Saint Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, is the center of spiritual life for some three thousand parishioners and more than three quarter million Catholics in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The first place of public worship for Catholics in the area was in the stockade of Fort Duquesne in 1754. From the date of the French evacuation in 1758 until a church was started in 1808 at the corner of Liberty and Washington Streets, there were no resident priests but mass was occasionally said in private homes by missionaries traveling west.  When the Diocese of Pittsburgh was formed in 1843, Saint Paul's Church at the corner of Fifth and Grant Street was consecrated as a Cathedral.  Because of declining population and pollution downtown, this location was sold to Henry Clay Frick and a new Cathedral was opened in 1906 at its present site on Fifth Avenue in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.  

The original cost of the building and furnishings was nearly 1.1 million dollars including $205,000 for the real estate which was offset by the sale of the downtown building.

Designed by Egan and Prindeville of Chicago and built by Thomas Reilly, a general contractor from Philadelphia, the new Saint Paul's is an example of the Scholastic, or Decorated, Gothic style of the 14th Century.  The building rises two hundred and forty seven feet with a statue of Saint Paul mounted on the center pediment.  Other exterior statues depict the apostles and evangelists of the Eastern and Western Church.  While the overall proportions of the structure are not true to the classic cathedrals of Europe, Saint Paul Cathedral fits the site and (as the cathedrals of old) reflects their spirit and historical significance.

The Oakland section of Pittsburgh is also home to the University of Pittsburgh (pictured left), Carnegie Mellon University (pictured right), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center .

As a city-within-a-city, Oakland is the intellectual and cultural center of the Pittsburgh area; an appropriate place for the spiritual center of the faithful in the Pittsburgh region.

Check the interior views of St. Paul Cathedral.

Please click here for information about the Saint Paul Cathedral Centennial Book.

Please click on a link below for more information about programs and services available at Saint Paul Cathedral.