Prayer Calendar: Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts, 1864–2025, Compiled by Annie Carrett, Diocesan Archivist, 2001, Updated by Gabrielle Saide, Diocesan Archivist, 2023:
Rev Monsignor Denis Fouhy, died 13 Oct 1925

Born in Co. Cork, Ireland, he was educated at Fermoy and at the Irish College in Paris. He was ordained in February 1871 at the age of 23 after a brilliant scholastic career. During his first years in Australia, he spent considerable time in the Maranoa district and then 22 years as Administrator of St Stephen's Cathedral in Brisbane. In 1898 he succeeded Rev Father O'Connell as Parish Priest of Toowoomba, where with exception of a holiday spent in his native land, he remained for 27 years. He dedicated himself to improving church buildings and establishing Orders and colleges in the Parish. Under his administration the new St Saviour's Convent and school were built. It was at his invitation that the Christian Brothers first came to Toowoomba and the first Brothers' school was built by him. He also established Holy Name Church and donated the land that the first wooden building there was erected upon. He also built the present brick building. He established the Good Samaritans in Toowoomba and donated the princely sum of 10,000 pounds towards the building of St Vincent's Hospital by the Sisters of Charity. It was the work of this zealous priest that prepared Toowoomba to be the centre of an Episcopal See and it is fitting that his remains should rest under the Cathedral.
(Ref. Archives)

Reproduced by permission of Bishop Ken Howell.

---

Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, pp 177-178:
Monsignor Denis Fouhy

When investing Monsignor Denis Fouhy with the insignia of a Domestic Prelate on 18 January 1918 Archbishop Duhig said:

Monsignor Fouhy is one of the pioneer priests of the Archdiocese and unfortunately very few of them are left with us now. I think that we cannot do too much, as Catholics, to honour those old colonists who have blazed the track. Those priests, with their Bishops, have laid the foundations of the Church here, and they deserve every honour that we can legitimately confer upon them.

Denis Fouhy was born at Meadsdown at Kildorrey in County Cork Ireland on 27 February 1848. His parents were John and Mary (nee Cashen) Fouhy. He was educated at St Colman's College in Fermoy and the Irish College in Paris where he was ordained in February 1871. He had a brilliant scholastic career and spoke French with an extraordinary facility.

He arrived in Brisbane late in 1871. He spent about a year in Brisbane before being appointed as a curate to Fr Peter Capra in Roma.(1) In 1875 he was appointed the first resident priest in Charters Towers. Gold had been discovered there in mid-1872, with Towers becoming a prosperous city by 1875. On a visit to the town in 1876 Bishop Quinn said:

If a spacious, beautiful and well-appointed church, a large and respectable congregation, and crowded confessionals justify the encomium – Charters Towers Mission would compare not unfavourably with many parishes in European countries which have centuries of existence.(2)

It was reported on his death that:

'Monsignor Fouhy was arch-priest (sic) of Charters Towers, and there secured most of the present property, providing himself a successful administrator'.(3)

Like some other priests in gold mining areas he would have the recipient of generous personal gifts from fortunate miners and no doubt invested personally in mining companies. This is why in his later years he could finance many buildings programmes in Toowoomba.

In his years in Charters Towers Fr Fouhy enlarged the church and installed a fine organ. He built a new presbytery and purchased one of the finest church bells in the colony.(4)

About 1880 Bishop Dunne brought him to Brisbane as bishop's secretary and administrator of St Stephen's Cathedral. There Fr Denis Fouhy officiated at the marriage of my maternal grandparents Denis McEniery and Annie Callinan on 1 January 1895.

In March 1898 Fr Denis Fouhy succeeded Fr Thomas O'Connell as parish priest of Toowoomba where, with the exception of a holiday in his native land, he remained till his death in 1925.

Under his administration the new St Saviour's school and convent were built. He invited the Christian Brothers to come to Toowoomba and built the first Brothers' school. He donated the land on which the first wooden Holy Name Church was erected, and later built the present beautiful brick building. During the early days of Monsignor Fouhy's administration, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan first came to Toowoomba and it is due to him that the present convent building and flourishing school were established.

One his last works was the new Christian Brothers' College, and he relieved the people of a burden of thousands of pounds by paying off the debt on the college. It was under him that St Vincent's hospital was built and the work of the Sisters of Charity made possible. To this institution, he donated the princely sum of £10,000.(5)

The late Pope Benedict XV, by Papal Brief dated October 10, 1917, created him a Domestic Prelate for the Church with the title of Monsignor, and on January 27, 1918, he was invested with the insignia of that office with fitting ceremonial and in the presence of a large concourse of people at St Patrick's Church, Toowoomba, by His Grace Archbishop Duhig. In addition Monsignor Fouhy was also Chancellor of the Archdiocese, a member of the Diocesan Council and one of the diocesan trustees. It is significant that the date of his death – October 13th – was the anniversary of his appointment as Chancellor, five years ago.(6)

On the occasion of his investiture as a Monsignor Fouhy may have recalled his meeting in 1895 with James Duhig who was a young man working as a clerk for butchering firm. Duhig was active in Holy Cross parish Wooloowin especially as a catechist preparing young people for confirmation. He felt that he had a vocation to the priesthood.

James eventually nerved himself to speak about what had been in his mind for some time. He plucked up his courage and went to see the grand Denis Fouhy, archbishop's secretary and priest-in-charge of the cathedral. When he poured out his aspirations and hesitations, he heard Fouhy pronounce sentence 'Go home, young man, and forget about it. This is nothing but a pious freak'. Fouhy must have been haunted by that advice to the man who became his Archbishop, especially as he had, with all his talents and assurance, expected to wear the mitre Duhig inherited.(7)

Some weeks prior to his death, Monsignor Fouhy collapsed suddenly. He was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital where he died on Tuesday 13 October 1925.

His Grace Archbishop Duhig, whilst at Bundaberg, en route for the Blackall parish, received an urgent telegram, intimating that he was dying; and in response to the message hurried back to Toowoomba, reaching that city on Tuesday morning. On that day five minutes before, midnight, this distinguished prelate of the church passed to his eternal reward, after 55 years' service in the eternal priesthood.

The end came peacefully while his Grace the Archbishop, assisted by Rev Father Devine CSsR, was reciting the prayers for the dying at the bedside in the presence of a number of priests of the Archdiocese.

During the day the deceased priest had been visited by his brother, the Rev Father Patrick Fouhy, parish priest of Laidley and his sister, Sister Mary John, of the Sisters of Mercy, Brisbane.

Requiem Mass was celebrated in Toowoomba by Archbishop Duhig and after a funeral procession through the streets Monsignor Fouhy was laid to rest in a vault at St Patrick's church where he had served for twenty seven years.(8)

Footnotes
1. Pugh's Almanac.
2. Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 4 Nov 1876, p. 17.
3. Catholic Advocate, Brisbane, 18 Oct 1925.
4. Freeman's Journal, Sydney, op. cit. p. 17.
5. Catholic Advocate, Brisbane, op. cit.
6. Catholic Advocate, Brisbane, 15 Oct 1925, p. 4.
7. T P Boland, Archbishop Duhig, Brisbane, 1986, p. 41.
8. Brisbane Courier, 16 Oct 1925, p. 6.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.