The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception () is a late 19th-century English Gothic revival church that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. It is located in the

Mid-Levels Mid-Levels is an affluent residential area on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is located between Victoria Peak and Central. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate professionals. The Mid-Levels is furth ...

area of the city at 16

Caine Road Caine Road is a road running through Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. It connects Bonham Road to the west (at the junction with Hospital Road and Seymour Road), and Arbuthnot Road, Glenealy and Upper Albert Road to the east. The road is named after Wi ...

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...

and construction of the cathedral began in 1883 after the previous cathedral, on Wellington Street, was destroyed by fire. Built from brick and stone, the new cathedral was designed by the London-based architectural firm Crawley and Company. The church opened on 7 December 1888, the day before the

Feast of the Immaculate Conception The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, also called Immaculate Conception Day, celebrates the sinless lifespan and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, celebr ...

, and was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

in 1938. Three years later, it was damaged during the

Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...

, but remained untouched throughout the subsequent

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

. At the turn of the century, the cathedral underwent an extensive and costly program of refurbishment, which was completed in 2002. The cathedral is listed as a Grade I historic building by the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino- ...

History

Original structure (1843–1859)

After the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

, Hong Kong was ceded to the British in the Treaty of Nanking and the colony soon became a popular

stopover 250px, Layover for buses at LACMTA's Warner Center Transit Hub, Los Angeles ">Los_Angeles.html" ;"title="Warner Center Transit Hub, Los Angeles">Warner Center Transit Hub, Los Angeles In scheduled transportation, a layover (also waypoint, way ...

for

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

travelling onwards to China. The parish was established in 1842 by

Theodore Joset Theodore Joset (Chinese: 若瑟神父, 7 October 1804 – 5 August 1842) was a Swiss priest and the first Prefect Apostolic of Hong Kong. Early life Josef was born in Courfaivre, Switzerland in 1804. He was ordained as a diocesan priest at Fribo ...

, the first Prefect Apostolic of Hong Kong, and work began on a new and permanent church soon afterwards. The new church was located at the junction of Pottinger Street and Wellington Street. Construction was completed in 1843. Within the next few years, the number of Catholics in the parish grew significantly, partly due to the emigration of people from neighbouring

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. The Portuguese colony was in gradual decline, and many people who resided there sought better opportunities in the young and prospering colony of Hong Kong.

Second cathedral (1859)

In 1859, just sixteen years after it was built, the church was destroyed by fire. This was not uncommon, however, as devastating fires frequently plagued the developing colony, and a new cathedral was quickly built on the same site. It featured iconic twin steeples at its facade. However, the

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrume ...

waterfront district where the church was situated became more overcrowded with the rapid growth of Hong Kong at the time, and it became apparent that a permanent and larger cathedral was necessary. As a result, plans were made for a new church on a more elevated ground in

, located close to the

Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest zoological and botanical centres in the world, and the oldest park in Hong Kong. Founded in 1864, its first stage was opened to the public in 1871. A new site for the cathedral was selected above Caine Road by the Glenealy Ravine and the

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

of the new church was laid on 8 December 1883. Crawley and Company of London were hired to be the architects and five years later, construction was completed. The church opened on 7 December 1888, the vigil of the

, and was blessed one day later. The construction of the cathedral cost US$15,400, and since a Catholic church can only be

once it has become free from debt, the cathedral did not have its rite of consecration held until 8 December 1938, exactly fifty years after it first opened. The ceremony was officiated by the vicar apostolic of Hong Kong Enrico Valtorta, the

bishop of Macau Portuguese Jesuit priest Melchior Miguel Carniero Leitão was appointed Titular Bishop of Nicaea on January 23, 1555. A year later (on January 26, 1576), Pope Gregory XIII issued an edict for the establishment of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mac ...

