The Cathedral Church of Macau and Bishop's Palace

IGREJA DA SE

The Cathedral of Macau has a very long history. First built in 1576, it was originally a samll wooden structure.
In 1849, local catholic parishioners collected donations to rebuild the church. The new cathedral covered the same size it has today. A year later, on 14 February 1850, the then Bishop Jeronimo Jose da Mata, consecrated the church and administered the first Holy Mass.
However, the cathedral was almost destroyed in a typhoon 24 years later.
The Cathedral was finally rebuilt in 1937 in concrete. This is how it appears today. Rebuilding at that time cost MOP100,900.
The Cathedral is built on the site of the first church of Our Lady of Hope of St. Lazarus. That church was the mother church of the Macau diocese which then included the religious provinces of China, Japan, Korea and other islands adjacent to China.