Rev Angelo ConfalonieriTitle: Rev First Name: Angelo Middle Names: Preferred Name: Surname: Confalonieri Order: Date of Birth: Place of Birth:
Country of Birth: Italy Date of Ordination: Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
Ordination Diocese: Seminary: Date of Death: 09-Jun-1848 Place of Death: Port Essington NT Country of Death: Australia Date of Burial: 11-Jun-1848 Place of Burial: Melville Island NT Country of Burial: Australia Find A Grave URL: Appointments Table
Items per page: 0 of 0 Biographical NotesShipping Intelligence, Inquirer, Perth, 14 January 1846, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65770166: --- Western Australia, South Australian Register, Adelaide, 25 March 1846, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27452419: --- The Rev. Angelo Confalonieri, Sydney Chronicle, 13 January 1847, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750757: Port Essington, 16th May, 1846. Very Rev. Sir, —Before this comes to hand, you will have received the sad tidings of our awful shipwreck during the night of the 24th April. All I possessed has been lost in the depth of the sea; but the most painful loss, and that, of which I can hardly think without tears, is that of my two beloved companions, Messrs. Fagan and Hogan, both buried in the waves. Divine Providence has spared me to do penance for my sins in this vale of tears, because I am not yet fit for Heaven. l have no doubt but a terrible probation of a whole year, replete with fatigue, misery, and danger, awaits me : but I am happy to say with the Apostle, 'I fear nothing, so that I only fulfil my calling to announce the Gospel to every creature, and to instruct in the word of life my brethren, who sit in darkness and the shades of death ; and I reckon the sufferings of this time not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us in Heaven." The abundant goodness of our Father, who is in heaven, never sends us a cross or a trial too heavy for our strength. The loss of everything, but especially of the recommendatory letter which you, Very Rev. Sir, procured for me from his Excellency the Governor, caused me very great embarrassment; but the kind Captain McArthur, our Commandant here, believed immediately my word-and being touched with the sight of my miseries, gave me most generously all assistance in word and in act. He agreed with me in opinion, that I ought to profit of this time by living in the forests among the savages, and thus learn their language, and observe their customs and manners. To this effect, he kindly sent with me some men to assist me in erecting a small hut, and he supplies me with necessary food and clothing. May the Lord, our ever tender Father, be ever blessed for this timely assistance. One of the greatest penances among my present afflictions, is my having been deprived of my spectacles. You may easily guess how miserable this makes me feel, when I tell you, that my shortsightedness is so great, that I can hardly perceive objects until I touch them. For goodness sake, forget not then to send me, as soon as possible, the requisite glasses. Of course, I require everything necessary for offering up the holy sacrifice of the mass, a breviary, some books of devotion, and a few others; in short, being stripped of everything, I throw myself into the arms of your well-known kind heart, and whatever your liberality and compassion, and that of the venerable clergy and devout laity shall think fit to send to your poor abandoned Don Angelo, will serve to alleviate his present miseries and pressing necessities. I cannot requite you otherwise but by my humble prayers, and by offering up to the Lord, the hunger, thirst, fatigues, and dangers I have suffered, and partly do yet endure, for your corporal and spiritual welfare; although I must acknowledge, that this will be but a small tithe of that reward and gratitude which shall justly be due from,Very Rev. Sir, Fund for the Relief of the Rev. Angelo Confalonieri, saved from the Wreck of the Heroine, and now suffering privations among the Aborigines of North Australia. … --- Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia, 1895, pp 557-560: Dr. Brady, whose whole heart was in his sacred enterprise, visited France and Ireland in search of missionaries, and soon enlisted a numerous band of priests and catechists and devoted nuns, with whom he sailed in the barque "Elizabeth," from London, on the 16th of September, 1845. They were in all a religious party of twenty-eight, besides one secular, a young Roman, Nicola Corporelli, whom the Bishop engaged to teach in his future college, and for whom he obtained the title of Pontifical Consul for Perth. They arrived in Freemantle on the 7th of January, 1846, and on the following day landed on Australian soil. The whole population of the township assembled to greet them. They chanted the Litanies as they rowed from the ship to the shore, and, on landing, intoned a Te Deum in thanksgiving for the safe voyage. ... The whole missionary party were soon scattered, each one with varied success being engaged in some special missionary enterprise. ... Father Confalonieri was a most devoted Italian priest with his heart wholly set on the mission to the aboriginals, and from the outset volunteered to labour in the Port Essington district, receiving from the Bishop full powers of Vicar-General for that object. Just before setting out from England he wrote to the Secretary of Propaganda a letter dated London, 12th September, 1845, which presents some interesting details not otherwise known to us. "To give your Excellency before quitting Europe some account of myself and our party is a duty imposed by gratitude, respect, and love, which your excellent heart encourages me to discharge. "First of all, however, permit me to renew the thanks which my Benedictine companions have already conveyed for the hundred francs paid to me by Monsignor Fornari, Nuncio in Paris. God will repay it to you abundantly in heaven. The health of our whole party and our journey have been blessed by Providence, and we all arrived safe in London. At Lyons we remained seven days in the house of the Marist Fathers, and we succeeded well with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. A sum of 40,000 francs (£1600) has been allotted to our mission, of which 28,000 have been already paid, and the rest will be soon forwarded. At Paris we were obliged to remain for almost a month to arrange matters with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and to provide several things for our future mission. The Benedictine Abbot there gave us a theological student, an excellent youth. At Amiens Providence proved most favourable to us, for Father Liebermann, Superior of the priests of the Sacred Heart of Mary, supplied our mission with three young priests and two lay brothers. Also in London the visit of our Bishop to the Prime Minister appears to have been favourable to the mission. I remained for a whole month in Dublin, where I enjoyed the society of my dear friend, Dr. Doyle. The Bishop in the meantime went in search of missionaries, but, I know not why, he could only secure a number of students, all in rhetoric, though of strong constitution and over twenty years of age, besides one priest. Also six nuns from Dublin, of the Order of Mercy, came to complete our missionary staff; three of these are professed, three novices, and one assistant. These Sisters will devote themselves to the instruction of youth and to comforting the sick, and will do a great deal of good. On the 15th we will set sail at the mercy of the waves, but in the hands of Divine Providence." This earnest missionary, accompanied by two Irish catechists, James Fagan and Nicholas Hogan, a few days after his arrival in Perth, set out for Port Essington with the intention of penetrating thence into the interior to evangelize the northern tribes of the natives, whose first apostle he was destined to be. He proceeded to Sydney, and thence sailed for his destination, but was shipwrecked in Torres Straits. All on board perished except the captain of the ship and the zealous priest. He made his way, however, to the poor natives, whom he yearned to evangelize. During the two years that he laboured amongst them he gained about four hundred of them to Christ. Worn out by disease and famine he died a true martyr of charity at Victoria, in Melville Island, not far from the spot now known as Cambridge Gulf, on the 9th of June, 1848. The Commandant at Port Essington wrote to the Secretary of the Archbishop of Sydney, on the 16th of June, 1848:--"Your friend, the Rev. Angelo Confalonieri, was seized with a treacherous attack of fever on the 31st of May, and calmly expired on the 9th inst. He received honourable burial, his own instructions being faithfully carried out, on the morning of the 11th. His remains were accompanied to the tomb by the officers and military with all the respect that was due to a man so highly esteemed." --- Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, p 71: Confalonieri, Angelo, Very Rev., Italian |