St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows

You are now standing outside of the oldest extant church structure in downtown Nashville, St. Mary of the Seven Sorrows. There were fewer than 100 Catholics living here in 1821, when Father Robert Abell visited Nashville from Bardstown, Kentucky and offered the first Catholic mass in the state. The first Catholic parish was built in Nashville in 1830—Holy Rosary Cathedral on what is now Capitol Hill. You can see the historical marker later in the tour when walking around the Capitol grounds. Over the next seven years the Diocese of Nashville was established. Richard Pius Miles, the first Catholic Bishop of Nashville, said after his 1839 visit to the state that there were no more than 300 Catholics living here at the time. Miles remained in Nashville until his death in 1860. During his tenure, he ordained the first priest in Tennessee, established a seminary for boys, built a hospital and an orphanage, and grew the diocese to nearly 12,000 parishioners. 

Bishop Miles laid the cornerstone for St. Mary’s in 1844, and the building was completed in 1847.

Membership grew in the 1840s, in part, as a result of an influx of Irish immigrants to Tennessee to build bridges and railroads. In the face of anti-Catholic bigotry, Bishop Miles sought to build relationships with other faith leaders. In 1972, the Bishop was nominated for canonization when it was discovered that his body had miraculously not decomposed after 112 years.

St. Mary’s was designed by Adolphus Heiman, a German immigrant who moved to Nashville in 1837. Heiman designed several major Nashville buildings, including the State Asylum and the Belmont Mansion. Heiman built the cathedral in a Greek Revival temple style, which features a gable front entrance with two fluted Ionic columns that support a classical pediment. Like many of the other churches downtown, St. Mary’s was used as a hospital during the Civil War. In 1926, the Nashville firm of Asmus & Clark renovated the exterior and interior, finished the west facade in local limestone and altered the original octagonal belfry. St. Mary’s will celebrate its 175^th anniversary in 2022. For more on early churches in Nashville, take our Old Time Religion tour!

Cross Fifth Avenue then cross over to the opposite side of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Walk west until you reach the State Capitol on your right. Walk up the stairs at the Motlow Tunnel to reach the Capitol Hill and view the State Capitol. Feel free to walk around the building as you listen to the narration.