BRECON Cathedral was the setting for only the second consecration of a woman bishop in Wales.

Bishop June Osborne, one of the most senior church leaders in the UK, was made the 72nd Bishop of Llandaff at the special service at Brecon Cathedral on Saturday.

The married mother of two was appointed in April by the Church in Wales’ bishops to lead the south Wales diocese that includes Cardiff and stretches north to the southern end of the Brecon Beacons.

For the past 13 years she has served as Dean of Salisbury but said she and husband Paul Goulding, a QC, are looking forward to her new position: “It is something of a homecoming for the family, particularly because my husband is from Cardiff and it is a place we know and love”.

The address was given by the Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, and the Gospel was read by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, who was the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate.

Choristers and lay clerks from Salisbury Cathedral joined Brecon Cathedral Choir to sing at the service. The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies – who is currently the lead bishop in the Church in Wales – also attended the service as did Dr Barry Morgan, who recently retired as the Archbishop of Wales.

It was only the fifth time a bishop has been consecrated in Brecon Cathedral. Three of the previous occasions were during the period when John Morgan was Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff because his own cathedral was out of use for major services due to damage it sustained during World War II.

A ground-breaking figure in the Church of England, Bishop June was the first female Dean to be appointed to a medieval cathedral, having served as Salisbury Cathedral’s Canon Treasurer for nearly 10 years. She was active in the national life of the Church of England, serving for many years on General Synod’s Standing Committee, including sitting on the Panel of Chairs.

One of the first women to be ordained as a priest in England in 1994, having been a Deaconess since 1980 and Deacon since 1987, Bishop June’s ministry has been characterised by her passion for equality and diversity and she was a founder of the Church’s Leading Women programme.

Bishop June’s election was confirmed at a sacred synod meeting at Brecon Cathedral on Friday night. She will be enthroned at Llandaff Cathedral on July 2.