Built in the early 1840s, St Patrick’s stands in Sydney’s historic Rocks area, with a history reaching back to the very beginnings of Catholic life in Australia. Inseparably linked with St Patrick’s history is the name of William Davis, an Irishman transported for his part in anti-British uprisings in Ireland in 1798. Davis obtained land in The Rocks in 1809, and in the early years of the colony, when there was no resident priest in Sydney, his home became a centre of Catholic prayer.
In 1840 William Davis donated the land on which St Patrick’s is built, gifting that section of his 1809 grant bounded by Gloucester and Grosvenor Streets. The foundation stone was blessed on 25 August 1840, and the now elderly Davis astonished everyone when he came forward and placed a cheque for £1000 on the stone, an incredible sum in those days. Davis had prospered over the years through his business ventures, which included interests in grazing and licensed premises. Davis’ donation was matched by an equal grant from the colonial government.
The plans for St Patrick’s may have been loosely modelled on St Anthony’s Church (1833) in Liverpool UK, and were drawn by William Fernyhough, a Sydney draughtsman. Unfortunately the design did not fit the site, so the architect John Frederick Hilly was employed to re-design the church and supervise its construction. Even then, the church porch extended beyond the street building line, and a special Act had to be passed through the NSW Legislative Council in 1840 to legitimise the encroachment.
Built by Andrew Ross & Co., the church was officially opened on 18 March, 1844, a date chosen in preference to March 17, the feast of St Patrick; organisers were persuaded to avoid St Patrick’s day itself, lest the opening be marred by inebriated revellers and religious bigotry. Davis did not live to see the building completed, having died the previous August.
William Davis’ place in early Catholic history in Sydney rests not only on his substantial contribution to the construction of St Patrick’s, but also on his association with the inept and short-lived ministry of Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn, who arrived in the colony in November, 1817. At that time there were no resident Catholic priests in Sydney, and the only clergy sanctioned by the British Government were Anglican ministers appointed primarily to provide religious services for the colony’s convicts.
O’Flynn had letters of appointment from the Holy See to minister in Sydney, but had been unsuccessful in obtaining authorisation from the British Government. On arrival in Sydney he told the colony’s governor, Lachlan Macquarie, that appropriate permissions would shortly be forthcoming from the British Colonial Office, and commenced a semi-clandestine ministry to Catholic convicts and free settlers. Since there were no Catholic churches in Sydney, he used private homes for the celebration of Masses; two such venues were Davis’ cottage near the corner of Grosvenor Street and Harrington Street, and the home of James Dempsey, another Irish convict from the 1798 troubles, who lived nearby in Kent Street.
When no official papers arrived to authorise O’Flynn’s ministry, Macquarie had O’Flynn arrested in May, 1818, and deported him as an illegal immigrant. Whether by accident or design is unknown, but O’Flynn left the consecrated communion sacrament in a pyx in Davis’ home prior to his capture. It became a focus of prayer for a small group of Sydney Catholics, who kept daily vigil before the eucharistic sacrament for a period of 18 months; in November, 1819, the Catholic chaplain on a visiting French naval ship celebrated Mass for local Catholics, and most probably retrieved the sacrament.
Among historians there is some dispute as to whether O’Flynn left the sacrament at Dempsey’s home or at Davis’ home. There is convincing evidence in support of both traditions, and perhaps the best explanation for the existence of two parallel traditions is that O’Flynn left the sacrament at both locations.
Certainly the site of Davis’ cottage at St Patrick’s has been consistently revered by generations of Sydney Catholics because of its link with the early ministry of Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn, and the tradition of the veneration of the eucharistic sacrament there during 1818-19.
The first priest associated with St Patrick’s was Fr Francis Murphy, who was soon appointed first Catholic bishop of Adelaide; his episcopal ordination, the first ordination of a bishop to take place in Australia, occurred at St Mary's cathedral on 8 September, 1844. For the early years of its life St Patrick’s did not have a resident parish priest, and visiting clergy attended for Sunday Masses.
