Old Saint Mary's Cathedral, Sydney : 1

A sketch of Saint Mary's Cathedral precinct, 1836
Image : The National Library of Australia.

Adjacent is a watercolour of Saint Mary's Cathedral precinct around the year 1836. The track running from left to right in the foreground would become Saint Mary's Road, but at that time lead from the city to Woolloomooloo Bay. In the background the largest building is old Saint Mary's, commenced in 1821 and which had become Archbishop Polding's Cathedral in 1835. This view shews the rear of the Cathedral, including one of its transepts, facing north.

Four other buildings are depicted in this watercolour, which were built between 1824 and 1826. At the left is a school, on the right, a residence for clergy. Another residence, with a small verandah,  is in the centre, although it is not clear in which of these buildings the Archbishop lived.

Hiding between the two residences is a two-storey building, which was Saint Joseph's chapel. Because Saint Mary's took so long to build, a temporary chapel was built for the needs of the faithful. Saint Joseph's chapel was opened in January 1830 and continued to be used long after the Cathedral was complete. It is probable that this collection of buildings was demolished when work on the new Cathedral commenced in 1866.

It is interesting that the artist chose not to depict priests or the genteel in his watercolour, but instead a small group of native Australians, walking along the track.  One carries a fearsome spear.

AMDG

Will the Real "First Bishop of Maitland" Please Stand Up?

At the turn of the twentieth century, the first Almanac of the Diocese of Maitland was released, "published by the Authority". An historical preamble, possibly written by the then coadjutor-bishop, Patrick Vincent Dwyer (1), states:

The name "Diocese of Maitland"...as far back as 1848 was in use, but merely as a title. The venerable Prelate who was consecrated Bishop with that title in 1848 was the Right Rev'd Charles Henry Davis O.S.B., who came to New South Wales in that year to assist the Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev. John Bede Polding, O.S.B., as his Coadjutor. Dr. Davis...had never been able to visit his Titular See of Maitland, when in 1854 he succumbed to the prolonged attacks of illness from which he suffered. The remains of Dr. Davis, the first Titular Bishop of Maitland, rest in the cemetery attached to the Benedictine Convent at Subiaco, near Sydney (2) ... The district was administered as part of the Archdiocese of Sydney until the year 1865, when the venerable prelate who first ruled over the faithful of Maitland as Bishop, the Right Rev.'d James Murray, D.D., was consecrated ... The territory assigned by Papal brief to the Right Rev'd Dr. Davis was confined to the borough of East Maitland, and it was not until after Dr. Murray's consecration that the brief was issued by which an extended territory was assigned to his jurisdiction. (3)

Many historians when discussing Bishop Davis have regarded him in the same way as the writer of the above passage, namely as coadjutor of Sydney and Bishop of the titular See of Maitland. Cardinal Moran's history, published four years before the 1900 Almanac, is very specific that Maitland was originally a titular See; Dom Birt refers to it as a "territorial" See; John O'Brien" describes it as titular, as does Frances O'Donoghue in her biography of Polding  (4)  and R.A. Daly in his entry for Davis in the first volume of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Likewise, when Father Harold Campbell wrote his Centenary History of the Diocese of Maitland in 1966, his conclusion was that the See was titular until the boundaries were extended in 1866 - which reflected the prevailing opinion in the Diocese at that time, before and since. Bishop Davis' successors, James Murray, PV Dwyer and Edmund Gleeson (5) pointedly refused to acknowledge Davis as Bishop of Maitland in any other sense than titular: their various documents all indicate their view that James Murray was the first Bishop of Maitland.

 An digital enhancement of a sketch of

Bishop Davis drawn during his time in Sydney.

The Collection of the State Library of NSW

The adoption of such an approach to Charles Davis is quite understandable: a coadjutor bishop receiving a non-residential See, perfectly normal practice before and since. Moreover, because the Diocese as constituted consisted of only one town - which Davis never visited - it makes perfect sense to assume that he was Bishop of Maitland in only a titular sense. Added to that, the principal Church in his one-town Diocese was never regarded as his Cathedral, and there is some doubt that the resident priests in Maitland were regarded as being priests of the Maitland Diocese. (6)  Whilst it is manifest that in practice Davis' appointment to Maitland was titular, there is no doubt that the Diocese of Maitland as constituted in 1847 was a regular, residential Diocese, and that Charles Davis was its bishop. Rome had, however, provided the Bishop with a special dispensation from residence in Maitland. In order to provide for special circumstances, an arrangement was made whereby Davis could simultaneously be the coadjutor with right of succession to Sydney and Bishop of Maitland: an arrangement which requires some description.

It is important to recall that most of the early episcopal appointments in Australia were based upon the specific recommendations of Archbishop Polding: he it was who conceived the creation of a hierarchy for Australia, with himself as Metropolitan Archbishop and those whom he recommended as suffragan bishops. It quite understandable that Rome would have been guided by his advice concerning a continent about which they knew little more than what was printed on a map and the reports they received from its clergy. The hierarchy of Australia was established by a Brief issued by Pope Gregory XVI on 5th April, 1842. (7)  On 22nd April, Gregory XVI issued a brief erecting the Province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sydney and the Suffragan Dioceses of Hobart Town and Adelaide. (8)  Polding, of course, was made Archbishop and, after some delay, Father Francis Murphy was appointed Bishop of Adelaide and Father Robert Willson Bishop of Hobart Town. (9)

It is interesting to note that when Archbishop Polding proposed all these things to the Vatican Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (often referred to as "Propaganda", but in more recent years, The Evangelisation of Peoples) in February of the same year, he also included a request for the appointment of a coadjutor-bishop. When this request was placed before the Cardinal members of the Congregation on 28th February, 1842, they decided to recommend to the Pope that he appoint Father Francis Murphy as coadjutor to Polding. This appointment would have gone ahead, except that the original nominee for the See of Adelaide, Father William Ullathorne, declined his nomination; (10) as we have seen, Father Murphy was appointed to Adelaide, and the question of a coadjutor lapsed.

Only a short time passed before a third suffragan diocese was added to the Province, that of Perth, and only five years (1847) before Archbishop Polding was in Rome again requesting the erection of more suffragan dioceses. The priest who declined appointment to Adelaide in 1842, Father Ullathorne, was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Western district of England in 1846, (11)  and consecrated on 21st June of the same year.    A short time later, Polding arrived in London from Australia and, according to Ullathorne, expressed "great regret at having arrived too late, as his principal object in coming to Europe was to solicit the Holy See to appoint me to be his Coadjutor." (12)

Before there was ever any consideration of making Maitland a diocese, Archbishop Polding had had a definite intention of obtaining a coadjutor, in the first instance, Father Murphy in 1842, then five years later, Father Ullathorne. It is true that Polding made his trip to Europe to obtain the creation of new suffragan Dioceses - Melbourne and Port Victoria (now Darwin) - and he wrote and discussed this proposal with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in February, 1847. At that time, however, Maitland did not enter into the discussion: it was only in April that the first mention of erecting the Diocese of Maitland was made in a letter to the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Fransoni:

English College
16th April, 1847

Memorandum concerning the erection of another See at Maitland with a Coadjutorial role for the Archbishop.

Most Eminent and Reverend Lord,

The undersigned Archbishop of Sydney, considering notice reported by recent English journals of the proposed four Anglican Bishoprics in Australia, believes it to be his duty to expound to your Eminence his conviction that the Anglicans are making every attempt to take possession of this immense province, with the consequence that more opposition should be made to their design.

I therefore petition that there be another Episcopal See at Maitland, not more distant from Sydney than from Morpeth (the site of one of the proposed Anglican Bishoprics), and that, without defining the boundaries for the present, the new Bishop should be named Coadjutor of the writer.

For such a See, I would believe suitable the Rev'd Fr. Burchall, already recommended in another document, and for Melbourne, the Rev'd Fr. Goold, who is also mentioned in that document.

