WELCOME TO THE CATHEDRAL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

 

The Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of St. George’s-in-Grenada which was created a diocese in 1956.  The original church was completed in 1804. It was described as a small low church with a spire at the top and dedicated to St. James. In 1840 a new church was started and completed in 1848 and dedicated again to St. James. The style is Gothic Revival exemplified by the pointed arch windows and doors, high ceiling and large buttresses. When the English Dominicans took charge in 1901, two other chapels were added—Our Lady’s Chapel and the Chapel of St. Joseph. Later under  Bishop Justin Field, the first Bishop of the Diocese, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was added. The tower which dates back to 1818 incorporated from the original church, is approximately 100 feet. It houses the bells and the original church. The Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of St. George’s-in-Grenada which was created a diocese in 1956.  The clock which chimes every fifteen minutes and on the hour.

 

The First Church A Christian presence in Grenada dates from the middle of the 17th Century when French settlers arrived from Martinique. The first Catholic Mass was celebrated in the Lagoon area of St. George’s in 1650. History books disagree on the exact date – May 29 or June 20.

 

Father Du Tertre, a French Dominican priest visiting the colony in 1656, wrote about a little church build of reeds and palms, in the charge of another Dominican, Father Bresson. A colony of 300 persons was located mainly on a band of low and that formed the lagoon into a small lake. That land is now the underwater reef from the Yatch Club to the Ballast Ground.

 

The Second Church Before long, the French decided to move to the high ground on the north side of what is now the Carenage. A new church was built where Anglican Church in St. George’s now stands. It was blessed on 10 September 1690. Father Labat, another Dominican who visiting Grenada in 1700, described it as “not large, nor beautiful, nor well built, nor clean.”

 

At the end of their Seven Years’ War, France ceded Grenada to victorious England in 1763, and the Anglican Church became established in Grenada as it was in England. However, in Grenada Catholics enjoyed more rights than in England. In 1764, the six civil parishes set out the French regime in 1721 were renamed, so that Basseterre, L’ Ance Gouyave, Grand Pauvre, Sauteurs, Marquis and Megrin became St. George’s, St. John’s, St. Marks’s, St. Patrick’s, St. Andrew’s and St. David’s.

 

In 1773, the Catholic Church in St. George’s, “which for many years had been in a state of disrepair, was made almost new again… by the industrious care and contributions” of its priest and parishioners. The French retook the island between 1779 and 1783. When Grenada was returned of British rule, Catholics were not accorded all the rights they had enjoyed from 1763 to 1779. Rather than share their church in St. George’s as ordered, they abandoned it, and for a time used the adjacent presbytery as their chapel.

 

 

Please enjoy your stay in Grenada and join us for the celebration of the Eucharist whenever you visit. If you are a returning Grenadian or have chosen to reside here a special welcome is extended to you.

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