Saturday, June 7, 2008

Sepias from Australia

Thomas Joseph Carr, archbishop of Melbourne from 1886 to 1917, wearing a strange miter/cappa-combo.


Carr's predecessor, James Alipius Goold, bishop of Melbourne from 1848 to 1878, archbishop of Melbourne from 1874 to 1886. Supposedly bishop Goold, when he became old, did not only grow physically weak but also "difficult in temperament" (whatever that means). He certainly looks like a bish you don't wanna mess with.


Here's a nice one: James Moore, bishop of Ballarat from 1884 to 1904. Magnificent miter, great gloves, charming chasuble and miles of man-lace. Way to go, your Excellency!


Daniel Murphy, bishop of Hobart Town from 1866 to 1907. He was not only a popular shepherd but also an astronomer. He even addressed the Brisbane congress on the conservation of solar energy once. When he celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest in 1888 he was granted the title of archbishop honoris causa.


Laurence Bonaventure Sheil, bishop of Adelaide from 1866 to 1872.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Numbers 2, 4 and 5 looks to be wearing the same mitre and cope...

Velletri-Segni said...

I guess the practice of wearing the peectoral cross over the chasuble goes back further than I thought. For that matter, I have never seen it worn over the cope.

Velletri-Segni said...

All of these photos were taken in a studio. Gould consecrated Moore on January 12, 1884. Bishop Daniel Murphy was a co-consecrator. Could some of these photos been taken at that time? Gould might have divested his pontificals and put on the winter cappa after Mass. Moore could still have been in pontificals following his consecration Mass. Murphy would have used the cope and the simple miter to act as co-consecrator. They might have decided to go to the studio for the photos right after the Mass.

What this theory does not explain is the presence of Carr and Shiel. Carr was a bishop in Ireland until his appointment to Melbourne in 1886. And Shiel died in 1987, almost 12 years before Moore's consecration.

Velletri-Segni said...

Correction - Shiel died in 1872

leo said...

Interesting theory!
But it looks like Moore is not in the same studio as Goold and Murphy. Sheil on the other hand is.