Saturday 8 April is the 31st Anniversary of the Foundation of the Diocese of Parramatta.
Pope St John Paul II created the Diocese with the Papal Bull addressed to His Eminence, Edward Bede Cardinal Clancy, Archbishop of Sydney in 1986.
The Diocese was created to better serve the needs of the Catholic people in the Blue Mountains and Western Sydney.
St Patrick’s Church, Parramatta was elevated to a Cathedral.
The bull names Parramatta, Blacktown, Holroyd, Penrith, Blue Mountains, Baulkham Hills Shire and the Shire of Hawkesbury.
This bull was not signed by Pope St John Paul II himself, though other bulls appointing more recent bishops are signed by the Pope himself.
The form of the Papal Bull dates back centuries. The Papal Bull is written on vellum, made from lambskin. The bull is written in Latin, the official language of the Catholic Church. Ornate calligraphy embellishes the text to reflect the solemnity and dignity of the pronouncement.
The word ‘bull’ comes from the Latin ‘bulla’, the seal traditionally made from lead, with an image of St Peter and St Paul impressed on it.
The string that ties the bull is coloured white and yellow, the official colours of the Holy See.
For more information about the history of the Diocese of Parramatta, please click here.
