Matthew Quinn (bishop)

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This article is about the Australian Roman Catholic Bishop. For the South African sprinter, see
Mathew Quinn
.

The Most Reverend

Matthew Quinn
1st
Church of St John Lateran, Rome

Matthew Quinn (29 May 1821 in

Diocese of Bathurst, New South Wales. Dr Quinn was appointed to the role by Archbishop Polding
in 1865 and served until his death in 1885.

Early years and background

The youngest son of Matthew Quinn, a farmer, and his wife, Mary, Quinn was educated in Dublin before entering the

Bishop of Queensland. For the next six years, Quinn supported James through the organisation of shiploads of Irish migrants to Queensland.[1]

Roman Catholic Bishop of Bathurst

Consecrated by

Benedictine, as co-adjutor archbishop of Sydney in 1872, it was his position of influence and the success of his schools that won him the support of Vaughan, other bishops, and the laity.[1]

Quinn was widely renowned for the establishment of a system of Catholic schools principally run by religious orders, including

St Stanislaus' College and the congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph, both in the Diocese of Bathurst, and St. Charles Seminary and introduced the Vincentian Fathers into Australia.[2] Quinn was often at the forefront of battles with the colonial government following the Public Instruction Act of 1880 which withdrew all government aid from denominational schools.[1] Sectarian tensions intensified after the promulgation of the Public Schools Act of 1866, coinciding with the waning influence of English Benedictine Catholicism and the increasing influence of Quinn and other Irish prelates. In 1879, Quinn instructed one of his flock, Richard Kenna, to withdraw his son from Sydney Grammar School. When Kenna refused, Quinn decided that he could neither take the sacraments nor be buried in consecrated ground. Prominent Irish Catholics in the town supported Quinn, including the Principal of St. Stanislaus' College, Dr Joseph Byrne, and store owner John Meagher. This has been described as 'the most notorious sectarian episode in the history of Bathurst'.[3]

After the 1875 establishment of the Institute of St Joseph by Mary MacKillop, following the 1877 death of Sr. Teresa MacDonald, the Provincial of Bathurst, Quinn would not allow another Provincial to be appointed that did not report to him. He instructed the Sisters to leave Bathurst as he refused to accept MacKillop's central government of the Institute, where she held the role of Superior General.[4][5][6]

After a trip to Europe during 1883 and 1884, Quinn returned to Bathurst, where he died at St. Stanislaus' College and was buried in Sts. Michael and John's Cathedral, in Bathurst.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Sweeney, Brian J. "Quinn, Matthew (1821–1885)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  2. ^ B.J. Sweeney, Bishop Matthew Quinn and the Development of Catholic Education in New South Wales: 1865-1885, Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, 2016.
  3. ISBN 1-86333-058-5
    .; A. Cunningham, Richard Kenna and the bishop, Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 20 (1999), 41-50.
  4. ^ "Timeline: Moments in the life of Mary MacKillop". Saint Mary MacKillop. 2010. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  5. ^ "Challenge: Facing difficult decisions with courage - Bathurst". Saint Mary MacKillop. 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  6. ^ K. Burford, Kath, 'Tried and true': a foundress responds to episcopal fears: Mary Mackillop and the Bishops James and Matthew Quinn, Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society, 11 (1989), 4-17.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
New title
 1st
Catholic Bishop of Bathurst

1865–1885 		Succeeded by
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