Our Diocese was first established and erected as the Diocese of Quincy on 29 July 1853 by His Holiness, Pope Pius IX, though we never had a resident Bishop for reasons I might relate at another time. Just a few years later the same Pontiff transferred the See City to Alton, Illinois. On 23 October 1923 Pope Pius XI transferred the See to Springfield, where it remains to this day.
A mere eighteen days after the transfer of the See City, the Holy Father appointed James Aloysius Griffin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the first Bishop of Springfield in Illinois.
As he launched his plans to begin the construction of the Cathedral in Springfield four years after his arrival, Bishop Griffin said, after touring his Diocese and seeing to the spiritual and physical needs of his people:
Let us go up now to our Episcopal City and there build the head fortress of our Diocese, the Mother Church of all our churches and people, a Memorial to our Immaculate Mother, a testimonial to the pioneer priests and laity of our Diocese, a Home worthy of our Eucharistic King.Rather than bring in a body of consulters and fund-raisers, as is the custom of our day, the Bishop himself was the sole campaigner for his new project, speaking across the Diocese at various functions for the Diamond Jubilee Cathedral Campaign.
Bishop Griffin sought $750,000 from the people of the Diocese and received close to $1,000,000,000. The campaign opened on 14 February 1927 with the motto, “It is God’s work. God wills it.” Apparently the slogan was rightly chosen!
At such success, Bishop Griffin wrote to the Associated Press, “I believe I am the happiest man in America. May our new Cathedral be not only a house of prayer but also a symbol of lovely friendships and an incentive to greater civic service."
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