Rev Joseph Romani
Title:
Rev
First Name:
Giuseppe
Middle Names:
Preferred Name:
Joseph
Surname:
Romani
Order:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Country of Birth:
Italy
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
Ordination Diocese:
Seminary:
Appointments Table
Diocese | Place | Role | Start Day | Start Month | Start Year | End Day | End Month | End Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane | Nanango | 1871 | 1878 | Fr Denis Long, Pioneer and Early Priests |
Biographical Notes
Shipping Gazette, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 May 1877, p 631, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162684520:
Victoria (s.), 900 tons, Captain Lake, from Cooktown via intermediate ports. Passengers— [...] Signor Simonetti, [...] Rev. James Romani, Rev. P.A. Treasy, and 40 in the steerage.
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Official Notifications, The Telegraph, Brisbane, 8 May 1880, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174712720:
(From This Day's Government Gazette.) [...] The Rev. James Patrick Maria Connolly to be a trustee of the Nanango Cemetery Reserve, in the room of the Rev. Joseph Romani, who has left the colony.
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Nanango Presbytery, The Age, Brisbane, 9 May 1903, p 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article292059554:
Recently the building trade has been very brisk at Nanango, where the Catholics have erected a new Presbytery for the Rev. Father Cosgrove in place of the humble little dwelling which originally did duty as a church. It is a long way back to the old days of the Clappertons, when Father Romani kept the light of faith burning brightly at Nanango, but since then a very fine church has been built, and now the priest who is endearing himself to the hearts of his flock will have a comfortable and proper place of abode.
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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, p 59: "Romani, Joseph. Italian. Hieronymite. Nanango, Qld, 1860's. Returned to Italy. Artist."
ANZCC note: The reference to an artist is possibly a confusion with the painter Giuseppe Romani (Como, 1654 - Modena, 1727).
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Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, p 100:
Fr Guiseppe Romani
Fr Romani arrived in Brisbane, aboard the Storm King, on the 28 February 1871. He was accompanying Bishop Quinn and six other Italian priests, namely: Fathers Clementoni, Davadi, Pieranto, Rossolini, Rossi and Scortechini, coming to the Brisbane diocese.
A correspondent, who knew him, wrote in the Brisbane Age:
Father Romani, arriving in Brisbane amongst the Italian group, brought with him a cultured baritone voice of magnificent range and fine tone. His intonation of a Missa Cantata was in itself inspiring of devotion amongst the Cathedral congregation. He was placed in charge of Nanango parish a few months after his arrival in Brisbane, and made himself popular with all classes there. He developed a splendid, though of course most uncanonical, black beard and whiskers. Being summoned to retreat in Brisbane, he had to face the barber in Ipswich and part with the luxurious growth – 'Oh, it a-gonee' he pathetically admitted afterwards to a few intimate friends in Brisbane. And no doubt it must have been. The good and genial Father Romani did not remain many years with us. I saw him off by ASN steamer en route for his native Italy a few years after his arrival in Brisbane.(1)
Pugh's Almanac records that he was stationed in Nanango from 1871 to 1878.
A Queenslander Abroad (W Finucane) writing to the Brisbane press about his visit to Italy in 1897 mentions meeting up with Fr Romani in Rome:
In the church of San (sic) Onofrio is buried Torquato Tasso, one of Italy's greatest poets. The monastery is presided over by Father Romani, once the parish priest at Nanango. I spent a very pleasant afternoon with this old friend.(2)
Footnotes
1. Age, Brisbane, Dec 12, 1913.
2. Brisbane Courier, 2 Oct 1897, p. 8.
Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.