Place: Holy Cross Catholic Cathedral, Honiara
Details
A temporary Holy Cross Pro Cathedral was built in 1957 on the lower slope of Vavaya Ridge, Honiara, where it was thought that Mendaña had planted his cross in 1565. Like the Anglican's temporary cathedral, it was a large Quonset hut left over from the war. Bishop J. M. Aubin S.M. (q.v.) blessed the cathedral on 21 May 1957 at a ceremony attended by 2,500 people. A brick from the first Catholic Mission Station in the Solomon Islands, built in 1845, was incorporated into the front wall. A marble statue of the Virgin Mary which had survived the wartime destruction of the cathedral at Visale (q.v.) and was marked by a few machine-gun bullets, was placed outside the new cathedral. A new Holy Cross Cathedral was constructed in 1977. (NS 7 July 1957, 31 July 1957; SND 18 Mar. 1977)