St. Patrick's Cathedral is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

religious building located adjacent to the 'Empress Garden' in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, India). Built in

neo-gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

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

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

' 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, prov ...

(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 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 The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary Bernard Beider Linden was appointed the first

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. 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 Charles Mark Correa (1 September 1930 – 16 June 2015) was an Indian architect and urban planner based in Mumbai, India. Credited with the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the ...

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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

of the

Risen Christ The resurrection of Jesus () is Christian belief that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, starting—or restoring—his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writing, Jesus wa ...

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

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

Architecture

The church is purely

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

in style.

References

Roman Catholic cathedrals in India Churches in Pune {{India-RC-cathedral-stub