Alphonsus Coen | ANZ Clergy


About Help Contact login Rev Alphonsus Coen CP Title: Rev First Name: Alphonsus Middle Names: Preferred Name: Surname: Coen Order: CP Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Country of Birth: Australia Date of Ordination: Place of Ordination: Country of Ordination: Ordination Diocese: Seminary: Date of Death: 18-Sep-1917 Place of Death: Lewisham NSW Country of Death: Australia Date of Burial: 1917 Place of Burial: St Brigid's, Marrickville NSW Country of Burial: Australia Find A Grave URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172911130 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, p 55: Coen, Alphonsus, CP, Australian Friend of the Poor and Fallen A brother, Major Frank Coen, was killed in action in the First World War. Alphonsus grew to maturity at St. Patrick's College, Goulburn, listening to the wisdom, heavenly and otherwise, that flowed from the tongue of the famous Dr. 'Johnny' Gallagher. Two of the sisters joined the Mercy Sisters and two the Sacred Heart Order - which speaks a eulogy on the parents, who in the 1890s moved to Goulburn. Alphonsus was certainly a successful student, obtaining an M.A. degree and having studied law. Whether the law course was completed is not clear. The local Passionists at Mary's Mount Monastery had an appeal for the law student, hence his entry there and Ordination there at the hands of his former classics master in 1899. The Passionist Annals record that he was a highly successful missionary, but above all "a friend of the poor and fallen". Missionary headquarters alternated between Marrickville and Goulburn. Stricken by pneumonia and pleurisy he died in the Lewisham Hospital on 16 September 1917, at the early age of 43. His tombstone may be seen in the Marrickville church-yard. (Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 6) Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per late Bonaventure Thom CP. --- Catholic Parish of St Augustine, Yass, Priests who have served in the Parish of Yass, July 2018, https://staug-yass.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/priests_list.pdf, accessed on 24 December 2025: "Rev. Father Alphonsus Coen, 1905-1906, 1911." --- ANZCC note: the Findagrave link is probably to a cenotaph, not to his actual burial site. Passionist Province history, https://www.passionists.com/the-journey/, as at 2026: "The St Brigid’s parish community centred on Marrickville, and grew from three hundred in 1886 to nearly four thousand in 1915. Fr Alphonsus Coen, a native Australian, was largely responsible for building ‘a magnificent temple’ as he described it in 1915. Following Alphonsus’ unexpected and sudden death, the new parish priest Bertrand Mangan, promised donors that they would be enrolled as founders in the ‘Father Alphonsus Memorial Church’ and that his remains would be transferred to the new church to be built around his tomb. This never happened and the temporary shrine erected over his grave deteriorated. Car-garages were built over the now lost grave. The area was made into a garden in 2007."

Title:

Rev

First Name:

Alphonsus

Middle Names:

Preferred Name:

Surname:

Coen

Order:

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Country of Birth:

Australia

Date of Ordination:

Place of Ordination:

Country of Ordination:

Ordination Diocese:

Seminary:

Date of Death:

18-Sep-1917

Place of Death:

Lewisham NSW

Country of Death:

Australia

Date of Burial:

1917

Place of Burial:

St Brigid's, Marrickville NSW

Country of Burial:

Australia

Find A Grave URL:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172911130

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, p 55:

Coen, Alphonsus, CP, Australian
Friend of the Poor and Fallen
A brother, Major Frank Coen, was killed in action in the First World War. Alphonsus grew to maturity at St. Patrick's College, Goulburn, listening to the wisdom, heavenly and otherwise, that flowed from the tongue of the famous Dr. 'Johnny' Gallagher. Two of the sisters joined the Mercy Sisters and two the Sacred Heart Order - which speaks a eulogy on the parents, who in the 1890s moved to Goulburn. Alphonsus was certainly a successful student, obtaining an M.A. degree and having studied law. Whether the law course was completed is not clear. The local Passionists at Mary's Mount Monastery had an appeal for the law student, hence his entry there and Ordination there at the hands of his former classics master in 1899. The Passionist Annals record that he was a highly successful missionary, but above all "a friend of the poor and fallen". Missionary headquarters alternated between Marrickville and Goulburn. Stricken by pneumonia and pleurisy he died in the Lewisham Hospital on 16 September 1917, at the early age of 43. His tombstone may be seen in the Marrickville church-yard.
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 6)
Ref.: MDHC File, Torquay, per late Bonaventure Thom CP.

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Catholic Parish of St Augustine, Yass, Priests who have served in the Parish of Yass, July 2018, https://staug-yass.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/priests_list.pdf, accessed on 24 December 2025: "Rev. Father Alphonsus Coen, 1905-1906, 1911."

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ANZCC note: the Findagrave link is probably to a cenotaph, not to his actual burial site. Passionist Province history, https://www.passionists.com/the-journey/, as at 2026: "The St Brigid’s parish community centred on Marrickville, and grew from three hundred in 1886 to nearly four thousand in 1915. Fr Alphonsus Coen, a native Australian, was largely responsible for building ‘a magnificent temple’ as he described it in 1915. Following Alphonsus’ unexpected and sudden death, the new parish priest Bertrand Mangan, promised donors that they would be enrolled as founders in the ‘Father Alphonsus Memorial Church’ and that his remains would be transferred to the new church to be built around his tomb. This never happened and the temporary shrine erected over his grave deteriorated. Car-garages were built over the now lost grave. The area was made into a garden in 2007."

Rev Alphonsus Coen CP

Biographical Notes