Hoping that pardon will be given to the writer in making this new insistence, he submissively kisses your Sacred Purple.

The most humble, devoted and obedient servant of Your Most Reverend Eminence,

John Bede Polding
Anglo-Benedictine
Archbishop of Sydney. (13)

Archbishop Polding

A carte-de-visite photograph 

taken in the 1870s.

In May, 1846, it was announced that the Queen had approved the creation of two Anglican Bishoprics in Australia, one in Melbourne and the other Morpeth, at the request of the Bishop of Australia, the Right Rev'd W.G. Broughton. The See of Morpeth was to encompass north-eastern Australia. Perhaps Archbishop Polding panicked at this prospect, and was determined to counter Anglican influence by having bishops appointed to Melbourne and Maitland. Melbourne, as was mentioned earlier, had been already suggested by Polding as a new diocese, but it seems that Maitland owed its selection to perceived Anglican threats, coupled with Polding's desire for a coadjutor. The proposed Anglican See at Morpeth was only a short distance from Maitland, but the latter had had from its settlement (twenty years earlier) a greater than average proportion of Catholics amongst its residents. In 1846, for example, the County of Northumberland, within which the town of Maitland lay, had a total population of 13,335; of this number a remarkable 30.6% was Catholic. (14)

This figure supports Archbishop Polding's choice of Maitland for a new diocese: not only was it reasonably close to Sydney, but its population was markedly Catholic. Ultimately, the Anglicans decided to make the seat of their Bishopric Newcastle rather than Morpeth (15) and, by a coincidence that is incredible, the Anglican Bishopric of Newcastle and the Catholic Diocese of Maitland were erected on one and the same day: 25th June, 1847 !

But we have gone ahead of ourselves: note in Archbishop Polding's memorandum that he asks that the boundaries of the proposed new diocese should remain for the present undefined. This has been taken to mean that the Diocese would be only a "titular" See for the new coadjutor, but there is no reference to an intention to make the See of Maitland “titular”, either in this memorandum or any of the other documents concerning the erection of the Diocese. (16)

On 3rd May, 1847, less than three weeks after the memorandum, Cardinal Fransoni presented all Archbishop Polding's proposals to a general meeting of the Cardinals of Propaganda. Firstly, Fransoni dealt with the erection of the Dioceses of Melbourne and Port Victoria, and thereafter he discussed Maitland. The Cardinals would have questioned the proposal that the boundaries of the new Diocese should not be fixed; but Fransoni reassured them that this manner of erecting a Diocese without fixing its territory has been followed in the case of the Dioceses of Oregon (17).  And so, having questioned the Cardinals on the Dioceses of Melbourne and Port Victoria, Cardinal Fransoni put the following question to them:

Should the Holy Father be asked to erect Maitland as an Episcopal See in the manner indicated by the Archbishop [Polding] and which person should be proposed to His Holiness for him to nominate as its Bishop and Coadjutor of the same Archbishop?

The Cardinals replied:

To the first part - in the affirmative, and the Holy Father should be asked to elect the Reverend Father Richard Placid Burchall of the English Congregation of S' Benedict in such a way that provision be made for the duty of residing in the See.  (18)

The last phrase of this reply should be understood in the sense that Polding proposed it, namely that the new Bishop be dispensed from the duty of residence in the Diocese.

Pope Pius IX received the proposals on 9th May, ratified them, and ordered that the appropriate Briefs be dispatched. Thus, on 25th June, 1847, under the Pope's seal, the Brief establishing the Dioceses of Port Victoria, Melbourne and Maitland was issued from S' Mary's Major in Rome. In part it read:

Therefore on our own initiative with definite knowledge, with Our complete deliberation and with the fullness of Apostolic Authority...

We propose and institute new Episcopal Sees in the towns or cities of Victoria [Darwin], Maitland and Melbourne.

We grant every right, faculty and perogative to each of their Bishops about to be selected by Us and the Apostolic See, and We bestow on them all that is proper to Bishops...

But We do not wish the See of Maitland, set up in the city of that name, to have any other territory...

We wish the three new Episcopal Sees to be established as Suffragans to the Archbishop of Sydney...(19)

And so, the Diocese of Maitland was regularly established as a residential See (albeit a small one) on that day. On 9th July, 1847, Dom Placid Burchall was elected Bishop of the new Diocese, with the dispatch of the appropriate brief. When Archbishop Polding sent his memorandum to Propaganda, he included an assessment of Burchall to enable his promotion to Episcopal Orders. Dom Richard Placid Burchall in 1847 had been Superior of the Anglo-Benedictine Monastery of Saint Edmond in Douai, France, for eight years or so; he was around 34 years of age and was highly regarded. (20)

In fact, Father Burchall was so highly regarded that the Superiors of his Order declined to release him. (21)  So Polding wrote to Propaganda suggesting other candidates, in the first place recommending Father Charles Henry Davis, in the second, Father Benedict Tidmath. In an Audience of 5th September, Pius IX approved the substitution of Davis for Burchall. The decree was issued releasing Burchall from the appointment on 14th September.

On 24th September, 1847, Pius IX's Secretary for Briefs, Cardinal Lambruschini, issued the Briefs appointing Father Charles Henry Davis as Bishop of Maitland and Coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney, "with the right of succession". Davis was consecrated at Bath on 25th February, 1848 by Bishop Ullathorne, Polding's earlier choice for a coadjutor. Bishop Davis departed from England on 15th August and arrived in Sydney on 8th December, 1848. 

It is quite obvious from the documents relating to the erection of the Diocese that there was a definite intention to release the new bishop from the obligation imposed by Canon Law of residence in his own diocese. The chief aim of the appointment was to give Archbishop Polding a coadjutor, so that he would be able to carry out more fully the extensive pastoral visitations which he undertook with such zeal. Davis' appointment as coadjutor (with the right of succession), might also have been designed to avoid a long vacancy in the Metropolitan See in the event of Polding's sudden demise, such as happened after Archbishop Roger Bede Vaughan's untimely death in 1883.

There is evidence to suggest that Bishop Davis considered that he should have been resident in his own Diocese of Maitland. Writing in 1849 to the Prior of Downside Abbey, Dom Peter Wilson, Davis foreshadows a visit to his Diocese early in the following year:

On my return from Hobart Town I expect I shall have to make a visitation of the whole district of the Hunter in which my own little diocese (one small town) lies. This will occupy six good weeks, as I shall have hundreds of miles to go through the Bush. (22)

In fact, this proposed visitation did not eventuate; an episode of serious ill-health overtook the young bishop in that same year. As far as is known, Bishop Davis never visited his Diocese, despite original intentions. In 1902, John H.B. Curtis - formerly Brother Anselm Curtis of the Benedictine Community at S' Mary's in Sydney - wrote an interesting article on Davis. Curtis had almost daily contact with Davis, and attended the saintly bishop on his death-bed. Curtis makes these interesting remarks:

The Bishop arrived in Sydney in the year 1848. His title was Bishop of Maitland and Coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney, cum jure successionis. He fully expected to take up his abode in Maitland. But the Archbishop maintained that such was not the Pope's intention in appointing him. The Bishop was too deeply imbued with the spirit of holy obedience to enter into a contest with the Archbishop, but from some occasional remarks that he made, he evidently thought that Maitland should be his abode. As a matter of fact, he never went to Maitland. (23)

This extract is interesting in that it demonstrates that Bishop Davis fully expected to take possession of and reside in his See: but Archbishop Polding was quite correct in suggesting to Davis that the Pope did not intend him to take up residence in Maitland. The Cardinals of Propaganda had already decided that some provision would have to be made so that Davis would be released from his obligation of residency, but the brief of appointment makes no specific mention of such a dispensation, merely concluding with the words "a provision for the Bishop of the Church of Maitland, by Decree of the Congregation of Propaganda." Bishop Davis was dispensed from this obligation fully four years after his consecration:

Most Holy Father: Since there are very few Catholics - about 50  (24)  - in the city of Maitland (without any territory assigned outside the city) its Bishop, Charles Davis, has his residence 100 miles from the city of Maitland, in Sydney, and since there he helps the Archbishop, especially during a time of Visitation or absence from the Archiepiscopal City, the Bishop begs Your Holiness that you deign to dispense him from the law of residence, until territory be removed and assigned to the See of Maitland.

Pius IX gave his reply to this request in an Audience on 8th February, 1852:

Our Most Holy Lord, Pius, by Divine Providence Pope, ninth of that name, when I, the undersigned Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, presented this proposal, graciously granted the favour whilst the described circumstances continue, with the caution that no detriment to the Faithful of Maitland might arise therefrom. Anything to the contrary not withstanding.

Alexander Barnabo, Secretary.

Both before and after the provision of the dispensation, Bishop Davis remained in Sydney, except for occasional visits to outlying areas of the city and district and one voyage to Hobart, and tended to the administration of the Archdiocese and the local Benedictine Community at S' Mary's. Not long after Davis' arrival, Archbishop Polding was speaking of spending the next four or five years  (25)  in visitation all over the continent. It is interesting to note that Davis' ministry in Sydney lasted for five years six months, during which time Polding’s absences - when added up - amounted to two full years. (26)

On 21st March, 1854, Archbishop Polding sailed for Europe and specifically to Rome. Discussing again the question of new Sees, Polding suggested that Brisbane be made a diocese and that territory be added to the small Diocese of Maitland: presumably, he had discussed this matter with Davis before leaving for Rome. Polding wrote to Fransoni on 24th July, 1854, detailing his suggestions concerning Brisbane and Maitland; the Diocese of Maitland was to be extended to include all of New South Wales north of Newcastle and east of Narrabri. (27)  But by the time Polding had drafted this proposal to Propaganda, the Bishop of Maitland was dead. Bishop Charles Davis died at the Benedictine Monastery, adjacent to Saint Mary’s Cathedral, on 17th May, 1854, just a day short of his fortieth birthday. His body lay-in-state in old Saint Mary's Cathedral, whence he was buried on 20th May in the cemetery at the Convent at Subiaco (Parramatta).

When the news reached Rome, Archbishop Polding abandoned his plan to extend the boundaries of the Maitland Diocese, and whilst the nomination of Davis' successor and the extension of Diocesan boundaries were being considered by the Bishops of the Australian Province, Polding would be given administration of the tiny diocese. (28)  Just before the Archbishop left Rome, the Pope, in an Audience on 6th May, 1855, made him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Maitland, with all faculties, both ordinary and extraordinary (which he currently enjoyed as Archbishop of Sydney), and with the right to delegate such administration to a suitable priest. The decision was put into the form of a Decree from Propaganda:

Since the See of Maitland, Australia, has become vacant by reason of the death of its Bishop, Charles Davis, and since there are serious reasons which favour deferring election of a successor, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, when the undersigned Secretary had made representation, decided to request from His Holiness that the Most Reverend Lord John Bede Polding, Archbishop of Sydney, bearing the title Apostolic Administrator, should assume control of the same Diocese of Maitland either through himself or through a suitable priest.

When this decision of the Sacred Congregation was referred to our Most Illustrious Lord, Pius, by Divine Providence, Pope, the ninth of that name, in an Audience on sixth day of May of this year, His Holiness graciously gave it his approval and graciously conceded to the Most Reverend Lord Bede Polding Apostolic Administration of the Diocese of Maitland according to the reason put forth, which was pleasing to the Holy See, all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Given at Rome at the office of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on 12th day of May, 1855.

J. Th. Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect. (29)

Archbishop Polding returned to Australia in January 1856, visiting the Bishop of Melbourne, James Goold, before returning to Sydney.  Polding advised Goold that he had appointed his Vicar General, Henry Gregory O.S.B., as Administrator of the Diocese of Maitland. Two years later Polding recommended the same priest to be appointed as the new Bishop of Maitland; but Rome declined to appoint the controversial Abbot Gregory, and the matter lapsed again. Ultimately, the Dubliner Father James Murray was appointed Bishop of Maitland on 14th November, 1865, but by that time it was the Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Cullen, and not Archbishop Polding who was suggesting who would occupy which Episcopal thrones in Australia - another story altogether. 

Bishop James Murray
2nd Bishop of Maitland
1865 - 1909.

After much discussion between the new Bishop, James Murray, Archbishop Polding and the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the boundaries of the Diocese of Maitland were greatly extended by a Papal Brief dated 13th April, 1866. The extended boundaries encompassed most of north-eastern New South Wales, although they were not identical with Polding's proposal of 1854, since by then, the Dioceses of Armidale and Bathurst had been established. It is worth noting that the boundaries were extended after James Murray had been consecrated Bishop of Maitland, further evidence of a regularly erected diocese needing only territorial expansion. There is an ample amount of evidence to suggest that Murray, who never knew or saw Davis, regarded himself as the first Bishop of Maitland.

One last point needs to be clarified: what constituted the original territory of the Diocese of Maitland? According to all the documents, the city town of Maitland. Yet what this precisely encompassed has eluded historians. Moran claims that it consisted of the "small township of East Maitland;" (30)  the Maitland Diocesan Almanac of 1900, which was quoted at the beginning of this article, says the same. The first reference that can be found to the thesis that the Diocese consisted specifically of the "borough of East Maitland," is in the Australian Catholic Directory of 1886. It is uncertain how this conclusion was reached, but it would seem that it is mistaken. In the first instance, in 1847 there was no such place as the "Borough of East Maitland." A notice in the Sydney Gazette in June, 1828, declared the Government's intention of founding a town at the head of navigation of Hunter's River. Subsequently this town was named Maitland; in fact, this was the area now known as East Maitland. On the other side of the Hunter River, however, private settlement had been taking place for ten years - this was Wallis Plains. Interestingly, the population growth and development of this latter area outstripped that of the Government town, so much so that by 1835, a number of protests about this anomaly reached the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke. Consequently, he ordered the following notice to be gazetted:

...His Excellency is pleased..to command that the said town [namely Maitland] shall be considered in future as consisting of two Portions...the Portion heretofore laid out by the Government shall be called "EAST MAITLAND"; and that...Portion situated on the N.W. side of Wallis' Creek...shall be called "WEST MAITLAND." (31)

In short, there was no "Borough of East Maitland" in 1847, only a town designated Maitland and divided into two sections. This would be sufficient to prove that the Diocese of Maitland was originally comprised of both East and West Maitland. We have, however, even more conclusive evidence, contained in Archbishop Polding's memorandum for the establishment of the Diocese in 1847:

Maitland has a beautiful Church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and five or six thousand inhabitants. (32)

The Church of Saint John the Baptist, completed in 1846 (shortly before Polding left for Europe, seeking the establishment of the new Dioceses) is in West,  (33)  not East Maitland. 

Archbishop Polding, moreover, does not even mention the fine stone Church of S' Joseph's at East Maitland, which was well under way to completion when he arrived in Australia in 1835. (34)  So, it is evident that Polding also had West Maitland in mind when proposing the new Diocese.

This article, which has been primarily written to prove a case, has taken little account of the life of its subject: this has been discussed elsewhere in various historical and biographical works. Those who knew Bishop Charles Henry Davis OSB revered him for his sanctity: he led a holy life marked by reverence, fraternal charity, fair-mindedness and obedience. He was a scholar, an educationalist and a musician of great renown, whilst at the same time being a very able administrator. He died more than twenty years before the man whom he was chosen to succeed as Archbishop of Sydney and so he enjoys that anonymity which is the portion of most auxiliary bishops.  The Bishop rests in the crypt of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, alongside Archbishop Polding and other pioneering Catholic priests; being there, he will always have visitors and be amongst the prayers of the Faithful. Although he never visited his small Diocese, he certainly wished to; regardless, the Diocese of Maitland can rightfully claim him as its first bishop and, equally, the Archdiocese of Sydney, as its first assistant bishop. 