In 1861 Archdeacon John McEncroe was appointed parish priest. McEncroe, an Irishman, was one of the great pioneer priests in Australia, to which he came in 1832 after some years in Carolina in the United States. He was the major force in helping establish an Australian Catholic newspaper – initially under various names in the early 1840s, and then as the famous Freeman’s Journal which appeared weekly for almost a century from 1849.
The Davis home was still standing when McEncroe was appointed. He later purchased the house and adjoining land, and used the site to build two stone terrace cottages extending up to the Grosvenor Street corner. Completing them in 1863, he leased the one on the corner as a shop, and lived in the second, which faced Harrington Street. Basement rooms from these buildings still survive below street level, and can be inspected on an escorted tour. The Davis cottage was demolished in the 1860s, but recent archaeological investigation has uncovered the footings of the building, and these can likewise be inspected.
McEncroe died in 1868. It was his wish that the Marist Fathers, a French missionary order established in Sydney since 1845, should succeed him in the parish. At McEncroe’s funeral, the archdiocesan vicar general, Austin Sheehy, took Marist superior Victor Poupinel aside and offered the care of the parish to the Marists. Poupinel readily accepted, subject to permission from Marist administrators in France; this was soon given, and the Marist Fathers have been responsible for St Patrick’s from that time.
In addition to St Patrick’s church (1844), the St Patrick’s heritage site contains a number of other significant buildings:
Convent Chapel: Built in 1876 for the Sisters of Mercy, who had come to the parish in 1865 to take care of the parish schools, this free-standing chapel has been fully restored to its former beauty, and has been given a new lease of life as St Patrick’s Courtyard Coffee Shop. On the outside of the building the original wood shingle roof has been reinstated, and work has been done on the exterior walls to arrest significant deterioration. However, the most obvious result of the restoration can be seen inside the chapel. Sufficient evidence of the original paintwork was uncovered to enable a complete restoration of the stunningly beautiful mural work. The dark panelled wooden ceiling has been likewise reinstated, and extensive work was done to revitalise the 1928 parquetry floor. The chapel stands on the site of William Davis’ 1809 cottage, and the footings of the Davis home can be viewed through glass panels underneath the chapel.
Federation Hall: This building, on the corner of Grosvenor and Harrington Streets opposite the former convent, was completed in 1891. It was built as a parish hall and was used for that purpose until 1914. There were shops at ground level, which were leased by the parish to tenants. The property was sold by the parish in the 1920s
Former Presbytery: Dating from 1889, the former presbytery is a three-storey building at 137 Harrington Street. It was recently restored, and is now leased commercially by the parish. The building has large cellar and basement areas, designed to hold stores and equipment unloaded in Sydney in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for re-shipping to Marist missionary stations in the South Pacific.
1914-15 Parish Hall: This building fronting Harrington Street adjoins the former presbytery. It was used as a parish hall from 1915-1994. It is no longer owned by the parish, and now hosts the Belgian Beer Café. The interior has been lavishly renovated to recreate a European beer-hall setting. A memorial stone can still be seen on the front of the building, declaring that it was blessed by Archbishop Michael Kelly on 3 May, 1914.
Former Convent: Completed in its present form in 1893, and recently restored as a residence for the priests who minister at St Patrick’s, this three-storey building incorporated substantial parts of Archdeacon McEncroe’s 1863 sandstone cottages as a cost-cutting measure. It was home to a community of Sisters of Mercy from 1893 until 1996.
Former St Patrick’s Commercial College: Situated at 141 Harrington Street, and built in 1928 to house St Patrick’s Commercial School for young ladies, the former commercial college building now accommodates parish offices, and the Aquinas Academy.
