Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista (San Juan, 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).
Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of Saint John the Baptist
Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista

Front entrance
Basic information
Location San Juan, Puerto Rico
Geographic coordinates 18°27′57″N 66°7′4″W / 18.46583°N 66.11778°W / 18.46583; -66.11778Coordinates: 18°27′57″N 66°7′4″W / 18.46583°N 66.11778°W / 18.46583; -66.11778
Affiliation Roman Catholic Church
Province Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico
Status Cathedral
Architectural description
Architectural type Church
Architectural style Neoclassical

The Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista or in English, Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. The cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in San Juan, located in Old San Juan, and is the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. Even though the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, is an older church building, the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista was the first cathedral church on the Western Hemisphere as San Juan, then known as the city of Puerto Rico, was the first diocese of the New World with bishop Don Alonso Manso in 1511.

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 structure constructed in 1540, being reshaped in later centuries, the last time being in 1917.

The first school in Puerto Rico (and the oldest school in the United States after Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States) 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.[1]

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, the first Caribbean-born layperson and the first layperson in the history of the United States to be beatified.[2]

The first organist of the Cathedral of San Juan was the Canarian Domingo Crisanto Delgado Gómez[3][4] 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.[5]

Interior of the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista
Tomb of Juan Ponce de León 
Relics of Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Santiago 
Virgen de la Providencia (Virgin of Providence) 
Exterior from different angle 

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hispanic Firsts", By; Nicolas Kanellos, publisher Visible Ink Press; ISBN 0-7876-0519-0; p.40
  2. ↑ "Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago (1918-1963)". Blesseds: Table of the Beatifications during the Pontificate of His Holiness John Paul II. The Holy See. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
  3. ↑ Canarios en la música cubana
  4. ↑ Música del Siglo XIX para la Catedral de La Laguna
  5. ↑ Música del Siglo XIX para la Catedral de La Laguna
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