Australian Dictionary of Biography entry:
Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan (1805–1864)
by Osmund Thorpe

This article was published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, 1972, online in 2006

Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan (1805-1864), Roman Catholic bishop, was born in Dublin and baptized on 17 March 1805. He was orphaned at the age of 8 and relations of his father who were not Catholics arranged for his admission to a Protestant institution. He was rescued by a Franciscan priest and placed in an orphanage. Later the Franciscans sent Geoghegan to school at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, and then to a college in Lisbon. Eager to become a Franciscan priest he was transferred to the Franciscan training school at Coimbra, Portugal. After completing his studies he was ordained priest on 21 February 1830. He was appointed to St Francis's Church, Dublin, where in 1837 he was interviewed by Dr William Ullathorne who was recruiting priests for the Australian Catholic Mission. Geoghegan volunteered to go for seven years. Given £150 for his outfit and passage by the Colonial Office he sailed in the Francis Spaight and arrived at Sydney on 31 December. He was appointed to Bathurst but after four months Bishop John Bede Polding sent him to establish the first Catholic mission in Melbourne.

Some three thousand Catholics were then in the area out of a population of about ten thousand. Geoghegan lost no time in putting up 'almost in the open air … a poor temporary altar' and celebrated the first Mass on Pentecost Sunday, 19 May. A week later he notified his flock that 'a plain commodious church' had to be built and that they were to cultivate 'kind liberable feeling and deportment toward the members of all religious persuasions'. The government gave him a salary of £150 and a land grant at the corner of Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets where he built a temporary church, a presbytery and a school. On 4 October 1841 he laid the foundation stone of St Francis's Church. In April-September 1842 he was in Sydney and again briefly in 1843. In Melbourne in July he narrowly escaped being hit by a bullet fired in an encounter between members of the Orange Society and Catholics, mostly Irish born, whom he was trying to restrain. He was made vicar-forane by Archbishop Polding. On 23 October 1845 he opened the completed Church of St Francis. On 30 October 1846 he left Melbourne for Hobart Town on his way, it was wrongly thought, for Ireland but was back in April 1847. Rumour then held that he was to be the first Catholic bishop of Melbourne. However, James Goold was appointed to the Melbourne see and on 6 August 1848 chose Geoghegan as his vicar-general. Early that year Geoghegan had visited the new Anglican bishop, Charles Perry, but received what even many Protestants regarded as an an ungracious rebuff. In March 1849 Geoghegan left for Ireland to recruit priests for the Australian mission. He returned in April 1851. In 1852 to the select committee on education in Victoria 'he gave a most complete exposition of Catholic views on the respective roles of the Church, the family, and the state in education'.

When Dr Francis Murphy died in 1858 Geoghegan was appointed bishop of Adelaide. He was consecrated in St Francis's, Melbourne, on 8 September 1859 and enthroned in St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide, on 1 November. Deeply troubled by the education system in South Australia he 'exhorted pastors and their flocks to an united effort to establish Catholic schools in their respective localities'. With the help of 30,000 francs from the Propagation of the Faith, several schools were opened. He also built twenty new churches and the chancel and side altars of his cathedral. To recruit dedicated priests for the diocese he left for Europe in February 1862 but in Rome on 10 March 1864 was translated at his own request to the new see of Goulburn, New South Wales. In Dublin he was extremely ill when an old throat ailment became a cancer. He died on 9 May 1864 at Kingstown (Dunleary) and was buried in the old Church of St Francis, Merchants Quay, Dublin.

Father Geoghegan, according to one who knew him in the early days in Melbourne, was 'a round, chubby, natty little man, a perfect picture of health and cheerfulness'. At his best when faced with problems, he admitted to being very sensitive and easily hurt, a disposition which led him into errors of judgment as well as much suffering. An inclination to excessive fault-finding alienated some of the priests in Melbourne and Adelaide.

A portrait in oils is in the dining room of the Archbishop's House, West Terrace, Adelaide.

Select Bibliography

P. F. Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Syd, 1895)
F. Byrne, History of the Catholic Church in South Australia (Adel, 1896)
F. Mackle, The Footprints of our Catholic Pioneers (Melb, 1924)
R. Fogarty, Catholic Education in Australia 1806-1950 (Melb, 1959)
Geoghegan papers (Roman Catholic Archives, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide).

Citation details
Osmund Thorpe, 'Geoghegan, Patrick Bonaventure (1805–1864)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/geoghegan-patrick-bonaventure-3602/text5589, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 29 June 2025.