José da Costa Nunes and the bishop emeritus of Canton; three of the cathedral's altars were also consecrated. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the cathedral suffered damage on its anniversary in 1941, when a Japanese shell was dropped onto it during the

. However, it survived the war relatively unscathed due to a decree made a century before. When the mission in Hong Kong was first established in 1841,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

ruled that, although the colony was under British rule, the Prefecture Apostolic should remain under the administration of the

Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions or PIME ( la, Pontificium Institutum pro Missionibus Exteris; it, Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere) is a society of secular priests and lay people who dedicate their lives to missionary activities ...

(PIME), a missionary society from Italy. As a result, the Japanese treated the cathedral as being under the sovereignty of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

, with whom they were not at war. Because of this, the cathedral was spared from being ransacked and plundered by the occupying forces and its archives were preserved better than other churches throughout Hong Kong, having been left "relatively unscathed." 天主教座堂的屋頂是十字架形狀

After the conclusion of the war, the cathedral underwent a series of renovations. The roof – which was previously made of timber – was replaced with a concrete one in 1952 due to damage from termites. The reordering of the sanctuary took place in 1969 after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, in which the main altar was moved to the cathedral's crossing. In 1988,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

was installed and the roof underwent reparation. Significant leaks in the roof were reported in 1997 and a massive restoration project took place. This entailed fixing the roof, repainting the walls and the niche housing the statue of the Immaculate Conception, replacing tiles, enhancing the lighting and sound system and installing new stained glass windows in the Chapel of Our Lord's Passion, which was rededicated to the Chinese Martyrs. The renovation was completed on 8 December 2002 and cost a total of US$1.1 million. The project's success in preserving the building's heritage resulted in the cathedral being given an honourable mention at the 2003

UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards (since 2000) are given with as the strategic purpose of UNESCO with in the region Asia Pacific. The objective is to motivate the protection of Cultural Heritage sites, which are initiated by any individual organi ...

for Culture Heritage Conservation and presented with the award on its anniversary in 2003. The cathedral holds a

Red Mass A Red Mass is a Mass celebrated annually in the Roman Catholic Church for all members of the legal profession, regardless of religious affiliation: judges, lawyers, law school professors, law students, and government officials, marking the openin ...

every other year for the

Judiciary of Hong Kong The Judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the judicial branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Under the Basic Law of Hong Kong, it exercises the judicial power of the Region and is independent of the exec ...

, alternating with St. John's Cathedral in hosting the annual opening of the

Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ...

Architecture

Interior

Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral Hong KonH - panoramio

The cathedral, built in an

English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

style, is

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly describe ...

in the shape of the

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

. The exterior walls of the church were built from

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and stone, while its base and columns were made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

. Its dimensions are long, wide and tall, with the tower at the centre rising to .

Altar of St. Joseph

Located to the right of the main altar and sanctuary is the side altar of St. Joseph. It was given to the cathedral by King

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession1 ...

and the donation was facilitated by Joseph Mary Sala, an expatriate living in Hong Kong who was from the

nobility of Italy The nobility of Italy ( Italian: ''Nobiltà italiana'') comprised individuals and their families of the Italian Peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by the sovereigns of the Italian city-states since the Middle Ages, and by the ...

. It is adorned by the royal coat of arms of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

; this conspicuous symbol of Italy was said to have helped the cathedral identify itself as Italian rather than British, and thus, remain untouched throughout the

, as the

and

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent form ...

were both signatories to the

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...

Altar of the Sacred Heart

Located to the left of the main altar is the side altar of the Sacred Heart. It was previously used as the high altar of the original cathedral at Wellington Street. It now houses the

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of th ...

– serving as the cathedral's main

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

after the removal of the high altar in 1969 – and is reserved for Eucharistic adoration.

Chapel of Our Lord's Passion

Located to the right of the cathedral's sacristy is the side chapel of Our Lord's Passion. Given by J.J. Braga, a parishioner from Portugal, it was rededicated to the Chinese Martyrs after the 1997–2002 renovation. The chapel was chosen out of the four to commemorate the then-newly canonised saints because it was the most thematically similar, in that the martyrs gave up their lives for the faith, emulating Jesus' sacrifice to save mankind. New

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 ...

windows were installed depicting the saints.

