Functional status Active Status Cathedral | Denomination Roman Catholic Completed 1848 Opened 1848 Groundbreaking 17 January 1839 | |
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Consecrated 999999999999-99-99-0000 Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Archdiocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Papeete | ||
St. Michael's Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Michel, Rikitea) is a Roman Catholic church located on Mangareva Island in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia. It was built on the eastern side of Rikitea between 1839 and 1848 by missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is in the neo-Gothic architectural style, constructed with burnt limestone, and decorated with mother of pearl.
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History
The cathedral was built under the auspices of the Picpus Fathers by Father Cyprien Liausu, Superior of the Mission of Our Lady of Peace in the Gambiers, after he arrived in Rikitea in 1835.
Lay brothers Gilbert Soulié and Fabien Costes were responsible for the masonry work, assisted by fifteen native workers. Bishop Florentin-Étienne Jaussen visited in February 1849 and was sufficiently impressed that in April 1856 Soulié and sixty Mangareva workers travelled to Tahiti to work on Notre Dame Cathedral in Papeete. Ten years later, these same skilled workers constructed the beacon at Point Venus in Tahiti.
It was, and remains, the largest church in the South Pacific. The cathedral is very active, within the limitations of the smallness of the population of the island, and retains the religiosity of the 19th century; devotees congregate there on Sunday mornings and sing hymns.
Features
The cornerstone for the cathedral was laid on 17 January 1839, and Bishop Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze blessed the site on 4 April 1839. The building measures 48 metres (157 ft) in length, is 18 metres (59 ft) wide, and rises to a height of 21 metres (69 ft). It can seat 1200 people, and is thrice the size of the cathedral at Papeete.
The altar has ornamentation of fine pearl oyster engravings of Mother-of-pearls, encased with black pearls. François Caret, a colleague of Laval, was buried in a crypt before the altar. The tomb of Maputeoa (died 1857), who was the king of Mangareva, is situated in a separate chapel, the Chapel of St. Pierre, Atititoa. Many other early Catholic missionaries are also buried here. The cathedral has been planned to be refurbished at a cost of US$2 million, painted white on the exterior.