Rev Pat Costello
Title:
Rev
First Name:
Patrick
Middle Names:
Preferred Name:
Pat
Surname:
Costello
Order:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Toowoomba QLD
Country of Birth:
Australia
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney NSW
Country of Ordination:
Australia
Ordination Diocese:
Brisbane
Seminary:
St Columba's College, Springwood, Australia
St Patrick's College, Manly, Australia
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
Brisbane QLD
Country of Death:
Australia
Date of Burial:
Place of Burial:
Nudgee, Brisbane QLD
Country of Burial:
Australia
Find A Grave URL:
Appointments Table
Diocese | Place | Role | Start Day | Start Month | Start Year | End Day | End Month | End Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane | Nanango | Curate | Priests of 1928 | ||||||
| Brisbane | Windsor | Curate | Priests of 1928 | ||||||
| Brisbane | Wooloowin | Curate | Priests of 1928 | ||||||
| Brisbane | Murgon | Parish Priest | Priests of 1928 | ||||||
| Brisbane | Buranda | Parish Priest | 1936 | Priests of 1928 | |||||
| Brisbane | Boonah | Priests of 1928 | |||||||
| Brisbane | Bowen Hills | Priests of 1928 | |||||||
| Brisbane | Herston | Priests of 1928 | |||||||
| Brisbane | Gordon Park | Parish Priest | Priests of 1928; Gravestone |
Biographical Notes
Fr Denis W. Martin, Priests of 1928, Brisbane, 2003, pp 132-134:
Patrick Costello
From another pioneering Catholic family on the Darling Downs came Fr Patrick Costello. Pat was born in Toowoomba and grew up in the Murphy's Creek area before going off to Springwood and Manly. He was ordained in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney in 1922.
A curate at Nanango, Windsor and Wooloowin, Fr Costello was made Parish Priest of Murgon and then, in 1936, Parish Priest of the new parish of Buranda where he started off in a big old Queenslander Barcoo Villa, which had originally been the home of Mons. McKenna's family, and latterly known as the Reis Estate.
Fr Pat had the personality to get everyone behind him so that various functions soon brought in sufficient funds to have St Luke's Church built.
All went smoothly for a while until it emerged that poor Fr Pat had a terrible drinking problem. The parishioners had noticed that he could be very cranky and flare up in the mornings, but the end came when he was 'picked up' for drink-driving. When a relieving priest appeared unexpectedly one Sunday and announced at the Masses that Fr Costello had resigned, 'there wasn't a dry eye in the Church'.
But Fr Pat resurfaced to work in Boonah, Bowen Hills, Herston and Gordon Park.
For 17 years at Herston, his main duty was chaplaincy at the General Hospital and his work here was described as heroic. 'After his Mass he distributed Holy Communion throughout the wards. It was always a late hour when he returned to his breakfast. Many and many a soul he sent to Heaven and he had the kindness and sympathy that goes with great faith and prayer to win back the hardened sinner to God,' recalled Archbishop O'Donnell.
After a brief spell in hospital, Fr Costello returned to Gordon Park but died of a heart attack at the breakfast table the next morning.
At St Stephen's, Archbishop O'Donnell said 'Fr Costello did not enjoy the perfect health that his robust appearance might lead one to suppose. A man of tremendous enthusiasms, he suffered much from the nervous tensions that go with a temperament such as his and his sensitive nature felt acutely the aches of frustration when plans did not always work out. Many found in him a true friend and a priestly heart.'
Burial followed at Nudgee Cemetery.
A brother was Fr Frank Costello and a sister was Sr M Ethelreda, RSM.
(Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Martin.)