The St Patrick's Catholic Church is the oldest surviving

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 ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. Opened in 1844, it is located at the junction of

Grosvenor Grosvenor may refer to: People * Grosvenor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Grosvenor * Grosvenor Francis (1873–1944), Australian politician * Grosvenor Hodgkinson (1818–1881), English lawyer and politician Places, ...

and Gloucester Streets in the inner city suburb of The Rocks in the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the Local government in Australia, local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament ...

. It is also known as St Patrick's, Church Hill or St Pat's Church Hill. The property is owned by the Trustees of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney The Archdiocese of Sydney () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its episcopal see is Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Erected in 1842, the archdiocese is the metropolis (religious jurisdiction) ...

. The

Marist Fathers The Society of Mary (), better known as the Marists, is a Catholic religious congregation of pontifical right. Founded in Cerdon, France, by Jean-Claude Colin, the Society of Mary was recognized by an apostolic brief on April 29, 1836, and is ...

, a

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

, have administered the parish since 1868.

History

The church was built on land donated in 1840 by Catholic emancipist William Davis, who had originally been

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she ...

after the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...

. In the early years of the colony, when there was no Catholic priest resident in Sydney, Davis had sponsored Catholic prayer at his home. In 1840, plans advanced to build a second Catholic church, after the original St Mary's Church. The site was chosen to be close to the ex-convict working-class neighborhoods in The Rocks, at a distance from the official city, and the foundation stone blessed on 25 August. A design by William Fernyhough, possibly based on St. Anthony's Church in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, proved unsuitable for the site, and John Frederick Hilly was hired to redesign it. It built from 1840 to 1844 by Andrew Ross & Co., and dedicated 18 March 1844, instead of

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

, out of a desire to avoid potential violence and religious bigotry. It had no resident priest at first, as the first associated cleric, Francis Murphy, was appointed apostolic vicar of Adelaide in 1842. Irishman John McEncroe became the first permanent parish priest, serving in that role from 1861 to 1868. At his wish, the parish was entrusted thereafter to the French Marist Fathers. St. Patrick's opened a

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

in 1865, operated by the Sisters of Mercy, originally in the crypt of the church and in 1876 moving to a separate school building. The church and school, along with the nearby Scots Kirk and St. Philip's Anglican Church, gave rise to the area being nicknamed "Church Hill". The church is associated with the heritage-listed Federation Hall located at 24-30 Grosvenor Street, built as a parish hall and was used for that purpose until 1914. The property was sold by the parish in the 1920s. At the turn of the twentieth century, developments such as the plague epidemic of 1900 and redevelopment of The Rocks from a residential to a commercial area, and later the construction of the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

, contributed to concerns about the viability of the parish. The churches of St Michael's and St. Joseph's Providence were demolished, and St Bridget's was merged with St. Patrick's, the latter remaining in use as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

. Nevertheless, St. Patrick's has remained extremely popular for Catholic services, one of the busiest in Australia. In 1999, the church underwent a major restoration, including the installation of a new

Fratelli Ruffatti Famiglia Artigiana Fratelli Ruffatti (''Ruffatti Brothers, Family of Artisans'') is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Padua, Italy. History In 1940, Antonio Ruffatti and his two brothers founded the firm of Famiglia Artigiana Fratelli Ruffa ...

pipe organ.

References

External links

* * New South Wales places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate The Rocks, New South Wales Roman Catholic churches in Sydney Roman Catholic churches completed in 1844 1835 establishments in Australia 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Australia Gothic Revival church buildings in Australia Gothic Revival architecture in Sydney {{RC-church-stub

History

See also

References

External links