Savannah's St John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral: 10 '18

Yesterday's tour guide had told us that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is one of the most awe-inspiring buildings in all of historic Savannah Georgia. It is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Savannah.   And to see it, we should get there early,  so it was our first priority of the day. 

The colonial charter of Savannah prohibited Roman Catholics from settling in the city. The English trustees feared that Catholics would be more loyal to the Spanish authorities in Florida than to the English government in Georgia, however, this prohibition faded shortly after the American Revolution. The church's congregation was reorganized about 1796. French Catholic émigrés established the first church in 1799 after they fled Haiti after slave rebellions that began on the Caribbean island in 1791. It became the main church for free blacks from Haiti in the early 19th century. Construction began on the new Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in 1873 and was completed with the addition of the spires in 1896. The structure was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898 but through diligent effort was rebuilt by 1899

St John the Baptist's Cathedral

The building is an excellent example of French Gothic architecture. Outside The 28,000-square-foot cathedral, featuring steeples rising 207 feet in the air.

The interior is even more stunning.

My (CC's)  first reaction was that I had been teleported back in time to the St Agnes Catholic Church ( Los Angeles) which I had attended as a child.   It was not just the gothic architecture,

Rear Nave and Baptismal font

High Alter and Apse

or the spectacular alters,

Side Alter

But  the  starry skies, 

and 

murals on the ceiling

and spectacularly stained glass windows with more instructive murals

Window and decorative murals of the South transept

and the stations of the cross lining each side of the church walls,  

which were hand-carved in the 1800s,

They were hand -painted  

and incredibly-detailed 

It was  all so familiar, I had an almost instant sense of belonging. That feeling was short lived . While Bruce was offering a monetary donation to their coffers, an elderly man approached me and where I was from... I explained and told him I was now living in SC but that I had lived my early childhood in LA; I also told him how amazed I was by how much this beautiful church in Savannah GA resembled to one of my youth. The guy launched into a diatribe about how he couldn't understand how people in California, Oregon and Washington could think the way they do. When I ignored that bait, he said they were 'all crazies' and they should all leave. About then Bruce ( who is never one to back down from an argument) jumped in demanding to know if he meant he the guy would really be happy to see the entire west coast lost to the US. 'Yes', he reaffirmed, 'they are all crazies'.  So much for feeling like I had come home. Needless to say, I did not stick around for the guided tour. I walked out of there more convinced than ever that I had made the right decision in leaving the Catholic Church

That being said Savannah's St John the Baptist Cathedral has one of the richest and culturally diverse histories of any in this country

If you only have a short time in Savannah make sure that you make your way over to this Cathedral. As long as you do not mention you are from anywhere on the west coast, you won't regret it. It is a beautiful French Gothic cathedral, certainly one of the most amazing cathedrals in the south.