This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, (Melbourne University Press), 1972.

Reproduced by permission of Australian Dictionary of Biography. Original biography: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/geoghegan-patrick-bonaventure-3602

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ANZCC note: The date of priestly ordination used above relies on https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgeog.html, which gives the date of priestly ordination as 25 April 1835, and states 21 February 1830 as his date of profession (as a Franciscan). The ADB may be in error on this point.

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Roman Catholic Meeting, The Australian, Sydney, 12 January 1839, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36862598:

After Divine Service on Sunday, a Meeting of the Roman Catholics of Sydney was convened in the Cathedral [...] A most instructive discourse was delivered by the Reverend Mr Geoghegan, one of the clergy who lately arrived with Dr Ullathorne. [...]

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To the Roman Catholic Inhabitants of the District of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Gazette, 25 May 1839, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225007165:

My Dearest Friends—
The arduous charge which our beloved Bishop has given me over your spiritual wants, whilst it indeed renders me deeply conscious of my own insufficiency, inspires me with the affectionate devotedness which should bind the pastor to the interests of his flock.

You too, by your anxiety so long evinced for the assistance of a clergyman, give a cheering earnest of your attachment to the sacred duties of your religion.

May we not confidently hope, then, that these dispositions mutually cherished will bring such a Divine blessing on our undertaking, as can supply our deficiencies and enable us to discharge our obligations with sincerity and edification.

But there are two things necessary for the attainment of this great good. First—we must endeavour to erect a plain, commodious building for our public worship. You are not wealthy, but you have numbers, and a little from each will do much. I propose, therefore, that a general contribution be commenced by such a donation as the circumstances of each can afford; and that it be further continued by small weekly subscriptions till the completion of the edifice. To carry this plan into effect suitable districts and collectors will be appointed.

The other obligation I desire most earnestly to impress on you, is founded in the very essence of the Christian Religion, it is the cultivation of kind liberal feelings and deportment towards the members of all religious persuasions.

To recognise the right of everyone to worship God according to his conscience, is a noble and enlightened principle, it alone can give a permanent basis to society, because upon it alone can be combined the varied forms of Christian Worship into a structure for the common good.

And there is no true zeal which does not in its means and end promote "Glory to God and peace to men." The strife of zeal is bigotry, and bigotry is the greatest evil with which a community can be afflicted, for the only remedy for evil—RELIGION—is thereby prevented.

"Let Religion, then, the sacred name of Religion, which even in the face of an enemy should discover a brother, never be made a wall of separation to keep Christians asunder."
P.B. Geoghegan, O.S.F.

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Port Phillip. [...] Catholic Priest, Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston, 1 June 1839, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65949328:

It will be a source of great gratification to the Roman Catholics of Melbourne, that a clergyman of their own persuasion has arrived to take charge of the hitherto scattered flock of this ancient and holy religion. Bishop Polding, in thus directly anticipating the wishes of his ecclesiastical constituents, has shewn his zeal for the spiritual welfare of his earthly charge, and must place himself high in the estimation of those who wish well to the cause of religion. This infant settlement is peculiarly happy in the number of ministers it now possesses, there are members of every sect and persuasion amongst us, and all, we believe, have a duly authorised person to administer the consolations and preserve the discipline of their respective faiths.— Ibid.[Port Phillip Gazette]

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The Church at Port Phillip, Sydney Chronicle, 7 April 1847, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31751466:

