THE RIGHT REV. JAMES ALIPIUS GOOLD, D.D., O. S. A., LORD BISHOP OF MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 18, 30 August 1873, Page 11

THE RIGHT REV. JAMES ALIPIUS GOOLD, D.D., O. S. A., LORD BISHOP OF MELBOURNE.

(' Advocate) OtTE honoured and rev ered chief pastor in this diocese has completed the twenty-fifth year of his wise rule over this important portion of tlie Church, and celebrated his jubilee amidst the rejoicings and congratulations of his faithful and devoted flock. His Lordship the Bishop is a native of Cork, Ireland, and at an early age he entered the illustrious Order of St. Augustine, which is remarkable for the sanctity of its members, their knowledge of the spiritual life, and their powers in the pulpit and the confessional ; an order which has given to the Irish Church a Doyle and a Gahan. His Lordship spent a portion of his conventual life on the continent of Europe, where h,a became acquainted with young religious of his order who have ain.ee left their mark in Victoria, under Dr. Goold' s episcopal administration. At an early period of his priesthood Dr. G-oold joined the mission in New South Wales, the Church in that colony being then almost in its infancy. There he laboured— when the harvest was laborious and the laborers few — with the zeal always characteristic of the sons of St. Augustine, until the Holy See decided upon erecting the district of Port Phillip, into a bishopric separate from that of New South Wales, with Melbourne for its head quarters. Dr. Goold was at once indicated as the worthiest to fill the new see, and his appointment having been affirmed by His Holiness, Pope Pius IX., who had recently ascended the chair of St. Peter, the new bishop was consecrated at Sydney on the Feast of the Transfiguration, the 6th of August r 1848, by Hia Grace, the Most Rev. Dr. Folding, Archbishop of Sydney,, assisted by the late Bishop Murphy, of Adelaide. His Lordship, Bishop Goold, upon his arrival atthe scene of his future episcopal labours found, as it may easily be supposed, an infant church in the vast territory of Port Phillip, to be fostered with great labour and much anxiety ; but he did not shrink from the iknmense task before him, and the results of Hii Lordship's administration are now to be found in almost every town and hamlet, in the dense bush, and on the wild mountain top. When His Lordship assumed the charge of this diocese, a small but devoted band of priests were at his disposal ; the places of worship were few and humble, there was no convent or religious establishment, no college for the imparting of a high class education to youth. It would be a task beyond our powers, or the materials at our disposal, to depict even faintly what has been sincedone in this diocese under His Lordship's wise administration and anxious paternal care. The history of Catholicity in Port Phillip and Victoria is identical with His Lordship's labours, and when the historian of the Church in this colony indites his records, he will pen the biography of Bishop Goold from 1848. St. Patrick's Cathedral would in itself b« sufficient to hand down the name of Dr. Goold with honour to posterity ; but magnificent churches in all parts of the diocese, many splendid religious houses, and innumerable educational establishments, will testify for many years yet to come his lordship's unceasing, untiring, and disinterested zeal in the cause »f God in this new country. His Lordship's entire flock will, we feel confident, join with us upon this joyous and memorable occasion in offering respectful and hearty congratulations to his lordship, and in earnestly praying the Almighty to give him length of days and unimpaired vigour topursue the fruitful and glorious career, over which a quarter of » century has just closea.