The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd stands at the junction of Queen Street and Bras Basah Road. Built between 1843 and 1847, it is the oldest surviving Catholic church in Singapore and is today the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese and Archbishop. The Cathedral was gazetted as a national monument on 28 June 1973.
History
Raffles gave land at Bras Basah to the Catholic Church as early as 1822. However, it was only with the arrival of Father J. B. Boucho in 1832 that the first Catholic chapel was built there. The wood-and-attap construction was built at a cost of $700, with the money raised through public subscription. The old site at No. 3 Bras Basah Road was later converted into a school that became St Joseph's Institution (now the Singapore Art Museum).
In 1888, with the growing Catholic population in Singapore, the church was raised to the status of a cathedral. On 14 February 1897, the Bishop of Malacca, the Reverend Rene Fee consecrated the church after all bills were settled. The relics of St. Laurent Imbert, the first priest to visit Singapore (later martyred in Korea), are preserved in the Cathedral.
During the invasion of Singapore during World War II, the Cathedral was used as an emergency hospital.
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