2 - The Cradle of Catholicism in Australia
Parramatta, known as the "Cradle of Catholicism in Australia," holds a special place in the history of the Catholic Church. Significant firsts occurred within a stone’s throw of this spot:
1803 - Official proclamation permitting first Mass to be celebrated in the colony
1820 - First Catholic school- Hunter St (1874 extended to this site)
1839 - First Religious Profession: Sister Xavier Williams RSC in St Patrick’s Church
1840 - First Convent: Sisters of Charity
1874 - First Convent of Mercy in Parramatta, (North Sydney Sisters of Mercy)
1886 - First Specialised Hospital - St Joseph’s Hospital for Consumptives
An Important Historical Site
The bells of St Patrick’s Cathedral remind us that Parramatta has been called the Cradle of Catholicism in Australia.
In April 1803, Catholics of the colony were granted freedom to practice their religion, with a proclamation at nearby Government House by Governor Gidley King giving permission to Fr Dixon to celebrate Mass. Prior to this, Catholic convicts were required to attend Anglican services. The first official celebration of Mass in Parramatta was on 22 May, 1803.
Catholic Education in Australia had its beginnings in Parramatta with the opening of a school in Hunter St. in 1820. The school was moved to the present Cathedral site in 1837 and continues today as St Patrick’s Parish School and Parramatta Marist, Westmead. From 1874 to 1926 the school was located on what is the present driveway in front of OLMC.
In response to the huge social and pastoral need of the Colony, a new type of non-monastic religious - the Sisters of Charity - arrived in 1838 to minister to the women of the Parramatta Female Factory. They were the first religious women to set foot in the colony and St Mary’s, their first convent, stood on this plot of land.
From 1859 to 1886 the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, of the first religious congregation founded in Australia, educated and cared for destitute children at the Catholic Orphan School which was adjacent to the Female Factory.
The present Convent of Mercy on Victoria Rd. housed the colony’s first specialist hospital, opened by the Sisters of Charity in 1886 to care for patients suffering from consumption and other infectious diseases.
The first Mercy Sisters to work in Parramatta were from the North Sydney Congregation led by Sr Elizabeth Ignatius McQuoin. They conducted the Infants School on this site and ministered in the parish from 1874 to 1888. They lived in a cottage just across the road. They were succeeded by a foundation group of Sisters of Mercy from Callan, Ireland, who continued teaching the infants and older children and established what is now Our Lady of Mercy College Parramatta.
Image: St Patricks School c.1870. This photo of St Patrick’s school is dated about 1870 before the Marist Brothers came to Parramatta. Around 1874 the girls moved across the road to St Patrick’s school conducted by North Sydney Sisters of Mercy.
Sister Francis Xavier Williams was the first woman to profess religious vows in Australia. The ceremony took place at St Patrick’s Church in Parramatta on 9 April 1839, bringing hope to the colony’s burgeoning Catholic community and inspiring other young women to join the Order.
Sr Francis Xavier was one of the three Sisters who left Parramatta in 1847 to establish a mission in Hobart where she died fifty years later.
Learn more about Sr Francis Xavier Williams and the Sisters of Charity at the next stop.
Image: Sr Francis Xavier Williams 1800-1892
Image: The Parramatta Catholic Precinct 1885 from Prince Alfred Square
The Parramatta Catholic Precinct 1885 from Prince Alfred Square
Buildings from left to right:
St Patrick’s Church;
St Mary’s Convent of Sisters of Charity;
St Patrick’s School built 1874 conducted by North Sydney Sisters of Mercy 1874-1888;
St Mary’s Academy in Villiers St built by North Sydney Sisters of Mercy - later to become first Convent of Sisters from Callan;
Cottage on corner of Villiers and Pennant Streets served as the Convent of Mercy for the North Sydney Sisters 1874 -1888.
