Always such a wonderful experience being able to attend Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, downtown Austin! The service is sacred, the music is wonderful. Very engaged parish, mostly locals, who care about that area of the city. Even non-Catholics enjoy this venue, it's a beautiful, special place. Highly recommend you visit! read more

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I'm not Christian but my husband had a Christian upbringing and we wandered into Saint Mary Cathedral while walking in Austin. I sat in the back while he went to the front pews to pray. This cathedral is just a few blocks from the State Capitol building. It's one of the oldest as it was completed in 1874. The cathedral was designed in the Victorian style and has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The interior is beautiful with the stained glass windows and arched ceilings. If you are a fan of religious architecture, this is a must visit. Check the website for hours of operation. The Cathedral School of St. Mary holds the distinction of one of the oldest schools in operation located in Austin. It's a beautifully designed historic building that warrants a visit when in Austin. read more

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Beautiful church at downtown Austin. It has a good cathedral look church. Very close to state capital. It is the central area for Austin at walking distance to many attractions. The church has a single tower on the side. It has wood frame for interior make it unique. The stain glass for rash window make is awesome looking. The front stain glass has good second floor overlook the alter. Visit takes only 10 minutes. Courtyard is available. read more

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Breathtaking cathedral with an opportunity stop and reflect and enjoy the attention to detail. Very peaceful. read more

Saint Mary Cathedral - Churches Near Me - Austin, Texas

I went to the 9:30 Mass. Beautiful! A lovely traditional church, with a tranquil, reverent liturgy in both English and Latin, sung, spoken and chanted. A talented choir singing mostly a cappella polyphonic music. Friendly people. Excellent homily by the priest about how the beatitudes of Jesus are a most reliable roadmap for our lives, helping us to train our hearts to love and seek the right things rather than what the world around us tells us to seek. read more

Everyone is so friendly! They showed us where everything was. If we had any questions, all we had to do is ask!

love this church! 5 stars. Very great priest, the mystery buffet was AMAZING! Hosanna in the highest.

How can one not admire the architectural beauty of this cathedral?! Whether you're religious or not, the physical building itself boasts some amazing details that will keep your eyes agaze and looking up at the ceiling and walls for long durations of time. Had the opportunity to attend mass here and was blown away by all of the details. The hand painted gold foil, overarching wood beams, stained glass, and every little details reminded me of the churches in Rome. The mass itself was enlightening and I even let out a chuckle once or twice since it was modern and lighthearted. If you need to use the restroom, the restrooms are located outside with a short walk to a different building that houses them. The dome where the priest is situated was gorgeous. I also loved how they had a second floor which housed those singing and the organ. read more

Should be a Catholic person's destination when visiting or moving into central Texas. It is one of the few remaining traditional Catholic church design/architecture. It is beautiful and serene. It reminds me of St Charles Borromeo in North Hollywood, CA. read more

Very old Cathedral in the heart of the city. Most parishioners are local, so you will see a bit of variance in what folks are doing when going up for communion. Parish needs to form a fund for renovations...particularly replacing missing and broken kneelers. read more

this cathedral is beautiful and the sermon given was enlightening. the acoustics of the building are not so great, makes it hard to hear.

I absolutely love the traditional values at this Cathedral. Takes me home to the East Coast Churches I grew up with. Family values, kindness and compassion. Love it here! read more

