Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle

The Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle on Rhode Island Avenue serves as the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Built between 1893 and 1913 to designs by C. Grant La Farge, it combines Italian Renaissance Revival lines with Byzantine-inflected mosaics. The cathedral became internationally known through the requiem mass for President John F. Kennedy on November 25, 1963, celebrated by Cardinal Cushing, and a bronze marker in front of the high altar still indicates where his casket rested. Each year it hosts the Red Mass on the Sunday before the Supreme Court term begins, attended by many of the justices. Visitors come for the elaborately decorated apse dome, the marble columns, and the mosaic of Saint Matthew above the altar.