Archdiocese
of Sydney

Downside Abbey

Downside Abbey, near Bath in Somersetshire, England is home to a community of monks in the Benedictine tradition. It was from this Community that Archbishop John Bede Polding and Archbishop Roger Bede Vaughan, the first two Archbishops of Sydney, came.
The monastery moved to Downside in 1814, more than 200 years after its foundation.
After initial consideration of being made a diocesan seminary, and with the support of the Holy See, Downside continued in the monastic tradition. In 1899 Pope Leo XIII elevated its status from priory to abbey.

The Abbey was founded at Douai, Flanders, under the patronage of St. Gregory the Great in 1605 by the Venerable John Roberts, first prior, and some other English monks who had received the habit and taken vows in the Spanish Benedictine Congregation. A monastery was built for the community in 1611.

From the first, a school or college for lay pupils, sons of English Catholic gentry, has been an integral part of the institution. This undertaking, conducted on traditional English public school lines, has always absorbed much of the energies of the community, whose other chief external work has consisted in supplying various missions or parishes in England.

Six monks of St. Gregory’s have died martyrs for the Catholic Faith and are already pronounced Venerable, namely Dom George Gervaise, martyred 1608; Dom John Roberts, the first prior, 1610; Dom Maurus Scot, 1612; Dom Ambrose Barlow, 1641; Dom Philip Powell, 1646; and Brother Thomas Pickering, 1679.

Among their famous scholars was Dom Hugh Connolly, the only Australian to gain a personal entry in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. The Abbey buildings now consist of a monastery for about fifty monks; school buildings for 1340 boarders; guest-house, and the abbey church.

Significant Pioneers in the Archdiocese of Sydney (Main page)

• Father John Joseph Therry (1790-1864)
• Archdeacon John McEncroe (1794-1868)
• Dr William Bernard Ullathorne (1806-1889)
• Caroline Chisholm - The Emigrants’ Friend (1808-1877)
• Blessed Mary MacKillop (1842-1909)
• Dame Mary Kate Barlow, President, Catholic Women’s Association (1916-1934)
• Brother John Taylor cfc (1929-1993)
• Downside Abbey - the Benedictine home of the first two Archbishops of Sydney.

See also: A timeline of Catholicism in Sydney | Foundation dates of Sydney Parishes

The Previous Archbishops of the Archdiocese of Sydney

• John Polding OSB, Vicar Apostolic of New Holland 1834-1842; Archbishop of Sydney 1842-1877.
• Roger Bede Vaughan OSB, 1877-1883.
• Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran, 1884-1911.
• Michael Kelly, 1911-1940.
• Norman Thomas Cardinal Gilroy, 1940-1971. Co-adjutor Bishop 1937-1940; Archbishop 1940-46; Cardinal 1946-1971.
• James Darcy Cardinal Freeman, 1971-1983. Auxiliary Bishop Sydney 1957-1969. Bishop Armidale 1969-1971.
• Edward Bede Cardinal Clancy AC, 1983-2001.

The Predecessor Auxiliary and Co-adjutor Archbishops
of the Archdiocese of Sydney

1. Charles Henry Davis OSB, 1848-1854. Also Titular Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle.
2. Joseph Higgins, 1889. (Appointed Bishop of Rockhampton 1889).
3. Michael Sheehan, Co-adjutor Archbishop 1922-1937.
4. Eris Norman Michael O'Brien, 1948-1953. (Appointed Bishop of Canberra-Goulburn 1953.)
5. Patrick Francis Lyons, 1950-1956. (Appointed Co-adjutor Bishop Sale 1956. Bishop 1957-1967.)
6. James Patrick Carroll, 1954-1965. Retired 1984. Died 1995.
7. James Darcy Cardinal Freeman, 1957-1969
8. Thomas William Muldoon, 1960-1986.
9. Edward Francis Kelly MSC, 1969-1975. (Appointed Bishop of Toowoomba 1975.)
10. Edward Bede Cardinal Clancy AC, 1973-1978. (Appointed Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn, 1978-1983.)
11. Patrick Laurence Murphy, 1977-1986. (Appointed Bishop of Broken Bay 1986. Retired)
12. Bede Vincent Heather, 1979-1986. (Appointed Bishop of Parramatta 1986. Retired)
13. John Edward Heaps, 1981-1992. Retired 1992. Died 2004.
14. Peter William Ingham, 1993-2001. (Appointed Bishop of Wollongong 2001.)
15. Geoffrey James Robinson, 1984-2004. Retired.
16. David Cremin, 1974-2005. Retired.

See also:

• Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
• Current Auxiliary Bishops of Sydney
  • Bishop Julian Porteous
  • Bishop Anthony Fisher OP
• Significant Early Pioneers in the Church in Sydney