I visited the recently restored and renovated St. Mary's Cathedral this past Saturday for a Sunday vigil mass at 5:30pm. Thankfully, the church was within walking distance of the hotel where I was staying and the weather was nice, so I didn't feel the need to drive my rental car down half a mile. Despite visiting Austin with a group who all happen to be Catholic as well, I went ahead and attended mass on my own. I know my friends well, and know that they gradually stopped loving the God that loves them and died for them, and are practical atheists. (Christians reading this, please say a prayer for them). Going back to the church itself: The colors on the murals, mosaics, architectural elements like the beams of the soaring ceilings, and the stained glass within the church are very vibrant, and evidence of the recent and ongoing restoration done throughout the building. This also adds to the overall beauty of the church and helps elevates the mind and soul to higher and heavenly thoughts. One also will appreciate the hard work and resources put in by our predecessors (or contemporaries) to allow us today to enjoy a beautiful place of worship. One may wonder what purpose is it to have such an ornate and impressive church like St. Mary's? As you may know, art, generally, doesn't have a practical purpose. It's done to purely satisfy a need of our souls; to appeal to our innate sense of aesthetics. We could live a life without art or music, but it would be a dreary and dull existence. Additionally, having high quality images of saints and Biblical scenes helps those who perhaps are unread or are from a different culture understand some of the important people and events in the Church's history (without using text!). Much like how we have statues and images of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington or Martin Luther King, Jr. around memorials and in prominent locations throughout the country, they help us remember those role models that we should strive to be. The central location of the cathedral in downtown Austin makes it pretty easy to get to from any other point in the core of the town. (The word "cathedra" by the way, is Latin for "seat" or "chair" and refers to the local bishop's chair. So, a cathedral is the church building that houses the bishop's "cathedra"). It's a stone's throw away from the massive Texas State Capitol building, and was probably built on this site along 10th Street to be close to the state and civic center. I appreciated the plaque on the outside of the cathedral's entrance and learned a decent amount on this history of the development of the church (i.e. that the outside is constructed out of limestone, that the stained glass windows inside the church were imported from France and Germany, and that the bell which rings periodically was installed a couple years after the church was completed in 1886). Now, down to logistics for the practicing Catholics visiting St. Mary: Sunday services are as follows: Sunday Vigil Mass: Saturdays at 5:30pm Sunday English masses: 8am, 9:30am, 12:00pm, 5:30pm Sunday Spanish mass: 1:45pm Sunday Latin/Extraordinary Form mass: 3:30pm (really worth coming to a Latin service, if I say so myself). There's a daily mass at 6:30am Monday through Friday (for the early risers), and a 12:05pm (noon-ish) mass, Monday through Saturday. There's also a students' oriented mass on Wednesdays at 8:30am during the school year, and every First Friday of the month, there's a traditional Latin mass at 9:30am, followed by benediction and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Confessions (AKA: reconciliation) is offered Monday through Saturday : 11:00 am - 12:00 pm (basically every other day but Sunday), and a second hour of confessions on Saturday between the hours of 4:30 pm - 5:25 pm (right before the 5:30pm Saturday evening/vigil mass starts). If you're reading this during the Lenten season there are Friday fish fry dinners offers at 5:30pm and Station of the Cross prayers at 7pm on Fridays as well. read more

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I absolutely LOVE attending mass at St. Mary Cathedral. When I first moved to Austin in the summer of 2016, it was the first church I attended in my new home-town, and it was breathtaking. I imagined having my wedding there... and I was lucky to say that I did! Since there weren't a lot of reviews to read when I started my wedding planning process, I figured it might be helpful to add mine. I wanted to take a moment to thank Saint Mary Cathedral for allowing us to have our wedding there on January 28th, 2017. It was a daunting process to get all the paperwork together, but knowing that I would have the honor of standing at that beautiful altar with my new Husband made everything worth it! Since we just moved to Austin, TX, we weren't members of the parish, so we paid $1500 to have our wedding there. We were more than happy to pay that amount, as we knew the money would go directly to the church and it helps to keep the beautiful Cathedral operating. Many other venues would charge that same amount or more, so the people disappointed about the price should cut the Cathedral some slack. Lydia (the wedding coordinator) was as sweet as could be! I am so glad that she was there every step of the way to help and guide me. Yes, like some of the reviewers mentioned on the wedding review websites (wedding wire, etc), sometimes the communications seemed like they took a long time... but you have to understand that there is a tremendous amount of work that is split among only a couple of people working there. Everyone is trying their best, and I was able to get my wedding date and everything planned in 6 months...If you have less time than that, you might just be pushing it! Lydia probably thought I was overly controlling by emailing so many times, but she never let on to it. :) I probably emailed her 25 times and each time her responses put me at ease. Everything was organized and easy. Another thing that I have heard from feedback is that there are too many hoops to jump through. The rules and guidelines are in place to make sure that the couple are serious and taking this sacrament seriously. I very much appreciate that, even though it was stressful sometimes trying to round up my baptism, communion and confirmation records from the various churches. My advice is to just get it done, call the churches, leave detailed instructions on where they can send the documents and make sure to follow up! We didn't use our fabulous florist (Mercedes Flowers) for flowers for the cathedral, but we paid the $300 donation and allowed them to choose flowers for us. They turned out beautifully and the Cathedral was able to use them for mass the following week. We attended mass the Sunday after our Saturday ceremony and it was nice to see the bouquets on the alter. Brooks Whitmore, the organist is a genius. He is absolutely fabulous at his job and highly professional. He offered suggestions and helped us choose songs that complimented each other. He also was able to get us the soloist that we wanted, Stephanie Prewitt, giving our ceremony that extra touch of personalization that we wanted. She sounded like an angel and her rendition of Ave Maria brought almost everyone to tears. Everyone who attended said that our wedding was one of the most beautiful and reverent weddings they had ever attended! HERE WERE OUR SONG CHOICES: Seating of the Family: Rhosymedre (Vaughan Williams) Bridal Party Processional: St. Anthony Chorale (Brahms) Bridal Processional: O God Beyond All Praising (Holst) Responsorial Psalm: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Gospel Acclamation: God is love. Vocal solos O Perfect Love Ave Maria Recessional: Ode to Joy Finally, Deacon Vincent Boyle is who led our ceremony. He has the perfect mix of humor and reverence that completely put my Fiance and I at ease. My Fiance is not Catholic, so we had a Liturgy of the Word ceremony. Deacon Boyle allowed for us to decide most of the flow of the entire wedding ceremony (which direction we wanted to stand, how we wanted to say things, etc). He also allowed for an extra blessing from my Fiance's father, who is a Pastor in a non-denominational Christian church. That was an extra special touch that I am immensely thankful for. He is someone who now holds a very special place in our hearts, and we couldn't be more thankful that he was assigned to our special day. I know it might seem silly to leave a review for a church, but I just think that all of the people involved deserve to get recognition and credit for their role in our very special and Blessed day. read more