The first Marist parish priest at St Patrick’s was Fr Joseph Monnier, who served as parish priest from 1868 until his death in 1874. Monnier was a Frenchman, as were all the Marist parish priests at St Patrick’s until 1926. Monnier had originally worked as a missionary in Tonga, and came to Sydney in 1864. Monnier’s unsparing work and genuine love of his predominantly Irish parishioners melted their opposition to the transfer of the parish to French priests. He died from angina maligna on 15 September, 1874. When his fellow Marists returned to St Patrick’s presbytery after attending his funeral, they found that his room had been stripped bare by pious devotees in search of relics and souvenirs.
Charles Heuze worked as a priest in the United States, Dublin, and London, before coming to Sydney in 1869. He was assistant priest at St Patrick’s until appointed parish priest in 1874, following Monnier’s death that year. His period at St Patrick’s was characterised by persistent poor health, and he appears to have been a somewhat strict personality, with a preference for patterns which were predictable and fixed. Heuze was present as spiritual director at the foundation meeting of the St Vincent de Paul Society in NSW (held at St Patrick’s on July 24, 1881), and this link is recognised in the stained glass window dedicated to his memory in St Patrick’s church: it features panels depicting St Vincent de Paul (the Society’s patron saint) and Frederick Ozanam, founder of the Society.
One of St Patrick’s most outstanding parish priests, Le Rennetel was 28 years old when he arrived in 1879 as an assistant priest at St Patrick’s. He became parish priest in 1883, a position he held for the remainder of his life. He came to be highly regarded by the archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Patrick Moran, who appointed Le Rennetel one of his official consultors. Le Rennetel was also active in developing the parish facilities, constructing a new presbytery (1889), hall (1891) and convent (1893), and acquiring a new church organ (1895). With the assistance of his curates, Augustin Ginisty and Peter Piquet, he enhanced the reputation of St Patrick’s church as a devotional centre and provider of sacramental ministry to Catholics from all over Sydney, with special emphasis on the sacrament of confession. He was much loved by his Irish parishioners, who often called him “Fr O’Rennetel”. In his later years he suffered from disseminated sclerosis and died at St Patrick’s presbytery on 25 July, 1904. Incredible scenes accompanied his funeral as an estimated 40,000 people blocked Sydney’s streets to pay their last respects.
From 1881-1901 he was assistant priest at St Patrick’s. Midway through 1901 he was appointed assistant priest in the Marist parish of Gladstone, in Central Queensland. The following year he returned to Sydney as parish priest of Hunters Hill, and soon afterwards was also made superior of the Marist community at Villa Maria monastery, also at Hunters Hill. In 1904 he became parish priest at St Patrick’s. He was an enigma to his fellow Marists, who generally found him somewhat cool and distant, yet he was always effective and popular wherever he ministered. For over 20 years he formed a formidable pastoral team with Peter Le Rennetel and Peter Piquet before becoming parish priest himself on the death of Le Rennetel. During his term as parish priest he navigated periods of considerable tension with archdiocesan authorities, who excommunicated his curate, Peter Piquet, for a brief period, and placed restrictions on celebrations of marriage and baptism at St Patrick’s. At issue was a perception by some Irish secular clergy that the French Marists at St Patrick’s were too liberal in the confessional, and insufficiently strict in their observance of Church regulations. He died on 8 May, 1912, at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, in Sydney.
