BISHOP CLEARY, PROMINENT CATHOLIC, DIED YESTERDAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18940, 10 December 1929, Page 13

BISHOP CLEARY , PROMINENT CATHOLIC, DIED YESTERDAY .

A Great Churchman and Scholar, His Death Will Be Mourned By All Classes Of The Community .

(Special to the “Star.”) i , AUCKLAND, December 9. The Right Rev. Dr Cleary, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, died this afternoon, aged seventy years. Dr James Michael Liston, Coadjutor Bishop of Auckland, automatically succeeds to the vacant See. About 2 p.m. anxious watchers around his Lordship’s bed noticed that the end would not be long delayed. Once more Bishop Liston, assisted.by a large number of clergy and religious, recited the prayers for the dying and the final absolutions were imparted. The breathing of the dying prelate became quieter and quieter, and just when the end was thought to have been reached the Bishop opened his eyes and with a seeming smile of recognition of those who surrounded his bed, gently breathed his last at 2.43 p.m. The funeral arrangements were completed late to-night. The body, dressed in the vestments of office, was removed to the Bishop's house at Ponsonby, and will be taken privately to-morrow afternoon to St Patrick’s Cathedral for lying in state.

Solemn Requiem Mass, to be attended by children of Catholic schools and I orphanages, will be held on Wednesday morning, and Funeral Mass will take place on Thursday morning. At the express wish of the late Bishop the interment will take place in the cemetery at Panmure, where are buried many former priests of the diocese. Also at the Bishop’s request there will be no flowers in connection with the obsequies. Archbishops Redwood and O’Shea, Bishop Brodie (Christchurch) and Bishop Whyte (Dunedin) will take part in the various services. CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS LOST A DEVOTED AND DISTINGUISHED SON. Dr Cleary had been ill for a month. Following an exhausting tour of the East Coast district, influenza, coupled with overstrain, reduced his resistance. The bishop was nearing unconsciousness when he received the last sacrament of the Catholic Church, Extreme Unction being administered on Thursday by Coadjutor Bishop Liston, assisted by Monsignor Cahill. In the death of Bishop Cleary the Catholic Church loses one of her most devoted and distinguished sons. He was a great churchman, a remarkably able journalist and editor, a linguist of uncommon ability, and a highminded citizen. The late Bishop Cleary was all that a Catholic bishop should be. He will be mourned by people of every class and creed throughout the Dominion, no less than by his co-religionists in New Zealand and abroad. Men in every walk of life, irrespective of their personal religious belief, were proud to call him a friend. Those to whom Bishop Cleary ministered during the influenza epidemic which swept Auckland in the dark spring of 1918, no less than men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, to whom he was a familiar, mud-spattered figure in the firing line, will remember him with unmeasured affection.

Born at Glenranny, Ireland, on January 35, 1859, the late bishop gave promise at an early age of the abilities which were to show so prominently during the course of his brilliant career. His rare mental powers rapidly developed during early stages of his ecclesiastical studies at St Aidan’s Academy, Enniscorthy. In 1576 he went to Wexford College, where he spent two years and earned a reputation for close application to study. In 1878 he passed into the great ecclesiastical college of Maynooth, and after two years was sent to study in the Papal University of Apollinare, Rome. There he passed three years in incessant study, which told upon his health, and he was obliged to rest a while. Before completing his studies at St Sulpice, Paris, on January 11. 1885, he was ordained by the Most Reverend Dr Drowne. Lord Bishop of Femes, in Shannon Chapel, Enniscorthy. The young priest joined the Missions Enniscorthy, remaining there for two years, till ill-health compelled him to a *?^ n ' don missionary work for parochial duties. Less than a year later he was appointed professor of modern langu-

ages in St Peter’s College, Wexford. This position he abandoned with reluctance owing to ill health, and sailed for Australia at the request of Dr Fortune, then president of All Hallows College. Father Cleary joined the diocese of Ballarat in November, 1888. He worked with apostolic zeal in Ballarat City, Hamilton and Arrat, Victoria, earning the esteem of a large flock. His reputation as a journalist spread to New Zealand, and Father Cleary was appointed editor of the New Zealand “Tablet” in 1893. This position he held till 1910, and during his editorship the “Tablet” was the official organ of the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

