A CATHOLIC CENTENARY THE FIRST MASS IN AUSTRALIA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 23, 4 June 1903, Page 29

A CATHOLIC CENTENARY THE FIRST MASS IN AUSTRALIA

In a recent issue of the Sydney ' Morning Herald ' there appeared a very interesting article from the pen oi Mr. James T. Donovan, dealing with the humble beginnings of the Catholic Church in Australia '1 he history of the Catholic Church in Australia (writes Mr. Donovan; is geueially regarded ns having commenced with the first public celebration of Mass in Sydney on May j;>, 1803. That date this year was the hundredth anniveifaaiy of the first assemblage of Catholics at a religious rite or ceremony. There was no officially-ap-pointed or ofhciallv-recofrnisod Catholic chaplain at the time, but it so happened that there were Three Irish Priests in the colony who had been sent from Ireland for alleged or actual participation in the " troubles " which followed the insurrection of 1798. These unfortunate priests, who had with them a Protestant clergyman, the Key. Mr. Fulton, to share their fate, were described as men who had been transported for holding and advocating " seditious and rebellious principles." One, the Rev . James Harold, arrived in Sydney in January, 1800. The second, Key. James Pixon, arrived during the same month. The third, Rev. Peter O'Neil, reached Sydney a little later. All three within a few years were pardoned, and were allowed to leave Australia. The Key. Father Harold proceeded to the United States m 1810 and died in Dublin in 1830. Ihe Key. Father O'Neil was only two years in Australia. He returned to Ireland, and died there in 1846. The Key. James Dixon left Sydney in 1808, and ended his days in Ireland in 1840. It is remarkable that the three companions in exile and misfortune lived to great ages. One was 83, the second 88, and the third 82. Of these three Catholic priests, one only was allowed to exercise his functions as a minister of religion in Australia. The Rev. James Dixon was granted " conditional emancipation " by Go\ernor Philip Didley King early in April, 1803. Then, on April 21, Governor King issued a public proclamation in which he stated that it had been considered expedient, "in consequence of a communication from his Majesty's Principal Secietary of State for the Colonies and War Department to grant unto the Rcxerend Mr. Dixon a conditional emancipation to enable him to exercise his clerical functions as a Koman Catholic priest, which he has qualilied himself lotby the regular and exemplary conduct he has manifested since his residence in the colony." 'With this pioclamation, which is dated April 19, 1803, there were published on April 21 a set of regular tions to be obser\cd by the Key. Mr. Pixon and the Catholic congregation in th'S colony Under these icgulations, the Key. James Dixon was allowed to periorm his clerical duties once m thiee weeks at the settlements in Sydney, Parramatta. find the llawkesbury, in rotation In the " goneinl orders " it was explained that, "to the end that stiici decorum may be observed, a certain number of police will he stationed at and about the places appointed during the service " The iast oi the regulations ran • " F\eiv pcison tin oi.ghout the colony will observe that the law has sufficiently provided for the punishment of those who max disquiet or disturb mv asscmblv oi leligious worship, or misuse any priest or teacher oi an,\ tolerated sect " The First Mass under the regulations published in the ' G ox eminent Gazette" was celebrated in the x icimtx' of the Cucular Qmiv at nine o'clock on the morning of Sunday, May 1,", 180."}. On the following morning there xxas a Mass at Parramatta, and on the next Sunday a Mass at the 1 law kesbury. The " Goxeiniiient Gazette " notified wheie " the meetings," as they were stxled, weie to lie held rso person was permitted to go out of his (xxn distiict to attend these Sunday morning <-er\ ices, and the pnest xxas "held responsible to the magi^t i ate lor his eongi egation going legularly ami oi d"i lv to tbeir ic^pectixe hones after tlie offices xveie ended " No ieligious Kathei inns xxeie a'lowed m the oxemug 'Ihe hour oi " Divine service " xxas fixed at nine o'clock in trie morning;. ' The official pei mission for attendance at Ma<-s xvas rex'oked within 12 months r J here had been a " i isuig " among the prisoners in March, I^)L <,ml the Scuf'av " meetings " were discontinued on the iri ound 'hat tliex r xvere " gatherings of traitois" Vet 't is •■eco»d"d of the Kex' Mr. Dixon that when 'he pri-onrrs ' >.cc. c c in rcxolt, "he accompanied the commanding officer and cxci tcxl himself nobly on the side of order and humanit v " The unappreciated peacemaker left Sydney in 1808 From 1808 until ISI 7 the Catholics in New South Wales xx ere without minister or ministrations In 1817 the Very Key. Jeremiah Francis Flynn arrived in Sydney He had not been appointed by the Home Gox'ernment, and Governor Macquane would not recognise him or give fiim the desired permission to officiate as a priest After a fexv nion ' s had passed this volunteer chaplain was put on boaid <-hip and pent back to Ireland In 1819 two autl") r.id Catholic chaplains were furnished with the requisite "appointment papers" by the Home Government These two Irish priests, the jlw John Joseph Therrv and the Rev Philip Conollv ariived in Sydney by the ship Janus on May 3, 1820 The credentials were accepted by Goxernor Maccnuanc, and both priests were put on the " salary list " at