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Beautiful place, try to read about its history so you understand the designs. I read other reviews and that helped me to decide to take my family. This church is great to visit for mass when you are of toen. We went to mass at 12 and it was beautiful. Music was beautiful, with that choir. I encourage you to spend your time with Jesus here, and admire this holy place before you leave. read more

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Delightful Latin mass, beautiful church, wonderful sermon, truly Catholic. In downtown Austin.

My hotel was walking distance to Saint Mary's. They welcome visitors with a open heart. This cathedral is absolutely beautiful. Pure elegance from the stained glass windows to a choir that sounds like angels. read more

The Saint Mary Cathedral is incredibly beautiful, it reminded me of Catholic churches in Europe specifically the blue ceiling above the alter with its golden stars reminded me of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. As I was waiting for a wedding ceremony to start I couldn't stop starring up into the stain glass above the alter, it was a beautiful day in Austin and with the sun streaming into the church the designs were illuminated and breathtaking. While the cathedral is currently in renovation the facade and the seating area and alter are unblemished. read more

Gorgeous Church. But quite small for a cathedral. I bet weddings are beautiful here. Funny thing happened during Easter mass: the PA system started picking up some radio stations saying some quite random things. The priest said "I hope it stays tame..." Maybe God was trying to send us a message?? read more

I have been to the joyous Christmas and Easter Masses here. Please note that should you arrive here at the last minute, you will end up outside in another building, which does not have the same feel as actually being in the sanctuary (this has happened to me twice, and it is a bit distracting, but at least they make room for EVERYONE). The sermons here are traditional, classic, yet, delivered in a modern fashion, which may sound conflicting but it is truly great. I am no Bible-thumper, but I really enjoy this church, the services they provide for the community (outreaches), and the location. I hope that everyone stays strongly blessed. read more

Fr. Bud did an amazing job leading the renovation of Austin's first Cathedral. You cannot enter sanctuary without your eyes being drawn to altar and up toward the ceiling...isn't that the point of sacred architecture? Did you know the original name was St. Patrick's? Look for the three-leaf clover windows on the side of the building. Confession, Rosary and Mass are offered daily. read more

Besides being up a slightly treacherous hill, this church was quite convenient to my hotel (the Sheraton over by Mohawk). They've also got a good mass schedule (listed below). The 9:30AM mass was on more of the traditional side and seemed to be predominantly attended by families. I did enjoy the missionary priest's homily although it was on the longer side. The cathedral is quite beautiful, so religious or not, you must take some time to look inside if you're in the area. From their site: WEEKEND MASSES Saturday: 5:30 p.m. Vigil Mass Sunday: 8 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 12 p.m. 1:45 p.m. (Español) 3:30 p.m. (Extraordinary Form) 5:30 p.m. read more

Beautiful cathedral. Everything within the cathedral is well kept and is preserved. It is very convenient for people working around the area who need to attend mass or do a quick confessions on there lunch. Loved it,and would come back when I visit Austin again. read more

Centrally located in the downtown of Austin. The choir was amazing and the church is well kept and organized.

