Vestments, chalice of pioneer priests

Sydney
1 June 2003

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Vestments, chalice of pioneer priests

Vestments, chalice of pioneer priests

Descendants of the Dempsey family who held the first Masses in their homes

By Marilyn Rodrigues

“Australian Catholics at the beginning were lay people without priests. They formed the nucleus of the Church which has flourished and grown into what it is today,” says Mons Tony Doherty, dean of St Mary’s Cathedral.

“Their story is important and we tell their story in the crypt of the cathedral in a colourful and engrossing exhibition.”

Mons Doherty is proud of the exhibition in St Mary’s crypt: The First Australian Catholics - from convict ships to the great fire.

It tells the story of the first 80 years of the Catholic Church in this country, beginning with the arrival of the first convicts.

Mons Doherty says that it is important to reflect upon the story of the Church in Australia today; we face struggles now as then, although they take different forms in a post-modern world.

And remembering the stories of the early Catholic Church in Sydney in convict times “gives us new energy to face our challenges today”, he says.

The latest display case to be installed is titled Early Catholics before 1820.

It tells the story of the first Masses permitted in the colony by Governor Philip Gidley King - those celebrated by the convict priest Fr James Dixon on May 15, 22 and 29, 1803, the bicentenary of which has just been celebrated here and in Ireland.

The case contains surviving pieces of Fr Dixon’s vestments; a gold-coloured chalice veil and burse; a maniple; a small, simple crucifix mounted on a block of wood; and two small candlesticks that may have been used at the very first Mass in Sydney.

A picture of his chasuble is on show; the 200-year old fabric too fragile to be placed on display.

The display also contains a picture of the stained glass window in the cathedral that depicts the first Mass, and the story of another early priest, Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn, who, when he departed the colony in May 1818, left the Blessed Sacrament in a private house, probably with a leading Catholic layman, James Dempsey, for the benefit of the lay Catholic community.

The tabernacle, made from an oak chest, that held the Blessed Sacrament during that priestless time is on display, too.

Another artefact that tells a story is the chalice that belonged to Australia’s first founding Catholic Church leader, Fr John Therry, who is buried in the crypt.

“Well-travelled is the best way to describe it,” says Mons Doherty.

“It is a bit bruised and battered (because) Fr Therry carried it in his saddle bags as he rode all around NSW.”

The chalice is shown with Fr Therry’s ‘marriage dollar’, an artefact that reveals a compassionate and practical mind.

He is said to have lent this Spanish dollar to poor bridegrooms to offer back to him on their wedding day, thereby helping them save face in the community.

Mons Doherty says the crypt is “a very beautiful and elegant part of the cathedral worth a visit alone and now enhanced by the exhibition”.

Items on display are from the cathedral archives or on loan from the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, the Benedictine Sisters and the Dempsey family. There is also a 20-minute film.

The exhibition is open 10am-4pm, Monday to Saturday and 1-4pm on Sundays. Admission is $5 (children under 12 free) or $10 for a family.