£100 a year as recognised chaplains. The Rev. Father Conolly proceeded to Hobart and his companion remained in Sydney. On Monday, October 29 1821 at the invitation of the Rev. Father Therrv, Governor Macquane laid the foundation stone of the " First Roman Catholic Chapel " in Australia. The " St. Mary's Chapel," which was commenced in 1821, developed into the St. Mary's Cathedral which was destroyed by fire in 1865. The Rev James Dixon did not build any church or religious house and the honor of establishing the first " religions institution connected with the Catholic Church is rightly claimed by the chaplain of 1821. The Rev. Philip Conolly xvhose work as a missionary chaplain was confined to lasmama, died in Hobart on Auglast 3, 1839. The .Key. John Joseph Therrv. who was made Archpriest and who figures in Australian history as a remarkable personage, died at Balmain on May 25, 1864, in his 74th year. Al^hdeaconA I^ hdeacon John McEncroe, who arrived in 1832, t> I, 11^ 111 Bernard Ullathorne (1833), Archbishop John Bode Folding (1835), Archdeacon Rigney (1838), Bishop *» ra E cl ,i Mvr P h y> of Adelaide (1838), Archbishop Goold, of Melbourne (1838), and Bishop Wilson, of Hobart (1842), are counted amonsr the ecclesiastics who have 'built up the Catholic Church in Australia. Archbishop Folding., who had charge of the See of Sydney from 1835 till his death in 1877, was succeeded by the Most Rev. Roger Bede Vaughan, who died while on a visit to England in 1883. Dr. Ullathorne, who brought the first nuns— the Sisters of Charity— to Sydney in 1838, and who largely helped Archbishop Polding in the xvork of establishing churches and schools, ended his days as Bishop of Birmingham, England, with the rank of Archbishop, in 1889. Since 1884 Cardinal Moran has been Archbishop pf Sydney. Of the priests who were active in CHurch affairs in the Sydney diocese 50 years ago there is only one survivor —the Very Rev. Archpriest Sheehy, pa>rdsh priest of Kyde. This venerable cleric was ordained in " old St. Mary's " 51 years ago. He was for many years Archbishop Folding's Vicar-General. The late Archdeacon Rigney was the senior member of the priesthood, his period of service in Australia covering 65 years. ' Archbishop Murphy, of Hobart, and Bishop Murray, of Maitland, are the two veteran members of the prosont Australian hierarchy. Dr. Murphy, who has worn the mitre of a bishop 5_6 years, came from India to Tasmania in 1865. Bishop Murray was appointed to Maitland in the same year. The spot on which the first Mass was celebrated 100 years ago is not knoxvn. All the traditions of the "nur-sery-stage " of the Catholic Church in Sydney cling about St. Mary's Cathedral. Of the first cathedral, xvhich was commenced by Archpriest 1 herry, and completed by Archbishop Folding, nothing is left save the picturesque and time-xvoin front in College, street. But the present cathedral building has associations which, to many Catholics, are full of " fond regrets and tender recollections " Pait of the site xvas lor a long time occupied by St. Joseph's Chapel, which xvas used while the first St Mary's xvas in course of erection The place is not Jess valued as having been the residence of "the first chaplain," and the first bishop. In this regard there seemed to be a singular fitness in the manifestation of Catholic sentiment which txvo years ago led to the removal oi the remains ol Archpriest Therrv and Archbishop Polding from the Devonshire street and Petersham Cemeteries to St. Mary's Cathedral. The remains of these " old soldiers " of the Catfliolic Church now rest in the glamor rather than the gloom of the eastern aisle, with the gioined stone roof like the outstretched wings of a earven angel oxer them. And with the Benedictine Bishop and the pioneer priest there are two other " faithful servants xvell remembered" — Archdeacon McEncroe and the Key. Daniel Power, xvho came to Sydney in 1827, and who died at Parramatta in 1830. Noxv that it guaids the dust of four of the ecclesiastics xvhose xvork stretched back to the early part of the nineteenth century. St Maw's may be said to contain, as an " impertect epic " m stone, all that is historically and pathetically interesting in connection with the growth and advancement of Catholicism in this part of the world '