RAINY DAY

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme

ST PATRICK'S, EAST MELBOURNE

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne has quite an interesting background. The Cathedral was proposed to be built in 1847, only 12 years after the establishment of Melbourne, and an area of land in the Eastern Hill area was granted by the Colonial Secretary of Victoria for its construction. The Cathedral was devoted to St. Patrick, a saint of Ireland, as a majority of Catholics in Melbourne at that time were Irish.

The construction of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, designed by William Wardell, took a long time to start due to several obstacles like the lack of labour during the Gold Rush of the 1850s. Almost 11 years after the proposal, the foundation stones were finally laid in 1858. The central area of the church was completed within 10 years but soon after that, work progressed at a very slow pace mainly due to the misery that struck Melbourne in 1891. The construction of the main part of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne was finally over in 1897. Daniel Mannix, who became Archbishop of Melbourne in 1917, maintained a constant interest in the cathedral, which he was determined to see finished after the long delays during the previous 30 years. He oversaw the addition of the spires and other elements in the late 1930s. The building was officially completed in 1939.

The Cathedral  is famous because of its grand and awe-inspiring architecture which is in the Gothic Revival Style. This style refers to the imitation of the technique of church building in the middle ages and which was most admired in Europe and America in the late 19th century, spurring the construction of gothic revival structures. The central area of the church is designed in the early English style while the rest of the building is more geometrical identifying with the later Gothic style.

This post is part of the Spiritual Sundays meme,
and also part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.

EAST MELBOURNE CHURCHES

St Patrick's Cathedral (left) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Denis Hart. In 1974 Pope Paul VI conferred the title and dignity of minor basilica on it. The cathedral is built on a traditional east-west axis, with the altar at the eastern end, symbolising belief in the resurrection of Christ. St Patrick's has the distinction of being both the tallest and, overall, the largest church building in Australia.

In 1848, the Augustinian friar James Goold was appointed the first bishop of Melbourne and became the fourth bishop in Australia, after Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide. Negotiations with the colonial government for the grant of five acres of land for a church in the Eastern Hill area began in 1848. On 1 April 1851, only 16 years after the foundation of Melbourne, the Colonial Secretary of Victoria finally granted the site to the Roman Catholic Church.

The first German Lutheran church (right) was built on the current site in 1854 by William Hellings to the designs of Bellairs, Kürsteiner & Co and was replaced in 1874 by the existing Gothic style bluestone church designed by Charles Blachmann and built by Henry Goedeke. All the original stained glass windows in the church were supplied by local stained glass company Ferguson & Urie in 1874.

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
and also part of the Spiritual Sundays meme,
and also part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.

ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL

St Patrick's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Denis Hart. In 1974 Pope Paul VI conferred the title and dignity of minor basilica on it. In 1986 Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral and addressed clergy during his Papal Visit.

The cathedral is built on a traditional east-west axis, with the altar at the eastern end, symbolising belief in the resurrection of Christ. The plan is in the style of a Latin cross, consisting of a nave with side aisles, transepts with side aisles, a sanctuary with seven chapels, and sacristies. Although its 103.6 metres length is marginally shorter than that of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, St Patrick's has the distinction of being both the tallest and, overall, the largest church building in Australia.

This post is part of the Spiritual Sundays meme,
and also part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.

ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL

St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne on a cloudy morning at sunrise.

Psalm 93: The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

² Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

⁴ The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

⁵ Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.

This post is part of the Psalm Challenge meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme.

ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL

St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne, is one of the world's most magnificent and awe-inspiring neo-gothic cathedrals. This bluestone/sandstone gothic revival cathedral was designed by William Wardell. It was built in stages from 1858 to 1940, when finally, the spires were added. St. Patrick’s is a living monument to the faith and generosity of Melbourne Catholics in the boom and bust years of the 19th century. It provides a place of worship, prayer and reflection in today’s busy world.

The photos were taken early in the morning as I was going to work. The overcast sky provided a perfect backdrop for the sunlit buildings as the sun was rising. The cathedral was almost like it was being gilded by the sun rays...

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Inspiring Photography meme.

ALBERT ST VISTAS

Albert St in East Melbourne is one of the scenic routes one may take through inner Melbourne to get to the City. Right on the City outskirts, there are parks, marvellous old Victorian buildings and the magnificent Catholic Cathedral of St Patrick. An added bonus is the early morning flight of hot air balloons...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.

GREEK CHURCH OF THE HOLY ANNUNCIATION

The Holy Church of “The Annunciation of Our Lady” is one of Melbourne’s oldest churches and is the second Greek Orthodox Church erected in Australia after “The Church of Holy Trinity” in Sydney.  The first volume of the minutes of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) makes detailed reference to the endeavours of the then members to collect the required funds to purchase the parcel of land in East Melbourne and to construct the church. Other articles related to the endeavours of the Greeks of Melbourne can be found in the archives of the “Argus” and the “Sydney Morning Herald”, newspapers of that era.

In its infancy the church operated in a school hall (or ‘room’ as it is referred to in the first volume of the minutes) that the Community hired at Chalmers Church Hall in Gipps St, East Melbourne. The first official priest was father Athanasios Kantopoulos, who arrived in Melbourne with his family on the 22nd of June 1898 after a request from the Greek Community to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Damianos for a priest to be sent to Melbourne to serve the religious needs of its Orthodox residents.

Prior to his arrival the Church operated in the aforementioned premises with Archimandrite Dorotheos “Samios “ Bakalarios, a visiting priest who arrived in Melbourne in August 1897 and immediately commenced services on the 22nd August 1897 (Now considered the date that the GOCMV was established). Archimandrite Dorotheos “Samios” Bakalarios remained in Melbourne until November 1897 and thereafter moved to Sydney where he continued to service the needs of the Orthodox faith in that city.

Messrs Inskip & Butler were the appointed architects and a tender was announced for the first stage of the construction of the church. N. Longstaff & Co were appointed as the preferred builders to the sum of 816 Pounds. According to the “Argus” newspaper in its edition on 22nd June 1901, the official opening of the church took place on Sunday 23rd June 1901. The “Argus” also noted that it would take a considerable amount of time for the works to be completed.

This post is part of the Sunday Psalms meme hosted by Louis,
and also for the Spiritual Sunday meme hosted by Charlotte.

And here is a Greek Orthodox Psalm, the Psalm 102 (103), as sung by The Greek Byzantine Choir from the album "The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom."