Mass to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the coming of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers to Saint Francis’

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
on Monday, 1st November, 2004, at 5.30pm,
at Saint Francis’ Church, Melbourne

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this, the Mother Church of Victoria, we celebrate a great day of rejoicing, as we thank God for the seventy-five years of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers here in this church.

Together with Father Jo Dirks, Australian Provincial, and Very Reverend Father Hans van Schijndel (Vicar General of the Congregation from Rome), Very Reverend Father Norman Pelletier (Provincial of the U.S.A. Province of the Congregation), the Community Leader, Father Peter Collins, and the Fathers and friends in the Archdiocese, we come with esteem and wordless thanksgiving to praise our God in prayer, reflection and song, as we call to mind our sins, drawn by the Eucharist as a magnet and light to make us one with Christ, who is our Head.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On Pentecost Sunday, 19 th May, 1839, the Mass was celebrated for the first time on this site in an unroofed store by Father Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan. Soon afterwards a church was erected, which was to give way to the present Saint Francis’, which became Melbourne’s first cathedral in 1848.

From the beginning it would be ninety years until the coming of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers in 1929.

The Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cattaneo, had spent many hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Blessed Sacrament Fathers’ church in New York. When Archbishop Mannix told him that he wanted Saint Francis’ to be in the care of a religious order, Dr. Cattaneo spontaneously recommended the Blessed Sacrament Fathers.

I am grateful to Archbishop Cattaneo, who wrote immediately to the Superior General of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and discussions were held with Cardinal Ceretti, the Papal Legate for the 1929 Eucharistic Congress.

Archbishop Kelly had indicated that Sydney did not have a suitable church and when Cardinal Ceretti heard of Dr. Mannix’s request, he spoke with him. Archbishop Mannix’s replied, “With all my heart I accept the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament in Melbourne. Please tell them of my desires. I have Saint Francis’ Church for them.”

Things moved quickly. On 1 st November, 1929, the first eight religious arrived. Fathers Henri Lachance, Alfred Vey, Joseph Thibault, Daniel Sullivan, Joseph Chalifoux and Brothers Ely Gingrass, Michael Foghino and Marie Joseph Laurent. They were met by Monsignor Lonergan, the Vicar General, at Spencer Street station and taken directly to Saint Francis’.

I would echo the words of Archbishop Mannix at the Mass of Installation on 1 st December: “There will be many fruits of the Sydney Eucharistic Congress, but I venture to say that among the lasting fruits of the Congress, which was such a splendid success, there will be no effect more striking and none more lasting and more fruitful than the establishment of Perpetual Adoration of our Eucharistic King at Saint Francis’.

It is fitting that during the Year of the Eucharist, we gather to record and encourage the great Eucharistic work of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. Beginning on the Cross and in the Resurrection, the work of our redemption by Jesus our Saviour is made present and carried forward in the Mass. As Jesus offers perfect worship to the Father we are united with him in his act of praise and homage. It is the Living Lord made present under the Eucharistic Species, whom we receive in Holy Communion, whom we worship in Adoration and who is carried to the sick to be food, medicine and comfort.

The work of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers has as its origin and focus everything that draws people to the Blessed Eucharist. Saint Peter Julian Eymard wanted the entire life of his followers to be focused on this presence of Christ, through their personal service of prayer and to provide people with the opportunity of acknowledging and knowing him in the Blessed Sacrament, so that they could take his love into their daily lives. Present this evening is Sister Vianney Bartels, whose mother’s miraculous recovery in 1949 at Saint Peter Julian’s Intercession was a miracle used for his canonisation in 1962.

Many initiatives formed a vigorous Eucharistic Apostolate. The People’s Eucharistic League, the Guard of Honour, the Novena, which led to the Melbourne Eucharistic Congress in 1934. By 1941 the community had grown to thirty and the complete curriculum of studies preparatory to priesthood was taking place. Through the war years many service personnel used the shelter behind the church and participated in the Masses. In 1943 Fathers Fitzgerald and McKenna were ordained, the first Australian priests.

Many other Ordinations followed and Saint Francis has become famous for Eucharistic preaching, for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and for the huge apostolate of the confessional. The large crowds that regularly attend Sunday Masses here are indicative of the esteem in which the Fathers are held.

In every major initiative of the Archdiocese – for example, the centenary of the Church in 1941, the centenary of the Archdiocese in 1948, the Eucharistic Congress in 1973, Saint Francis’ has been at the forefront. The unstinting generosity of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers has been of signal value to the Archdiocese.

On numbers of occasions the church at Saint Francis has been renewed to meet with the requirements of prayerfulness, comfort and worship, and to keep the environment a place of beauty and fitting liturgy. The temporary arrangements, which occurred after the Second Vatican Council, have recently been made permanent and it was my privilege to consecrate the altar, at which we celebrate Mass this morning.

Truly it can be said that Saint Francis’ has been at the forefront of the work of the Church in Melbourne, as befits the Mother Church of Victoria. The challenge which the Holy Father gives us today is to enter into the whole Mystery of the Eucharist, through a devout celebration of the Sunday Mass, through regular Holy Hours of contemplation with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and the readiness to lead to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist. Flowing from this is the rich heritage of constant service, which the Blessed Sacrament Fathers have achieved at the altar, in the pulpit, in the confessional, in the parlour, in the hospital and as dedicated brothers and friends to generations of Melburnians, who have found this their prayerful home.

After ninety years, in 1929, truly the Blessed Sacrament Fathers inherited a rich heritage. In these years of service that heritage has continued and in our time a new invitation is given to become more profoundly Eucharistic as a people.

By this we will be strengthened and given light to carry the Living Lord, present in our hearts, into the community in which we live, as we dialogue with it and present the concerns of the Redeemer to the world, humbly and articulately, as his instruments.

To the priests and brothers and their friends, I pay my debt of regard for all that continues to be done with exemplary faithfulness and patience to draw the people of this city to Christ. Archbishop Mannix indeed was right when he saw what the coming of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers would be to Saint Francis’.

To them now, as in the future, I say, ‘ad multos annos!, while thanking them for all that they are and do for us in this wonderful city.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.