Martin Kelly
Title:
First Name:
Martin
Middle Names:
Francis
Preferred Name:
Surname:
Kelly
Order:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Tullaroan, Co Kilkenny
Country of Birth:
Ireland
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
Ordination Diocese:
Seminary:
St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
Forbes NSW
Country of Death:
Australia
Date of Burial:
Place of Burial:
Forbes NSW
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armidale | Armidale | 1871 | Oct | 1872 | Campbell | ||||
| Armidale | Grafton | Oct | 1872 | Oct | 1874 | Campbell |
Biographical Notes
T.W. Campbell, The Priests of the Diocese of Armidale: A Necrology, Braddon ACT, 2005:
Kelly, Martin
Born Tullaroan, Co Kilkenny, Ireland, date unknown. Details of education unknown. He studied for the priesthood at Maynooth. He was ordained in 1857 for the diocese of Ossory, exact date unknown. Place of ordination unknown. He was removed from one parish in the Ossory diocese to St Mary's cathedral, Kilkenny, then expelled from the diocese in 1866 on grounds of paternity. He moved to Liverpool England, then to a seminary in France to teach English, where he met Bishop O'Mahony, and offered his services to the Armidale diocese. Accepted by O'Mahony, who knew nothing of his failings, he travelled with O'Mahony to Sydney on Strathnaver, which departed England 30 November 1870, in the company of fellow priests for the diocese, James Kelly, Patrick Dunne and Felix Schurr, and student John Davis. The party arrived in Sydney on 4 March 1871. Kelly and colleagues went to Armidale to await O'Mahony's arrival on 25 March 1871. In October 1872 he was transferred to Grafton, where he took actions and performed deeds that caused public pain to O'Mahony who suspended him in October 1874 at the time when it was alleged he paid hush money to Ellen Nugent and her mother, the people involved in the paternity case brought against O'Mahony. Kelly left Grafton and the diocese and went to Sydney where he abandoned the priesthood, established a school, and wrote articles and letters acrimonious towards O'Mahony. He then married, and obtained employment as a Crown Land agent at Forbes NSW. On 17 July 1885 he fell off a step ladder in his Forbes office and cut his head against the office press. The newspaper report indicated that the combination of loss of blood and heart disease brought about his death. He died on 20 July 1885 in Forbes. He was buried in Forbes cemetery.
(Sources: Farrell, SMH 21 Jul 1885 p 8, MDHC A-Z K42).
(Reproduced by permission of Tom Campbell.)