Built over the course of five years, the Cathedral was dedicated on November 15, 1959, by Archbishop Francis Keough. A fitting tribute to the glory of God through the Blessed Virgin Mary, the building is truly awesome in its size and scope.

  
The actual numbers themselves are staggering: The Cathedral is 373 feet long (which is 41 feet longer than Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City), 132 feet wide at its typical width and 163 feet to the top of the spires. Over 3 million bricks were used, along with 70,000 pieces of Indiana limestone for the interior and exterior facing. No structural steel was used for support. The building is designed to seat 1900 people and can fits as many as 2200. The roof reaches 90 feet into the air. There are over 385 sculptures and 398 panels of stained glass in the nave alone. The church building, along with the rectory, school, physical plant, and the new Cathedral Parish Center (behind the Cathedral), sit on 25 acres in the Homeland area of Baltimore City.

This church is called a cathedral because it contains the "throne" (from the Latin word, "cathedra") of the Archbishop. The throne is one of the oldest and most important symbols of the Church. The Cathedral serves, together with the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as one of the two centers of the liturgical life of the Archdiocese. This makes Baltimore one of the few dioceses in the United States with two cathedrals. The Cathedral also serves as the center of a very active parish of over 2,000 families.

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