Our archive department has made available guide booklet on the stained glass windows of St.Augustine's in Port Elizabeth. It also has a short history of the Cathedral.It is available from the Diocesan Office for R15 (SA postage included). or at the Cathedral for R10.

Read also, the short history of the Cathedral

When Father George Corcoran set off for Port Elizabeth by sailing ship in 1840, he didn’t expect to have to survive a shipwreck near Cape St.Francis and have to complete his journey by horseback. Significantly, when he did arrive in this way, he began his service by saying the first mass ever in Port Elizabeth on St.Patrick’s Day, March 17 th 1840. At this time, there were only 42 Catholics in the Port Elizabeth area. This first mass had to be said in a Tailor’s shop in the old Main Street, now Govan Mbeki Avenue.  

As the Catholic community flourished, a building was purchased at the foot of Castle Hill, where the MacSherry Hall now stands. It was there that mass was said on a regular basis. This building served as a chapel, school and presbytery.  

The priest responsible for the building of St.Augustine’s was Fr.Corcoran’s successor, Father Thomas Murphy. He came to the Cape with Dr.Aidan Devereux, later Bishop Devereux, in 1838. After Fr. Murphy built St.Patrick’s church in Grahamstown, he was sent to Port Elizabeth where he began organizing the building of St.Augustine’s on land purchased on Castle Hill. The construction work began in 1861 and was completed in 1866. Numerous set backs were experienced – including the collapse of a large part of the building during a violent gale- but this did not deter the indefatigable Father Murphy. He organized a collection for the rebuilding and such was his reputation, the whole town contributed, Catholics and Protestants alike.

St.Augustine’s was opened and solemnly consecrated by Bishop Moran on the 25 th of April 1866.  

During the early years of the Church the in the Eastern Cape, the Bishops resided in Grahamstown and St.Patrick’s was known as the “Pro-Cathedral”. In 1939, when the Right Rev. James Colbert became Bishop, the title of “Vicariate of the Eastern districts of the Cape of Good Hope” was altered to the “Vicariate of Port Elizabeth”. St.Augustine’s became the official seat of the Bishops and took the name “St.Augustine’s Cathedral”.

In the intervening years the building has undergone quite a few alterations and restorations, each reflecting the taste in church architecture at the time. It was originally designed in a plain Gothic style but in as early as 1895, was decorated in the Italianate style favoured by Bishop Peter Strobino (1891-1896). An Italian artist enriched the interior with marble surfaces and intricate tiling.

By 1930, these interior decorations had suffered from the ravages of time and the church reverted to a more Gothic style. The roof was replaced and the windows re-modelled to allow for more ventilation. Further renovations became necessary in 1956 when it was realized that owing to the gradient of the ground, the foundations were being washed away! Tons of concrete had to be pumped into the foundations. Also, the organ was removed to a new side chapel adjacent to the Lady Chapel while the pipes remained in the loft.

After Vatican Council 2, the sanctuary was redesigned and the high altar replaced with a simpler altar table. The side altars were re-designed and the ornate stone pulpit removed.  

Then in 1988, the organ loft was rebuilt and the organ returned to the loft where it now is. Many of the stones of the main fabric of the Cathedral had to be replaced by new stones which were quarried from under the Cathedral itself. This monumental task was achieved through donations being received world-wide and the organising of a committee set up for the purpose.

The bronze statue of Christ the King which can be seen from outside of the Cathedral on the north wall above the main entrance was donated by the Frost family in 1931 .