St. Francis Xavier chapel [1846-1864]
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Submitted by Herostratus on Sat, 2016-08-20 15:32
Current condition:
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed:
c.1846-01-01 (Day is approximate)
Date Place demolished:
c.1864-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)
Completed January 1846 near the Wanchai Catholic Cemetery
The chapel was replaced in 1864 by the Church of St. Francis Xavier. The church was built on a lot of land given by Sir Henry Pottinger on which no ground rent was paid. Cost was $3,000 raised exclusively in Manila.
A year later a subscription was launched to build nearby St Joseph's Hospital for the care of poor Chinese.
Source: The foundation of the Catholic mission in Hong Kong, 1841-1894 (Xia Qilong 1998 HKU)
Does anyone know the location of St Josephs Hospital? Did this become St Francis 2nd Generation?
Photos that show this place
 1860 |
Comments
St. Francis Xavier Chapel and St. Joseph's Hospital
From the below two maps, one from mid 1860s and the other from 1940, we can pinpoint the locations of these two buildings.
The chapel was at the SW corner of the junction between St. Francis Yard and St. Francis Lane.
The hospital was at the present day junction between Star Street and St. Francis Lane (Star Street didn't extend to that area back then)
The hospital was a small scale one built around 1867, but was abandoned after about one year. It was re-opened by the Canossian sisters in 1869 but was probably used as a sanctuary for poor Chinese rather than as a hospital as the Canossian sisters had built their own St. Francis Canossian Hospital slightly further up the hill (present day St. Francis' Canossian School). It baffles me why Chinese maps of the time (pre-1940) always refer the area as "St. Joseph's Hospital" even after St. Francis Canossian Hospital was already there (at least since 1909).
Haven't seen any photo of St. Joseph's Hospital, would love to see one.
Ashley