Rev John CoyleTitle: Rev First Name: John Middle Names: Preferred Name: Surname: Coyle Order: Date of Birth: 1817 Place of Birth:
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Ordination Diocese: Seminary: Date of Death: 23-Dec-1853 Place of Death: Perth WA Country of Death: Australia Date of Burial: 1853 Place of Burial: East Perth WA Country of Burial: Australia Find A Grave URL: Appointments Table
Items per page: 0 of 0 Biographical NotesInquirer, Perth, 24 December 1851, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65485467: --- Shipping Intelligence, Inquirer, Perth, 23 June 1852, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65484345: --- Domestic Sayings and Doings, The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News, 13 August 1852, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3173706: --- Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, pp 98-99: When I wrote about Dr. John Coyle in F.P. Vol. 3, No. 1 a few minor errors crept in. I repeated what the late Fr. Senan Moynahan had sent me in a screed, drawn up when he was Archivist at the Perth Cathedral Archives. However, I apportion the blame solely to myself and not to my informant. The machinations and shifts of position of Coyle are neatly portrayed in the History of the Catholic Church in Western Australia, 1829-1979 by Fr. D.F. Bourke—a book which received high praise in a review published in the Melbourne Advocate and Footprints, Vol.3, No. 8. Bishop John Brady, first occupant of the See of Perth, met up with Coyle in Rome late in 1850. The bother that Brady was in has been the subject matter of many essays and books, and reference has already been made to the matter in the thumbnail submitted in these pages on John Brady. Coyle became the Vicar General, replacing Dominic Urquhardt OC who had betaken himself to "pastures new", after giving much trouble and concocting a few conspiracies. One writer has spoken of Coyle as a "child of Satan", implying that he was an equal to Urquhardt in his shifts and machinations to defend a bishop, out of favour with the Holy See and with a sizeable number of clergy and people in Perth itself. The judgment may be somewhat harsh. Let's see Coyle as a confused person, giving allegiance to the Bishop who had coopted him. Coyle arrived in Perth with Brady on 17.12.1851, aboard the 'Anna Robertson'. A rumbustious description of the voyage can be read in a rare book Royal Engineer—A Life of Sir Edmund DuCane, by Alexandra Hasluck (An Angus & Robertson publication). There were 210 steerage passengers on board. The VIPs, cabin passengers, numbering sixteen, are named, Brady and Coyle being on the list. Engineer, DuCane, had a flair for sketching. Hence there is one sketch of particular interest, portraying the rear anatomy of Brady, in top hat, and with a semi-circular caption above: Dr. Brady, RC. Bishop—Suspended by the Pope. Alongside the Bishop is his V.G. in a hat somewhat taller and nicely tilted. The Coyle face is cherubic, but the caption over the hat is misleading: Dr. Coyle, RC. Priest—Gone to the Diggings. Coyle was destined to have two years of crowded life in Perth, making a visit to Adelaide and Melbourne. Letters in the Adelaide Church Archives, in MDHC holdings, and of course in the Perth Cathedral Archives, tell of his brave attempts to defend his Bishop in a losing battle. It's a sad story of a misplaced loyalty to the man he had chosen to serve, of retractation, of return to his former position and loyalty, of excommunication for bringing a case against Dr. J.B. Polding into a civil court, of writing a scurrilous pamphlet which appears to have been first published overseas, of repentance (it would seem), and of a long and painful illness. In October 1852 he suffered an attack, involving loss of speech, penury, and an extreme anxiety of spirit. The letters he wrote from his bed in the Colonial Hospital in the 14 months illness make pitiful reading. The writer believes he was genuinely reconciled with the Bishop who replaced Brady, Dr. Serra, and with whom he had been in bitter conflict. Serra was kind to the stricken; the confessor, Dr. Martin Griver, Serra's successor later on, was kinder still. And as to the Final Arbiter in the case, who are we to say that there is no such happening as a death-bed conversion. It happened on 23 December 1853 at the age of 36. While we know not the death details of his counterpart, the stormy soul in Adelaide, Fr. Francis Coyle, who has been confused with John, at least we know where the latter died and where he was interred. The East Perth Cemetery, now dismantled and turned into a parkland, holds the remains of the priest once branded as "the child of Satan". REF: Perth Cathedral Archives, per late Fr. Senan Moynahan & Fr. D.F. Bourke CM. |