[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 54 (Thursday, April 3, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E675-E676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE SAN FERNANDO CATHEDRAL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CHARLES A. GONZALEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 3, 2003

  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, last week the San Fernando Cathedral 
celebrated the completion of its renovation. Today I am introducing a 
resolution honoring the San Fernando Cathedral--the oldest cathedral in 
the United States and the oldest standing structure in my district of 
San Antonio, Texas. I and my fellow colleague from San Antonio, Ciro 
Rodriguez, want to pay tribute to this exquisite building, and the 
great history and culture that it embodies.
  San Fernando Cathedral is both literally and figuratively the 
geographic centerpoint of San Antonio. This cathedral is not only 
revered by the people of San Antonio, but by all the people of this 
Nation, who remember the strength and sacrifice of those who built this 
country. As I mentioned before, just last week, the renovation of this 
magnificent building was completed. I stand here today to mark this 
achievement.
  The San Fernando Cathedral is a grand structure, rich in its history 
and meaning. Like

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many of America's greatest institutions, it was built by the worn hands 
of the very poor. Fifteen Spanish families, sent by the King of Spain 
to establish a mission in Texas, laid the cornerstone of the church in 
1731. They called it ``La Villa de San Fernando.'' Like most of us, 
they were immigrants, looking towards a new future, looking to build a 
new home. What they ultimately built was a nation. A nation of many 
people, of many backgrounds.
  They united under the cathedral's roof. As a symbol of their unity, 
the congregation joined Old World and New World saints--Our Lady of 
Candlemas and Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe--as patrons in addition to 
the town's official patron, King Fernando III of Spain. San Fernando 
Cathedral is a place where all people still come together each week, by 
the thousands, to meet and pray. Like the generations before them, they 
also come to the cathedral to seek refuge from a world too often 
ravaged by hunger and violence, as soldiers did during the Battle of 
the Alamo.
  I honor the San Fernando Cathedral today because I believe that, like 
the immigrants that built it, this building has an honored place in our 
history and most certainly has an honored place in our future.

                          ____________________