St. Patrick's Cathedral is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

religious building located adjacent to the 'Empress Garden' in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, India). Built in

neo-gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

in the middle of the 19th century, it was adopted as '

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

' church when Pune (then Poona) was made

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

(1886), of which it is still the main church. It also has the highest number of parishioners of the Pune diocese.

History

The

was built in 1850 mainly to cater the Irish Catholic soldiers and others settled in Wanwadi and nearby areas. Earlier, mass was celebrated for the troops, who were mainly Irish and other Catholics in a single-room chapel at the end of Right Flank Lines in Wanwadi. Bishop

Anastasius Hartmann Anastasius Hartmann, born as Joseph Alois Hartmann (* 24. February 1803 in Altwis, Canton Lucerne, Switzerland ; † 24. April 1886 in Kurji in Patna, India ), was a Capuchin, a missionary in India, Titular Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Patna and ...

OFM Cap., the Apostolic Vicar of Bombay and Poona, wanted to have a better place of worship, and so he co-opted Fr. James Carry, an Irish diocesan priest from the Madras Mission, as a chaplain in Poona in 1849. Fr. Carry immediately drew up plans to erect a new chapel. At the request of the bishop, the government allotted land. The chapel was built with contributions from people and from the soldiers, who contributed a month's salary. On 8 December 1850, the first mass was celebrated in the new chapel, which is now St. Patrick's Cathedral. Fr. Carry completed the south (Wanwadi) side of the church, with its pinnacled buttresses. The north side (Ghorpuri) was completed later by Fr. Esseiva, S.J. The Diocese of Poona was created in 1886 and

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary

Bernard Beider Linden Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brave ...

was appointed the first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. Thus, St. Patrick's Church became St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1887. On 15 July 1984, the roof of the cathedral collapsed. With donations from benefactors, the cathedral was rebuilt by Bishop Valerian D' Souza ,with a new curved vault roof designed by architect Charles Correa in place of the old pointed roof. The re-dedication of St. Patrick's Cathedral was held on 22 October 1987. Eventually, the cathedral was again in need of repairs with the passage of time. Major renovation, repairs and redecoration of the cathedral was from 2009 to 2010, three of the highlights of which were a new backdrop to the sanctuary wall with a

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

of the Risen Christ, 16 unique stained glass panels of the life of Jesus and a skylight above the altar depicting the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

Architecture

The church is purely

Gothic Architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

in style.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patricks Cathedral, Poona Roman Catholic cathedrals in India Churches in Pune