END NOTES

(1)   This was the surmise of the late Father Harold Campbell, historian of the Diocese of Maitland. Patrick Vincent Dwyer was consecrated as coadjutor cum-jure-succesionis (with the right of succession) to Bishop James Murray in 1897 and succeeded Murray upon the latter's death in 1909.

(2)   The remains of Bishop Davis were reinterred in the crypt of S' Mary's Cathedral on 25th August, 1945.

(3)   Almanac of the Diocese of Maitland, 1900, pp.17-18.

(4)   c.f. P.F. Cardinal Moran, The History of the Catholic Church in Australasia, Sydney, [1896], p. 333; H.N. Birt O.S.B., Benedictine Pioneers in Australia, London, 1911, vol. 2, p. 131; John O'Brien, The Men of '38 and other Pioneer Priests, Revv. T.J. Linane and F.A. Mecham (eds.), Kilmore, 1975, p.83; Frances O'Donoghue, The Bishop of Botany Bay, Sydney, 1982, p. 90.

(5)   James Murray was Bishop of Maitland 1865-1909; Patrick V. Dwyer from 1909-1931; Edmund Gleeson, from 1931-1956. Even as recently as 2016, officials of the Diocese of Maitland were still misrepresenting the status of Charles Henry Davis as first Bishop of Maitland.

(6)   c.f. the 1854 Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia; for, although the directory is "for the use of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Sydney and the Diocese of Maitland", the Directory actually lists the resident clergy of Maitland as being priests of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

(7)   The document is quoted in The Foundation of the Hierarchy of Australia, 1804-1854, a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Canon Law, presented by Monsignor Ian Burns to the Urban University Rome, 1954, pp.209-212.

(8)    op.cit. pp.219-220.

(9)   On 29th May, 1842 and 14th August, 1842, respectively. Willson originally refused the appointment and fresh candidates were selected, none of whom were appointed. Willson was placed under obedience to accept the appointment by a decree issued on the above date.

(10)   Having served as Polding's Vicar-General for five years, Ullathorne returned to England in 1840.

(11)   This was before the re-establishment of the English hierarchy in 1850.

(12)   W.B. Ullathorne, Autobiography, London (3rd edition, n.d.), pp.242-43.

(13)   Cited from a microfilm copy of memoranda and briefs pertaining to the Diocese of Maitland, 1847-1866, compiled from Scritture Originali Riferite nelle Congregazioni Generali of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and housed in the Archives of the Diocese of Maitland.

(14)   c.f. James Waldersee Catholic Society in N.S.W. 1788-1860, p. 281.Waldersee mentions the question of the large Catholic population of Maitland several times, referring to it as "an oasis of Irish Catholic Society": ibid, p. 183.

(15)   Nevertheless, the first Bishop of Newcastle, William Tyrrell, actually lived at Morpeth.

(16)   What we designate "titular Sees", have only been known under such an appellation for the last century or so. Prior to 1882, such sees were referred to as being in partibus infidelium, and were located, as the name suggests, in non-Christian lands. In fact, has a titular See or a See i.p.i. ever been created? The obvious answer is "no". Titular or i.p.i. Sees were once residential, which later became defunct, thus allowing their titles to be used by non-diocesan bishops. But a diocese would never be created merely to be a title for a non-diocesan bishop. This point alone would be sufficient to disprove the theory that the Diocese of Maitland was created as a titular See.

(17)   c.f. Propaganda Archives, Scritture Originali Riferite nelle Congregazioni Generali, a. 1847, vol. 969 2.226. Unusual methods had been resorted to in the establishment of the Dioceses of Australia, too. When the Hierarchy was established in 1842, the three dioceses which comprised it, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart Town were confined only to the cities of that name. Each of the Bishops, however, were Vicars-Apostolic of the territory within which their Diocese lay, such that, for example, Francis Murphy was Bishop of Adelaide and Vicar-Apostolic of South Australia. This strange arrangement, a fore-runner of Davis' double appointment, was proposed by Polding so that the new Bishops might have both ordinary jurisdiction and extraordinary power as Vicars-Apostolic.

(18)   Propaganda Archives, Acta Congregationum Generalium, 1847, vol. 210ff 202 (printed) 167 (handwritten).

(19)   Propaganda Archives, Brevi dal 1841 al 1853 vol.5, as translated in Harold Campbell, the Centenary History of the Diocese of Maitland 1866-1966.

(20)   c.f. Propaganda Archives, Scritture a 1847, vol. 969ff, 231-32.

(21)  The documentation actually represents Burchall's refusal on the grounds of ill-health, but Polding himself indicates in his letter to Propaganda that because there had been too many recent losses in the Order "among its more outstanding Fathers", Burchall could not accept the appointment; c.f. Propaganda Archives, Udienzi del Nostro Signore a 1847, vol. 107 ff, 1009-1009v.

(22)  Davis to Wilson, Downside Archives, quoted in Birt, op. cit., vol. II, p. 156.

(23)  Downside Review, vol.xxi, p. 188ff, quoted in Birt, op.cit., vol.II, p. 208.

(24)  Davis grossly underestimates the number of Catholics in Maitland, which would have amounted at that time to several hundred, not 50. This petition and dispensation are written on a form in the Sydney Archdiocesan Archives.

(25)   c.f. letter from Sister Magdalen Le Clerc to Dr. Barber, President of the English Benedictines, 14th February, 1849, quoted in Birt, op. cit., vol II, p. 162.

(26)  This figure was reached by an analysis of Polding's journeys as itemized in "The Bishop in the Saddle", Tjurunga: An Australian Benedictine Review, 1977-13.

(27)  To be more precise, Polding suggested the following boundaries: to the east, the Pacific Ocean; to the south, the 33rd degree of latitude; to the west, the 150th degree of longitude and to the north, the 29th degree of latitude.

(28)  This decision was reached and ratified by Pius IX in an Audience given to the Prefect of Propaganda on 17th September of the same year; c.f. Propaganda Archives Udienzi a 1854, p. 11, vol. 120, ff. 2132v-2133.

(29)  This document was brought back by Polding from Rome and is in the Sydney Archdiocesan Archives.

(30)  Moran, op. cit., p. 333.

(31)  N.S.W. Government Gazette, 11th November, 1835.

(32)  c.f. Propaganda Archives Scritture a. 1847 vol 969, ff 2.226. Polding actually overestimates Maitland's population, which could not have exceeded 4000 at this time.

(33)  West Maitland is simply known now as Maitland.

(34)  Old Saint Joseph's was for a century the oldest Catholic Church north of Sydney; it was demolished in 1933. Ullathorne makes an amusing reference to this Church at the beginning of the eleventh chapter of his Autobiography, op.cit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This article was first published in "Footprints" The Journal of the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission in 1989. I researched the article in response to a conversation I had with archivist and historian the late Sister M. Xavier Compton SGS one day in the Archives of Saint Mary's Cathedral Sydney. I was assisted in my understanding of the Church's law with regard to the appointment of bishops and in the interpretation of curial documents by the late Monsignor Ian Burns of the Archdiocese of Sydney, the late Monsignor Paul Simms of the Diocese of Maitland & Newcastle and the Rev'd Dr Ian Waters of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, all doctors in Canon Law. Select documents from the Archives of the Congregation for the Propagation for the Faith were kindly supplied by the late Monsignor Aldo Rebeschini of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Other documents were examined in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Sydney and Diocese of Maitland.

This is the first time since 1989 that this article has been published and it has been slightly revised for an online format. The article may not be reproduced without the permission of the author.