During a holiday in South America, Dr Cleary was advised that he had been selected as successor to the late Dr Lenihan, fifth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, who passed from his labours in February, 1910. By an almost unanimous vote the clergy of Auckland diocese selected Bishop Cleary as their first choice for the appointment to the vacant See. The appointment was ratified by his Holiness the Pope on June 18, 1910. The secular newspapers of New Zealand applauded the appointment. The “ Lyttelton Times ” stated editorially that in a country which prided itself on its almost entire freedom from sectarian strife and in which the Protestant lion was at peace with the Catholic lamb, there could be no more popular appointment. Bishop Cleary was hailed as an able scholar, a vigorous journalist, and as a man of abounding energy and excep. tional mental gifts. He was consecrated in the Cathedral of Enniscorthy by Bishop Brownrigge, of Ossory, in August, 1910. Assistant bishops at the ceremony were Dr Browne, of Femes, and Dr Reville, of Sandhurst, Australia. The consecration ceremony was performed in the presence of a great congregation. The bishop’s _ mother, a convert to the Catholic faith, who had attained the age of 85, was one of the first to receive the episcopal blessing from the newty-consecrated prelate. Others present were non-Catholic relations of Bishop Cleary, who had come many miles,. pn his mothers side, Bishop Cleary was the distinguished son of a famous familv. bearing the name of Sutton. This family had given manv sons to the Church and State. For instance. Dr Charles William Wall, V*ce-Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, was a non-Catholic relative. Dr Wall left a great collection of books and manuscript to Trinity College, and an endowment for the study of Semitic languages. The late Bishop Cleary’s people were extensive farmers, and they traced their ancestry to the year 1171, when they resided at Ballykerogue Castle. Bishop Cleary arrived in Auckland on January 3, 1911, and amid plaudits from his people, passed through the streets of the city to the Bishop’s Palace, in New Street, Ponsonby, where 4000 people had gathered on the lawn to give him a welcome. This was the first great demonstrar tion in his honour in New Zealand, since the bishop had begged to be excused when the people of Dunedin, among them a number of non-Catholics, had suggested his attendance at a civic reception. The bishop thought it fitting that the first welcome should be the privilege of his own flock. There was a brilliant assemblage of ecclesiastical dignitaries in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Auckland, when the late Bishop Cleary was enthroned by his Grace Archbishop Redwood, the long-est-consecrated bishop in the world, and received the homage of his clergy. Bishop Cleary soon endeared himself to clergy and laity. No parish was too distant for him to visit. Even the “roadless north” did not daunt him, and, always an ardent motorist, it was not long before the episcopal figure was well-known from the most northern part of the far-flung Auckland province to the southernmost township in the diocese.

In later years Bishop Cleary made use of aireratt to visit outlying centres. Indeed, he was the first bishop in the world to use a seaplane for episcopal visitations. His interest in aviation was considerable. No one was more delighted with the formation of the Auckland Aero Club than the bishop, who early became a member. Right till ‘the end he took every opportunity of making use of aeroplanes to enable him to cover long distances quickly. During

the war Bishop Cleary made several flights, and among his friends were men who distinguished themselves in aerial combat. The outbreak of war found him a sick man, and he was ordered to England for special medical attention. Not long after his arrival in 1916 he applied for a commission as chaplain, and this was granted. At the front, an elderly bishop—he was fiftyseven—he distinguished himself by remaining in the firing line for six months, and had to be ordered back before he would relinquish his *york. Not infrequently he said Mass almost in the front line, and distributed Communion among the men who manned the parapet. The Bishop was c&nstantly reproved for exposing himself to danger. On one occasion when a New Zealander fell dead at his side, the bishop himself was wounded. The King was glad to honour him with the Order of the British Empire. This order, and general service and victory medals, Bishop Cleary wore upon the episcopal purple on such occasions as Anzac Dajr. The interests of the returned soldiers he made his own. Another honour no less appreciated was that of BishopAssistant at the Pontifical throne. This was conferred in 1917. It is a rarely bestowed honour, and when the Pope conferred it, there were only twentytwo other bishops in the world on the list. All thus honoured are Counts of Rome.

“ The Month,” which the late bishop founded, unquestionably is one of the best religious newspapers in the world, largety as a result of the labours of its able editor, the bishop.

In “Innocents Abroad,” Mark Twain related that he met the young priest while travelling abroad, and predicted that this gifted young man would ultimately become either an editor, a bishop, or an archbishop, and if not archbishop, then certainly archangel, such a gifted young priest was Bishop Cleary. He was the accepted Catholic protagonist of the Bible-in-Schools movement, and he took a leading part in many activities outside the bounds of the Church, notably in literary matters. Personally he was an ardent prohibitionist, although he never attempted to impose his own views on others. In 1926 he published a delightful book of stories for children, entitled “ The Garden,” which was described by English critics as the book of the season. It may now be revealed that the bishop was the author of all those stories for children w r hich appeared under the pen name of “ Lunky Lee.” Although he never entertained again after being elevated to the Purple, Bishop Cleary was a practised conjurer, and raconteur of brilliant parts. Also he was a proficient organist. Among his labours as a churchman was the foundation of St Peter’s Rural College, at Takapuna, where Maori boys are educated, and this is one of his monuments.

As a linguist Bishop Cleary was remarkably able, since he could speak fluently French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Maori, in addition to mastery of the Latin of the Church. On one occasion he spoke to a group of foreign Consuls, each in a different tongue. His brother is in business in the county of Carlow, Ireland. Another brother died in Dunedin. Mrs Sutton, the mother of the late bishop, died a few years ago in Ireland. ENDEARED HIMSELF TO SOLDIERS DURING WAR. During the few weeks Dr Cleary spent with the New Zealand troops at the front, he created a reputation for himself that many others might have envied. On every possible occasion he was in the front line inspiring and endearing himself to all ranks alike, and man}'- times being in imminent danger. His indomitable fortitude triumphed over ill-health and his unaffected manliness created a most lovable character. There was one occasion, in the first few day of January. 1917, when the Germans were giving the New Zealanders’ trenches a particularly unpleasant time, and Dr Cleary was up the front line. The hours passed by and there was no sign of the bishop. At last a message was sent to all units of the Ne.w Zealand Division, with a description, asking that inquiries be made to ascertain his whereabouts, and considerable anxiety was felt at Divisional Headquarters for his safety. Word came during the afternoon that Dr Cleary had been seen in the front line of one of the Rifle Brigade Battalions, but had moved to the right into the sector held by the Canterbury Regiment. The German shelling all day had been very bad, and the front line in that part was probably the unliealthiest of the lot Nevertheless, it was found on further inquiries being made that the bishop had been moving round among the men in spite of the shells, and he war actually located talking to a couple of

men under a little waterproof shelter, in the thick of it. It was always understood that he was told most distinctly that he was to take more care of himself.