Regulations and Dispensations for Lent 1837

Appended to Bishop Polding's Pastoral Letter - reproduced in our previous post - were these Regulations and Dispensations for Lent:

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be celebrated, and a lecture given each morning at half past eight - in general, also, Mass will be celebrated at half past seven.

Part of the Rosary with night prayers will be recited in St Joseph’s Chapel each evening at seven o’clock.

Each Wednesday evening, Benediction of the most Holy Sacrament will be given, and a lecture delivered in reference to the calumnious aspersions cast upon the Catholic religion, or explanatory of its tenets.

Each Friday prayers will be said, and a lecture given at seven o’clock in the evening.

The faithful are earnestly exhorted to attend the public devotions of the Church according to their circumstances, and if prevented, let each one if private or in his own family devote a space of time to prayer and pious reading.

The Easter indulgence commences on Passion Sunday, and continues till Whit Sunday inclusive; during this period all the faithful are required, if they have the opportunity, to confess their sins, and with the permission of their Pastor, to receive the most holy Communion.

The dispensations from the strict fast of Lent granted to all the faithful are the following :

Meat is allowed on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays till Palm Sunday inclusive; on the three last mentioned days at dinner only.

A small collation may be taken in the morning and evening. But at this collation, milk, butter and cheese, are not allowed. Eggs and cheese are allowed at dinner on all days, except on the Wednesday of Holy Week, and the Fridays of each week.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be will you all - Amen.

+John Bede Polding
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic.

NOTES

These regulations are reproduced from the anthology The Eye of Faith.

Saint Joseph's Chapel seems to have been built in the year 1829 as an extension to a building which had been constructed some years earlier by Father John Joseph Therry to serve both as the residence for the Catholic Chaplain and as a Catholic schoolhouse.  Together, these buildings formed an " E " shape, as is shewn in the illustration above.  The buildings occupied that spot just north of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral Presbytery. The buildings were demolished in 1867 to allow for the construction of new Saint Mary's Cathedral.

This view of the Chapel, School and Priest's residence was painted in 1834 and is part of the collection of the National Library of Australia.  The artist took a certain licence in illustrating the buildings, but the form of Saint Joseph's - a two-storey colonial building - is accurate.