Sorry to say, despite my findings, which were published and presented to respective Dioceses, the misunderstanding about the establishment of the Diocese of Maitland and the appointment of its first Bishop, Charles Davis continues to be held in 2018.

Michael Sternbeck
27th October 2018.

AMDG

Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB

The Most Rev'd John Bede Polding OSB.
This photograph was most likely taken during the Archbishop's
visit to Rome and Europe 1866 - 67.

The name of John Bede Polding is still familiar to Australian Catholics, but details about his life and long ministry in Australia are increasingly forgotten.  A Benedictine monk, he arrived in Australia from Saint Gregory's Monastery, Downside (UK) in August 1835 as the Vicar Apostolic of New Holland - the first Catholic Bishop in Australia. Among the many attributes of this renowned pioneering bishop perhaps one emerges clearly most of all : his zeal for souls; and this zeal was practically expressed throughout his forty years as a bishop in Australia.

We hope to acquaint a new generation of Australian Catholics with the life of our first Catholic bishop with posts on this Blog and our Facebook page.

The following comprehensive biographical notes were prepared by Bede Nairn for The Australian Dictionary of Biography in 1967.

John Bede Polding (1794-1877), Catholic archbishop, was born on 18 November 1794 at Liverpool, England. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother came from the Brewer family, recusants since the sixteenth century. His family name was also spelt Poulden or Polten. His parents died and at 8 he was placed in the care of his uncle, Father Bede Brewer, president-general of the English Benedictine Congregation. Polding was first taught by the Benedictine nuns of the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation of Cambray, who as refugees from revolutionary France were located at Much Woolton, near Liverpool. At 11 he was sent to St Gregory's Benedictine College, at Acton Burnell, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. On 15 July 1810 Polding was admitted to the religious community, taking the name of Bede. He received minor orders in 1813 from Bishop Milner at Wolverhampton, was ordained priest by Bishop Poynter at Old Hall College on 4 March 1819, and on the 21st sang his first mass at Downside.

Meanwhile he had undergone the rigorous juniorate of the Benedictines, excelling in philosophy and theology. In 1814 the community transferred to St Gregory's Monastery, Downside, where Polding remained for twenty years, filling various offices in the school and monastery, and in 1826-34 serving as secretary to the president-general of the Benedictine Congregation. As prefect, Polding endeared himself to the boys, one of whom was to recall his prowess as a teacher of drama, his patriotism, and his sympathy for the Irish; 'though a thorough Lancashire man, he always identified himself with Irish boys in their interest for their country and her wrongs'. As became a Lancashire man Polding also had a great interest and some skill in cricket. His boyhood interest in the religious plight of New South Wales took firmer shape when he became novice-master in 1823.

The virtual absence of any Catholic mission in Australia before 1818 reflected the legal disabilities of Catholics in Britain and the difficult position of Ireland within the empire. Nearly all the Catholic convicts transported to New South Wales were Irish; among them were three priests, James Harold, James Dixon, and Peter O'Neil, but they failed to found an enduring mission. After 1815 policies towards Catholics gradually became more tolerant and the English Benedictines, who had prospered moderately since their re-establishment, were in a strategic position to take advantage of the change. The British government retained misgivings about Irish Catholics, but acquired a grudging appreciation of the English attributes of the Benedictines, dispositions that were to play an important part in Polding's career in Australia. Meanwhile the predominant Irish interest in the colony was illustrated in 1817 in the abortive attempt of Jeremiah O'Flynn to establish himself as prefect-apostolic of New Holland with the approval of Rome's Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda). This case helped to clarify the need for Propaganda to adjust its policies to the novel post-1815 international situation, especially in colonial areas. As a result the vicar-apostolic of London, rather than the Irish bishops, became the link between Rome and the British government in relation to Australian affairs. The O'Flynn case also impressed the government with the need for Catholic chaplains in the colony. The formal colonial influence of the English Benedictines was accentuated in 1818 when the Cape of Good Hope was erected by Papal Brief into a vicariate and entrusted to them. In 1819 Polding's cousin, Bishop Edward Bede Slater, was appointed vicar-apostolic with jurisdiction over Mauritius, Madagascar, the Cape, New Holland and Van Diemen's Land.

The Benedictines' inability to spare men for all these missions was to remain a continual check on their work in Australia. In 1819 the government decided to add two Catholic chaplains to the public officers of New South Wales and two Irish volunteers, John Joseph Therry and Philip Conolly, were accepted by Slater and appointed by Bathurst, with a salary of £100 each. Therry's immense energy, tactlessness, and missionary zeal led to his prominent association with groups opposed to official policies, to the withdrawal of his salary in 1826, and to the hardening of feeling against Irish priests both by the British government and the English Catholic authorities. In the 1830s the number of Irish Catholics in the colony continued to rise, though mainly they were convicts and working class people. After Catholic emancipation in 1829, however, a trickle of educated and politically significant Irish migrated to Sydney, notably Roger Therry and John Hubert Plunkett, both of whom were appointed to high legal offices. John McEncroeaccompanied Plunkett as an official chaplain, highly recommended by Archbishop James Murray of Dublin.

In 1832 the Benedictine William Morris, who had replaced Slater as vicar-apostolic, appointed William Ullathorne as his vicar-general in New South Wales, with British government approval. Ullathorne arrived, capably put the affairs of the church in order with McEncroe's help, and soon saw the need for episcopal control in Sydney. His representations to Rome and England had been anticipated in 1832 by McEncroe's recommendation to Archbishop Murray: 'There are 16,000 or 18,000 Catholics in this colony, not one half of whom hardly ever see a Priest … The Holy See should provide this place with a Bishop'. Rome responded to the Irish and English pressure by detaching Australia from the Mauritius vicariate. Negotiations were carried out with the vicar-apostolic of London rather than with the archbishop of Dublin, and the government was informed of each step. By Papal Briefs in 1834 Polding was appointed bishop of Hiero-Caesarea in partibus infidelium and vicar-apostolic of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land and the adjoining islands. He had declined earlier appointments for Mauritius and Madras but he accepted the Australian office on 14 June. Two weeks later in his private chapel Bishop Bramston, the vicar-apostolic of London, assisted by Bishops Griffiths and Rouchouze, consecrated Polding. On 20 February 1835 Governor Sir Richard Bourke was notified of the appointment and advised that 'it is very desirable that Dr Polding should be enabled to exercise a salutary influence over the Roman Catholic chaplains'. On 6 August Polding and his party arrived at Hobart Town, where he left a priest and a student; and on 13 September at Sydney, with one priest, Father Corcoran, and five students, three of whom were Benedictines, including Henry Gregory. In that month Polding's stipend was increased from £150 to £500.

New South Wales, although still formally a penal colony with convicts about 38 per cent of its total population of 71,662, was experiencing the effects of parliamentary reform in Britain. Bourke, a Whig appointee, gave practical form to the new order with able assistance from J. H. Plunkett. The British government, aware of the advantages of religion for an orderly society, was now prepared to allow other denominations to share in state aid which hitherto had been monopolized by the Church of England in New South Wales. Bourke's Church Act of 1836 gave effect to this new policy, much to the annoyance of William Grant Broughton, the Anglican bishop, though Polding quickly adapted himself to the liberal changes of Bourke. He was now in middle age and had come from the upper ranks of English Catholic society. He belonged to an ancient order lately re-established in England after centuries of banishment but still uncertain of its role in English society, as were Catholics generally. Although his innate sympathy for the Irish was naturally accentuated by their common bond of religion, he nevertheless regarded them with at least a minimum of the disquiet felt by nearly all Englishmen of his class irrespective of creed. Though he did not owe his position to the British government, he had its approval and was paid from public funds. These were factors that had a pervasive influence on his long episcopate in New South Wales.

