It seems fitting Auckland’s first chapel for Irish immigrants would be named after Ireland’s patron saint: Saint Patrick. New Zealand’s first Roman Catholic Bishop, Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier, founded the parish in 1841 along with a dozen other missionary stations throughout the country. Auckland became the Catholic diocese seven years later. A church was constructed in 1850 and then expanded during the rest of the century. By 1908, the old section was demolished and the current Gothic Revival cathedral was finished. The Cathedral of St Patrick and St Joseph is the Mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland.
