The Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral is a Catholic parish church at 310 West Stephen Foster Avenue in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Many of the paintings and interior decorations were donated by Pope Leo XII, King Louis-Philippe of France and others.

In the early 19th century, King Francis I of the Two Sicilies made a gift of the picture to the Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, Kentucky, where it remains to this day.

After suffering many years of neglect and misguided restorations (including complete over-painting of the surface in the 1950s), the picture was sent to the Getty for study and development of a plan for treatment.

Two years of difficult work have restored the picture, and the exceptional character and quality of the original is once again visible.

On July 18, 2001, Pope John Paul II elevated it to the honor of a minor basilica church and an umbraculum was installed at the altar.

Daniel Rudd (August 7, 1854 – 1933) was a Catholic journalist and civil rights leader who lived his early years in Bardstown, Kentucky on Anatok Plantation, where he was born into slavery.

While Rudd was working at the Sunday News, he was a printer, reporter, and editor who was interested in following a Frederick Douglass-like advocacy that was aimed at protecting the civil rights of African Americans.

Rudd also thought that editors and journalists had the ability to persuade and educate Catholic, business and civic leaders.

“Cardinal Gibbons, arch-bishop of Baltimore, Md., the most Reverend Archbishops of Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and the Right Reverend Bishops of Covington, Ky., Columbus, OH., Richmond, Va., Vincennes, Ind., and Wilmington, Del.” were all listed on the master head of the newspaper as bishops who endorsed the newspaper.

After only a short year Daniel moved the company to Cincinnati, where he started featuring articles that spoke out on black issues such as segregation and discrimination.