Rev Arthur O'Brien
Title:
Rev
First Name:
Arthur
Middle Names:
Edmund
Preferred Name:
Surname:
O'Brien
Order:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Grafton NSW
Country of Birth:
Australia
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
Ordination Diocese:
Bathurst
Seminary:
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
QLD
Country of Death:
Australia
Date of Burial:
Place of Burial:
Redcliffe, 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 | Dalby | 1925 | 1930 | Toowoomba Prayer Calendar; Priests of 1928 | |||||
| Brisbane | Redcliffe | Parish Priest | 1930 | 1955 | Toowoomba Prayer Calendar; Priests of 1928; Gravestone |
Biographical Notes
Fr Denis W. Martin, Priests of 1928, Brisbane, 2003, pp 72-73:
Arthur O'Brien
As a consequence of the opening of the seminary at Manly in 1889, the seminary of St Charles Borromeo at Bathurst closed in 1891. How then was Arthur Edmond O'Brien educated at St Charles seminary and ordained for Bathurst in December 1905? He had been born in Grafton in 1876.
Once again it was due to failing health that he was compelled to move to a more congenial climate. It worked, for he arrived here in 1923 and was granted a further 34 years of life. The Dalby air began his recovery, followed by a year at Nudgee, and 25 years as Parish Priest of Redcliffe.
A E O'Brien retired and bore his last illness 'with exemplary faith and fortitude'. He died on 4th August 1957. The funeral from St Stephen's took him on his last journey to the Redcliffe Cemetery.
Fr O'Brien seems to have kept up to date with Church thinking by receiving Catholic papers and periodicals from around the world. He kept cuttings on Catholic university education, Cardinal Gibbon's [Baltimore] addresses, etc and worked methodically on his own sermons as testified by his exercise books, some of which have reached our Archives. In his early Bathurst days, some of his writings were published in The Montreal Tribune, The Boston Pilot, etc.
(Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Martin.)
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Prayer Calendar: Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts, 1864–2025, Compiled by Annie Carrett, Diocesan Archivist, 2001, Updated by Gabrielle Saide, Diocesan Archivist, 2023:
Rev Arthur Edward O'Brien, died 4 Aug 1957
Arthur Edward O'Brien was born in Grafton, NSW on 17th December, 1876. He was educated at St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, and St Charles' Seminary, Bathurst. He was ordained priest for the Bathurst Diocese on 8th December, 1905. Ill-health caused him to seek the more temperate climate of the Brisbane Archdiocese, where he arrived in 1923. Subsequently he served in the following places: Assistant Priest, Dalby (1925-1930), Parish Priest, Redcliffe (1930-1955). In 1955, ill-health forced him to resign from active Parish work. He died on the 4th August 1957 and was buried in the Redcliffe Cemetery.
(Ref. Brisbane Archives)
Reproduced by permission of Bishop Ken Howell.