CATHEDRAL OF THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
HONG KONG CATHOLIC
PAUL SCOTT
The above excellent plan comes from the Cathedral pamphlet entitled ‘History’ – just one of many pieces of information provided for the visitor. Tap / click on the plan to see a larger version.
In our tour of this Cathedral, we shall begin near the West door (at left) and walk right around the outside of the building in an anticlockwise direction. We shall then enter through the West door and explore the interior. When I visited I found that the Memorial Chapel had been renamed ‘The Chapel of the Four Evangelists’. The Chapel one might expect to be called The Lady Chapel was named ‘The Mission Chapel’. The unnamed Chapel (3) was called The Chapel of the Chinese Martyrs.
A brief history of the Cathedral is given below. However if you wish to begin your tour immediately, tap / click on START . Intermediate steps in the tour can be accessed by a tap / click on one of the following links.
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HISTORY
[Wikipedia]
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Chinese: 聖母無原罪主教座堂) 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 area of the city at 16 Caine Road.
Groundbreaking 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, and was consecrated in 1938. Three years later, it was damaged during the Battle of Hong Kong, but remained untouched throughout the subsequent Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. 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 Government of Hong Kong.
Original Structure (1843–1859)
After the First Opium War, Hong Kong was ceded to the British in the Treaty of Nanking and the colony soon became a popular stopover for missionaries travelling onwards to China. The parish was established in 1842 by Theodore Joset, 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. 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 façade. However, the Victoria Harbour 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 Mid-Levels, located close to the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.
Present-day Cathedral
A new site for the Cathedral was selected above Caine Road by the Glenealy Ravine and the cornerstone 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 Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and was blessed one day later. The construction of the Cathedral cost US$15,400, and since a Catholic church can only be consecrated 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 José da Costa Nunes and the Bishop Emeritus of Canton. Three of the Cathedral’s altars were also consecrated.
During the Second World War, the Cathedral suffered damage on its anniversary in 1941, when a Japanese shell was dropped onto it during the Battle of Hong Kong. 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 ruled that, although the colony was under British rule, the Prefecture Apostolic should remain under the administration of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), a missionary society from Italy. As a result, the Japanese treated the Cathedral as being under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Italy, 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’.
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, in which the main altar was moved to the Cathedral’s crossing. In 1988, air conditioning 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 for Culture Heritage Conservation and presented with the award on its anniversary in 2003.
The Cathedral holds a Red Mass every other year for the Judiciary of Hong Kong, alternating with St. John’s Cathedral in hosting the annual opening of the Assizes.
