Patrick Courtenay | ANZ Clergy


About Help Contact login Rev Patrick Courtenay Title: Rev First Name: Patrick Middle Names: Ambrose Preferred Name: Surname: Courtenay Order: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Country of Birth: Date of Ordination: Place of Ordination: Country of Ordination: Ordination Diocese: Seminary: Date of Death: 10-Mar-1872 Place of Death: Cork Country of Death: Ireland Date of Burial: 1872 Place of Burial: Country of Burial: Ireland Find A Grave URL: FindaGrave - Person Photo FindaGrave - Grave Photo Biographical Notes Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, pp 94-95: Courtenay, Patrick Ambrose, Irish The Priest of the Mountains In a letter from Jamieson (centre for the Woods Point Mission), dated 20 September 1866 Fr. Courtenay wrote as follows to the Vicar General, Fr John Fitzpatrick: "Allow me to remain up in these mountains until the debt is paid ... Then give me a good large mission down the country and it will be myself that will assist you to finish St. Patrick's Cathedral, both inside and out ..." The note is indicative of one of the most generous, hardworking priests to adorn the church in Victoria in the last century. He came to Victoria at the age of about 58 to give seven years of pioneering service, to enrich his memory by the building of churches and schools, to become prominent in civic affairs and to acquire a popularity among the people that is still being brought to light in district histories. "Memories and Musings", a column written for the Melbourne Advocate by F.D. Minogue, Secretary of the MDHC, in the forties and fifties, refers many times to the work and fame of the 'Priest of the Mountains'. Two copies are before me as this biography is written, those of 20.5.1948 and 17.5.1951. Strangely many of the life details, prior to his arrival in Victoria in September 1862, seem to elude. He was a native of Cork, whence he returned in 1868 to rest his bones. An American Directory shows he was stationed in Baltimore in 1844. Later we find him in the Birmingham Diocese, Eng. and building a church at Kidderminster. The Sydney Freeman's Journal of 19.1.1850 relates the news: "Kidderminster. The Rev. P.A. Courtenay has been working for the past two years at the church in Kidderminster. He has been journeying to and fro at risk of health and constitution and at the expense of much physical toil. He freely relinquished the quiet of home and the charm of study to carry out the design he had set himself. Firmly he set to work, sustained by the steady fire within, which could not be quenched by fatigue or weather, or the rude repulses of the ignorant. Today he reaps the reward in the contemplation of this majestic place of worship ..." It must have been in quest of building another "majestic" monument in Birmingham Diocese that brought Patrick Ambrose to Victoria in 1862, some twelve years later. He sought permission to collect, but Bishop Goold refused — as he usually did with collectors from anywhere. (Mother Mary McKillop once experienced a blunt refusal from Goold's Vicar, Dr. John Fitzpatrick). But anyhow Patrick Ambrose decided to enlist for service, despite the refusal. For some months he was assistant at Ballarat, and in January 1863 was transferred to St. Francis'. In June of that year he was given charge of the Portland Mission where he became acquainted with the future founder of the Josephites, Mary McKillop, who taught in his school. The amount of correspondence in the Commission files relating to the Portland era is voluminous — somewhat intimate to be quoting. Needless to say his relations with bishop and vicar general were seldom cordial — but what priest could agree with them? If anything is to be recorded to the detriment of the 'Priest of the Mountains' it is that he was inclined to question the procedure and good name of his predecessors, both in Portland and at Woods Point. January 1864 brought a tough assignment to the district of Jamieson, embracing Woods Point; Mansfield, Yea, Alexandria, — perhaps, too, parts now incorporated in the Sale Diocese. Nominally, at least for a time, he was regarded as the curate to Fr. Maurice McGillicuddy at Mansfield. More could be written, and probably the best summary is to be found in the Woods Point Times and Mountaineer (July 1872): "He was a zealous and hard-working priest, and his travels among the ranges in the then state of the tracks of the Divide were astonishing ..." And so the builder of churches at Heywood, Matlock, Mansfield and elsewhere — of schools at Woods' Point and Jericho — left the scene to return to the City of Cork. There he died at the age of 66 (or was it 68?) and his remains are in the Botanic Gardens Cemetery. (Footprints, Vol. 3, No. 1) Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per F.D. Minogue.

