The Cathedral of St. Chad is a stone church building in San Antonio, Texas, USA. It was established in 1992 under
St. Edwin Caudill, founding Bishop of the
Diocese of the Southwest. (See also
here
for more historical information.) The chancel contains furnishings
imported from England, including the altar, altar rail, and bishop’s
throne.
Icon in the United Roman-Ruthenian Church of
St. Edwin Caudill, Apostolic Founder and Confessor
This throne is known within our patrimony as the Historic First Chair
of the Holy Apostolic See, because it was the episcopal seat of St.
Edwin Caudill, whose Diocese of the Southwest formed the earliest
canonical lineage of what is today the United Roman-Ruthenian Church.
The throne of St. Edwin,
the historic First Chair of the Holy Apostolic See. The coat of arms of
St. Edwin's Diocese of the Southwest are visible on the cushion. The
coat of arms now continues as the coat of arms as the Diocese of
Rome-Ruthenia and the Basilica of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome. Copyright URRC 2019.Ecclesiastical Succession
Following Bishop Caudill’s tenure, the Diocese of the Southwest was
succeeded by Bishop Wayne Ellis. Although the original diocesan
corporation subsequently became inactive, the ecclesiastical lineage
continued.
In the early 2000s, the diocese moved to the Apostolic Communion of
Anglican Churches, which preserved the seminary, documents, traditions,
and episcopal succession. Former diocesan officials and clergy
recognized this as the continuation of the
Diocese of the Southwest.
The leadership of the diocese in this original line of succession eventually passed to
Pope Radislav I
(then-Bishop Rutherford Johnson). Under his leadership, the Diocese of
the Southwest was eventually elevated first to a Metropolitan See
(Archdiocese of the Southwest) and then to the non-territorial
Patriarchal See of St. Stephen, later developing into the united
Latin-Byzantine patrimony of the
United Roman-Ruthenian Church,
whose principal diocesan See today is the Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia. The
Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia is the unbroken continuation of the original
Diocese of the Southwest, brought into the fullness of Orthodoxy and
Old Catholicism. (
See more about the Roman-Ruthenian papacy.) And, this Diocese and the Metropolitan See of Aquileia form the
Holy Apostolic See of Saints Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark.
The Cathedral Building and Later Ownership
While the ecclesiastical succession of St. Edwin Caudill’s diocese
continued uninterrupted, the physical ownership of the St. Chad’s
Cathedral building passed through several unrelated jurisdictions over
the decades, including the Diocese of the Good Shepherd and others.
That is, these transitions of property ownership occurred independently
of the ecclesiastical lineage.
Although the cathedral is no longer owned by the juridical successor of
Caudill’s diocese in ecclesiastical succession, it remains in our
history as the historic First Chair associated with the line of bishops
who eventually formed today’s
United Roman-Ruthenian Church, much as St. Peter the Apostle was first Bishop in Antioch before becoming Bishop of Rome.
In 2018, Pope Radislav I (then-Cardinal Johnson) visited the building as a guest of the clergy then serving there.
Pope Radislav I of Rome-Ruthenia (then-Cardinal Johnson) visiting the
Cathedral of St. Chad as a guest of the cathedral clergy.
Current Patriarchal Cathedrals
Today, the principal patriarchal seats of the United Roman-Ruthenian
Church are the
Most Holy Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria Antiqua,
Rome, and the Most Holy Patriarchal Basilica of San Stefano al Ponte,
Florence. St. Chad’s remains honored as a historic site in the Church’s
early formation, though it is no longer part of the Church’s present
patrimonial holdings.
