The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul will unveil a large banner at the main entrance welcoming Pope Francis to Philadelphia.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Immediately following 12:05 p.m. Mass
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103

The banner unveiling will be one of a series of events hosted by the Cathedral in celebration of the upcoming World Meeting of Families and the Papal Visit. Additional initiatives are outlined below.

The Baptismal Font of Saint Katherine Drexel, as well as her portrait and Baptismal record, is now on display in the Cathedral Basilica Baptistery. The second American-born saint, she was born in Philadelphia and devoted her life to serving Native Americans, as well as black Americans in the southern United States. She also founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Black and Native Americans and Xavier University in New Orleans.

On September 23, the Cathedral will host a lecture, “The Renaissance of Sacred Architecture Today,” by Professor Duncan Stroik. Stroik is a professor of classical architecture at the University of Notre Dame. The lecture will be jointly sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art- Philadelphia. Seats can be reserved at www.classicist-phila.org or by calling 215-917-9077.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015
6:30 p.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul will also display for veneration the relics of three saints and two soon-to-be saints during the week of the World Meeting of Families.

• Saint Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian pediatrician, wife, and mother. She died in 1962 giving birth to her fourth child. Saint Gianna was beatified in 1994 – the first year the World Meeting of Families was ever held – by Saint John Paul II and canonized in 2004. Saint Gianna is the Patron Saint for mothers, physicians and unborn children. She was chosen as a Patron Saint, along with Pope Saint John Paul II, of the World Meeting of Families. Some of her personal items on view for veneration will include her rosaries, daily missal, wedding gloves and wedding dress.
• Pope Saint John Paul II was an outspoken advocate of human rights and influential in world politics, helping to bring an end to communism in his native Poland. In 1979 Saint John Paul II was the first Pope to ever visit Philadelphia, celebrating Mass on Logan Circle for nearly one million people. 15 years later, in 1994, Saint John Paul II celebrated the first World Meeting of Families, which aimed to strengthen the sacred bonds of family across the globe. Upon his canonization in 2014, he was declared “the pope of the family.” His relic will be present in the Cathedral during the week.
• Saint Thérèse of Lisieux felt an early call to religious life and, after overcoming various obstacles, became a nun at the age of 15 and joined two of her elder sisters in the cloistered Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. Popularly known as “The Little Flower”, Saint Thérèse in great measure owed her saintly life to the guidance and example of her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, who are to be canonized on October 18, 2015. A reliquary of these three holy ones together will be present in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for veneration during the week.

Finally, the Cathedral will be hosting “Drop In Tours” on select summer weekdays. Tours of the Cathedral Basilica will start in the Cathedral Vestibule and feature various architectural structures such as domes, altars, and side chapels, and additionally explore on the historical and social context of the Cathedral’s construction. There is no admission charge, but free will offerings are accepted. For more information on the dates and times of the Drop In Tours, visit the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Facebook page.

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Editor’s Note: Considered Pennsylvania’s largest cathedral, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul serves as the mother church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as it houses the chair or “cathedra” of the Archbishop. Modeled after the Lombard Church of Saint Charles in Rome, the cathedral is central to the history of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and is the largest and most architecturally-eminent structure brownstone in the City of Philadelphia.

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Stephanie Brophy
Associate Director of Communications
215-587-3747