ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, SOUTH DUNEDIN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 23, 25 March 1892, Page 19

ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, SOUTH DUNEDIN.

Gbeat interest attended last Sunday on the laying of the foundation' stone of the church of St Patrick, South Danedin. The congregation haa for some lime worshipped in a school-chapel, which, as their numbers grew, became •'small by degrees and beautifully lesß," until at length, and as things are, they are put to much inconvenience. The new church, however, which will occupy a site on the north aide* of the grounds, will console them for all. It will be, when finished, a very handsome building, in the classic style of the Boman basilica, affording seating accommodation for 1,200 people, and in size 150 ft. by 50ft., with a height of 45ft. to the ceiliog. Chief features will be a magnificent dome and colonnade. But, as a matter of course, to complete the building in all its perfection will be a work of years. All that is aimed at for the present is to erect it bo far as to provide a suitable place, affording sufficient accommodation, for the celebration of the Divine mysteries. The plans have been prepared by Mr P. W. Petre, and as this gentleman's work, when carried out, is always even better in reality than it promises in his plans to be, we may be convinced that the church will be a striking ornament to the city. Mr D. W. Woods is the contractor, which is a sufficient guarantee that the work will ba well done. The crowd on Sunday was a large one. His Lordßhip the Bishop, assisted by the Rev Fathers Man*an. Howell and Hegarty, U.SS.R. ; Lynch, Adm. ; O'Donnell (Port Chalmers), Hunt (pastor of the district), P. O'Neil, and J. O'Neil (Milton) officiated, and the csremonies were carried out in accordance with the directions of the Pontificate Romanum. The Bishop, vested in cope and mitre, with the clergy in soutanes and cottas, approached the 9ite in procession from the school-chapel. The order was as follows :— Gross- bearer (Bey Father O'Donnell) and acolytes, boys of the Dominican Nuns schools, school girls, the members of the H.A.0.8.8., men of tha Sodalities attached to the church, woman of the Sodalities, acolytes preceding the Bishop and pries s, The procession was enlivened by the gay banners which the school children, the Hibernians, and the sodalities carried, as well as by thdr respective regalia, ribbons, and scarfs— and presented a very pretty appearance. In a cavity beneath the stone were placed copies of the New Zealand Tablet, the Otago Daily limes, the Globe, and the Evening Star — in which latter papery we may remark in passirig, men of a tuture generation may perhaps read with anuzemeot and disgust the consistently obscene means adopted by that piously edited sheet to stamp out what it suggestively calls the odium theologiouvi. A parchment containing tbe following inscription was also place 1 beneath the stone : Hac die 20 Martii, 1891, lapiJem hunc primatium Ecclesise Deo omnipotenti sub titulo et invecatione Beati Patritii, Hiberniae Apostoli dedicandse, f requenti Populo Catholico, prse3entibus sacerdotibus Dunedinensibus, vicini^ue, reguante Victor. a Misuse Britaanise regina, Leoae XIII Papa Pontifbe, Comite Glasgovise, Gubernatore Nov« Zelandise, Patritius Moran, Bpiscopus Dunedinensis, benedixit et posuit. The Bishop in his addreFs confined himself to a few words of explanation regarJing the building about to be erected. His Lordship also, a* directed by the ritual, exhorted thosa present to come forward and place their offerings, according to their means, upon tbe stone* The collection amounted to £400, a devout consummation which was received by the gathering to whom it was announced with iirjging cheers. The Bishop congratulated the people on their generosity, and expressed himself much pleased at the result— as, indeed, he and all concerned in the matter had good reason to ba. The Bey Father Hunt, in particular, is to be congratulated on the true spirit cf Catholic devotion shown by his flock. The sum already collected, we may add, as declared by the Bibhop on this occasion, amounts to £1500, the total cost of tae building being estimated at £5000.