The Catholics of Port Phillip will hail with pleasure the return of the Rev. Mr. Geoghegan to that district, where he has already so long and zealously performed the duties of his sacred calling. The exertions of this gentlemen have been eminently successful, for at his previous departure from Melbourne, after having erected a splendid Church, he left his mission entirely free from debt. This alone would be a sufficient evidence not only of the rev. gentleman's zeal, but of the liberality and attachment to the faith, of his flock: we have, however, further proof of his worth in the warmth of affection displayed towards him by those who had profited by his spiritual guidance; and as to our brother Catholics of Port Phillip, we have abundant evidence of their readiness to aid by personal influence or pecuniary assistance in every work of religion or of charity. It is intended that the Rev. Mr. Geogheghan shall remain at Melbourne until the return of His Grace the Archbishop, and the Rev. Dean Coffey, who has accompanied him to the scene of his labours, will also assist in the mission at that district for the same period. The latter gentleman had for several years past the spiritual charge of Parramatta, where, by his zeal as a clergyman, and the urbanity of his manners, he obtained the esteem and respect of all classes. To mark this feeling, two addresses were presented to the rev. gentleman shortly before his departure from Parramatta, one from the inhabitants of the town and district generally, and the other from the members of St. Patrick's Society of Parramatta. The former of these addresses was signed by three hundred and twenty persons, and was accompanied by a purse of sixty-seven sovereigns, hastily collected as a small tribute to the worth of this respected clergyman. To each of the addresses the Dean returned an appropriate reply, expressing his thanks for the respect which had been shown towards him, and assuring the gentlemen by whom the addresses were presented, that the people of Parramatta would ever be remembered in his prayers. The Rev. Mr. Geoghegan, who will resume his office of Vicar Foran, will be stationed at Melbourne, and the Rev. Dean Coffey will also remain at that town. The Rev. Mr. Kenny, who had laboured zealously and successfully on the banks of the Hawkesbury, has proceeded to Geelong for the purpose of relieving the Rev. Mr. Walsh. This latter station is, we believe, a promising one, a Church having been nearly completed by the exertions of the faithful during the ministry of their late pastor.

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Adelaide, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 May 1864, p 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13092085:

Saturday, 4 p.m.
Bishop Geoghegan is expected to leave England for Adelaide by this month's mail.

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Telegraphic Intelligence, South Australian Advertiser, Adelaide, 14 May 1864, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31836574:

[From Messrs. Greville & Bird (Reuter's agents) to S. A. Advertiser.]
Victoria.
Melbourne, May 13.
A letter from Rome states that Dr. Geoghegan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide, will go to Goulbourn, and it is reported that Bishop Gould will be translated to Adelaide, in consequence of Melbourne being created an Archbishopric. The Tasmanian Bishopric has not yet been filled.

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The Late Most Rev. Dr. Geoghegan, Freeman’s Journal, Dublin, 13 May 1864, p 4:

