Patrick Rieley
One of the most visible icons of our great city is the Cathedral of Saint Helena. The word âcathedralâ comes from the Greek word cathedra, meaning âseat of the bishop.â The Cathedral was built by the Columbia Construction Company of New York, with the laying of the cornerstone on Oct. 4, 1908 by Bishop John Patrick Carroll. Carroll was the second bishop of Helena, who was known as a builder and educator from Dubuque, Iowa. The first Bishop, John Baptist Brondel, proposed to name the Cathedral St. âHelenaâ for the Diocese of Helena and the lower level of the Cathedral bears his namesake as the Brondel Center. Bishop Carroll also founded Mt. Saint Charles College which we all know today as Carroll College, in 1909 he and President William Howard Taft laid the cornerstone of Saint Charles Hall.