Cathedral of San Juan, Puerto Rico

(Redirected from Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista (San Juan, Puerto Rico)) Church in Puerto Rico This article is about the Roman Catholic Cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For the Episcopal Cathedral, see Catedral San Juan Bautista (San Juan de Puerto Rico). Church in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of Saint John the Baptist Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista
Front entrance
Location of San Juan and the cathedral in Puerto Rico
18°27′57″N 66°7′4″W / 18.46583°N 66.11778°W / 18.46583; -66.11778
Location	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Cathedral
Founded	1521
Architecture
Style	Baroque
Groundbreaking	1535
Completed	1802
Administration
Diocese	Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico
Clergy
Archbishop	Most Rev. Roberto González Nieves, O.F.M.


San Juan Bautista Metropolitan Cathedral
U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property

Part of	Old San Juan Historic District (ID72001553)
Designated NHLDCP	October 10, 1972

The Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista, or in English, Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, is the Catholic cathedral for the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. It is one of the oldest buildings in Old San Juan, the oldest cathedral in the United States, the second-oldest existing cathedral in the Americas, and the third cathedral constructed in the Americas.

Although the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is an older church building, and the Garðar Cathedral Ruins in Greenland were built and served as a cathedral much earlier, the Cathedral of San Juan holds the distinction of being the oldest existing purpose-built cathedral church in the Americas. This is because San Juan, then known as the City of Puerto Rico, was the first diocese of the New World in the post-Columbus era (excluding Norse settlements in Greenland), with Bishop Don Alonso Manso appointed in 1511.

A private Puerto Rican foundation known as Fundación Protectora de la Catedral Metropolitana de San Juan, Inc. was established to fund the historical restoration of the building and its art treasures for its 500th anniversary in 2021, and to protect it for the coming centuries.

History

The original cathedral in what was the city of Puerto Rico (changed to San Juan Bautista in 1521) was constructed from wood in 1521. It was destroyed by a hurricane and the current church construction began in 1535, being practically completed in 1802, later in 1905 an upper portion to the facade was added.

The first school in Puerto Rico was the Escuela de gramática (Grammar School). The school was established by Bishop Alonso Manso in 1513, in the area where the cathedral would later be constructed. The school was free of charge and the courses taught were Latin language, literature, history, science, art, philosophy and theology.

The cathedral contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León. It also has a shrine to the Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Santiago, the first Puerto Rican and first Caribbean-born layperson in history to be beatified.

The first organist of the Cathedral of San Juan was the Canarian Domingo Crisanto Delgado Gómez who came from the island of Tenerife and managed to take this position in 1836, having been a composer in Cathedral Our Lady of Los Remedios of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in his native island.