Such a beautiful and charming Cathedral - So much history here! I stopped by before the start of lent season and picked up a very useful lent pamphlet created as an education tool for newcomers and a refresher to those already familiar. I always appreciate when church parishes go above and beyond to provide resources for visitors and members. It's those little details that make a big difference! read more

Saint Mary Cathedral - Inside Saint Mary - Churches Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I feel so at home at St. Mary's. The staff is amazing and so welcoming, and there are SO many ministries. I did my RCIA here and I am so glad I didn't so it anywhere else. The classes were so organized and helpful--as well as in depth. The mass is beautiful and the Latin Mass is especially wonderful here. It is one of the few parishes who specialize in the Latin Mass as an option on Sundays. I would recommend seeing it for yourself! Ladies, wear a veil, of course! One of the beautiful parts of the Latin mass that I especially appreciate. read more

A beautiful place to give thanks to God for all the good He has given us. Daily mass at 12:05 pm, solemn worship. The building is very beautiful, solid and just like our faith it is there to stay. After mass I go visit the Capitol on 11th street then continue walking down congress avenue for a quick bite. Thanks Austin, great city. read more

(I'm a religious tourist only.) This is a gorgeous cathedral. I walked by on a Saturday afternoon and decided I should pop in, after checking out the sign that listed mass times and assessing that the church should be empty. No such luck! I managed to walk in on the middle of mass (along with another tourist couple -- together we had the balls to finish opening the door after catching sight of worshippers). Don't know why they were having mass at that hour -- it wasn't a holiday that weekend as far as I knew... The cathedral was beautiful, had my favorite Catholic incense smell, and a little foyer/airlock separated from the heart of the church by doors, which was taken up mostly by noisy babies... and the baby area actually had pews for the adults, which I've never seen before. Beautiful dark woods and stained glass. Definitely worth a look if you are interested in churches and church architecture. read more

Absolutely beautiful Cathedral just up from all the action on 6th Street in Downtown Austin. The masses get full though so get there early to get a seat. read more

I love St. Mary's. The Cathedral is beautifully restored. Daily mass is reverent and reflective. They have tons of masses on the weekends. Plus they have frequent confessions on every day of the week for a sinner like me. read more

Highly recommend for the beautiful and prayerful liturgy in both novus ordo and extraordinary form.

Beautiful, but tiny, with limited parking. They also have the only Tridentine Latin Mass (the old style mass from pre Vatican II days) in the Austin area, at 3 pm on Sundays (ladies, wear a mantilla or head covering to this particular mass). A small gift shop is located just down the street. read more

You really don't have to be Catholic to appreciate the beauty of this cathedral. It's just so pretty. And, as a bonus, if you park in the garage, you get to walk through a beautiful, tiny garden with a statue of Mary. This cathedral is exactly what you expect if you're looking for an old-school Catholic church. read more

This is a beautiful church in a very busy location. It is across the street from the Capitol building. So as you Austinites know, parking is almost no where to be found. There is a parking garage behind the church that is free after 5:00p.m. or 6:00p.m. You should at least visit it once. So much beauty I was amazed. read more

This is a very beautiful Roman Catholic cathedral. I remember coming to Mass here many times when I was a kid, but I recently went again for the first time in twenty years, due to being in the area on business. One thing that was new for me was their weekly (Sunday at 3:30 pm) Latin Mass, which I am glad I attended. Overall, it was a very beautiful experience; would highly recommend to anyone who is Catholic, or anyone who is just curious and wants to check out a Latin Mass. read more

My husband and I were visiting Austin for the first time and decided to stop in and see this church. We arrived outside of mass and almost thought we wouldn't be able to get inside. Tried the large double doors but they were locked. Snuck around and found an open gate on the side. We happened to be rounding the corner as a man exited a door in or path and warmly greeted us. He showed us where we could enter. I'm so glad we found our way in, the church is beautiful! Definitely worth stopping and seeing! read more

Catholic cathedral are always a structure of beauty and this church which was formerly a St. Patrick's still has clover designs all around. Probably not a church I would revisit because the acoustics made it difficult to hear the priest at times read more

What a beautiful Church! I just went to the Saturday Mass. It was great and the priest is current. Always a plus. Even if you aren't Catholic, you should visit this Church is is a really pretty Church ironically located just a couple of blocks from "6th Street". read more

Beautiful cathedral, and excellent clergy make this one of my favorite churches in Austin.

Check out the great Catholic Young Adult Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stmaryyoungadults/ With an almost gothic, European style architecture on the outside, this oldest Catholic church in Austin might contrast the 70s and 80s buildings surrounding it. It certainly stands out from the modern downtown buildings and doesn't really offer an authentic Texas feel. But inside, visitors and faithful are treated with an elaborate yet tasteful interior that draws styles from all of Texas's heritage (North American, Spanish, and Anglo). Worshipers at 9:30 and noon are treated to a brilliant choir and organist to help facilitate the service. There is a popular Spanish Mass and Latin Mass on Sundays as well. read more