Yesterday there were consigned to the grave, in the Franciscan Church of Adam and Eve, Merchants'-quay, the remains of a zealous, pious, and exemplary Bishop—the late Most Rev. Dr. Geoghegan, Lord Bishop of Adelaide. Few pens could write the obituary of this lamented prelate. Adorned with all the virtues that became the missionary—zeal, self-denial, and unbounded charity—he was still, as the prelate, prudent, dignified in the consciousness of his sacred office, capable of conceiving great and good works, and faithfully persistent in their accomplishment. He has bequeathed to his country a reputation which any ecclesiastic, no matter how elevated, might be proud to possess, but which it would, indeed, be difficult for any to excel. In this city the departed prelate was well known as a pious, hardworking member of the Franciscan order—an especial favourite with the poor, because he had always identified himself with their sad and bitter sufferings. He was an efficient fellow-labourer in "the vineyard" with the late Most Rev. Dr. Hughes, the present Lord Bishop of Newfoundland, and the ever-beloved Dean Coffey. Throughout his missionary career he preserved the spirit of the sainted founder of his order, which, no doubt, he drank in in the convents of that order. In the convent of the great St. Francis in Lisbon the deceased bishop received the habit, and continued an inmate of it until his education for the priesthood was completed. He was ordained in the year of Emancipation, and admirably suited were his vigorous zeal and holy determination to "go forth and preach." Some time after the happy event of his ordination he became attached to "the old house of Adam and Eve," on Merchant's-quay, where he speedily became distinguished for his piety, charity, and great zeal, and assisted materially in raising the present Church of St. Francis. In ten years subsequently, that is, in 1839, he proceeded to Australia, and there also soon after his arrival his zeal manifested itself. Here, it may be said, he founded the mission of that now great and prosperous city of Melbourne. Substantial schools, commodious orphanages, and beautiful churches are the evidences of his work in Melbourne. He was consecrated Bishop of Adelaide by the Archbishop of Sydney on the 8th of September, 1859, in Melbourne, in the very Church of St. Francis which had been built by his exertions, and in which he had officiated so zealously. He was translated, at his own earnest desire, to the newly erected see of Goulbourne on March 12,1864, in the hope," as the Holy Father fondly expressed himself, "that the salubrity of its climate might benefit his weakly constitution and the episcopal duties not prove so laborious as they would be found elsewhere." But his elevation to those distinctions did not transform the hardworking missionary. Promoted to the episcopacy, it was the same spirit of self-sacrifice that influenced his operations and enabled him to surmount difficulties which a man of less resolute mind would not have ventured to grapple with. On assuming the duties of his office he found the churches of Adelaide so incumbered with debt that the ministers of religion could scarcely find the means of decent support. He cleared the diocese of all its liabilities, and contrived, with prudent economy, and by denying himself, to educate a body of priests from whom his faithful people are now receiving the bread of life. He had other great works in contemplation when he was visited with the tedious illness which has just terminated in his death, an event which the CatholiCCommunity, lay as well as ecclesiastic, have abundant reason to deplore. Yesterday morning at eleven o'clock the solemn high mass and office for the repose of his soul took place at the Franciscan Chapel, Merchant's-quay. His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin presided. The Most Rev Dr O'Connor, Lord Bishop of Saldes, officiated as high priest celebrant, with the Rev Father Murphy as deacon, and the Rev Father Carey as sub-deacon. The office of master of the ceremonies was borne by the Very Rev Dr Murray. Amongst the numerous clergy present were:— Very Rev Canon Pope, PP, St Laurence O'Toole; Very Rev Canon McMahon, PP, St Michael's; Rev Mr O'Connell, CC; Rev F J Bell, CC; Very Rev Canon Roche, PP, SS Michael and John's; Rev Mr Kirwan, CC; Rev Mr Meehan, Rev Mr Mooney, PP, St Audeon's; Rev Mr O'Neill, CC; Rev Mr Daniel, CC, St Catherine's; Very Rev Canon Lynch, PP, Westland-row; Very Rev Canon Butler, PP, Arran-quay; Very Rev Canon McCabe, VG, PP; Very Rev Dr White, OP; Very Rev Dr Russell, OP; Rev Mr Molloy, OP; Very Rev Dr Goodman, OP, Provincial; Very Rev Christopher Burke, PP, Saggart; Very Rev William McDonnell, PP, Rathfarnham; Very Rev William Walsh, Prior, John-Street; Rev Mr O'Malley, Rev Mr Murphy, Rev Mr Regan, Very Rev Dr McLoughlin, Rev Mr Burke, Rev Mr Keogh, Very Rev Dr Russell, OP; Very Rev P Keogh, OSF; Rev John O'Regan, OSF; Rev R Hill, OSF; Rev T Burke, OSF; Rev D Murphy, OSF; Rev T Carey, OSF; Rev J Lynch, SJ; Rev J Meehan, Rev T O'Sullivan, Rev C Nolan, Rev F O'Neill, Rev Father Fogarty, Rev Dr Quinn, Rev Dr Doyle, Rev Mr Smithwick, PP; Rev Mr Lee, Rev Mr Potter, Rev Mr Tommins, &c. The coffin, draped with black, had lain since the previous evening in state in the body of the church. Shortly before one o'clock, the high mass having terminated, a procession was formed, and the coffin was lowered into one of the vaults in the body of the church, at the left hand side of the entrance. The coffin bore the following simple inscription:—The Most Reverend Patrick Bonaventura Geoghegan, Bishop of Goulbourne, Died 9th of May, 1864, Aged 59 Years.

And thus has passed from our midst a zealous priest and an exemplary prelate, whose bright virtues will still live in the fond recollections of all who had the honour of his acquaintance—an example, a beacon, and an encouragement to follow, to guide, and to stimulate.

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Topics of the Day, South Australian Advertiser, 14 July 1864, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31838987:

The Freeman's Journal of Wednesday, May 11, contained the following announcement:—"It is our painful duty to announce this morning the death of the Most Rev. Dr. Geoghegan, Lord Bishop of Adelaide. The sad event took place at Corrig Avenue, Kingston, yesterday morning (Tuesday.) The deceased prelate was a most distinguished member of the Franciscan Order, and many of our fellow-colonists remember him as an eloquent preacher and a zealous, exemplary missionary priest, when the late lamented Bishop Hughes was the Superior of the Franciscan Church on Merchant's Quay, Dublin, and when the present Bishop of Newfoundland, and the zealous and apostolic Dean Coffey were his fellow laborers. Dr. Geoghegan volunteered for the mission of Australia at a time when, much more even than at present, the harvest was great and the laborers few. His zealous and indefatigable exertions earned for him every promotion until he was finally elevated to the Prelacy of Adelaide by the reigning Pontiff. His Lordship had returned to this country to seek for an additional number of Priests for his extensive and increasing Diocese, when a bronchial affection atttacked him, and finally proved fatal. At the time of his lamented decease the Right Rev. Dr. Geoghegan was not Bishop of Adelaide but of Goulbourn, having been translated to the latter See some months ago, by the Sovereign Pontiff.