He was appointed to St Patrick’s parish in 1880, beginning a long association there with Peter Le Rennetel and Augustin Ginisty, the trio being dubbed the “French Shamrock”by their doting Irish parishioners. From its inception in Sydney in 1881, Piquet was prominent in the development of the St Vincent de Paul Society, and was its spiritual director for many years. He came to be extraordinarily popular as a confessor, and received constant summonses from dying Catholics who wanted him to help them make their peace with God. A short, intense little man, sporting in later life a well-kept white beard, he was typically seen darting through the streets of Sydney in response to some urgent call. To those who heard him preach, or sought his counsel and encouragement in the confessional, he projected warm humanity, deep sincerity, and a special something which people confidently attributed to familiarity with the ways of God; he was regarded by many Sydney Catholics as a living saint. In 1907 he was suspended and declared excommunicated by the archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Patrick Moran, for his carelessness in observing Church marriage regulations, and protocols for the administration of other sacraments. Although quickly smoothed over, the incident reflected the unease felt by some Irish clergy at the more liberal pastoral approach adopted by the French Marists, particularly in the confessional. Appointed parish priest in 1912, he soon liquidated the parish debt, and constructed an impressive parish hall (1914-15) and senior boys’ school (1919). He was replaced as parish priest in 1920, partly because of poor health, but mainly because of his tendency to ignore directives from his Marist superiors. He remained on the staff at St Patrick’s as an assistant priest, and after 56 continuous years there, he died at Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, on 10 August, 1936.
He came to St Patrick’s as an assistant priest in 1914 after a spectacularly successful five years as parish priest at Hunters Hill. In 1920 he replaced the charismatic but elderly Peter Piquet as parish priest at St Patrick’s, and suffered greatly in subsequent years through bearing the brunt of Piquet’s resentment at being moved aside. The end of his term as parish priest in 1926 coincided with a significant organisational shift within the Marist order; administrative responsibility for St Patrick’s was transferred from the South Pacific sector of the order (strongly French in its personnel), and reallocated to the Marist New Zealand Province. Effectively, this ended the period of French Marist domination at St Patrick’s, and the church came to be served firstly by New Zealand, and then finally, Australian, Marists.
A New Zealander, he came to Sydney in 1926 as the first non-French Marist parish priest of St Patrick’s. Innovative and forward looking, during his years at St Patrick’s he developed the pattern which was still continuing there 80 years later: perpetual adoration of the blessed sacrament, Masses throughout the day, and extended hours for confession every day of the year. At the completion of his first term as parish priest (1926-34), he returned to New Zealand and served for 3 years there as Marist Provincial superior. He came back to St Patrick’s in 1938 as Marist Provincial superior for the newly-established Australian Province, a position he held from 1938-47, and which he combined with a second term as parish priest at St Patrick's from 1939-44. After a period in Rome as a senior Marist administrator from 1947-54, he returned to Australia for a third term as parish priest at St Patrick's from 1955-63, and continued an association with St Patrick’s as an assistant priest until his death in 1974. A reserved, formal little man with just the hint of a limp, Hurley had an indefinable strength of character which made him at one and the same time appreciated by his parishioners, respected by Marist superiors and bishops, and feared by some of his Marist confreres. He was always courteous and pleasant, a polished speaker and a gifted raconteur.
Hurley was responsible for comissioning the decorative reredos which still stands as a backdrop to the Church's spectacular polished brass altar.
The second New Zealander to be appointed parish priest of St Patrick’s, Hugh McDonnell was 51 years old when he took up his posting in February, 1935. His previous appointment had been as vice-principal of the Marist Silverstream College, situated near Wellington (NZ). McDonnell’s period as parish priest was destined to be the shortest of any Marist since the Society was given care of the parish in 1868, terminated at his own request in March, 1938. These were not, it would seem, particularly good years for St Patrick’s, characterised by a downturn in the confessional ministry, a development surely connected with the death, in August 1936, of the popular and charismatic Peter Piquet.
The first Australian Marist to be appointed parish priest at St Patrick’s, Robert Nowlan brought to the task qualities of administrative competence and pastoral dedication. He was a compulsive visitor of parishioners in their homes, and scrupulously maintained an elaborate system of parish census records. He was notoriously nervous in manner and somewhat abrupt, but his sincerity and dedication were transparent, and he was invariably liked wherever he ministered. It was during his term that St Patrick’s was formally consecrated on 3 September, 1946, over 100 years after its opening in 1844.
