^[2] In 1894, the parish completed and dedicated a much larger brick church.^[3]

St. Joseph became a cathedral in 1936,^[4] when the Holy See established the Diocese of San Diego from part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The cathedral is built on the site of the earlier churches and was dedicated in 1941.^[5] St. Joseph underwent restoration work in 2011 which included repainting and restoring exterior wood and concrete. Earlier work upgraded restrooms and accessibility to the facility while additional work is planned when funding is in place.^[6]

Present day

St. Joseph's Cathedral offers public liturgies every day of the week, including a Sunday Mass in Spanish.^[7] A young adult ministry, confessions, and devotions are also available.

The cathedral frequently hosted concerts by Orchestra Nova San Diego and other classical groups.^[8]

• 
  Side view
• 
  Interior
• 
  Plaque

Pastors

1. Antonio Ubach, 1874–1907
2. Bernard Smyth, 1907–1912
3. Joseph Nunan, 1912–1914
4. Eugene A. Heffernan, 1914–1919
5. John J. Brady, 1919–1929
6. John M. Hegarty, 1929–1940
7. Franklin Hurd, 1940–1947
8. Francis Dillon, 1947–1954
9. William A. Bergin, 1954–1955
10. George M. Rice, 1955–1969
11. Anthony Giesing, 1969–1976
12. Rudolph Galindo, 1976–1983
13. Gilbert E. Chavez, 1983–2007
14. Peter Escalante, 2007–2015
15. Patrick Mulcahy, 2015–2019
16. Peter Navarra, 2019–Present

See also

• Catholicism portal

• List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States
• List of cathedrals in the United States