The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, as it
stands today, originally was built as a small chapel adjoining
the Bishop's residence on the corner of Delaware
and West Utica.
By 1885 the area around St. Joseph's
Cathedral on Franklin Street had
become undesirable for the Bishop to live in. It
was no longer the residential area it was during
the construction the cathedral, as railroads and
businesses now backed up to the rear of the
property.
Laymen of the church suggested
to Bishop
Ryan [the second bishop of Buffalo,
succeeding Bishop
John Timon] that he build a house
and chapel in the Cold Springs area and provide
for the religious needs of the scattered
families there.
Ground was broken for the chapel
in the spring of 1887 and Bishop Ryan placed the
cornerstone in October, 1887. He dedicated the
288 seat house of worship in services on 26 May,
1889.
Being the chapel where the
Bishop the Catholic Diocese said daily mass, it
quickly attracted a larger audience than
intended. Around 1900, the chapel was designated
as a parish church. With the building no longer
of sufficient size to accommodate the number of
people desiring to attend services, the Diocese,
using plans prepared by architect Albert
A. Post, enlarged it in 1908. The
sanctuary wall was moved back from the rear of
the building and the transept added, increasing
the seating capacity to 600 people.
With the size of the congregation
continuing to grow, the diocese purchased the
property adjoining the Bishop's house in 1908
with plans of replacing the chapel with a larger
church. In 1909, the Bishop decided to erect a
large cathedral on the site.
Moving the
Chapel
As preparations for the
cathedral were made, the chapel was moved 200
feet back from its original site near Delaware
Avenue. Between April and September, 1911, the
4.000 ton chapel was lifted from its foundation
and slowly rolled to its current site. It was
the first brick church of its size to be moved
in the United States.
The chapel is home to a superb
collection of windows crafted in Innsbruck,
Austria and to two altarpieces from Italy.
Blessed by Pope Gregory in 590 AD, the Altar of
St. Gregory, originally was in the Church of San
Salvador in Thermos. Of gray Carrara marble, it
contains a numbers of relics including one of
the Holy Cross.
The second altar, dedicated to
St. Martin, dates from the 17th Century. It was
originally in the Chapel of the Church of San
Marino in Rome. Msgr. McGloin brought the altars
to Buffalo in 1906.
