St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
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St Mary’s Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, currently Cardinal Archbishop George Pell. The cathedral is dedicated to “Mary, Help of Christians”, Patron of Australia. St Mary’s holds the title and dignity of a minor basilica, bestowed upon it by Pope Pius XI in 1930. It is the largest church in Australia, though not the highest. It is located on College Street in the heart of the City of Sydney where, despite the high rise development of the CBD, its imposing structure and twin spires make it a landmark from every direction.
In 2008, St. Mary's Cathedral became the focus of World Youth Day 2008 and was visited by Pope Benedict XVI who, on July 19, made the historic full apology for child sex abuse by Catholic priests, inter alia, in Australia, of whom 107 have been committed by the courts.[1][2]
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[edit] History
[edit] Background
Sydney was colonised on 26th of January, 1788, as a penal settlement, governed in the name of His Majesty King George III by Captain Arthur Phillip, for prisoners transported from Britain. A good number of the people to arrive in Sydney at that time were military, some with wives and family. There were also a number of free settlers. The colony was chaplained by the Rev. Richard Johnson of the Church of England. No specific provision was made for the religious needs of those many convicts and settlers who were Roman Catholic. To redress this, a Catholic pastor, Rev. Father O’Flynn, travelled out to the colony of New South Wales, but as he arrived without Government sanction, he was sent home. It was not until 1820 that the Reverends Conolly and Therry arrived officially to minister to the Roman Catholics in Australia. Conolly went to Tasmania and Rev. Father John Joseph Therry remained in Sydney. It is claimed that on the day of his arrival, Therry had a vision of a mighty church of golden stone dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary raising its twin spires above the city of Sydney. This vision came to pass, but not until after 180 years and three intermediate buildings.
[edit] One Church after another
Father Therry applied for a grant of land on which to build a church. He asked for land on the western side of Sydney, towards Darling Harbour. But the land allocated to him was towards the East, adjacent to a number of the Governor, Lachlan Macquarie’s building projects, the Hospital of 1811, the Convict Barracks and St. James’s Anglican Church, also used as a Court of Law. The site for the Catholic church overlooked a barren area upon which the bricks for Macquarie’s buildings were made, the brickfield now Hyde Park, with avenues of trees and the famous Archibald Fountain.
The foundation stone for the first St Mary’s Cathedral was laid on 29th October, 1821 by Governor Macquarie. It was a simple cruciform stone structure which paid homage to the rising fashion for the Gothic style in its pointed windows and pinnacles. In 1835, the Most Reverend John Polding became the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. In 1851 the church was modified to the designs of Augustus Welby Pugin. Father Therry died on 25th May, 1864. On 29th June, 1865, the church caught fire and was destroyed.
The then Archdeacon, Rev. Father McEnroe, immediately set about planning and fund raising in order to build the present cathedral, based upon a plan drawn up by Archbishop Polding. Polding wrote to William Wardell, a pupil of the famous Gothic Revival architect, Augustus Welby Pugin. He was impressed with Wardell's building of St John's College at Sydney University. In his letter, he gives Wardell a completely free hand in the design, saying "Any plan, any style, anything that is beautiful and grand, to the extent of our power.".[3] Wardell had also designed and commenced work on St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne in 1858.
But there were to be two intermediate stages. A temporary wooden church was constructed, which was also destroyed by fire in the summer of 1869. The third temporary provision was a sturdy brick building on the site, not of the cathedral but of St Mary’s School, which it was to serve long after the present structure was in use.
[edit] St Mary’s is built
Archbishop Polding laid the foundation stone for the present cathedral in 1868. It was to be a huge and ambitious structure with a wide nave and aisle and three towers. Unfortunately, Polding did not live to see it in use as he died in 1877. Five years later, on 8th September 1882, his successor, Archbishop Vaughan presided at the Dedication Mass. Archbishop Vaughan gave the peal of bells which were rung for the first time on that day. Vaughan was to die whilst in England in 1883.
But St Marys was s