mother church

noun

1

archaic : a parish church

the mother churches … and rural chapels in the late Saxon and early Norman periods

—Bulletin of Institute of Historical Research

2

: the principal church of a locality or land

specifically : a cathedral or a metropolitan church

the mother church … which no visitor to these parts should fail to see

—T. I. Ellis

3

: the original church from which others have sprung

the mother church of Unitarianism in America

—Leo Pfeffer

4

: the original church or communion in which a person has been nurtured

returning to his mother church, he died in obscurity

—K. S. Latourette

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