Polding was a man of deep and abiding sanctity, generous and warm-hearted though not without some reserve, and a born missioner who scorned every personal hardship to bring religion to his widely-scattered and underprivileged flock. His vicariate included the whole of Australia and in time he visited nearly all its major centres. In 1839 the Weekly Orthodox Journal quoted a letter from Sydney: 'His labors are incessant, his zeal unbounded, Protestants as well as Catholics revere him as a saint'.

On reaching Sydney Polding had seen the need far an intensive mission to the convicts and arranged with Bourke for all Catholics among the newcomers, about one-third and mostly Irish, to be put in his charge for a few days. Ullathorne later recorded that Polding took the leading part in instructing and giving the Sacraments to them; 'it was a touching sight', he wrote, 'to see the Bishop with one of his criminals kneeling by his side in the sanctuary, and by word and action, instructing all through one how to make their confessions, or how to receive the Holy Communion'. By 1841 some seven thousand convicts had undertaken these exercises. This example of pastoral care set an enlivening tone that was never absent from Polding's episcopate, even in times of conflict with members of his flock, clerical and lay.

With capable assistance from Ullathorne, Polding established a firm administration. He consecrated St Mary's as his cathedral and surveyed the need for more church buildings. He successfully directed J. J. Therry's energy into the Campbelltown area, and built up other centres at Parramatta, Windsor, Maitland and Wollongong. He also became involved in the control of schools; by 1836 he had thirteen primary schools, seven for boys, six for girls, all with government support, and had begun a steady programme to build and staff others. They never became as numerous or efficient as he wished and always provoked controversy of some kind, for colonial society was then peculiarly fluid, with settlement expanding and free immigration increasing. In consolidating his church Polding found his administrative duties a general trial and a restriction on his missionary work; more and more he came to rely on others for planning policy and organization, and gave much thought to starting an Australian Benedictine monastery that would train priests and provide culture and learning to a frontier society.

In 1836-38 Ullathorne went to Europe on a recruiting mission. He obtained only one Englishman out of fifteen priests and religious recruits. But he did win Rome's approval for Polding's monastery. Meanwhile Polding's zeal had aroused the Protestants, especially Broughton and the judges, (Sir) William Burton and John Willis; this opposition decided him to approach Rome to have the Australian mission reorganized, as suggested by Ullathorne especially, and William Duncan, editor of the Catholic Australasian Chronicle. Polding was also anxious to obtain new priests, and to pay his ad limina visit to the Pope. The British government granted him leave and on 16 November 1840 he left Sydney with Ullathorne and Gregory.

The major event of his journey was Rome's approval on 5 April 1842 for the establishment of an Australian hierarchy. Sydney was made a metropolitan and archiepiscopal see; his later proposal that it be restricted to Benedictines was not approved. Adelaide and Hobart were separated from the original vicariate and made episcopal sees. Polding retained his status as vicar-apostolic and on 9 April was elevated to the archbishopric, with the title of 'Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and the Gambier Islands, etc.'. The British government gave tacit approval; before his departure Polding was received at the Colonial Office by Lord Stanley and given 'a grand dinner' by the earl of Derby. Polding's party of nineteen included four priests of the Passionist Order, who were to establish a mission to the Aboriginals, and three Christian Brothers. They reached Sydney on 9 March 1843. Two weeks later Broughton wrote to London protesting against Polding's assumption of the title of archbishop, but Stanley declined to discuss it. In 1847 Earl Grey advised Governor Sir Charles FitzRoy that since Irish archbishops and bishops could be addressed as 'Your Grace' or 'Your Lordship', colonial Catholic prelates should be similarly recognized.

Polding pursued tenaciously his idea of making his archdiocese Benedictine, with the priests and religious bound to him as superior of their order as well as archbishop. On 19 October 1843 he wrote, 'My residence has become a monastery … my desire is to establish two priests and a lay brother in each mission … Of course the Archbishop will be always the principal Superior. Thus the grievous inconveniences which have sometimes occurred from the meeting of two orders of clergy will be avoided'. This optimistic vision contrasted sharply with Ullathorne's realistic assessment in 1838 that Benedictinism had little hope in Australia, for Polding virtually ignored not only the increasing number of Irish secular clergy and Catholic population, but also the changing political and social conditions of the colony now that the convict transportation had ended. With a strong note of 'self-improvement' prevailing among the 'lower orders', politics had become the interest and prop of the many as well as the vocation of the few. The Irish, most of them Catholics, joined in with gusto, often stimulated by memories of Daniel O'Connell or the Young Ireland movement. Several radical newspapers reflected the ferment, among them Duncan's Weekly Register. Polding's English Benedictinism idea could hardly survive in these circumstances. It was part of the 'old' style Benedictinism, romantic and alien to a society conscious of its thrusting egalitarianism. But Polding held to his ideal against all portents and odds, including recruitment difficulties in New South Wales and England and the reform movement within English Benedictinism.

At the practical level Polding's episcopate continued auspiciously. On 8 September 1844 he consecrated Francis Murphy bishop of Adelaide, the first episcopal consecration in Australia, and in October he presided at the first Catholic Provincial Synod held in Australia, attended by Bishop Robert Willson of Hobart, Murphy and senior priests from New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, the Port Phillip and Moreton Bay Districts, and Norfolk Island. Under Polding the Benedictine Monastery had some success; St Mary's was recognized as a monastic cathedral, and for about three years the monks lived the complete regular life, with full choral recitation of the Divine office at the canonical hours. But the pressure of his missionary work increased his reliance on Gregory who, as vicar-general and prior (later abbot) of the monastery, found difficulty in doing justice to both positions and was temperamentally unsuited for either. With ill discipline gradually spreading among the monks, Benedictinism appeared to breed inefficiency in archdiocesan affairs.

The Catholic laity displayed a talent for politics in the new democratic era ushered in by the part-elective Legislative Council in 1843: but they were not alone in this. As a religious minority suspected of a subversive bias towards the empire, they found certain prejudices operating powerfully against them and did not meet this opposition with a united front. The Catholic Church was anything but a political monolith during Polding's rule. One divisive issue was in Van Diemen's Land, where Willson for fourteen years held J. J. Therry personally responsible for a church debt of £3300. In 1844 Polding and McEncroe went to Hobart but failed to settle the matter. Next year Therry arrived in Sydney in hope of raising funds to pay the debt. Polding wrote to London about this visit: 'the people here are beginning to talk and canvass this unfortunate business; parties are again forming which we had well-nigh extinguished. The utmost prudence is required to steer aright. If I am kind to Therry, Dr. Willson will misinterpret it as upholding him in opposition; if I am not, all my people will lose confidence in me'. The parties thus formed were neither firm nor permanent, but the incident reflected a general lay instability which was related as much to general colonial politics as to ecclesiastical policy. The latter influence stemmed from Polding's enthusiastic but extemporized Benedictine experiment, now coming to be resented by increasing numbers of clergy and laity as promotions and full respect were denied the one, and outlying missionary service became more difficult for the other. A more discerning type of criticism could also be noted, well illustrated by Duncan, a complex Scot, erudite and cantankerous. Although loyal to Polding, he feared that the archbishop's policy might result in a completely subservient and inarticulate laity. By 1846 when he left Sydney for Moreton Bay, he had shown that the growing opposition to Polding was by no means wholly Irish. Jabez Heydon, an English convert, began to press this same point after 1848.

