Page:Charleston • Irwin Faris • (1941).pdf/130

 Lay-readers, Wm. St. George Douglas, E. C. Kelling, A. Greenwood, Thomas Dollman; Superintendent of Sunday School, H. E. West; Choirmaster, A. Greenwood; Organist, Miss Armstrong; Some Constant Church-workers, Misses Armstrong, Jackson; Mesdames Henry, Marris, Wilson, Poole, Faris, Rogers; Messrs. Marris, Broad, Jackson, Bear, Greenwood, Hampton, Fair, Thomas, McBeath, Wandrum, Moore, Peters, Williams, Colvin, Hagedorn, Dollman, Fox, Powell, Parsons, Sergeant Stephenson.

St. Patrick’s Chapel and Cemetery were upon Public Reserve No. 3 of about one acre, at the southern end of Camp Street, or as some termed it, the Brighton Road. It was erected in 1867, and was demolished about 1925 because considered unsafe for further use. The cemetery remains, a noticeable spot among a waste of gorse and brambles.

The first Roman Catholic Charge upon the South-West Coast was at Hokitika, founded in July, 1868, by the Very Rev. Dean Martin and a missionary comrade, Father Moreau. The former had been on a visit to Hokitika in 1867. Mass had been celebrated at Nelson as early as 1844 by Bishop Pompallier and Father O’Reily. Early-day services in Nelson were conducted by Father Garin in the residence of Mr. Otterson in Bridge Street.

The first priests at Westport were Fathers Royer and Walsh. The first priest at Greymouth was Father Binsfield in April, 1870, where the forenoon of the day upon which Mass was to be celebrated was observed as a half-holiday. The Charge established at Hokitika by Dean Martin was in reality a Westland parish, for from there all early-day services emanated, as far along the coast as Charleston and Westport.

Early pioneers of the Church on the Coast were Fathers Hallum, Royer, McGirr, Binsfield, Carew, and Father Walsh—who later received the Papal title of Monsignor—and the Very Rev. Dean Martin.

The first priest to visit Charleston was the Rev. Father Royer. The Charleston Argus of 11th May, 1867, notified