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1920 Article about the beginnings of San Clemente |
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"San Clemente," Mayfield, North WaratahOn the Feast of All Dominican Saints, 9th November, 1916, His Lordship Dr Dwyer granted to the Community of St Mary’s, West Maitland, the option of taking up a new Convent at Mayfield, North Waratah, where a Catholic School was much needed. After much prayer and consideration it was decided to undertake the proffered work, and on the Feast of St Joseph, 1917, an agreement was signed for the purchase of Mr Julian Windeyer’s property at Mayfield. The house was immediately set in order for a Convent,
temporary classrooms arranged, and on Low Sunday, the 15th
April, under the kind escort of Rev V F Peters, Administrator of St
John’s Cathedral, Mother M. Joseph de Lauret (Prioress), and Mother M.
Philippa Byrne (Sub-Prioress) set out with the little band of Sisters –
Mother M. Concepta O’Donohoe (Superior), Sister M. Bonaventure Lamond
and Sister M. Winifrid Keating – who had been chosen to begin the work
at “San Clemente”. The priest in charge of the Parish, Rev H O’Laverty,
warmly welcomed the Nuns on their arrival, and kind friends had the
house in perfect readiness. That same evening our good Bishop paid the
Sisters a visit, and next morning His Lordship blessed the building and
said the first Mass in the little Australian “San Clemente”. Much to
the joy of the Nuns it was a Votive Mass of Our Lady. |
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The first community of Dominican nuns at San Clemente M.M. Concepta O'Donohoe (*S.M. Bernadine Kickham is not mentioned as part of the first community in the article above, so presumably she was visiting at the time this was taken)
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The school opened that morning,
April 16th, and 50 children were in attendance. Since then
the numbers have steadily increased, and the present enrolment is 107.
Besides the children of the Parochial School, the Sisters also receive
external pupils and boarders. The Nuns are deeply grateful to
God for His evident blessing upon their work, and they are also very
thankful to the many kind friends and benefactors who smoothed their way
in the first days at “San Clemente.” That there is much in a name is
surely now accepted as a truth. The choice of the name for this new
House was actuated by traditional feeling and love of the Order; there
is, too, the knowledge that traditional names stimulate and help towards
the maintenance of a noble standard. |
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"The old days in Mayfield" M.M. Concepta O'Donohoe and
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The “San Clemente” of today in
Rome – the Dominican Church and Novitiate from which our little Convent
takes its name – dates back to the earliest years of Christianity. The
house of St Clement, Pope and Martyr, is supposed to have covered part
of the actual site. He converted his paternal home into an oratory,
which was later on, probably in the reign of Constantine, enlarged to
the dimensions of a church. St Jerome mentions it in 420. The relics of St Clement, with
those of St Ignatius of Antioch, are enclosed in an urn under the High
Altar. This ancient Sanctuary is replete with archaeological and
artistic interest. The mosaics, rare samples of mediaeval art, are rich
in mystic meaning, and there are frescoes that won the admiration of
Raphael, Leonardo and Angelo. Greater yet perhaps is the historic
interest, the connection with those most venerated in early and in later
Christian Rome, notably St Gregory the Great, who preached some of his
renowned homilies at “San Clemente”. In the year 1623, the Church was
given to the Irish Dominicans by Pope Urban VIII. King Edward VII, when
Prince of Wales, visited “San Clemente” in 1859, and in 1863, sent an
engraving as a souvenir of his visit. In 1899 the Duke and Duchess of
Connaught visited and were much interested. The interest of these royal
personages was claimed mainly by the Stuart relics and memories in his
historic Convent. These include portraits of the Old Pretender and of
Maria Clementina Sobieski, and a slab commemorative of a visit of Prince
Charles Edward in 1743. Amongst many honoured names connected with this time-honoured Sanctuary in our own day there is one that cannot be passed in silence – the name of one who was blessed with Erin’s gift of eloquence, and whose voice reverberated far and wide, proclaiming the mystery of the Gospel. Father Tom Burke, O.P., was for some time an inmate of San Clemente. (From the newsletter of St. Mary's
Dominican Convent, Maitland (c. 1920) |
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