Basilica of St. John the Baptist

The Basilica-Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's, Newfoundland. The building sits within the St. John's Ecclesiastical District, a National Historic District of Canada. The Basilica-Cathedral was the largest building project to its date in Newfoundland history. Construction lasted from the excavation of the ground in May 1839, through the laying of the cornerstone in May 1841, until the completion and consecration on 9 September 1855. At this time, it was the largest church building in North America and remains the second largest church in Canada after Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and the largest cathedral church in Canada. The Basilica-Cathedral is one of the few buildings in St. John's to survive the Great Fire of 1892. Pope Pius XII raised the cathedral to the status of minor Basilica via his decree Terra Novæ Cæruleis on 30 May 1955, coinciding with its centennial anniversary. The decree was signed and notarized by the Apostolic Chancellor Ermenegildo Brugnola. On 12 December 2018, Bishop Peter Hundt of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador was appointed Archbishop and took canonical possession of the diocese on 29 January 2019.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).