Termites go to church too.

Termites have been eating away for years at one of Alabama’s most historic cathedrals.

The Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which was built from 1835 to 1850 in downtown Mobile, has suffered such extensive termite damage that the west end of the building is no longer safe to use, the Archdiocese of Mobile announced.

“Engineers have advised the Archdiocese of Mobile that the west end of the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is unsafe due to extensive termite damage,” the Archdiocese said in a prepared statement. “However, engineers informed the archdiocese that the remaining sections of Cathedral are safe to use. There is no timetable as to when the west side of the Cathedral may be used again.”

Bishop Michael Portier, the first bishop of Mobile, consecrated the cathedral when construction was completed in 1850.

Efforts to control termites have been a struggle.

“The Archdiocese of Mobile has been in ongoing arbitration with a major termite control company regarding damage to the Cathedral,” the diocesan statement said.

The west end of the Cathedral stands parallel to Franklin Street, between Dauphin and Conti streets in downtown Mobile. The west end includes the sacristies – where priests prepare for Mass and where items used in worship are kept. Items kept in the sacristies will be relocated as a precaution. Those entering the Cathedral must now enter from the east side of the church off Claiborne Street.

The parish is the oldest in Mobile, established on July 20, 1703, by Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier, Bishop of Quebec. It was the first Catholic parish on the Gulf Coast. Initially located at Fort Louis de la Louisiane, the parish moved to its present site in 1711, where a church named Notre Dame de la Mobile (Our Lady of Mobile) was built. By 1781, during Mobile’s Spanish period, it was renamed the Church of the Immaculate Conception.