The Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's, Newfoundland and the mother church and symbol of Roman Catholicism in Newfoundland. The building sits within the St. John's Ecclesiastical District, a National Historic District of Canada. The Basilica-Cathedral was the largest building project to its date in Newfoundland history. Construction lasted from the excavation of the ground in May 1839, through the laying of the cornerstone in May 1841, until the completion and consecration on September 9, 1855. At this time, it was the largest church building in North America and remains the second largest church in Canada after Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and the largest cathedral church in Canada. The Basilica-Cathedral is one of the few buildings in St. John's to survive the Great Fire of 1892. On October 17, 2007, Bishop Martin Currie of the Diocese of Grand Falls was appointed archbishop of St. John's. He assumed his position on November 30, 2007, and retired on 29 January 2019. On December 12, 2018, Bishop Peter Hundt of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador was appointed archbishop of St. John's. He took canonical possession of the diocese on 29 January 2019. History Built between 1839–1855, the Basilica-Cathedral is located on the highest ridge overlooking the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The church is not oriented on an east-west axis, nor does it face toward the narrows that form the entrance to St. John's harbour, but rather, it was constructed on an orientation with its facade facing the line of the rising sun on the Winter Solstice, and the setting sun at the Summer Solstice, just as the medieval Chartres Cathedral is oriented on a solstitial axis. The Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is built in the form of a Latin cross and in the Lombard Romanesque style of a Roman basilica. It was designed for Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming by the architect of the Danish government, Ole Joergen Schmidt, resident at Altona on the Elbe (Hamburg) though Fleming also had some plans prepared by the distinguished Irish architect John Philpot Jones of Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, and also consulted with James Murphy, a native of Dublin, Ireland, on plans for the cathedral. Construction was initially supervised by the Waterford contractor Michael McGrath, but later superintended by