Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, Shillong

History

Built in 1913 by the first Catholic missionaries to these hills, the Salvatorians from Germany (of the Society of the Divine Saviour), it was the first Catholic Cathedral Church in what was then the Apostolic Prefecture of Assam. Construction of the new church of Mary Help of Christians began on the same site on 25 October 1936. The earlier 1913 building – the Church of the Divine Saviour – was a wooden structure, which was destroyed in a fire on 10 April 1936. Described as modern Gothic (accurately Art Deco), the Church building plan was approved on 22 August 1936 by the chairman of the Shillong Municipality, who was also the Deputy Commissioner of former United Khasi & Jaintia Hills District, Keith Cantlie. The first stone of the new Church was blessed on 25 October 1936 the feast of Christ the King. The building stands on sand and has no direct connection with the underlying rock; the type of foundation was recommended since the region where Shillong is located is prone to severe earthquakes. The sand on which the structure stands provides elasticity. At the time of building the foundation, trenches were cut from rock and half-filled with sand. Theoretically the Church building in times of earthquakes can rock safely on the shock-absorbing sand. In 1980, the centenary year of the Catholic Church in North East India, the Archbishop, Hubert D’Rosario, declared the Cathedral Church a shrine, duly approved to be a pilgrimage centre. Since then special church services have been held there every Wednesday.