John Bede Polding

The Most Reverend John Bede Polding OSB
Archbishop of Sydney
Personal details
Born	18 November 1794
Died	16 March 1877 (aged 82)
Buried	St Mary's Cathedral
Ordination history
History Priestly ordination Date 4 March 1819 Episcopal consecration Date 29 June 1834 Cardinalate Date 22 April 1842

John Bede Polding OSB (18 November 1794 – 16 March 1877) was an English Benedictine monk and the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia.

Early life

Polding was born in Liverpool, England, on 18 November 1794. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother came from the Brewer family of recusants since the sixteenth century. His family name was also spelled "Poulden" or "Polten". His parents died and at age 8 he was placed in the care of his uncle, Father Bede Brewer, president-general of the English Benedictine Congregation.

Polding was first taught by the Benedictine nuns of the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation of Cambray, who as refugees from revolutionary France were located at Much Woolton, near Liverpool. At 11, he was sent to St Gregory's Benedictine College at Acton Burnell near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. On 15 July 1810, Polding was admitted to the religious community, taking the name "Bede" in honour both of the saint and his uncle. He received minor orders in 1813 from Bishop John Milner in Wolverhampton and was ordained priest by Bishop William Poynter at Old Hall College on 4 March 1819. In turn he held the offices of parish priest, prefect, novice-master and sub-prior in his monastery. In 1819 Polding's cousin, Bishop Edward Bede Slater, was appointed vicar apostolic with jurisdiction over Mauritius, Madagascar, the Cape, New Holland and Van Diemen's Land.

From 1826 to 1834 he was secretary to the president-general of the Benedictine Congregation. In 1832, Pope Gregory XVI invited him to become Bishop of Hierocaesarea in partibus infidelium.

Experiences in Australia

In 1834 Polding was appointed Bishop of Hierocaesarea in partibus infidelium and Vicar Apostolic of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land and the adjoining islands. Polding and party arrived first in Hobart on 6 August 1835. Leaving a priest and a student there, he travelled on and arrived in Sydney on 13 September 1835. The authorities soon realised the good effect his influence was having, and arranged that, on the arrival of every ship-load of convicts, all the Catholics should be placed at his disposal for some days, during which the bishop and his assistants saw each prisoner personally and did all they could for them before they were drafted off to their various destinations. Polding travelled widely throughout Australia and was regarded as hard-working. He travelled to Europe in November 1840, appointing Francis Murphy to serve as vicar general of the diocese during his absence.

On 5 April 1842, Polding was appointed the first Bishop of Sydney and subsequently Archbishop on 22 April 1842. Some sources report that as a result of a successful diplomatic mission to Malta, Archbishop Polding was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. This cannot be true, since the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved de facto in 1806. It is possible, on the other hand, that he was made a papal Count. Reports are probably accurate which say that he was appointed an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, an honorific title formerly granted by the Popes to some bishops.

Despite his many successes as a founding bishop, Polding experienced a degree of resistance from his largely Irish Catholic church in Australia. Even after the English Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, the Irish were resistant to non-Irish bishops. The British anti-clerical laws of the Reformation Parliament and the Act of Supremacy had bred deep resentment among the Irish against the English, and the consequences of the dissolution of monasteries during the English Reformation had left Polding deeply committed to the primary vision of restoring monasticism in English-speaking lands such as Australia.

In 1843 Polding established a mission for Aboriginal people at Moongalba on Stradbroke Island, staffed by Passionist priests. However, the attempt failed and the Passionists left the island not long afterwards.

He helped establish St John's College, University of Sydney and Mary's College, Lyndhurst. Polding travelled again to Rome in 1846 hoping to obtain a coadjutor bishop and Benedictine nuns to help in his diocese. He was successful in these quests and also gained approval for the establishment of Melbourne as a separate see. With his support, the Religious Sisters of Charity began the House of the Good Shepherd. In 1857 Polding established the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, an Australian congregation of Religious women.

