St. Andrew Church, Pasadena

St. Andrew's Catholic Church is a Catholic church in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1886, it is the oldest Catholic parish in Pasadena and one of the oldest in Los Angeles County. Its Romanesque Revival campanile bell tower is visible for miles and is one of the landmarks of Pasadena. The current church, built in 1927, was modeled after the Basilica of St. Sabina in Rome.The church buildingThe current home of St. Andrew's Church, built in 1927 at an estimated cost of $1,000,000, is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and important churches in Southern California. The style of architecture, without and within, is that of early Christian churches of the Byzantine era. The architect, Ross Montgomery, and the church's pastor, Msgr. McCarthy, both traveled to Italy studying early Byzantine architecture to find inspiration for the new church in Pasadena. The Los Angeles Times later commented on the contributions of Montgomery and McCarthy: "The collaboration of the architect and the priest has produced an edifice that will remain a monument to the memory of both." Montgomery and McCarthy found their principal inspiration at St. Sabina's, a basilica in Rome built in 432 A.D., on which they modeled St. Andrew's.At a dedication Mass in May 1928, hundreds of children participated in a religious procession at 6 a.m. when the Blessed Sacrament, covered by a canopy, was moved from the old church on Fair Oaks to the new church. Bishop John Cantwell declared the new church "the pride of the diocese and a worthy replica of the ancient church on the banks of the Tiber."