THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20,1904. A DIAMOND JUBILEE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 42, 20 October 1904, Page 17

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20,1904. A DIAMOND JUBILEE.

fcefiTUr^ 3 more than local intere&t attaches to the le1/lnwwi centl y celebrated DiampmcL' ,J.\j'bU£fe at tihe JJK»\\Vf historic church of St. Fnajneis, Melbourne. *&Ws^} Around it there cluster^' sijrtfy years ago, C£WN§fc3 the sparse little floak that de,vejop.eyi in later years into the virile and ..wefr-brgfajiiscd •^kLt^ Church that, in and after tihe 1 - sfatieis, did so "^ muoh to strengthen the ranks oT.tihje' faithful in many parts of New Zealand. Five-an,dh-sixtsy years ago Father Gcoghegaji erected a little' v/qodeto church on the spot Where, later on, arose ttfle loved old building of which the Diamond Jubilee was celebrated on October 2. Theie are those living that remember the rough slah walls of the first little temjple that was raised to the Livnig God in Port Phillip, ©nly ,a generation before tihat day, in the dawn of the nineteenth century, there was no priest exercising the s'acrcd ministry in any part of Australasia's vast expanse. As late, as 1824 there were only two \ in 1838 there were only four. Three years later— ami a year after Dr. John Be<le Polding became (as hi,s schoolmates hajd long before, in prophetic raillery, sty Jed him) ' Archbishop of Botany Bay,' the n,umber of priest 6 was only twelve. They were wholly inadequate for the work of ministering to the spiritual needs of the 17,170 Catholics that wejre scattered over tone vast episcopate of New Holland 1 an<d the adjacent islands ' — a territory over twenty times more extensive thaai the British Isles. There was at that time no roofed church — and only folir in course of construction— on the Australian mainland, and four Catholic schools. In Tasmania there was no school, and its solitary chuilehr-at H'obart— was described by Dr Ullathorne as 'a mere temporary shed." ' South Australia and the State now known as Victoria had as yet received no regular white settlers, A distressful few sat disconsolate, and without the minist'tat'tans of relifeion, m Wqat/ecn Australia -; anti ito N*w- Zealand a little handful of Catholics^-without 'priest]' church, or sdiool — were scattered among a scanty white popwjation in the North Island. - '"

At the official census of 1811 the number of the faithful; in New South Wales (which includcid't^ present State of Victoria) had risen to '34,760.' Of this- • humberi, 24 il were in Victoria. The&£ had 'only f^e, little old cJiufch of St. Francis (fc.uilts in 1839) *©> worship in, and two priests to minister to theft 'spitttiq^F jivants. 1 Sixty-4-ve yeats ago,' said the preachecof t,hVt>*amcnd Jubilee sermon, the Very Rev. PeanPiheTan, /' iiifr first priestr in Victoria planted 1 the must^r^ sqe'tt'Of 1 the Faith on the site wheteon had' been ere'eted^thfe' present beautiful church of St. Francis. " Th^t/ppM^d,', 'indeed, growa to a mighty tree. Father Patrick Gcoghegan and his faithful p'ttle fl<?pjc e^t^^'jsjrnall wooden church, and two 'years aftervfaffd^viteitober, 1&4J1I — jusrt 63 years ago—the, |c>un'da^^ l^|b(^^ ;! «!A n St. Francis 1 Church was laid/ 'Three ,yearjs iaiefy $Ksober, 1841, High Mass! was ccle'br&fced .I>>? life ldte: LAiikShWshop Polding^ and Bjshop Mu^pTiy^'oC Airfelkidef^reac*^* on the great! occasion. I'he-congrjE^a^ipn^'fi'il^^^^pJ'tion of St. Francis then <3rected ai^d .ijiq g^owudg the ■ i