Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 22

Intercolonial

■- Right Rev. Mgr. O’Haran has been - appointed by his Grace • the Archbishop, of Sydney Administrator of St./ Mary’s Cathedral and Secretary of the diocese.

; Signor Vitor Dammacco, a member of the Melba Opera Company, died at Melbourne on December 13. A Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the : deceased was celebrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in the presence of a very large congregation, including the members of the company, who sang the music.

The Bathurst diocese has lost a distinguished priest in ..the Very Rev. Dean McAuliffe, P.P., of Forbes): who died on December 17 at the age of 68. The Dean was a model priest, with a very wide influence. In the Forbes district he was the counsellor* of all creeds and classes? Even in business matters, it was the practice of nearly everyone to consult the Dean before taking any important steps. The deceased arrived in Bathurst from Ireland in 1867, and was administrator in the Bathurst parish until about 1874. Then for four years he filled the position of president of St. Stanislaus’ College. About 1882, he was appointed parish priest of Forbes, and later on was elevated to the position of Dean, which he filled up to the time of his death. -

The many friends throughout Australia of Dr, N. M. O’Donnell, president; of the United Irish League in Melbourne, will learn .with regret of the death of his universally respected wife at the comparatively early age of 47 years (says the Advocate). The sad event occurred at her residence, Victoria street. North Melbourne, on December 9, after an illness of a couple of months. Mrs. O’Donnell, , only surviving daughter of the late Peter and Catherine Bruen, of Carlton, was a native of New Zealand, but came to Victoria with her parents when very young. Her zeal in the interests of Catholic education and of Catholic charities generally was at all times manifested in a hearty and practical manner. Though not physically robust,; she possessed an amount of mental • energy, coupled with rare organising ability and a capacity . for work that was. largely the means of substantially reducing many a formidable debt. : ?

The reading of the annual school report concerning the progress of the primary schools of the archdiocese of Melbourne occupied the Synod in St. Patrick’s Cathedral recently, at which his Grace the Archbishop presided. Amongst the leading features of this important document were;—Cost of Maintenance— Teachers’ salaries and allowances during year ending September 30 amounted to £28,386. New School Buildings —Independently of the sites and playgrounds, the new school buildings erected during the year have cost £13,008. The number of primary schools in the archdiocese of Melbourne is 102. The teachers comprise : Brothers of religious Orders, 34; nuns, 245 ; secular teachers, 153; and visiting teachers, 47. The total number of pupils taught during the year was 23,049, of whom 20,163 were taught in schools presided over by members of religious Orders, and 2886 in schools taught by lay men and women. A link with the past history of the Order of Mercy was severed on November 29, when Mother M. Catherine, of the Convent of Mercy, Adelaide, was called to her reward, at the ripe old age of 85 years. The deceased religious was born at Dublin in 1827, and she entered the mother house of the Order in 1849, having been preceded thither by two of her sisters. During the progress of the Crimean War, in 1854, in response to an appeal from the British War Office, a contingent of the Sisters of Mercy sailed from London for the seat of war, to tend the suffering and wounded soldiers. Later on in the same year, a second band was chosen, Mother Catherine among the number, but to her keen disappointment, illness prevented her accompanying the devoted band. In January, 1856, at the invitation of the late Rev. Father Fahey, 0.P., five Sisters, among them the late Rev. M. Evangelista and M. Catherine,

left; Dublin .for Buenos : Aires. Shortly after their /arrival, the most dreaded of all : scourges (yellow'fever) broke out, and the services of the Sisters were called into requisition. They labored day and night endeavoring to alleviate the sufferings of the -victims of the /plague, which was decimating the population. " Soon the care of .the Lazaretto ■ (fever; hospital) was given to the Sisters, and; in response to an urgent appeal, they were - reinforced by three Sisters ■ from ~[ Bagot street. Subsequently a hospital was; built adjacent to the convent, and when the dreaded cholera broke out in 1871, i: it / was utilised for victims ;of ; the awful : visitant; ; The Sisters left Argentina for Adelaide in 1880, ? so that Mother Catherine; was among the pioneers in two countries, and during her 31 years' sojourn in Adelaide she labored with her- accustomed assiduity in the schools and as a music teacher,: for she was a gifted musician, and for many years was -the convent organist. :'/;;-*••--■