Colonial politics inevitably overlapped religion. The Presbyterian, John Dunmore Lang, railed against the Pope as 'the man of sin' and claimed to perceive in Caroline Chisholm's humane and ecumenical immigration work a Popish plot to take over Australia. Polding could be sure of Catholic and much Protestant support against such tirades, but not on 'the question of questions', as Lang aptly described education. Its deficiencies were forcibly driven home in 1844 by the report of a select committee: 'There are about 25,676 children between the ages of 4 and 14 years; of these only 7,642 receive instruction in public schools, and 4,865 in private schools, leaving about 13,000 children who, as far as your Committee know, are receiving no education at all. The expense of Public Education is about £1 per head; an enormous rate after every allowance has been made for the necessary dispersion of the inhabitants … a far greater proportion of the evil has arisen from the strictly denominational character of the private schools'. Polding had given evidence to the committee, and had crystallized the Catholic dilemma when he agreed with the chairman that, while salvation was man's fundamental objective, the ability to read and write contributed greatly to its attainment. The growing demands of salvation, efficiency and economy were to remain as basic governors of Catholic education policy. The problems they thrust up were deep and wide socially and politically, and mocked the overlapping Catholic divisions of minority Benedictines versus majority seculars, Irish versus English, and ex-convict versus free. Duncan and Plunkett favoured a National scheme of education as the most balanced solution; Polding and McEncroe favoured a denominational scheme. But other Catholics did not divide as laity versus clergy on this issue or any other. Public opinion, despite Polding and Broughton, came slowly but firmly to support a National scheme.

With some relief Polding decided to visit Europe again. He needed a coadjutor bishop, more Englishmen for his monastery, and Benedictine nuns to complement the structure of his order. Another pressing need was to have Rome decide on the disagreement between himself and Bishop Willson of Hobart. Polding left Sydney on 16 February 1846 leaving Gregory, his vicar-general, to administer the archdiocese. For his coadjutor Polding hoped to recruit Ullathorne, but arrived in London to find that he had already accepted a mitre. Polding appealed widely for financial support for his seminary, stressing his goal of training native-born Benedictines. In a circular he stated that he had twenty-five clergy in his diocese, which altogether included 60,000 Catholics, 14,000 of them in Sydney. He succeeded in obtaining a group of Benedictine nuns from the Stanbrook convent. In Rome he failed to have his differences with Willson resolved, but won approval for the establishment of Melbourne as a separate see, and for a coadjutor bishop for himself. On 24 September 1847 Charles Henry Davis of the Downside Benedictines was appointed bishop of Maitland, but his duties were to be confined to helping the archbishop. Polding returned to Sydney on 6 February 1848. He brought with him two young English Benedictines, but within fifteen months they were sent back to England because, as Polding wrote, they 'disturbed almost to destruction the peace and well-being of my infant community'.

In Polding's absence Gregory in his high-handed and well-meaning way had eroded the prestige of Benedictinism. In order to raise funds to help to Benedictinize the archdiocese, he took up a plan, abortive and provocative, to tax the salaries paid by the government to Catholic chaplains. He tried to persuade the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Charity to detach themselves from their congregations and to adopt either a form of Benedictine rule or the status of a diocesan organization. Both orders refused, the Christian Brothers returning to Ireland, and most of the Sisters of Charity going to Hobart in June 1847. These mistakes, for which Gregory was not rebuked by Polding, reflected the archbishop's deepening dependence on his vicar-general, and the indigence of his educational policy. The results were clear in the early 1870s when only about five schools staffed by religious orders were left in Sydney. Benedictinism neither produced a crop of eminent theologians in New South Wales nor encouraged the logical teachers of Catholic children, the teaching orders of sisters and brothers, to set down roots in the archdiocese. Polding was thus handicapped in promoting Catholic primary schools despite his objections to the religiously neutral National system. Although he encouraged the Benedictine nuns at Subiaco near Parramatta to establish a convent that would provide 'the better, that is, the richer classes of society with the means of education', its struggle for survival was as arduous as that of St Mary's Benedictine College, Lyndhurst, which was open for boys in 1852-77. Neither school fitted harmoniously into a society excited by gold discoveries and the growth of democratic government, and neither achieved Polding's élite designs. In 1850 the archbishop added his weight to the successful campaign against the proposal to exclude clergymen from the senate of the proposed University of Sydney. Polding was a member of the senate in 1856-77, and contributed considerably to the foundation of St John's College within the university in 1857-58 to counterbalance the contemporary 'conspiracy against [Christian] truth'.

By 1850 Polding's dream of Benedictinizing his archdiocese was fading. The experiment had brought him pain and accentuated dissension among his flock, but it was by no means the only cause. Dissension had been endemic since the colony's foundation in 1788 and the Catholics were no exception to the rule of strife. The quickening approach of responsible government gave new forms to colonial discord, but there were also unifying bonds in the colony and among the Catholics. Polding exemplified Catholic unity amidst the conflict; his sanctity and missionary journeys, continued at great strain and no small risk to himself as he aged, inspired a devotion to him personally, softened ill-feeling and obtruded the realities of Christian life irrevocably before all men. His relationship with McEncroe reflected the whole complex situation. The upper-class Englishman and the tough-minded Irishman understood one another; mutual affection and respect were the keynotes of their association, despite serious differences of opinion, and McEncroe's almost inspired capacity of correct analysis. So the progress of the Catholic Church in New South Wales, revealed in Gregory's 1851 report to Rome, points to the fundamental success of Polding in the important things, as far as statistics could reflect them: there were thirty-five priests, ministering to about 55,000 people, about half of them Irish born and most of the rest of Irish descent, in thirty-three parishes and thirty churches; in addition there were about fifty monks, nuns and religious students. The essential part of the remainder of Polding's episcopate from 1850 to 1877 was the consolidation of this successful ministry, yet marked by the conflict inherent in the movement that aimed at the appointment of Irish bishops to newly-erected country sees, the replacement of an English archbishop by an Irishman and the consequent attainment of harmony in a human situation vital to religion and all else, as the general English ascendancy declined.

This development demanded the end of the concept of a Benedictine abbey-diocese. The end came naturally from inner contradictions and social incompatibility, clear enough before 1850. While Gregory was in Europe in 1850-53 Davis took over the monastery. His efficiency and charitableness contrasted with Gregory's autocratic control, and for a time he seemed likely to restore at least tranquillity, even though he too realized, as he wrote in August 1850, that it would be 'some years before we shall be able to supply the wants of the mission from the monastery'. But the coadjutor's chronic ill health (he died in 1854) and Gregory's return in 1853 precipitated a climax. Several monks, headed by Patrick S. Farelly and J. Sheridan Moore, petitioned Rome to be allowed to leave the order to become secular priests. Their submission traversed the deficiencies of Benedictinism in New South Wales; they saw no hope of a native-born clergy, for none had yet been ordained, and claimed that monastic discipline created popular opposition and conflicted with missionary work. Above all, they complained about Gregory, his severity, his vindictiveness, his influence over Polding. In 1854 Rome decided that the abbey-diocese must go. Polding was in Rome to receive the decision. He had left Sydney abruptly with Gregory in March and had a painful audience with Pius IX, at which Gregory appeared unexpectedly and broke down. In the upshot the archbishop resigned his see, but was appeased by the Pope. In January 1856 Polding and Gregory returned to Sydney. McEncroe had administered the archdiocese in their absence. Next year the Benedictine community was transferred from the cathedral to Lyndhurst, to be finally wound up in 1877.

Polding had taken a leisurely view of the need for new sees in New South Wales. He was not opposed to them, rather he saw them gradually evolving and filling with bishops, preferably English Benedictines. As metropolitan of Australia he believed himself responsible for guaranteeing to the British government 'the loyalty and good feeling' of any bishop appointed in the province. In 1859 he wrote to Goold, who was in Rome, naming his choices for the proposed sees in the colony. However, when the four new dioceses of Maitland (hitherto quasi-titular), Goulburn, Bathurst and Armidale were erected in the 1860s, an Irish bishop was appointed to each.

