It would seem weird if not apocalyptic that a fire should destroy a church as the worshippers inside were participating in a special service to mark the birthday of the founder of that religious faith.

It would be even more eerie if this fire took place, not only on the day when this particular church was celebrating an anniversary of its opening, but started in the crib, which is the man-made representation of the cave in which the founder is believed to have been born!

Yet this is exactly what happened at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Georgetown, Guyana, on Christmas Day. At around 9.00 a.m. as the final hymn of the morning service was being sung, it is believed that either the heat of a spotlight or a short circuit in it triggered a blaze in the dry grass of the crib.

In the absence of fire extinguishers parishioners tried beating down the flames with whatever they could find and emptied the water from plant pots in a vain effort to extinguish the flames.

What amazed everyone was the speed at which the flames spread. Within minutes the wooden structure built in the shape of a Latin cross, about 300 feet long and 150 feet wide was almost totally engulfed. By the time the first fire engine arrived it was too late to save the church.

The efforts of the fire fighters also failed to prevent the flames from spreading to and completely destroying the nearby presbytery containing invaluable church records and government primary school displacing around 1500 children. No one was injured but many parishioners wept openly in the nearby avenue as they watched the disaster unfold.

Sacred Heart which was the second Catholic church to be built in the city was opened on December 25 1861 . It was erected to cater especially for the Portuguese immigrants many of whom did not speak English and who formed a special class within what was them British Guiana.

Eventually it was declared a National Shrine and a National Heritage Site. It was also the only building in the city which had a carillon, ten bells weighing over 10.000 pounds which often played sacred tunes which were heard over a large part of Georgetown, the capital city. The altars were hand carved so too were the frets which were brought from Portugal and which ran along the interior walls of the building.

President Bharrat Jagdeo along with several government ministers were at the scene of the fire and expressed their sadness at the disaster. Roman Catholic Bishop Francis Alleyne described the fire as a major loss.

The destruction of the unique building which occupied a major section of one of the most beautiful streets in the city will certainly mean as one parishioner said, "this is one Christmas Guyanese will not forget."