In Central Wellington/ Pōneke stands the Cathedral of St Paul.
The Cathedral is the result of decades of lobbying, land purchases, interruptions and changes in materials, as well as delays between the architectural plans and the completion of the building. The first stage was finally opened in 1964 (the architect, Cecil Wood, was appointed in 1938) and the final dedication of the completed edifice was held in 1998. The building is a mixture of Southern Californian Art Deco, neo-Byzantine and Scandinavian styles contributing a unique look and feel.
The Cathedral boasts, as is common in Christian places of worship, a multitude of artworks. Stained and etched glass – the latter echoing the panes in Coventry Cathedral in England which were also created by New Zealander John Hutton – wood and metal, tiles and textiles all add to the grandeur of the building.
The largest textile piece is a huge dossal created by Beverley Shore Bennett and measures almost nine metres x four and a half. It took three years to design and make, weighs 20 kilograms and has thousands of patchwork pieces in both the large central panel that depicts a Christ figure and the two side panels that portray Christian symbols.
In the beautiful wooden Lady Chapel, once a church in Paraparaumu (55km north of Pōneke) and now removed and rebuilt as part of the cathedral complex, a banner for the Mothers’ Union (below) has an amusing anecdote along with its history attached.
MOTHERS’ UNION BANNER OF THE WELLINGTON DIOCESE
The Mothers’ Union banner of the Wellington Diocese was designed in England by the artist Terence Randall, FRSA. The Virgin Mary and Infant Christ are shown standing on a green island. She wears a wreath of kowhai flowers and foliage, and her robe is decorated with starry white clematis flowers. On one side of her is the coat of arms of the Mothers’ Union, and on the other the shield of the Diocese of Wellington surmounted by the Bishop’s mitre. In the four corners of the banner are the symbols of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Along the top and down the sides are the symbols of all the patron saints of parish churches in the diocese.
The banner was made in England by expert ecclesiastical embroiderers for the cost of GBP250. It was displayed for a time in the window of Mary Sumner House where it was greatly admired. It arrived by ship in 1953 and was met at the Customs shed on Pipitea Wharf in Wellington by Mr and Mrs Irving and their daughter Margaret, who wrote a letter which we have on file to her fiancé Dudley Mander, telling him of this notable event. With some difficulty they managed to tie the heavy, large package on the roof of their car and take it to the president of the MU Diocesan Council, Mrs Jermyn in Petone. There they unnailed the crate with great excitement, and were full of admiration for the “gorgeous” banner within.
The photographs below are of the interior of the Cathedral and Lady Chapel. They are larger than usual files so that readers can zoom in to see detail. Click on any image to see the collection and use the arrows to advance. Clicking on an image will allow zooming in and out.
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