On 29 June 1865 St Mary's Cathedral was burned to the ground. It seemed like the final blow to Polding, but instead, it revealed to him not only the devotion of his flock, but also the respect and admiration of the colony at large, for the immediate response of Catholics to rebuild was matched by the generous support of all classes irrespective of creed. He left on his last visit to Rome on 22 November 1865; he failed to obtain a coadjutor bishop and in Ireland on a visit to Cullen was alarmed by Fenian activity. He returned to Sydney on 8 August 1867, where 'the Irish question' was playing some part in colonial politics. In October he wrote to Gregory, with whom he corresponded affectionately, that the so-called 'importation of Irish Bishops' had revived the ancient cry of 'No Popery!' Confusion was increased by a near-tragedy on 12 March 1868 when Prince Alfred was shot by 'a demented Fenian', Henry O'Farrell, at Clontarf near Sydney. The ensuing passionate excitement made Polding yearn for retirement in a monastery cell, although he was comforted by an invitation to visit the prince, who attempted sensibly to allay the bitterness.

On 6 January 1869 the temporary wooden structure at St Mary's was burnt down. Again the calamity was met with grim determination by Catholics and many others, to rebuild the cathedral, this time on a massive scale. But Polding was almost desolated; he confided to Gregory, 'I am completely bereaved, stript of all except two mitres and the stole the Pope gave me … I begin to consider myself a Jonah to be flung into the sea for the well-being of others'. He set out for the first Vatican Council on 9 October, but found the heat too much for him and returned from Aden.

He continued to press for a coadjutor. In 1871 he asked the Pope for an Englishman, 'because in a … See like this, which is the great [southern British] centre … and where there are such bitter animosities between the Irish and the Orange Societies, a man superior to all party spirit, and exalted by mental accomplishments and social virtues above the ordinary level, would be more acceptable, and, should difficulties arise, more conciliatory'. The British government agreed with the Pope's choice of Roger Bede Vaughan, a 'new' Benedictine, who arrived in Sydney late in 1873 as titular archbishop of Nazianus and coadjutor to the archbishop of Sydney. Polding slowly transferred the administration to the coadjutor, animated the archdiocese with a fresh spirit of dedication, and returned with renewed zeal to his missionary work, even travelling to Tasmania in January 1875. In 1874 he had the comfort of the heart-felt gratitude and devotion of Ullathorne and his fellow-jubilarians, who recalled how he had inspired them at Downside, 'you pictured such missioners to us as trudging from place to place like St Paul, and carrying in a pack on the back whatever was needful for the Sacrifice and the Sacraments', and after reminding him of his teaching of mathematics, physical science and metaphysics concluded, 'the best of our teaching was the spiritual unction that flowed in happy moments from your heart to ours'. In the last stages of his fatal sickness in 1877 the compassion of the whole colony went out to him, symbolized perfectly by the tears of J. D. Lang as he left the archbishop's sick-room. Polding died at Sacred Heart Presbytery, Darlinghurst, in Sydney, on 16 March 1877. He was buried in Petersham [Lewisham] cemetery, and his remains were transferred to St Mary's Cathedral on 17 March 1901.

AMDG

Bishop Charles Henry Davis OSB

The Right Reverend Charles Henry Davis OSB
This portrait of the Bishop appeared in
Cardinal Moran's History of the Catholic
Church in Australasia, 1896.

The name of Charles Henry Davis is hardly known now, but during his short time as a Catholic bishop in Australia he was well-known and greatly esteemed by both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.  A Benedictine monk, he arrived in Australia from Saint Gregory's Monastery, Downside (UK) in December 1848 as first Bishop of Maitland and Coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney. His life was very brief, but he was renowned for his kindness, piety, educated views and musicianship. He died in May 1854, just a day short of his fortieth birthday.  At that time, the Bishop's funeral was the largest Sydney had ever seen.

The following is part of biographical notes prepared by RA Daly for The Australian Dictionary of Biography in 1966.

Charles Henry Davis (1815-1854), Catholic bishop, was born on 18th May 1815 at Usk, Monmouthshire, England, a member of an old Catholic family. At 11 he entered the Benedictine College at St Gregory's Monastery, Downside. When his schooling was completed Davis petitioned to join the Benedictine Order, received the habit on 1 March 1833, pronounced vows in June 1834 and was ordained priest on 8 November 1840. John Bede Polding had been his prefect in the college and his novice master in the monastery. After ordination Davis was himself prefect of the college and also precentor; he possessed considerable talents as an organist, a tenor singer and a composer of sacred music. In 1846-47 he had missionary charge of the parochial district at Downside. Davis's brothers, Richard (1805-1889) and Edwin (1819-1880), whom he ordained before leaving for Australia, were both monks of Downside.

The briefs appointing Davis [as Bishop of Maitland and coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney] were dated 24th September 1847 and he was consecrated by Bishop William Ullathorne at Bath on 25th February 1848.

Davis arrived in Sydney on 8th December 1848. His health had been satisfactory in England, but in Sydney he was seriously ill with a heart condition in May 1849 and again late in 1852. His work as coadjutor, for which he was often praised by Polding, was characterised by a vigour and thoroughness that gave little indication of his ill health. When he assumed office the business affairs of the archdiocese were disordered, partly through Polding's deliberate concentration on missionary work in preference to administration. Davis was appointed to help with administration and in about a year had diocesan affairs in much better order as a result of his attention to detail and a gentle but firm manner of transacting business. People found him easy to approach whereas they were inclined to be overawed by the stately manner of the archbishop.

With Davis in Sydney, Polding made further missionary tours into inland New South Wales and visited other colonies and Rome; he was away from Sydney for a third of the time between December 1848 and May 1854, and Abbot Henry Gregory, his vicar-general, and prior of the Benedictine Monastery attached to St Mary's Cathedral, was absent for half the same period. This left Davis in authority over the monastery for long periods, and the monks and students found him a sympathetic and amiable superior, but loyalty bound him to the existing order and he was unable to dispel permanently the discontent that developed within the monastery as Polding's vision of its function in the colonial church was increasingly questioned. A growing number of Catholic clergy and laity considered that the expanding and dispersed population could be best served by secular priests who were not bound by monastic rules.

Davis made frequent visits to the convent of the Benedictine nuns at Subiaco, near Parramatta, but beyond that made only one trip away from Sydney, when he went to Hobart early in 1850 in an unsuccessful attempt to mediate in the dispute between Bishop Robert Willson and Father John Joseph Therry.

Davis's most enduring work was in the field of education. On 10th February 1852 St Mary's College, Lyndhurst, was opened by Polding with an enrolment of nine boys. As first president of this college, Davis superintended it in the first two years, usually spending two or three days there each week. Lyndhurst provided a classical and literary education for sons of wealthier Catholics, and enabled students to matriculate for entry to the University of Sydney, inaugurated in October 1852. When Lyndhurst was closed in 1877 it had prepared for matriculation thirty-five of the forty-five Catholics who had graduated at the University by that time. Davis was also an original fellow of the senate of the university (1850-54). When the initial proposal to exclude clergy from any part in the management of the University had raised a widely held fear that the University would become 'Godless', William Charles Wentworth at length agreed to the nomination to the senate of one clergyman from each of the four main denominations. Davis was nominated as a representative of Catholics, William Purves of Presbyterians and William Boyce of Methodists. The Church of England stood apart until 1855, its leaders by then being satisfied with provisions for setting up colleges within the university but attached to religious denominations. Davis played a leading part in formulating these provisions although he did not live to see them become legally effective. As Francis Merewether said in moving the second reading of the affiliated colleges' endowment bill in November 1854, to Davis perhaps next to Charles Nicholson, 'the university was indebted more deeply than to any other individual. The sound views, the liberal opinions which he had ever advocated had done very much to promote that cordial co-operation on behalf of the objects of the university amongst all sects and parties on which its beneficial operations so mainly depended'. Everyone apparently spoke well of Davis and his work both in his lifetime and for years after. This was the more notable as Davis was English and most colonial Catholics at that time were Irish, and when it is taken into account that Polding and Gregory were so severely criticised that they went together to Rome in March 1854, Polding to offer his resignation to Pius IX.

Davis died on 17th May 1854 and was buried in the mortuary chapel at Subiaco Convent; his remains were transferred to St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, in August 1945.

AMDG