Erected 28 November 1869.[3] Promptly following the philanthropic acquisition and dedication of land on the western side of central park Armidale, the foundation stone of the first of two brick cathedrals was laid and blessed on 8 December 1870, by the Administrator Monsignor John Thomas Lynch, an alumnus of St Patrick's Maynooth Ireland, on the same day that St Joseph was named as the patron of the Universal Church.[4] The first bishop, Most Reverend Timothy O'Mahony D.D, an alumnus of the Irish College in Rome and a director of the missionary movement of Propaganda Fide for Ireland, was forced to resign over politically motivated false allegations of alcoholism and fathering a child, although he was eventually cleared by a church investigation and subsequent events.[5] A sesquicentenary celebration of Bishop O'Mahony's installation at Armidale, by Archbishop Polding, an English Benedictine, was celebrated on 9.3.2021 and led by Archbishop Fisher and Bishop Kennedy.[6] A large white 2021 dated memorial stone has since been installed on the south side of the cathedral front doors-complementing that on the north side of the cathedral pyrmont sandstone front doors that commemorates another significant event being the blessing of the current cathedral by Cardinal Moran.
^"Diocese of Armidale". The Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia. National Council of Priests of Australia. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