Crypt

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a c ...

was constructed beneath the former Chapel of St. Anthony in 2009 to house the remains of former bishops of Hong Kong. This consists of two vicar apostolics,

Timoleon Raimondi Timoleon Raimondi (5 May 1827 – 27 September 1894) () was the Last Prefect and First Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong (17 November 1874). Raimondi was born in Milan, Italy. He was the younger brother of Antonio Raimondi, a prominent naturalist who ...

and Dominic Pozzoni, and five of the six deceased bishops – Enrico Valtorta,

Lorenzo Bianchi Lorenzo Bianchi (; 1 April 1899 – 13 February 1983) was born in Italy, at Corteno, near Brescia. Mons. Lorenzo Bianchi was ordained Priest of Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) on 23 September 1922 and arrived in Hong Kong ...

, Francis Hsu, Peter Lei, and John Baptist Wu. Bianchi's remains were interred later than the others (apart from Wu) due to the fact that he was buried in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. Thus, the diocese had to apply for permission to allow for some of his remains to be transported back to Hong Kong; the request was eventually granted. Wu's remains were interred in September 2022, twenty years after his death, while the remains of

Michael Yeung Michael Yeung Ming-cheung (; 1 December 1945 – 3 January 2019) was the eighth Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong. He was consecrated on 30 August 2014. Early life Yeung Ming-cheung was born in Shanghai in 1945. He completed his primary a ...

are buried at

St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery is a private cemetery located in Happy Valley, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is managed by The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong together with Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Cape Collinson and St. Raphael's Ca ...

in Happy Valley. The inspiration for the crypt came from the design of a traditional Chinese family house, which would contain the remains of ancestors. The bishop at the time,

Joseph Cardinal Zen Joseph Zen Ze-kiun SDB (, born 13 January 1932) is a cardinal of the Catholic Church from Hong Kong, who served as the sixth Bishop of Hong Kong. He was appointed cardinal in 2006, and has been outspoken on issues regarding human rights, ...

, felt that the crypt would be a "symbolic move to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future ones." Because the cathedral is a Grade I historic building, prior approval had to be obtained from the Buildings Department before any construction work could be carried out.

Treasures

Relics of the Chinese Martyrs

Shortly after the canonisation of the 120 Chinese Martyrs on 1 October 2000, the

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of sixteen of them were placed at the Chinese Martyrs' Chapel (formerly the Chapel of Our Lord's Passion). They are stored in a relic box – designed locally by Sister Paola Yue – that is situated at the foot of the side altar.

Relic of Pope John Paul II

In November 2011, a lock of John Paul II's hair was brought to the cathedral after the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

granted the Diocese of Hong Kong a

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

from the late pontiff. The diocese had earlier requested this, since they felt this would symbolically accomplish the Pope's longtime dream of visiting China. He had constantly stated his intent of visiting the country, but never did so due to the longstanding tensions and strained relations between China and the Holy See. Bishop John Tong Hon expressed his hope that the relic would be able to venerated by the

Mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...

faithful who visited Hong Kong, the only city on Chinese soil and the first city in Asia to house a relic of John Paul II. It is currently displayed in the same chapel as the bishops' crypt.

Relic of Blessed Gabriele Allegra

The relic of Blessed

Gabriele Allegra Gabriele Allegra ( zh, 雷永明, 26 December 1907 – 26 January 1976) was a Franciscan Friar and Biblical scholar. He is best known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible into the Chinese language. His Studium ...

, being the bone from his right middle finger, was placed at the Chinese Martyrs' Chapel. He was known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the

Catholic 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 ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

into the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

References

Footnotes Bibliography * * *

External links

Hong Kong Cathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionRoman Catholic Diocese of Hong KongUNESCO Office in Bangkok
– Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong SAR {{Portal bar, Catholicism, Hong Kong, Architecture 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in China Cathedrals in Hong Kong Central, Hong Kong Gothic Revival church buildings in China Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong Roman Catholic churches completed in 1888 Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong Roman Catholic churches in Hong Kong UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards winners