Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Great Biloxi Fire of November 1900 burned the original church to the ground. Theodore Brune, a German-American architect who designed several churches on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, drew the plans for what rose in its place. J.F. Barnes & Company of Greenville built the cathedral in 1902. The coast's Catholic roots run to the 1700s, planted by French and Croatian immigrants who came when Biloxi was still a colonial outpost. When the Diocese of Biloxi was carved from the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in 1977, this cathedral became its seat. In early 1906, Julia Dulion Lopez donated stained glass windows in memory of her late husband. Reis and Reis of Munich built them. Frederick Thornley of New York installed them. Katrina damaged the cathedral. It was restored. Mass is still said here, and the building stands in the Biloxi Downtown Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Call the parish office for tour availability.