The
cathedral was built in 1850 mainly to cater the
Irish Catholic soldiers and others settled in
Wanwadi and nearby areas. Earlier, mass was celebrated for the troops, who were mainly
Irish and other Catholics in a single-room chapel at the end of Right Flank Lines in Wanwadi. Bishop
Anastasius Hartmann OFM Cap., the
Apostolic Vicar of Bombay and Poona, wanted to have a better place of worship, and so he co-opted Fr. James Carry, an Irish diocesan priest from the Madras Mission, as a chaplain in Poona in 1849. Fr. Carry immediately drew up plans to erect a new chapel. At the request of the bishop, the government allotted land. The chapel was built with contributions from people and from the soldiers, who contributed a month's salary. On 8 December 1850, the first mass was celebrated in the new chapel, which is now St. Patrick's Cathedral. Fr. Carry completed the south (Wanwadi) side of the church, with its pinnacled buttresses. The north side (Ghorpuri) was completed later by Fr. Esseiva, S.J. The Diocese of Poona was created in 1886 and
Jesuit missionary
Bernard Beider Linden was appointed the first
bishop. Thus, St. Patrick's Church became St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1887. On 15 July 1984, the roof of the cathedral collapsed. With donations from benefactors, the cathedral was rebuilt by Bishop
Valerian D' Souza, with a new curved vault roof designed by architect
Charles Correa in place of the old pointed roof. The re-dedication of St. Patrick's Cathedral was held on 22 October 1987. Eventually, the cathedral was again in need of repairs with the passage of time. Major renovation, repairs and redecoration of the cathedral was from 2009 to 2010, three of the highlights of which were a new backdrop to the sanctuary wall with a
mosaic of the
Risen Christ, 16 unique stained glass panels of the life of Jesus and a skylight above the altar depicting the
Holy Spirit in
stained glass. ==Architecture==