Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, Dyersville
The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is the Catholic parish for the residents of Dyersville, Iowa. It is one of only 52 basilicas in the United States, and the only one outside a metropolitan area.
The Basilica features Gothic architecture. It has a number of stained glass windows. There are two notable windows in the church. The first is the rose window above the entrances to the church. In the early 1970's a window featuring a Native American design was placed there after the previous window had detoriated. Another window features Saint Francis Xavier ministering to the Indians. The maker of the window had mistakenly used images of Native Americans instead of images of people from India. The Baldacchino - canopy over the main altar - was based in part on the one at Saint Peter's in Rome. The main altar is of Italian marble. There are two steeples which are both over 200 feet tall. Pilots often use these steeples as landmarks during flights.
The present church building was built in 1888. In 1956 the parish was elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Pius XII. A handicap entrance was recently added to the building - the dollar amount of providing a handicap entrance was more than that of building the church in 1888. In the early 1970's a new pipe organ was installed in the church. The Wicks Organ company of Highland, Illinois manufactured this insturment to replace an earlier insturment. The interior of the church was recently refurbished, which has increased the beauty of the interior.