THE LATE ARCHBISHOP POLDING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5010, 14 April 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LATE ARCHBISHOP POLDING.

The. following sketch of the deceased prelate’s life is from the Sydney Morning Herald : —The death of Archbishop Folding will lie regarded very much in the light of a personal bereavement by the members of the Roman Catholic communion, for whose spiritual welfare he has so long labored in the highest offices of their Church ; and the memory of the deceased prelate will also be honored by the still wider circle of colonists who have learned to recognise the worth of his private character and the value of the high culture and the liberal and tolerant sentiments which he brought to bear upon the performance of the important duties of the distinguished position which he occupied. Dr. Folding was born at Liverpool, England, in the year 1794, and was therefore in the eighty-third year of his age. Left an orphan early in life, he was brought up by the Rev. Dr. Brewer, the President of the English Benedictines, until his thirteenth year, when he was sent to Acton Burnal, the seat of Sir Edward Smyth, where his education was continued, and where, in his seventeenth year, he was admitted to the order of St. Benedict. Eight years subsequently he was ordained to the priesthood, and from 1819 to 1834 he resided at St. Gregor’s College, where he superintended thestudiesof theyoungermembers of the order. Several of these, in common with their preceptor, attained to distinguished positions in the Roman Catholic Church, and the affection and gratitude which they cherished for their master found fitting expression in a memorial which was presented to the venerable prelate about two years and a half ago. Among the signatures to this memorial was that of William Bernard Ullathorne, Roman Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, and from this document we quote the following passage : —“ It is, perhaps, rare for four religious men who were professed at one time and place to meet together for the celebration of their jubilee, and that whilst still engaged in a missionary work. More rare must it be that after a course of fifty years they should be able to greet their novice-master in the vigorous exercise of a great authority. Perhaps it is unprecedented that they should have to seek him in the government of a vast province of the Church that ha himself has founded, and that removed from the scene of of his earlier labors by the whole diameter of the globe. However that may be, our minds are busy on this auspicious day in reviving long past memories in which your Grace is the principal figure ; memories that unite the beginning with the end of our religious life ; memories that bespeak the influence of your Grace’s spirit upon onrs.” In 1833 Dr. Folding was nominated to the Bishopric of Madras, but was permitted to decline the offered preferment and remain at the college. In the following year he was consecrated Bishop of Hierocsesarea, and towards the close of 1835 he arrived in Sydney, with the authority of Vicar Apostolic of New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land. Before coming to Sydney the Bishop visited Van Diemen’s Land, where he laid the foundation of a church at Richmond, established a school for the poor at Hobarton, and made arrangements for the religions instruction of the people under the Rev. Mr. Cotham. The early Roman Catholic teachers in New South Wales had been treated with a large amount of intolerance, but the severity of which they had had to complain at the hands of the Government had been removed prior to the advent of the Bishop in the colony. The denomination had received legal recognition under the Church Act of Sir Richard Bourke, and the public Treasury bad become chargeable to a small extent for the support of religious ordinances. Five Roman Catholic clergymen received a stipend of £l5O per annum during the year 1834, and £BOO was appropriated for the support of Roman Catholic schools. The Cathedral of St. Mary’s, which had been commenced by Father Therry, was advancing towards completion, and steps were being taken to establish St. Mary’s Seminary. The Roman Catholic communion was then beginning to show signs of growth and power ; but the Church of Australia which, under the Archiepiscopate of the late lamented Metropolitan, baa expanded into vast proportions, was, upon bis arrival in September, 1835, still in its infancy. Under the discreet and zealous government of Dr. Folding, its development has been coexistent with the progress of Australian settlement. The few priests who welcomed the arrival of the Vicar Apostolic of New Holland have been constantly reinforced until there are in Australia to-day almost as many hundreds of clergymen mourning the death of their Metropolitan as there were individuals who welcomed his arrival on these shores forty-two years ago. There were six Roman Catholic clergymen in New South Wales in 1833, and in 1876 there were 139, including the Bishops of the three dioceses of Goulburn, Bathurst, and Maitland. Convents, monasteries, and religions houses have also been multiplied, and in the archdiocese of Sydney alone there are upwards of 130 ladies engaged in the service of the Church, while the number for the other dioceses of the colony is proportionately large. The Roman Catholic Church in the other colonies of the group owes much to the venerable prelate whose labors were only terminated by death, and it will be admitted on all hands that the influence of Dr. Folding was as beneficent as it was far-reach-ing and effective. The Bishop’s life was almost exclusively devoted to ecclesiastical affairs. For some years after his arrival the prison population of the colony was numerous, and many of his earlier efforts were directed towards the reformation of that friendless class ; and it is well known that their hard lot was in several instances greatly ameliorated as the result of his benevolent and well-timed representations. From the commencement of 1836 to 1841, 7000 convicts had passed at least ten days of retirement devoted to the formation of religious habits under the direction of the Bishop and his clergy. Dr. Folding has always taken a very deep interest in education, and Lyndhurst and St. John’s Colleges stand as enduring memorials of his labors. It appears to have been the settled determination of the Bishop to keep himself aloof from party politics ; and it was probably from this cause that when nominated a member ofthe Legislative Council in May, 1856, with the heads of other religious bodies, he was the first to decline the distinction. Dr. Folding made the extension and consolidation of his Church the chief business of his life, and there is not a district of the colony to which he has not made numerous pastoral visits from which men of less earnest zeal and robust health would have shrunk. He also made four visits to Europe, leaving the colony in the years 1840, 1846, 1854, and 1866, his object being to enlist the sympathy and practical help of his coreligionists of the Northern Hemisphere in Australian missionary work. Ho left Sydney in September, 1869, to attend the celebrated (Ecumenical Council, but being overtaken by serious illness at Bombay, he had to forego his intention, and returned to the colony at the close of the year. It was on the occasion of his first visit to Europe, in 1841, that he was raised by Pope Gregory XVI. to tho then newly created Archiepiscopal See of Sydney. During his stay in Romo the Archbishop was employed by his Holiness on a diplomatic mission to Malta, which he conducted with marked success, and was consequently invested by the Pope with the Order of Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and Bishop Assistant at the Papal Throne. Dr. Folding’s missionary tours through tho colony, especially in earlier days, when little or no attention had been paid to the construction of roads and bridges, were fatiguing and even perilous; but bo was always a splendid horseman, and it is probable that the hardships of his earlier travels had the effect of consolidating his health rather than of impairing it. Ho never suffered from serious illness until on tho occasion of his last visit to Europe via Bombay ; and there can be no doubt but that tho timely arrival of the Coadjutor Archbishop (tho moat Rev. Dr. R. B. Vaughan), in December, 1873, did much to conserve the declining strength of his predecessor. It is understood that during tho last three years Dr, Vaughan relieved tho late prelate of some of his most arduous labors in the archdiocese of Sydney. His constant presence and most affectionate care did much to cheer the last hours of tho departed. The priesthood have also been most, assiduous in their manifestations of fraternal

affection ; and the visits of condolence which were paid by prominent citizens during the last few days afford gratifying evidence of the respect and affectionate regard of all classes of the community. The Roman Catholics of the colony will ever revere the memory of the departed prelate, whose piety and devotion have long given him a pre-eminent place in their affections ; and Dr. Folding is entitled to the respect and gratitude of the colonists at large by reason of the wisdom with which he administered the government of his Church. While steadfast in his adherence to the principles of his religious profession, the late Archbishop was ever courteous and considerate of the views and feelings of others ; and his moderation and tact often did much to assuage the asperity of those differences of race and creed which have sometimes threatened the peace of society.