Welcome to the Basilica

Lent 2025

Pope Francis said the Lenten journey reminds the Church that hope in Jesus Christ ultimately overcomes fears of fragility, weakness, and the brevity of life.

“Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families,” the pope said in his homily prepared for Ash Wednesday.

“Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope,” he said. “We are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life.”

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1854, and was the first church named after Pope Pius IX declared the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854.

The church, however, became a victim of the Civil War, when Union soldiers sacked and burned the Church. Following the war, the growing Catholic community built another beautiful church on the same site and dedicated it in 1871.

This second church would last for 32 years, when it was consumed by flames once again in the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901. In 1910, the parishioners celebrated the opening of the third church with great fanfare. This is the beautiful House of God that now rises over downtown Jacksonville.

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception has a rich history as one of the oldest Catholic Church’s in north Florida. It is without doubt a magnificent testimony to the faith of the Catholic community of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who desired a place to worship and from which to share the Gospel. To accomplish their goals, they spared no expense an willing sacrificed for the salvation of all.

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception continues to be a spiritual home, a light of Christ in the City, and a refuge to sinners seeking the mercy of God loves outpoured.