The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, located in Faribault, Minnesota, has a rich and interesting history. The church was established in the mid-1800s, when a group of Episcopalians in Faribault began holding services in private homes. In 1855, the congregation purchased a lot on the corner of Third Street and Second Avenue and constructed a wooden church building.
As the congregation grew, the need for a larger and more permanent building became apparent. In 1862, construction began on a new stone church building. The building was designed by architect James Renwick Jr., who also designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C. The building was completed in 1869, and was consecrated by Whipple.
Over the years, the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour underwent several renovations and additions. In the early 1900s, the chancel was enlarged and a sacristy was added. In the 1930s, a new pipe organ was installed. In the 1950s, the church underwent a major renovation, which included the addition of a new transept and chapel. In 1990, the cathedral underwent another major renovation, which included a new altar and reredos, a new baptismal font, and a new sound system. On August 10, 1979, the cathedral and its guild house were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The “cathedral idea” was in the air at the time Henry Benjamin Whipple became Minnesota’s first Episcopal bishop. James Lloyd Breck had written about it often in his letters. A cathedral was to be the Bishop’s church at the center of institutions of learning and a network of ministry. When Whipple settled in Faribault, a parish church, two schools and several congregations in nearby villages had been started. In the spring of 1862, Mrs. Breck died and on July 16 Whipple laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, which was to be a memorial to her.

According to Whipple, this was the first Episcopal church in the US to be built as a cathedral. Money was scarce, and it would not be completed and consecrated until June 24, 1869. Old Bishop Kemper, who would die the next year, was present. At the beginning the Cathedral was used by the schools–Shattuck, St. Mary’s Hall, Seabury–as well as the Parish of the Good Shepherd. Whipple died in 1901 and was buried beneath the altar.
The next year a tower with a peal of ten bells was dedicated in his memory. Today the Faribault Cathedral has an active congregation which sponsors several outreach programs.