Puerta de la Misericordia

St Patrick's Cathedral first conducted services from 1851 onwards and the parish of Ballarat was instituted in 1852. The first Parish Priest was Father Matthew Downing, who selected in 1853 the two acres site for this church which was granted under a Crown Grant in 1855. The style of the church is early Gothic from the era of Edward I in the 13th Century. The dimensions are basically 150ft by l00ft. On February 7, 1858 Bishop James Alipius Goold laid the foundation stone for the church which commenced being used on a regular basis for Mass in 1863. The miners presented the Bishop with gold nuggets which were formed into a Chalice and Patten which are today in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This was Ballarat’s only parish church from 1863 to 1963. The official opening of the church was in 1871 and when the diocese of Ballarat was formed in 1874, the first Bishop Dr Michael O’Connor chose it for his Cathedral. When St Patrick’s Cathedral Ballarat was finally consecrated in 1891 by Cardinal Moran of Sydney, it was the first Catholic Cathedral consecrated in the Australian Colonies, making it today Australia’s oldest. Five of Ballarat’s seven Bishop’s are buried in the crypt.