Sunday, January 13, 2013

Ladye Mary Chapel St Francis' Church Lonsdale Street, Melbourne



Ladye Mary Chapel St Francis' Church Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
St Francis' Church in Lonsdale Streert, Melbourne is a beautiful, prayer filled sanctuary which I have enjoyed visiting when I am in the City. The Ladye Mary Chapel is a magnificent place of quiet prayer, and the Blessed Sacrament is exposed all day.
Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacament is Monday to Saturday: 6:45 am to 5:30 pm (except during Masses which Mon to Thur 7:30, 8:00, 11:00 am, 12:05, 1:05, 5:30 pm and other days is also very frequent).Reference - http://www.stfrancismelbourne.org.au

The ‘mother church of Victoria’, St Francis’ Church, was built between 1841 and 1845 on the block of land originally reserved for the Catholic Church in Melbourne.
Soon after Melbourne’s pioneer priest, the Franciscan Fr Patrick Geoghegan, arrived in 1839, a temporary chapel made of second-hand floorboards was erected on the site of the future St Francis’ Church. When sufficient funds were raised to finance a permanent building, Geoghegan commissioned the architect Samuel Jackson to design the present church, which he dedicated to St Francis’ of Assisi.
The foundation stone of St Francis’ Church was laid on 4 October 1841. The first mass was celebrated in the completed nave of the church on 22 May 1842. And the church was blessed and opened on 23 October 1845.
St Francis’ became Melbourne’s first Catholic cathedral with the arrival of Bishop James Alipius Goold in 1848. Its cathedral status ended when the nave of the partially built St Patrick’s Cathedral was opened for worship in the late 1860s.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (1842–1909) made her first communion at St Francis’ in 1850, the same year that bushranger Ned Kelly’s parents were married in the church.
The beautiful ‘Ladye Chapel’ on the western side of St Francis’ Church was constructed in the mid 1850s and blessed on 31 May 1858. A Renaissance style sanctuary, which extended the church, was built in the late 1870s.......................
For full text - http://www.stfrancismelbourne.org.au
Jesus and Mary I love you, save souls.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come.

22Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifeb? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 
Luke 12