Title:

Rev

First Name:

Patrick

Middle Names:

Ambrose

Preferred Name:

Surname:

Courtenay

Order:

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Country of Birth:

Date of Ordination:

Place of Ordination:

Country of Ordination:

Ordination Diocese:

Seminary:

Date of Death:

10-Mar-1872

Place of Death:

Cork

Country of Death:

Ireland

Date of Burial:

1872

Place of Burial:

Country of Burial:

Ireland

Find A Grave URL:

FindaGrave - Person Photo

FindaGrave - Grave Photo

Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, pp 94-95:

Courtenay, Patrick Ambrose, Irish
The Priest of the Mountains
In a letter from Jamieson (centre for the Woods Point Mission), dated 20 September 1866 Fr. Courtenay wrote as follows to the Vicar General, Fr John Fitzpatrick:
"Allow me to remain up in these mountains until the debt is paid ... Then give me a good large mission down the country and it will be myself that will assist you to finish St. Patrick's Cathedral, both inside and out ..." The note is indicative of one of the most generous, hardworking priests to adorn the church in Victoria in the last century. He came to Victoria at the age of about 58 to give seven years of pioneering service, to enrich his memory by the building of churches and schools, to become prominent in civic affairs and to acquire a popularity among the people that is still being brought to light in district histories. "Memories and Musings", a column written for the Melbourne Advocate by F.D. Minogue, Secretary of the MDHC, in the forties and fifties, refers many times to the work and fame of the 'Priest of the Mountains'. Two copies are before me as this biography is written, those of 20.5.1948 and 17.5.1951. Strangely many of the life details, prior to his arrival in Victoria in September 1862, seem to elude. He was a native of Cork, whence he returned in 1868 to rest his bones. An American Directory shows he was stationed in Baltimore in 1844. Later we find him in the Birmingham Diocese, Eng. and building a church at Kidderminster. The Sydney Freeman's Journal of 19.1.1850 relates the news: "Kidderminster. The Rev. P.A. Courtenay has been working for the past two years at the church in Kidderminster. He has been journeying to and fro at risk of health and constitution and at the expense of much physical toil. He freely relinquished the quiet of home and the charm of study to carry out the design he had set himself. Firmly he set to work, sustained by the steady fire within, which could not be quenched by fatigue or weather, or the rude repulses of the ignorant. Today he reaps the reward in the contemplation of this majestic place of worship ..."

It must have been in quest of building another "majestic" monument in Birmingham Diocese that brought Patrick Ambrose to Victoria in 1862, some twelve years later. He sought permission to collect, but Bishop Goold refused — as he usually did with collectors from anywhere. (Mother Mary McKillop once experienced a blunt refusal from Goold's Vicar, Dr. John Fitzpatrick). But anyhow Patrick Ambrose decided to enlist for service, despite the refusal. For some months he was assistant at Ballarat, and in January 1863 was transferred to St. Francis'. In June of that year he was given charge of the Portland Mission where he became acquainted with the future founder of the Josephites, Mary McKillop, who taught in his school. The amount of correspondence in the Commission files relating to the Portland era is voluminous — somewhat intimate to be quoting. Needless to say his relations with bishop and vicar general were seldom cordial — but what priest could agree with them? If anything is to be recorded to the detriment of the 'Priest of the Mountains' it is that he was inclined to question the procedure and good name of his predecessors, both in Portland and at Woods Point. January 1864 brought a tough assignment to the district of Jamieson, embracing Woods Point; Mansfield, Yea, Alexandria, — perhaps, too, parts now incorporated in the Sale Diocese. Nominally, at least for a time, he was regarded as the curate to Fr. Maurice McGillicuddy at Mansfield. More could be written, and probably the best summary is to be found in the Woods Point Times and Mountaineer (July 1872): "He was a zealous and hard-working priest, and his travels among the ranges in the then state of the tracks of the Divide were astonishing ..." And so the builder of churches at Heywood, Matlock, Mansfield and elsewhere — of schools at Woods' Point and Jericho — left the scene to return to the City of Cork. There he died at the age of 66 (or was it 68?) and his remains are in the Botanic Gardens Cemetery.
(Footprints, Vol. 3, No. 1)
Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per F.D. Minogue.

Rev Patrick Courtenay

Biographical Notes