The cathedra - the episcopal chair. Archbishop Mannix used this chair, though not as the cathedra. It was presented to the cathedral in 1895 by the firm of Nunan Brothers. It served to connect cathedral and pro-cathedral. Archbishop Pell, during his time as Archbishop, made this chair the cathedra.

It is one of a pair of chairs given to the Church in the 1890s, carved from the wood of a red gum tree that once stood near Melbourne’s first Catholic Church, St Francis’ Church in Lonsdale Street. The second chair remains in the Holy Souls Chapel at the Cathedral.

The symbols of the Four Evangelists from the Book of Kells are the main motifs on the restored chair.