Our Lady of Perpetual Relief - Savannah

Origin and history

The Basilica - St. John the Baptist Cathedral of Savannah, Georgia, is the mother church of the diocese of Savannah and one of the most prominent Catholic temples in the South of the United States. Although it is officially dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, Our Lady of Perpetual Relief occupies in it a place of honor as official high school patron.

In drawing the history of the current building, whose first stone was placed on 19 November 1873, a unique fact is discovered: the new cathedral was dedicated on 30 April 1876 under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This name was preserved for almost ten years. However, Bishop Becker discovered during a pilgrimage to Rome that the Vatican had not formally approved the change of title; the Holy See ordered the parish to regain the name of St. John the Baptist, although recognizing Our Lady of Perpetual Relief as a secondary patron. Thus, Marian devotion was institutionalized in the same cathedralicia headquarters of Georgia.

In January 2020, Pope Francis raised the temple to the dignity of the Minor Basilica, making it the first basilica of Georgia.

The cathedral and its images

The building, designed in Victorian neo-Gothic style by architect Ephraim Francis Baldwin, incorporates French constructive traditions in line with the roots of the first Catholic community of Savannah, which consists in large part of Haitian and French immigrants arrived in the late 18th century. Its twin towers are one of the city's architectural icons.

The windows, executed around 1904 by the glass teachers of Innsbruck (Austria), represent scenes of the New Testament with extraordinary luminosity. The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Relief - a reproduction of the original venerated in Rome in the church of San Alfonso de Ligorio - is venerated inside with traditional prayers.

Link to the Rosary

The advocation of the Perpetual Relief carries implicit a theology of Marian intercession: the child Jesus, scared in the arms of his Mother by contemplating the instruments of his Passion, clings to it, and Mary points to Christ as a way of salvation. This image of protection and of presenting Christ to the world is spiritually parallel to that of the Rosary, which contemplates the great mysteries of Jesus' life under the guidance of Mary.