Fr Samuel Lim The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Chinese: 善牧主教座堂) is the oldest Catholic church in Singapore, built in 1847.

Bounded by the parallel Queen and Victoria Streets, and Bras Basah Road, the cathedral sits within shaded grounds.

In the beginning, the Catholic community in Singapore attended Mass at the house of Denis Lesley McSwiney.

The chapel, with neither tower nor spire, was on the site of the former Saint Joseph's Institution buildings, now occupied by the Singapore Art Museum, and allotted by the Resident Councillor, George Bonham to Father Jean-Baptiste Boucho, a French missionary who had come from Penang.

The Government Surveyor, John Turnbull Thomson, had prepared the first design for the church, but it was considered too expensive to build and difficult to maintain.

On 18 June 1843, the cornerstone for the church was blessed by Bishop Jean-Paul-Hilaire-Michel Courvezy, Vicar Apostolic of Malacca-Singapore, and was laid by John Connolly, a merchant.

The dedication of the church to the Good Shepherd stems from the note written by Saint Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert to his fellow missionaries, Saints Pierre-Philibert Maubant and Jacques-Honoré Chastan, asking them to surrender to the Korean authorities to save their flocks from extermination during a period of Christian persecution in Korea.

In early 2016, beneath the cathedral's foundation stone, a shoebox-sized time capsule[5] from 18 June 1843, was discovered and was found to include a prayer booklet and newspapers, and international coins.

[6] The capsule is thought to have been buried by French Catholic missionary priests and other founding communities of Singapore.

During the 2016 restoration, following the stabilization and reinforcing of the tower's structure, the bells were re-hung for swing chiming with an electric motor.

All pediments are ornamented with a moulded circle at the centre and, except for the ones at the ends of the transept and the one fronting Victoria Street, all are surmounted with a cross.

Upon entering the cathedral through the centre door at the narthex, one will see the statues of Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Francis Xavier, the four cast iron Composite columns supporting the gallery, and the two cast iron spiral staircases leading to the gallery.

All eighteen panels are rather simply ornamented, with a simple rectangular border and a ceiling rose at their centres.

The ceiling edge ends in deeply moulded plaster cornice that runs along the length of the cathedral.

There are two confessionals to the left and right side of the nave and they are topped with pediments ornamented with a circle and cross at the centre.

A new altar table was also installed, of white marble and a more sympathetic design than the previous one, with a roundel containing a depiction of the Agnus Dei at its centre.

There were once niches over the doors (which were also round-headed to match the windows) on either side and in the centre that held statues, but they were filled in and plastered over at the time the reredos was replaced.

Today the doors are of a more conventional rectangular shape, and where the niches once were is now blank wall that serves as projector screen.

The statue of Our Mother of Good Counsel and the stained-glass window over the door hints to its previous designation as the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On the walls are memorial plaques to early personalities of the church, notably, John Connolly and Bishop Michel-Esther Le Turdu.

The relics of Saint Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert can be found enshrined in the wall at the right side of the door.

Dedicated on 20 October 1912 by Bishop Emile Barillon, the Gallery Organ is a two-manual and pedal Bevington & Sons instrument which cost 5894.61 sterling pounds to build, ship and install.

Titled Saving The King, this book details the history and journey of the Bevington organ from its original installation to its current iteration.

An elderly parishioner recounted helping out on Sundays as a young boy by operating the manual air pump of the organ.

Hugo Loos, a Belgian engineer then based in Singapore, volunteered his services as both organist and repairman.

Driven by his passion and love for pipe organs, he was able to render minor repairs, but much work was still required.

Dr Margaret Chen, curator of the Klais Organ at the Victoria Concert Hall and a well-known Singaporean organist, was one of the performers.

A new console and a new tracker action was built, while the original organ case was refurbished and extended symmetrically on both sides to incorporate an enlarged Pedal division.

The scholarship supports the training of several organists, who also serve in various roles in the cathedral choirs as part of their formation as liturgical musicians.

Most recently, the scholars hosted pipe organ demonstrations in conjunction with the Singapore Night Festival 2022.