In the years since Daniel Hurley completed his third term as parish priest at St Patrick’s (1963), there have been a further nine Marists who have held the position: Edwin Kelly (1964-68); Alan Connors (1969-74); Neville Byrne (1975-80; 1988-93; 2008-9); Thomas Ryan (1981-86); Peter Guiren (1987 – died suddenly, May 1987); Paul Cooney (1994-97); Garry Reynolds (1998-2003); Peter McMurrich (2004-07), Ray Chapman (2010- ).
Even in the latter decades of the 19th century, St Patrick’s was used by Catholics from all over Sydney as a church of preference for baptisms, weddings, and particularly for the sacrament of confession. The French Marists at St Patrick’s developed a reputation for being compassionate and understanding confessors, and in the 1890s it was common prior to major feast days on the Church calendar for 4 priests to be hearing confessions continuously in the church from mid-afternoon until midnight.
In the 19th century St Patrick’s church served a large inner city residential population, but this began changing from the early years of the 20th century. The development of a central business district saw residential properties give way to warehouses and offices. After 1901 there was a drastic redevelopment of The Rocks area occasioned by the outbreak of bubonic plague, and a corresponding decrease of housing properties. Of particular significance was the resumption of large areas of The Rocks in connection with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Year by year St Patrick’s parish lost large numbers of resident parishioners, and questions were raised about its long-term viability.
It was Fr Daniel Hurley, parish priest from 1926-34, who visioned a new future for St Patrick’s. Building on St Patrick’s popularity with Catholics from all over Sydney, and its central location in the city, Hurley turned St Patrick’s into a city shrine-church, offering opportunities for private prayer before the blessed sacrament, provision of Masses during the day, and availability of priests in the church throughout the day for hearing confessions.
By the mid-1950s, St Patrick’s was offering 8 Sunday Masses, and continuous confessions on Sundays from 6am until 9pm. By the beginning of the 1970s there were 12 Sunday Masses, six on weekdays, and confessions “all day, every day”. On holy days of obligation, Masses were celebrated continuously on the hour from 7am until 8pm, with busy periods seeing 3 Masses being celebrated simultaneously: in the church, the crypt, and in the parish hall.
In 1956 a Dutch Marist who had been in the Solomon Islands missions joined the St Patrick’s staff. Fr Aloysius Van Houte arrived unobtrusively, but people soon showed their appreciation. Most parishes offer one or two hours of confessions a week. Fr Van averaged about four hours a day, six days a week. When he walked towards his confessional, two, three, or four rows of people were likely to be waiting. He was a much loved and popular confessor, ever ready to emphasise God’s mercy and the possibility of a new beginning. He remained forward thinking and open despite his advancing years, and was unfazed by the many changes and developments following the Second Vatican Council. One of his colleagues estimated that Fr Van had heard well over a million confessions by the time he died at Sydney Hospital on 20 March, 1990.
St Patrick’s continues to be the busiest Catholic church in Australia, with 6 Masses on weekdays, 12 Masses on Sundays, and almost 50 hours of rostered priest time in the church each week for confessions. It is extremely popular for weddings and baptisms. A Marist religious community of six priests currently services the church.
In 1999 St Patrick’s closed its doors for six months for major restoration work. The result is stunning. The interior has been sympathetically and painstakingly restored, using the best of modern craftsmanship, to highlight the superb features of the church interior, and to make the church more suitable for modern liturgy. Without doubt, St Pat’s has never looked so good.
A new pipe organ was commissioned and built to coincide with the church restoration. It replaces the original Gray and Davidson organ (from London, 1849), and a later Charles Anneessens instrument (from Belgium, 1895). The new organ was built in 2002 in the workshops of Fratelli Ruffati of Padua, for installation in the church in 2003.
St Patrick’s is indeed a church with a rich and proud history: the interior calls one back to a different era and to another age; its calm, prayerful atmosphere is an extraordinary contrast to the busy city all round. But for all its historical associations, St Patrick’s is very much a church of the present and the future; in its 165th year, St Patrick’s continues to thrive in the centre of Australia’s largest city.