The First Mass

The first Mass in the Cathedral was on December 21, 1916, the occasion of the installation of Jeremiah J. Harty as the fourth bishop of Omaha. 

The walls were draped with long streamers. Flags and palms hid the rough brick walls and bunting was placed over the cement floor.

A temporary altar and pulpit were installed for the occasion.

Twenty-five hundred people participated in the celebration.

Because the feast of Christmas followed just four days after the installation ceremony, the temporary furnishings were left in place and Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral for a second time on Christmas Day.