Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/185

 MELBOURNE

155

MELBOURNE

life and works have entitled her. Melania's life has been shrouded in obscurity nearly up to the present time; many people having wholly or partially con- founded her with her grandmother Antonia Melania. The accurate knowledge of her life we owe to the dis- covery of two M.SS.; the first, in Latin, was found by Cardinal Rampolla in the Escorial in 18S4, the second, a Greek biography, is in the Barberini library. C'ar- dmal Rampolla published both these important dis- coveries at the Vatican printing-office. A new biog- raphy (1908) by Georges Goyau is worthy of mention. Anakda SanctiB tiedis (1908); Ecclesiaslical Review (.July, 190S): Goyau, Sainte Mclanie in the coUectiou Les ^mnts (Paris, 190S).

Chahles Schlitz.

Melbourne, Archdiocese op (Melburnen.), in the State of Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Its history is closely interwoven with the rise and progress of the State of Victoria. When the first Catholic Bishop of Melbourne was consecrated in 1848, the pres- ent metropolis, from which the see takes its name, was known as the Port Philip Settlement, and was part- of the ecclesiastical province of Sydney. Dr. Folding, the newly consecrated bishop of that see, placed the Rev. Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan in charge of Port Philip in 1 839 ; and the first Mass was celebrated in Melbourne on Pentecost Sunday, 15 May, of that year. The entire population of Port Philip in 1841 was 11,- 738, and the Catholics numbered 2411.

(i) Most Rev. Ja.mes Alypius Goold, the first bishop, an Irishman, journeyed overland from Sydney after his consecration, arriving in Melbourne, 4 October, 1848. In April, ISoO, he laid the foundation of St. Patrick's cathedral, and this event was followed in a few months by a declaration from the imperial au- thorities which changed the Settlement of Port Philip into the independent Colony of Victoria. The discov- ery of the goldfields of Ballarat, Bendigo, and Castle- maine at this period was responsible for a large increase in the population. Ireland found in Victoria a refuge and a home for manv of her exiled children. The Catholic population, in 1851 only 18,000, had by 1857 grown to 88,000.

During the next decade and a half large centres of population had sprung up in places so remote from Melbourne that it was utterly impossilile for Bishop Goold to attend to the wants of his widely scattered flock. When at Rome in 1874 he placed his difficulties before the Holy See. and had the northern and western portions of Victoria cut off from Melbourne and formed into the dioceses of Sandhurst and Ballarat, and re- ceived the pallium as first Archbishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan of Victoria. The strain in getting through ecclesiastical work in the pioneer days of Aus- tralia demanded a physical strength and a mental firmness of no ordinary capacity. The work accom- plished by Archl)ishop Goold from 1848 to 1886 proves him a man of wonderful endurance and great organiz- ing ability. He made five voyages to Rome, and in- troduced several religious orders devoted to educa- tion and works of charity, the Jesuit Fathers, the Christian Brothers, Sisters of Mercy, Good Shepherd Nuns, Presentation Order, Faithful Companions of Jesus, and Little Sisters of the Poor. The mo.st im- portant action of Dr. Goold and most far-reaching in its consequences, was the determined and consistent fight he made against the state system of purely secu- lar education. The zeal he displayed in the erection of Catholic schools, and the sacrifice he demanded of his people in maintaining them, show how fully con- vinced he was that religious instruction can never be separated from genuine education. When the denom- inational system in 1872 gave way to a system from which the name of God was banished, the bishop pro- claimed that no matter what the cost, or what the sacrifice involved, the Catholic children of Victoria should be provided with a Catholic education. When

Archbishop Goold dietl, 11 June, 1886, there were 11,661 children receiving Catholic education without costing a penny to the state, while their parents were contril)Uting their share as taxpayers to the state system.

(2) Most Rev. Thoiias Joseph Caer, on the sohd foundation laid by his predecessor, the first Bishop of Melbourne, has raised a stately and imposing edi- fice. The present archbishop was transferred from the ancient see of Galway, and arrived in Melljoin-ne on the first anniversary of Dr. Goold's death, 11 June, 1887. Three years after his arrival he undertook the great task of completing St. Patrick's cathedral. For over forty years the l)uilding of this magnificent tem- ple absorljed every thought of the first Vicar-General, the Right Rev. John Fitzpatrick, D.D. Yet a sum of one hundred thousand pounds was required to carry out the original design, exclusive of the towers which are still unfinished. On the death of Dr. Fitzpatrick in 1889, the archbishop enlisted the practical sym- pathy and hearty co-operation of the clergy and laity of the archdiocese in this large undertaking. On 31 October, 1897, the cathedral was consecrated, entirely free from debt. The total cost from the day the foun- dation stone was laid in April, 1850, to the day of dedi- cation was two hundred and thirty thousand pounds. No modern catheflral in Ireland approaches the Mel- bourne fane, and even the two ancient cathedrals, Christ's Church, and St. Patrick's, Dublin, fall far short in seating acconmiodation and massive beauty. The episcopal silver jubilee of the archl:)ishop was celebrated 26 August, 1907, with unbounded enthusi- asm, when over 10,000 founil standing or sitting room within the walls of the cathedral. The clergy and laity took occasion of this celebration to mark their ap- preciation of Archbishop Carr's great services to the Church in Australia during the twenty years of his rule. Because of his deeply rooted objection to a personal testimonial, a debt of eight thousand pounfls was cleared off the cathedral hall and a thousand pounds over-subscribed handed him for educational purposes. In connexion with that event a review was made, and official statistics compiled, of the growth and progress of the Church during that period. The number of clergy had increased from 66 to 142, 30 new churches had been built, old churches had been replaced by sub- stantial and stately edifices, and the existing ones im- proved in ornamentation and equipment, and the number of parishes had risen from 26 to 56. The total cost in the erection of churches, schools, presbyteries, halls, educational and charitable institutionsamoun ted to the enormous sum (considering the population) of £1,272,874.

The development of Catholic education and the in- crease in the number of schools not only kept pace with the general growth, but led the van of progress. The archbishop adhered religiously to the princijjle of his predecessor in his endeavour to provide as far as possible. Catholic education for every Catholic child. To make effectual and permanent provision in the de- partmentof education, new teaching orders were intro- duced. In addition to those already fighting the edu- cational battle the archbishop, within a few years, had the Marist Brothers, the Sisters of Charity, the Sacred Heart Sisters, the Sistcis of Ijoret to, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the Sisters of tiir (iood Samaritan. £500.679 was expended during these twenty years on .school buildings and residences for religious engaged in Catholic education. In 1887 the number of pupils attending the Catholic schools of the archdiocese was 11,661 as compared with 25,369 at the close of 1908. This building and maintaining of a se]3arate school sy.s- tem means a double tax on the Catholic community; as rate payers they contribute their share of State edu- cation, and as Catholics they pay for their own; and count the cost as nothing compared with the eternal in- terests at stake. When the purely secular system of