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Rev Florentin de Quélen de la Villéglée

Title:

Rev

First Name:

Florentin

Middle Names:

Louis

Preferred Name:

Surname:

de Quélen de la Villéglée

Order:

Date of Birth:

1761

Place of Birth:

Country of Birth:

France

Date of Ordination:

Place of Ordination:

Country of Ordination:

Ordination Diocese:

Seminary:

Date of Death:

25-Sep-1846

Place of Death:

Paris

Country of Death:

France

Date of Burial:

1846

Place of Burial:

Country of Burial:

France

Find A Grave URL:


Appointments Table

Diocese
Place
Role
Start Day
Start Month
Start Year
End Day
End Month
End Year
Source
Sydney SydneyVisitor27Nov181926Dec1819ADB, s.v. Freycinet
Items per page:
0 of 0


Biographical Notes

Chaplain aboard the ship Uranie during the voyage of exploration of Louis de Freycinet, which visited Sydney in 1819.

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Louis de Freycinet, Voyage autour du monde, entrepris par ordre du roi, Paris, 1827, vol. 1, p xi:
"F.L. de Quélen de la Villeglée, chanoine titulaire du Chapitre royal de Saint-Denis, aumônier de l'expédition."

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Gazette nationale ou le Moniteur universel, Paris, 27 September 1846, p 2420:
— M. l’abbé F.-L. de Quélen de la Villeglée, licencié en Sorbonne, chanoine titulaire du chapitre royal de Saint-Denis, est décédé hier, à l’âge de quatre-vingt-cinq ans.

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Abbé Adrien Friedmann, Le Chapitre national et épiscopal de Saint-Denis: étude historique et canonique (1806-1895): thèse présentée à la Faculté canonique de l'Institut catholique de Paris en vue de l'obtention du doctorat, 1938, p 124r:
Florentin Louis de Quélen de la Villeglée, 25 septembre 1846.

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, pp 137-138:

De La Vilieglee, Lewis Quelen, Canon, French
Did He Remove the Blessed Sacrament Left by Father Jeremiah O'Flinn?

Lewis Quelen was born in 1771, but details of his noble family and education are unknown. Until 1808 he was Chaplain to a Womens' reformatory and Mental Asylum in Saltpetiere. His cousin, the Archbishop of Paris, then appointed him a Canon of the Royal Chapter at Saint Denys. In favour with Louis XVIII he was made a Chaplain to the French exploration ship, 'Uranie'; and when that vessel as part of the French Fleet came into Port Jackson on 19th November 1819, the Chaplain ministered to the priest-less Sydney Catholics. According to Dr Eris O'Brien ('Dawn of Catholicism', p. ) the baptisms performed were later recorded in Paris. Father Jeremiah O'Flinn, virtually deported by Governor Macquarie, had departed hastily in May 1819, leaving the Blessed Sacrament in the home of James Dempsey or of William Davis (an alternative Sydney historians can argue about among themselves). It would be a fair supposition that the Uranie Chaplain removed the Blessed Sacrament, but clear evidence of what happened is not available.

Columbus Fitzpatrick, a witness of the event as a child, relates that the Chaplain of the Uranie (sic), did say Mass for the Sydney Catholics, that he couldn't speak English, and that his stay was short. Nothing is said of the removal of the Sacred Species. Dr Eris O'Brien further relates in his 'Dawn of Catholicism' that baptisms performed during the visit were recorded in Paris. The whole matter deserves further clarification and research. (For an account of the Fitzpatrick evidence the researcher should study the booklet of Mgr C.J. Duffy 'Catholic Social & Religious Life in the Macquarie Era; (Australia Catholic Historical Society Publication). If the supposition is correct that the 'Uranie Chaplain' did remove the Blessed Sacrament left by Father O'Flinn, it means that the oak-chest in the Dempsey or Davis home was a shrine of worship for six months from May to November. Probably more details of the Chaplain's life can be found in that rare book written by Lady Marnie Bassett, 'Realms and Islands'. In her research in Paris the authoress ascertained that Lewis Quelen died in Paris in 1846 at the age of 85, and kindly forwarded some of the facts mentioned above.
(Footprints, Vol. 3, No. 8)

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