This year we celebrate the 275th anniversary of our San Fernando Cathedral. Our cathedral gives San Antonio and Texas many reasons to be proud.
On March 9, 1731, the construction of the first cathedral that took the name of San Fernando marked the birth of the first municipal government of the state of Texas and one of the oldest in the United States.
Around that church, the town of San Fernando de Bexar was born, and later became what today is the city of San Antonio.
This cathedral, relatively simple compared with others built by the Spaniards in their colonies, is an incredible witness of more than 200 years of history of the church and of Texas; and at the same time, it is a symbol of perseverance of Texans who wanted to live in this region and help its progress.
Franciscan Father Augustin Morfi, who traveled through Texas around 1779, said at the time about San Fernando that, “The church building is spacious and has a vaulted roof; but the whole is so poorly constructed that it promises but a short life.”
San Fernando not only survived that prognosis, but also several wars and the fire of 1840, which left it almost totally in ruins.
But San Fernando is more than a historical milestone which understandably makes any Texan really proud. San Fernando is the heart of our church. It is at San Fernando that the Gospel was preached for the first time in this city; our first ancestors were baptized there. It is at San Fernando that we can still hear the echo of the voices of my predecessors who strengthened the people of God to remain firm in the faith, and there, on Sept. 13, 1987, Pope John Paul II prayed silently for the faithfulness of our church.
San Fernando is then, an affirmation of the Catholic identity of our city. An identity that does not exclude, but instead, is open to our brothers of other religions and is open to the world.
San Fernando is not only an historical monument, it is especially the house of God, the temple which gathers all Catholics under the same roof and welcomes all who want to find refuge.
For this reason, as we begin with the celebration of our cathedral’s anniversary, which marvelously coincides with the beginning of Lent, let us celebrate, above all, the heritage of our faith: the blood shed by the martyrs, the charity expressed by hundreds of religious, priests and lay people who have preceded us and the Gospel transmitted from generation to generation.
This is the reason why Pope Benedict XVI wants to grant a jubilee year, so that Catholics who visit our cathedral this year may receive an indulgence. (See the Web site, www.archdiosa.org.)
The celebration of the 275 years of San Fernando, this dear house of God which is found in the heart of San Antonio and Texas, invites us to look not only to our great past, but above all, to look to the future.
Our generation has the urgent responsibility of giving to the next generations, not only a solid and beautiful building, worthy to be the house of God, but it must make sure that it is leaving our faith on fire, in such a way that San Fernando will not be just an old building, but the temple where our faith continues to be taught, to be learned and above all, to be celebrated through sacred liturgy.
I pray from the bottom of my heart that this anniversary may find our cathedral not only physically ready, but also, and especially, that it may find us shining with faith, hope and love — because we are the living temples of the Holy Spirit, we are the living stones of the church, of which San Fernando is an image and an expression.
I pray to Our Lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe, who was first venerated around this region in our dear cathedral, so that our faith may also resist the difficulties of life.
God bless you!