In 1837, just 66 years prior to laying the cornerstone of our present church, the first St. Patrick Church was dedicated. It was a small house located at 321 German Street. It was the first Catholic Church in the City of Erie. When the congregation became too large for this tiny building, a second St. Patrick Church was started in 1844 and was completed in time for the Christmas Mass in 1849. This church was located just west of the present church and was razed in 1906. In 1853, Erie was made an Episcopal See and St. Patrick Church became the Pro-Cathedral for the Diocese of Erie until St. Peter Cathedral was dedicated in 1893. The beautiful life-size stations of the cross in St. Patrick Church are its most outstanding feature. These are wood and plaster carvings by artists from Munich, Germany. In 1893, Father Peter Cauley, the pastor of St. Patrick Parish, while working on plans for the building of a new church, acquired an idea to install a magnificent set of the Stations of the Cross while attending the World’s Fair in Chicago. A representative from the Munich Company, Mayer Brothers, came to Erie, measured the wall niches for the stations, and returned to Munich with the plans. The German artists began the work in 1897 and in 1906 the stations were shipped to Erie and installed in the church. In addition to the now world famous Stations, the massive and beautiful hand-painted stained glass windows also came from Germany. The gallery (Choir Loft) of the church accommodates the original pipe organ built by the local firm, A.B. Flegemaker, originally of Buffalo, NY. This instrument contains over 2,000 pipes made from wood, zinc, tin and lead. The pipes range in size from the length of a pencil to 16 feet. The organ console has four divisions of keyboards, three for the hands and a pedal board. As the main accompanying instrument during worship at St. Patrick, this organ equally serves as a fine recital instrument. St. Patrick Church has unique architecture; the absence of pillars and the slope of the floor enable the people to see from all sections of the church. The Altar of Repose is solid marble, weighing approximately 50 tons. All the other shrines in the church have matching marble. The Altar of Sacrifice, while substantial, is on castors, and can be moved for special events and performances.