Tour of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral

It’s Day 242 of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati” and today we took a tour of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral.

St. Peter in Chains is a Catholic Cathedral located downtown.  This particular Cathedral was not the first Catholic Church in Cincinnati nor was it the first Cathedral.  A much smaller church served as the first Catholic Church in Cincinnati and it was located where St. Francis Seraph is now.  And the first Cathedral was located on Sycamore.   This particular Cathedral was built in the 1840’s under the guidance of Archbishop Purcell.

St. Peter in Chains is a gorgeous church.  Its architecture actually surprised me.  I was expecting lots of stained glass and elaborate detail.  But what I found was much different…still completely gorgeous – just not what I expected.  The architecture is Greek Revival in style.  The colors are vivid earth tones and the details are gold and bronze.  There’s lots of marble and rich mahogany everywhere.  Gorgeous!

Our tour guide, Pia, was wonderful.  We started off by going “behind the scenes”.  We got to see some gorgeous pieces of art that were given to the Cathedral when it was built.  We also got to see the restored carriage of the Archbishop (no longer in use of course!).

We got to see the sacristy and the “museum” area which contained all kinds of Cathedral history, from vestments to chalices to a tiny replica of the Cathedral.

We then proceeded into the Archbishop’s private chapel.  Here’s a great picture of our tour guide, Pia, who was telling us about the meaning behind some of the items in the Archbishop’s chapel.

We then walked back into the main body of the church and learned all about the architecture and artwork that makes this church so beautiful.

In the photo above we were standing at the front doors to the Cathedral.  The marble walls here (black and 4′ deep) lead into a smaller hallway (as seen above) and then open up into the huge church – symbolizing moving from death into the presence of God.  You can also see the Cathedral’s Advent wreath above the door.

The picture above was taken in the Chapel which sits to the side of the altar.  And below you can the area off to the other side of the altar.

This is an active parish.  The church is usually open during the day if you’d like to see inside.  And they would, of course, welcome you for mass on any day of the week.  The Cathedral also offers a variety of musical concerts that are open to the public (see their site for concert details – link below).

We really enjoyed our tour.  Pia did such a fantastic job and we are so very grateful to her for the time she took today to show us her beautiful church home.

St. Peter in Chains Cathedral is located at 325 West 8th Street downtown