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The Late Right Rev. Dr. Geogheghan, Freeman's Journal, Sydney, 16 July 1864, p 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128804011:

The lamentable death of this venerable ecclesiastic, occurring at a time of such general mourning in the Australian Church, must further impress upon us the solemn truth of the words of Holy Writ, "in the midst of life we are in death," must impress us still more with a deep and respectful awe for the inscrutable decrees of providence, which permits the church in these colonies to be sorely tried and deeply afflicted at a moment when there is so much need of pious and energetic pastors. Were it not that we have the promises of unchangeable Truth, we might tremble for our future, but we know from God himself that his church is built upon a rock and that nothing can prevail to its overthrow.

There are some facts that invest the death of Dr. Geogheghan with a melancholy almost painful interest to us. He was on the eve of his departure for this colony, to take possession of the see of Goulburn, to which he had by his own desire been translated, after passing two years in his native land, and having there recruited his health. There on the point of setting out for his long journey to this land he was advised to undergo an operation, from the effects of which he died. His contemplated journey to New South Wales has been changed for a longer and we hope a better one, which through the narrow and darksome portals of the grave will lead him we trust to brighter skies and a happier clime, than what we enjoy even in this fair southern land of ours, than what any mortals enjoy on earth. After the consolations of religion, it must have been a great one to him to think that his bones would repose in the land of his childhood, that after so many years toiling in far-off lands, so many dangers incurred in the cause of God, his last rest would be taken in the bosom of the same land, where first he awoke to the life of toiling and warring, reserved for the soldiers of Christ. We, who from a distance often turn with longing heart for a grave in Ireland, can appreciate the consolation that such a certainty must have given to the good bishop, as his end drew nigh. "May you die among your own" is a feeling salutation or prayer of the wandering Arabs, whose homes are ever changing, ever varying, and who from that cause probably appreciate the sweetness of what they can scarcely be said to possess, more than others who are not so alive to it from ignorance of contrast. And Dr. Geogheghan died among his own, in his own country. May he rest in peace.

Dr. Geogheghan was born in Tullabeg, Queen's County, in 1808, and was consequently 56 years of age when he died. He first began his studies in Dublin, then went to Portugal to a Franciscan convent there in which he finished his studies, was ordained, and took the vows of the Franciscan order. From thence he returned to Dublin to the convent of Adam and Eve, where he officiated until he left Ireland to join Dr. Ullathorne, with whom he came to labour in this colony in the year 1839. In the vessel that brought them, Mrs. Lacey and the good sisters of charity were also passengers ; leaving all the cherished associations of home these brave servants of God came out to do His work in this then scarcely known colony. Dr. Geogheghan remained but a few months in Sydney, he was sent by his Grace the Archbishop to the district of Port Phillip, then a part of New South Wales. He was the first priest who was sent there to minister to the spiritual wants of the people, and many yet remember with affection and regret the fervent zeal that directed all his efforts to the greater glory of God. He then enjoyed the title of Vicar Foran. Shortly after he was sent there, an assistant was sent to him in the person of Rev. R. Walsh, who was afterwards made Dean of Goulburn. While labouring in this infant mission, Dr. Geogheghan began the church of St. Francis, to-day a noble structure and honour to the founder and the people who aided in its erection. In the year 1848 Port Phillip was constituted a Bishop's see, and Dr. Gould then Parish Priest of Campbelltown was nominated to the Bishopric. Dr. Geogheghan was made Vicar-General, and remained so until he succeeded the late venerable Bishop Murphy. About two and a half years ago, he undertook a voyage to Europe, to further the interests of his diocese. But on his voyage home he was afflicted with loss of the voice from which he never recovered. During the time he remained at home, he visited Rome and travelled a good deal. During his visit to the Holy See he requested to be translated to the new see of Goulburn, which request was immediately accorded to him ; but, as we have said, he was never fated to see his new diocese, for though his health was much restored, his voice had recovered nothing of its pristine vigour, and being advised to consult some eminent physician in Dublin an operation was recommend[ed], to the effects of which he rapidly succumbed.

The diocese of Goulburn has lost in him a prelate who ever and always laboured, late and early, to promote the spiritual interests of his people, in whatever position he happened to be placed, and who, had he been spared to take charge of that important district, would have inspired it with a new and vigorous life. May God rest his soul.