The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes () is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. It is located at

Ophir Road Ophir Road ( Malay: ''Jalan Ophir''; Chinese: 奥菲亚路) is a road in Singapore. It starts after the junction of Sungei Road and Jalan Besar and ends after the Ophir Flyover leading towards East Coast Parkway (ECP). Ophir Road is located wit ...

in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area in Singapore's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

History

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was blessed and officially opened in 1888. This is the first

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Singapore. The building site was obtained in 1885 and the cornerstone laid on 1 August 1886 by Bishop Gasnier, D.D. and Sir Frederick A. Weld, G. C M. G in an official ceremony that was witnessed by a number of religious and laity. It bears a resemblance to the

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes (; ) is a Catholic Marian shrine and pilgrimage site dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The sanctuary includes several religious buildings and monuments arou ...

, in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Within the Church building itself is a grotto with life-sized statues depicting the appearance of Our Lady appearing to

Saint Bernadette Bernadette Soubirous, SCN (; ; ; 7 January 184416 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes ( in religion Sister Marie-Bernarde), was a miller's daughter from Lourdes ( in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and ...

. Masses are held in English,

and Sinhalese. The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

d as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

on 14 January 2005. As a national monument, it was given funding from the National Monuments Fund, administrated by the National Heritage Board, in 2016 for renovation works.

Architecture

In 2009, the church building underwent restoration works to resemble the original church at a budget of S$1.75 million. It was completed in October 2010.

References

*Norman Edwards, Peter Keys (1988), ''Singapore – A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places'', Times Books International, *Wan Meng Hao (2005), ''Know Our Monuments'

Preservation of Monuments Board

External links

Singapore Catholic Church DirectoryParish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Singapore

{{Authority control Landmarks in Singapore National monuments of Singapore Indian diaspora in Singapore Roman Catholic churches completed in 1889 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Singapore Rochor