Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Victoria (Seychelles)
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, next to the Tower of the Clock of Victoria on the island of Mahe, is the mother church of Catholicism in Seychelles and the seat of the diocese of Port Victoria. It rises in the same place where in March 1851 the Capuchin missionary Léon des Avancers raised the first chapel of the archipelago, already dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- It all began in March 1851, when Capuchin father Léon des Avancers built on this site the first Catholic chapel of Seychelles, consecrated to the Immaculate Conception: the seed of the whole Church on the islands.
- In 1892 Pope Leo XIII erected the diocese of Port Victoria, and that same year began the first great reconstruction of the temple, of French colonial air; his bell tower rose in 1898.
- After the restoration of 1995-1995, the sculptor Eghbert Marday carved the sacred and the doors: the art of the islands placed at the service of the Mother of God. It is the largest Catholic temple in the country, with capacity for about 700 people.
- Under his pavement he rests Monsignor Felix Paul, the first Senegalese bishop, who died on 21 November 2001; a plaque points to the place of his burial.
Immaculate Conception
From the humble chapel of 1851 to the present cathedral, the Immaculate has presided over the faith of Seychelles. Mother Church of the diocese of Port Victoria, keeps the memory of the Capuchin missionaries and the first son bishop of the islands.
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