The History of the

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

On December 4, 1849, four fathers of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate arrived in Brownsville on horseback to establish a local parish. Seven years later, the first corner stone of the Cathedral was laid. In 1859, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was completed, using 250,000 hand made bricks made as tithes by parishioners. Designed by Father Pierre Y. Kerralum, who studied architecture in France before entering the seminary, the church is an excellent example of the Gothic Revival style. Serving as the first Oblate seminary in Texas, it housed priests fleeing revolution in Mexico. The site became a cathedral in 1874 when the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville was established.

On July 10, 1965 +His Holiness Paul VI established the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. Upon its establishment the then Immaculate Conception Church was elevated to Cathedral Status, renamed The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Since then the Cathedral has served as the Seat of the Diocese and has served as the Mother Church to all 1.5 Million Catholics in the Rio Grande Valley.

On the grounds are three memorials: one dedicated to the Oblate missionaries, and a vault belonging to the family of Simon Celaya, a Spanish immigrant and organizer of the Rio Grande Railroad, and the final resting place of His Excellency the Most Reverend Adolph Marx who was the First Bishop of Brownsville.

Since 1859 the Cathedral has undergone many revovations with the most recent one ending in 2015 when the structural integrity of the building was in danger. During that renovation the sanctuary of the Cathedral was restored to resemble much of the original. That renovation included adding steal support beams to support the roof and relocating the Blessed Sacrament, adding a permanent Altar (Mensa), installing a professional state of the art sound system, improving the interior lighting, and much more.

The Catherdral is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.