THE LATE MONSIGNOR o' DOWD, WARRNAMBOOL

New Zealand Tablet, 3 June 1915, Page 27

THE LATE MONSIGNOR o' DOWD, WARRNAMBOOL

The late Monsignor O'Dowd, of Warrnambool, Victoria, whose death was reported in our issue of May 27, was a brother of Mr. Thomas O'Dowd, St. Nathans. The burial took place on May 6 at the local cemetery, after a Solemn Requiem Mass at St. Joseph's Church. Among those present were his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne, and their Lordships the Bishops of Ballarat, Sandhurst, and Auckland, and a large number of priests. The panegyric was delivered by his Lordship Bishop Higgins, who paid an eloquent tribute to the piety, zeal, and devoted of the deceased prelate, and to the fidelity with which he attended to his. priestly duties, and watched over the spiritual interests of his flock. After referring to the work which Monsignor O'Dowd did in the various missions during the past fifty years, his Lordship went on to say that it was in Port Fairy and subsequently as Vicar-General of the diocese, and Administrator of the parish of Warrnambool, that the greater part of his missionary life was spent. In Port Fairy he erected a spacious presbytery, and paid off the heavy debt incurred originally in the erection of the Koroit Church. In Warrnambool he completed the addition of a spire, built churches at Winslow and Woodford, and did a great deal for Catholic education. The very largo attendance at the funeral, the cortege being fully a mile in length, gave evidence of the high esteem in which the late Monsignor O'Dowd was held by all classes in. the district. His Lordship Bishop Higgins officiated at the graveside. —R.I.P.