St. Mary's Basilica is a

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was designed by the celebrated New Zealand architect,

Francis Petre Francis William Petre (27 August 1847 – 10 December 1918), sometimes known as Frank Petre, was a New Zealand-born architect based in Dunedin. He was an able exponent of the Gothic revival style, one of its best practitioners in New Zea ...

and was opened in 1905. The

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

, named as such because of its style of architecture, rises above the ground and is one of the most prominent landmarks in Invercargill. It has been described as the "prettiest church in Australasia". In Roman Catholic ecclesiastical terms, St Mary's Basilica is not a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

. The building is located in Tyne Street, near St Josephs School, the Otepuni Gardens and Te Tomairangi Marae, and is listed as a Category I Historic Place. The church serves the Catholic community in the Invercargill area, part of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin The Latin Rite Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington. Its cathedral and see city are located in Dunedin, the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed o ...

.Catholic Diocese of Dunedin
Invercargill Area Parishes
accessed 22 September 2023

References

Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Southland, New Zealand Buildings and structures in Invercargill 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in New Zealand Roman Catholic churches completed in 1905 Francis Petre church buildings Church buildings with domes Basilica churches in New Zealand Tourist attractions in Southland, New Zealand Listed churches in New Zealand 1910s architecture in New Zealand 1905 establishments in New Zealand {{RC-church-stub