Reverend Dr Patrick Bonaventure GeogheganPrint Page

The Great West Window was erected by public subscription to commemorate Reverend Dr Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan, the first Catholic missionary of Victoria.

The Great West Window depicts the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. Installed in 1867, the window depicts:

• Our Lady and eleven apostles (lower register), with Bishop Geoghegan as St John the Evangelist to the right of Our Lady
• Our Lord ascending into Heaven (central panel, middle register)
• Angels carrying scrolls with Latin texts from the Acts of the Apostles ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven’ and ‘This Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven’ (panels on either side)
• Old Testament prophets, priests, patriarchs, kings and holy men and women (roundels)
• The Book of the Apocalypse (top register)
• The Blessed Trinity (window above)

We are informed that it is proposed by the friends of the late Right Rev. Dr. Geoghegan, Bishop of Adelaide and Goulburn, to commemorate his public services to Victoria, as its first Catholic missionary, by purchasing from England a memorial window of stained glass, for the great western window of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A magnificent design by Hardman, valued at £1,000, the subject of which is the Ascension of our Lord, has been submitted for this purpose, and approved of by the bishop and architect of the church. A likeness of the late bishop will be introduced amongst the crowd of awestricken bystanders, with a suitable scroll, intended to be an everlasting memorial of the affectionate esteem of the subscribers, and an ever-present appeal for the prayers of the faithful in his behalf. Subscription-lists will be prepared in the course of a few days, and left at the principal banking establishments and public places in Melbourne.
The Argus (Melbourne), 28th February 1865.

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