Saint Joseph's Church
Encyclopedia
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. It is located along Victoria Street
Victoria Street, Singapore
Victoria Street [Tamil]: விக்டோரியா ஸ்திரீட் is a street located in the Central Area of Singapore. The street starts at Victoria Bridge at the end of Kallang Road, after the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority building, in the north and continues as Hill Street at its junction with Stamford Road...
in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area of Singapore's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
.
The church was constructed from 1906 to 1912 with its foundation-stone laid two years earlier. The building was built in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style by the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
.
Saint Joseph's Church is most noted for its annual Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
procession, during which Christ's Passion
Passion (Christianity)
The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...
is honoured.
History
The history of Saint Joseph's Church and that of its predecessor, the Church of São José, both built on the same site, is inextricably linked with the Portuguese Mission. Father Francisco da Silva Pinto e Maia of PortoPorto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, head of the Portuguese Mission, arrived from Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
in 1826 and founded the Mission in Singapore. When he died in 1850, he left his money and some land for the building of a small church. His funds were augmented by a gift from the King of Portugal and the church was called São José. It was built by the man who succeeded him, the Reverend Vincente de Santa Catarina from 1851 to 1853.
In 1906, the Church of São José was pulled down. The present Saint Joseph's Church, completed in 1912, was built on the same site by the notable firm Swan & MacLaren.
Situated in the church compound and attached to the Mission was Saint Anthony's Boys' and Girls' School. It was first opened by Father José Pedro Santa Ana da Cunha in 1879 as Saint Anna's School in a small house along Middle Road
Middle Road, Singapore
Middle Road is a road located in the Downtown Core and Rochor within the Central Area of Singapore. It starts from its junction with Selegie Road and ends at Beach Road. Middle Road was already in existence in early Singapore, appearing in George Drumgoole Coleman's Map of Singapore in 1836...
. The school moved into the church compound in 1886 and changed its name. In 1893, separate boys' and girls' schools were formed. In 1999, the Portuguese Mission handed over Saint Joseph's Church to the Archdiocese of Singapore.
Saint Joseph's Church was gazette
Gazette
A gazette is a public journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.In English- and French-speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name The Gazette.Gazette is a loanword from the...
d a national monument
National Monuments of Singapore
National Monuments of Singapore are buildings and structures in Singapore that have been designated by the Preservation of Monuments Board as being of special historic, traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic value....
on 14 January 2005. From 4 September to 12 November 2006, the church was one of the exhibition venues for the Singapore Biennale
Singapore Biennale
The Singapore Biennale is a contemporary art biennale in Singapore. The first Singapore Biennale operated as one of a lineup of Singapore 2006 events. Fumio Nanjo, Director of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, has been reappointed Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale 2008...
, Singapore's inaugural international biennale of contemporary art.
Today the church is served by 2 priests, Father Michael Teo and Father Andre Christophe MEP, with daily masses as well as Sunday masses. However, it is not a parish church.
The church was once home to a pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, built in 1888 by Forster and Andrews
Forster and Andrews
Forster and Andrews was formed by James Alderson Forster and Joseph King Andrews , who had been employees of the London organ builder J. C. Bishop.They opened the business that bore their name in Hull in 1843...
, but is has since been dismantled. 2 and 3 manual Allen Digital Organs were installed in 2005 and 2009 respectively.
Architecture
The Church of Saint José was an attractive building in the classical styleClassical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
with a portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
supported by four column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s. It had a low square tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
and bell
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
.
Saint Joseph's Church is an architectural marvel structured in the form of a Latin cross and boasts beautifully crafted stained-glass windows. Another striking feature about this Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
building is its central octagonal tower, capped by a dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
and flanked by two smaller towers.
New buildings were added to the Church in 1938, 1954 and 1956.