St. Mary Basilica

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St. Mary Basilica, formerly St. Mary's Cathedral, located in Natchez, Mississippi, United States, is a parish church in the Diocese of Jackson and Minor basilica of the Catholic Church. In 1979 it was listed under its former name as a contributing property in the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.HistoryThe Diocese of Natchez was erected in 1837, and in 1842 construction began on a new cathedral. It was dedicated on December 25, 1843 and consecrated on September 19, 1886 and remained the cathedral of the diocese until 1977. It was designated a minor basilica on September 8, 1998 and dedicated as such on September 25, 1999.In 2007 the body of Bishop John J. Chanche, S.S. the first Catholic bishop of Mississippi, was exhumed from a Baltimore, Maryland catholic cemetery and returned to Natchez to be reinterred in St. Mary Basilica's church yard.ArchitectureThe brick structure is two-stories in height, and it was constructed on a partially raised basement. It features a semi-circular apsidal end, ornamental pinnacles, and buttresses. The central square tower that is capped with a spire is embedded into the structure, and it has a recessed Gothic-arched entrance. Local architect James Hardie designed the Gothic Revival building.