Beginnings in Hougang Before the arrival of pioneer priest Father Ambrose Maistre in 1852, there was already a significant
Catholic community in
Aukang (Teochew moniker for
Hougang) or
Kangkar, the area surrounding
Serangoon River. He went on to set up a station to serve the Catholics in this rural district and the first baptism took place in 1853. An
attap (thatched roof) chapel and small
presbytery was also erected after Father Maistre acquired approximately 37-acres of land from the
British East India company. It was later converted into a small
brick church named St Mary's Chapel. While some converted to
Catholicism after arriving in
Singapore, missionary activities of the Dominican and Franciscan friars in Southeastern China as early as the seventeenth century meant that many already embraced the faith before their migration. As such, conversion of new settlers was successful as the need for an expansion of the church became apparent between 1894 and 1896. It was said that half the parishioners – mostly women and children – had to stand outside the brick chapel during Mass.
Expansion, 1933 However, by the 1930s, the church had to be expanded again to accommodate the growing
parish; general attendance at
Mass rose to 1350. Holy Innocents’ English School was then established as a parish school in 1916 to the left of the church premises. Holy Innocents’ Chinese Girls’ School was founded in 1932. It is known as
Holy Innocents’ Primary School today after it amalgamated with the primary section of Holy Innocents’ High School in 1985. Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) Punggol was established in 1957 and was renamed
CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity in 2001. The St Francis Xavier Minor Seminary was also built opposite the church in 1924 to provide instruction to potential candidates to the priesthood. It still stands at its original location, alongside the Catholic Spirituality Centre.
Vernacular masses Vatican II introduced the use of
vernacular languages in the liturgy. In Singapore,
English Masses first began in 1965 and
Mandarin ones in 1970.
Teochew Masses were first offered in the Nativity Church in 1971 on Pentecost Sunday. Till this date, the Nativity Church remains the only
Catholic church in Singapore that offers Mass in
Teochew.
Urbanisation & resettlement, 1970s–1980s Along with the founding of
Singapore as an independent nation in 1965, as well as
urbanisation projects between the 1960s and 1970s, came changes to the community residing in Hougang. Land surrounding the church, such as St Joseph's Lane and Kok Nam Lane, were acquired by the government. Parishioners were resettled elsewhere in Singapore, such as
Whampoa,
Ang Mo Kio and
Marine Parade while other Singaporeans moved into
Hougang with the mass building of
Housing Development Board (HDB) flats in the area. As a result, the church and her surrounding area became more
multilingual and
multiracial instead of being predominantly Teochew Catholic. Nonetheless, despite these changes, the church remained the centre of activities. In the 1980s especially, food and fun fairs,
Feast Day processions, film shows and outings were regularly organized. Both parishioners and non-Catholics would enjoy them. New ministries, such as the Migrant Workers’ Gospel Station, were also established over the years to serve the church as well as to reach out to
migrants in the vicinity. St Anne's Church was also founded in 1963 in present-day
Sengkang to accommodate the growing number of
Catholics in the area. Recognised for her “social and historical significance…, importance to the community as well as architectural merits”, the Church was gazetted a
national monument on 14 January 2005 under the Preservation of Monuments Act (Cap 239) (Image 25 in Appendix C).
Timeline == Architectural features ==