In January 1874, he retired to Sacred Heart Presbytery, Darlinghurst.

Polding died on 16 March 1877 in Sydney, aged 82, and was initially buried at Petersham Cemetery. He was later reinterred in St Mary's Cathedral.

Legacy

Apart from the many churches he founded, Polding began the construction of the second St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney in 1868, where he was later re-buried. Polding also founded the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in Sydney.

Bede Polding College, South Windsor, in the state of New South Wales, Australia is named after him.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

John Bede Polding — Archbishop of Sydney, born at Liverpool, 18 Oct., 1794; died at Sydney, 16 March, 1877. In 1805 he was sent to school at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Gregory at Acton Burnell near Shrewsbury (now Downside Abbey near Bath). In 1810 he received the Benedictine habit and made his vows the year following. He was ordained in 1819 and filled in turn the offices of parish priest, prefect, novice-master, and sub-prior in his monastery. In 1833 Propaganda selected Polding Vicar Apostolic of Madras, Bishop of Hiero-Cæsarea. It was pointed out, however, that his health could not stand the climate of Madras, and the Holy See accepted this excuse as sufficient. About this time an appeal was made to the pope to send a bishop to New South Wales. Polding was appointed to this newly-created vicariate which, besides New South Wales, included the rest of New Holland and Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania). The consecration took place in London, 29 June, 1834.

Bishop Polding reached Sydney in September, 1835, and at once set to work to organize his vast diocese. He found only three priests in New South Wales and one in Tasmania; these with the three or four Benedictine monks whom he had brought with him constituted the entire force at his disposal. Then, and for many years afterwards, he worked like one of his priests, saying Mass daily in various stations, often in the convict prisons, teaching the Catechism, hearing the confessions of multitudes, and attending the sick and dying. He obtained permission to give retreats in the prison establishments, and between 1836 and 1841 no less than 7000 convicts made at least ten days' retreat under his guidance. The authorities soon realized the good effect his influence was having, and arranged that, on the arrival of every ship-load of convicts, all the Catholics should be placed at his disposal for some days, during which the bishop and his assistants saw each prisoner personally and did all they could for them before they were drafted off to their various destinations. In 1841 Bishop Polding revisited England and thence went on to Rome to report on his vicariate and petition for the establishment of a hierarchy, which was granted in 1842, the vicar Apostolic becoming first Archbishop of Sydney and Primate of all Australia. During this visit he was sent on a special diplomatic mission to Malta, and in recognition of his success therein was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and an assistant at the pontifical throne. In 1843 he returned to Sydney, taking with him a band of Christian Brothers, four Passionists, and some Benedictines. His return as archbishop aroused a violent storm among the Church of England party in the colony, but his gentleness and tact disarmed all opponents.

Two provincial synods were held, at Sydney in 1844 and at Melbourne in 1859; he founded the University College of St. John at Sydney and the College of St. Mary, Lyndhurst. He visited Europe in 1846-48, in 1854-56, and in 1865-68, returning on each occasion with new helpers in his work. In 1870 he started for Rome to take part in the Vatican Council, but his health failed on the journey and he returned to Sydney. In 1873 the Holy See appointed Dom Roger Bede Vaughan, another Downside monk, as his coadjutor with right of succession, and from this time he gradually withdrew from active work.

SNOW, Necrology of the English Benedictines (London, 1883), 171; BIRT, History of Downside School (London, 1902), 169, 198, 212, 273, 326; IDEM, Benedictine Pioneers in Australia (2 vols., London, 1911); Orthodox Journal, III (London, 1834), 14; The Tablet, XLIX (London, 1877), 406, 727; Catholic Times (London, 29 March, 1877); Melbourne Argus (Melbourne, 17 March, 1877); Downside Review, I (London, 1882), 91-102, 165-175, 241-249.

Bibliography

• Bede Nairn, 'Polding, John Bede (1794–1877)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, MUP, 1967, pp 340–347.
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Polding, John Bede". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.