A ROMAN CATHOLIC CENTENARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12281, 27 May 1903, Page 6

A ROMAN CATHOLIC CENTENARY.

THE FIRST PUIS,!!; MASS IN AUSTRALIA. Ivably in the present 'year a lrimv, clergymen and laymen in£ tl w / °! E»g,„d at | he « Sydney, to cominemorat> tlio first „i y ' : service which was held i, the v.eiiutv nfT Quay in 1788. Tho Km. HichaT.Ltl' who camo out as chaplain with th* 'S Fleet," held services in 1733. Thi« pi , k England minister built this f ir « m'" 0 , ? £ . Sydney a structure of wattle and 'Z ia which stood at what 5 now , La ' " Hunter and Castlereagh Streets Ty cE vice was held for the rt timo'in thi?S.f'u on Sunday, August 2< 1793 Tl reil Samuel Marsden arrive] as" a^i st an7 lain m. December, 179+. and i„ t ]J cba P" succeeded the Rev. Mr. Johnson. TV? Rev. William Grant, wh „ • became first Bi.hop of Sydney, 'came C tralia. in 182.5. ' 0 -W The history of the Rorinn Cathn'ie 01 . in Australia is generally regarded 'a- K - ° commenced with tho first public 4lV h "?- 118 of Mass in Sydney on M^vlS, life 15th of the present nioii'h was therefore tf® hundredth anniversary of the tile age of Roman Catholics at a reiiiHn? 3Cm^! * or ceremony. There „„ 1,0 " fi ? r,t « pointed or officially-recognised Romfn'c£ tholio chaplain at the time, hut it J & pened that there were three Iri-h ,J ~ 1 " tho colony who had been sent f-'Qm 111 for alleged or actual partuWmn 1 - rela " d "troubles" which follovcd the insurer of 1793. These unfortunate priests °7° had with them a Protectant cleric- 0 Rev. Mr. Fulton, to share their" f-te. thfl described as men who had been tr.™ ' Ta for holding and advocating ''Li Hn P . "' rebellious principles." One, the Rev"t aD Harold, arrived in Sydney in Januw fi The second, the Rev. James Dixon wfi during the same month. The third the A d Peter O'Ncil, reached Sydney a littlo *«• Ail three within a few years were nrni I' and were allowed to leave ISlk Rev. Father Harold proceeded to the T!„Pj States in 1810, and died in Dublin in "hvi The Rev. Father O'Neil was onlytwo 11 in Australia. lie returned to Ite'and » i died there in 1346. Tho Rev. James Di™ left Sydney in 1803, and ended his da«° Ireland in 1840. It is remarkable that the three companions 111 exile and misfortune lived to great ages. One was 85, the see™,! 88, and the third 82. econd Of these three Roman Catholic priests one only was allowed to exercise his function, as a minister of religion in Australia Th Rev. James Dixon was granted conditional emancipation by Governor Philip Gidlev Kin* early m April,. 1803 Thon, on April 21, Governor Ring issued a public proela mation, in which he stated that it had been considered expedient, "in consequence of a communication from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies aid War Department, to grant unto tho R o v Air. Dixon a conditional emancipation to enable him to exercise his clerical function* as a Roman Catholic priest, which he has qualified himself for by the regular and exemplary conduct he has manifested since his residence in tho colony." With this proclamation, which is dated April 19, 1803, there were published on April 21 a sfei of regulations "to be observed by the Rev. Mr. Dixon and the Catholic eongregation 111 this colony." Under these regulations the Rev. .James Dixon was "ah lowed to perform his clerical duties once in three weeks at the settlements in .Sydney Parramatta, and the lTawkesbnry, in rotation." In the "general orders" it was explained that, "to' the end that strict decorum may be observed, a certain number of police-will bo stationed at'and about the places appointed during the service." The last of the regulations ran: — "Every person throughout the colony will observe that the law has sufficiently provided for the punishment of those who may disquiet or disturb any assembly or religious worship, or misuse any priest or teacher of any tolerated. sect." _ The first Mass. tinder the regulations published in the Government Gazette, was celebrated in the vicinity of the Circular Quay at nine o'clock on the morning of Sunday, May 15, 1803. On the following Sunday there was a Mass at Parramatta, and on the next Sunday a Mass at Hawkesbury. The Government Gazette notified where "the meetings," as they were styled, were to bo held. No person was permitted to <ro out of his own district to attend these Sunday morning services, and the priest was "held responsible to the magistrate for his congregation going regularly and orderly to their respective homes after the offices were ended." No religious gatherings were allowed in the evening. The hour of " Divine service" was fixed at nine o'clock in the morning. _ • The official permission for attendance at Mass was revoked within 12 months. There f had been p.-" rising" among the prisoners in March. 1804, and the Sunday "meetings" were discontinued on the ground that they were gatherings of traitors." Yet it is recorded of the Rev. Mr. Dixon that when the prisoners rose in revolt " he accompanied the commanding officer and exerted hirnseli nobly on the side of order and humanity." The unappreciated peacemaker loft Sydney in 1808.