St Patrick's Church set to turn 175 years old

BENGALURU: At noon every Sunday, the toll of the bell in St Patrick's Church on Brigade Road reverberates through the neighbourhood, marking the beginning of the service at the first church set up in

Cantonment

area 175 years ago to cater to 700-odd

Catholic

soliders.

One of the oldest churches belonging to the Archdiocese of Bangalore, St Patrick's will observe its 175th anniversary on October 10. "From the church records, we know that in the 1840s, Protestants constituted the majority of the Christian population of the city. The Catholic community comprised approximately 5,000 Indians and 1,000 Europeans. As the Cantonment expanded and the Catholic population grew, a need was felt to establish a new church in the 'white' part of town," said Reverend Monsignor C Francis, parish priest of St Patrick's.

The foundation of the church was laid on July 22, 1841. "A little-known fact about St Patrick's is that it was originally dedicated to the Blessed Trinity and named after the Blessed

Virgin Mary

and St Michael the Archangel. After the building was completed, Irish soldiers named it St Patrick after the patron saint of Ireland," said Rev Francis.

The first parish priest was Father

Jacques-Henry Gailhot

, a Frenchman who had to overcome considerable prejudice Protestant officers in the Cantonment. For the small Catholic mission, funding the new building was a major issue. Money had to be raised from other sources as only about 200 of the 700 Catholic soldiers were willing to contribute, probably because they were afraid of displeasing their Protestant officers, he said.

"The church came up on a ground initially used as a parking ground for elephants and camels, presumably of the army. Oral history of the nuns in the neighbouring Good Shepherd Convent reveals that the area was thickly wooded and full of cactus plants, a far cry from the concrete jungle the area now is," Rev Francis said.

Early records reveal that the early building did not have the high roof, steeples and Gothic architecture we see today. These were added about half a century later, and a belfry was added to the rear of the high altar in 1845. In the early years, the two wings of the church doubled as classrooms for European and Eurasian children.