The Catholics first formed a mission in Benicia in 1852. In 1854, Reverend Francis S. Vilarrasa, of Monterey, established the Dominican parish of St. Dominic’s and celebrated the first mass. He brought with him the convent of Santa Catalina headed by Sister Mary Goemaere. She was accompanied by Sister Mary Dominica, nee Maria de la Concepción Arguello, daughter of Don Jose Arguello, Comandante of the Presidio in San Francisco, and the first native-born Californian to become a nun. The church soon changed its Spanish sermons to English and Santa Catalina was anglicized to St. Catherine’s. The Dominican Convent included a children’s school and advanced studies for older girls. The original wooden church, built in March 1854, was replaced in 1890. Today’s church was built on a sandstone foundation from Patrick Mullaney’s Benicia quarry. The church is located at 475 East I Street. St. Dominic’s, the Mother Church of Solano County’s Catholics, went through another restoration in 1972. The twin copper cupolas were restored in 2012. This mural depicts the beautiful façade of the church with three individuals important to the early church. 

Additional research provided by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael has confirmed that the three individuals in the the tile are Mother Mary Goemaere, Father Francis Sadoc Vilarrasa, and Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany. Father Vilarrasa and Bishop Alemany were both Spanish-born Dominican Friars who accompanied Mother Mary Goemaere (French) to California in 1850. Father Vilarrasa celebrated the first mass at St. Dominic’s in 1854. Bishop Alemany was first Bishop of Monterey and Archbishop of San Francisco. Mother Mary Goemaere was the first head of St. Catherine's Academy.

Mother Mary Goemaere