St Anthony of Padua, Martinborough

The beautiful lines of St Anthony of Padua, the Catholic church in Martinborough. This view, from the western end of the church (also known liturgically as the "east end") shows the sanctuary.

The southern side of St Anthony's, showing the attractive shaped nave windows and buttresses.

A view of the church from Princess Street.

A pair of nave windows. The stained glass windows underneath (just visible at the bottom of the picture) are covered by a clear protective layer.

The northern side of the nave. Attractive tiles on the vestry roof are just visible.

View of the church from the north-western corner, showing the vestry and sanctuary.

History

The first Catholic Church in Martinborough

The Evening Post of 5 November 1894 carries an advertisement calling for tenders for a new Catholic church in Martinborough:

TENDERS. 

GEO. K. BOND, Architect, 

Perry-street, Masterton, 

invites Tenders up to 12 noon of Monday, 

the 19th inst., for the 

Erection of CATHOLIC CHURCH At Martinborough. 

Particulars can be seen at the Architect's office, 

and at Spillane's Hotel, Martinborough.

The New Zealand Tablet, 28 January 1909 reports that 

The Catholic Church Committee at Martinborough has decided to place three stained-glass windows in the church at a cost of £63 to the memory of late Messrs. P. Kane, J. Mack, and T. Sullivan.

Little more is known about this church, which was wooden, but newspapers throughout New Zealand reported that it had been totally destroyed by fire on the night of 10 October 1918.  For the next few years Martinborough Catholics heard Mass in the Oddfellows' Hall.

Second and present Catholic Church in Martinborough

With the proceeds of the insurance claim -  £350 - parishioners determined that they would build a more fire-proof church. Mr T. J. McCosker, who designed other Catholic churches in the Wellington region, drew up designs for the new church.

It was built in ferro-concrete to make it fireproof. The contract was let in 1923, but the high price of cement and the difficulty of getting supplies to the site made the job very expensive. By the time the walls were up, the small Catholic congregation had exhausted its funds. By occurring significant debt the roof was put on and the church was blessed at the end of 1923 by Archbishop O'Shea.

Because the small congregation's funds were exhausted the exterior and interior walls of the church remained as bare concrete until 1951, when Father V. J. McGlone encouraged another fundraising round of £700 and permission was given to go ahead with the plastering.  The spring of that year was particularly wet and additional cost was incurred by having to hire scaffolding for some considerable time. Further fundraising was necessary. By 1952 the building was complete and looked much as it does today.

South Wairarapa Parish

In 1953, Martinborough was separated from Carterton and, with Featherston, became part of the South Wairarapa Parish.

Today

In a move driven by a serious shortage of priests, the Wairarapa Catholic Parish (Masterton, Carterton, Martinborough Greytown and Featherston) was formed in 2015. The Parish Priest is Fr Bruce England, assisted by Fr Binu Matthew and Sharon Penny, lay pastoral leader.

Following adverse engineers' reports, the Church of St Anthony of Padua is no longer in use and Vigil Mass is held in the hall at St Anthony's at 5.30 pm each Saturday. For further information check the weekly parish newsletter.

Contact information

Parish Office, 164 Dixon Street, Masterton.
Phone: 06 378 2028
Email:office@wairarapacatholics.nz
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/catholicparishofthewairarapa/home

Sources:
Papers Past 
Fruits of Toil, by Fr Vincent J. McGlone, 1957
Wairarapa Archive
Catholic Parish of the Wairarapa