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History of the Discalced Carmelites in Australia

WILLIAM BURKE
(COLUMBA OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT)

William Burke was born on 5 April 1860 in Derrybrien, County Galway. He was ordained in Dublin for the diocese of Maitland on 8 February 1885. He arrived in Maitland diocese on 24 February 1886. "His first appointment seems to have taken place twelve months later. He is recorded as having been assistant in the parish of Lambton from February 1887 to May 1889. From the Australian Catholic Directories I have traced that Fr Burke was rector of the parish of Muswellbrook from 1889 to 1892, but that no trace of him is to found after that." (P. Wilson)

In December 1892, Fr Burke received the Carmelite habit in Loughrea. He was professed on 8 December 1893. He desired that the Order make a foundation in Australia. With this in mind he dedicated his savings to be used for such a venture. Most of his ministry was as Novice Master in Loughrea. He died 30 October 1930, in Loughrea. He had a considerable reputation among the brethren for holiness and true religious spirit. Present at the last anointing were his novices. Two of these were to contribute much to the Order in Australia, the future Frs Jarlath Flynn and Hilary Doran.

References: notes of Fr Hilary Doran, Australian Discalced Carmelite Archives and the Maitland Diocesan Archives, courtesy of Mgr (now Adelaide Archbishop) Phillip Wilson.

GEORGES THIERRY D'ARGENLIEU
(LOUIS OF THE TRINITY OCD)

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu was born in 1889. At the age of 17 he graduated from the Ecole Navale. During World War I he received the Legion of Honour for his part in the Moroccan campaign. He left the navy in 1920 and became a Carmelite at the age of 31. At the time of the French mobilisation in 1939 he was Provincial of the Paris Province. He took off his habit and resumed the uniform of a naval commander. He was captured by the Germans in June 1940, at Cherbourg. Three days later he leapt from a moving convoy train en route to Germany. He then commandeered a fishing boat and sailed it to Jersey. A few days later he reached London and presented himself to the Carmelite Priory in Kensington, and in what must be that hospitable community's only lapse, he was turned away. When his identity was confirmed, he used to visit during his time in London, to share fraternal life. In London he worked closely with General de Gaulle.

He was commissioned to gather the remnants of the French navy and regain French colonial Africa for the Free French forces. In late 1940, while attempting to negotiate with Vichy regime in Dakar, he was seriously wounded. Six weeks later, needing crutches to stand, he directed the assaults on Gabon, Port Gentil and Libreville. In 1941 he was appointed to a similar mission in the Pacific. When his ship reached Brisbane he visited Auchenflower Carmel to see the French Prioress, Mother Mary Raphael, who held him in high regard as a friar and as a patriot. Perhaps it was this visit that stimulated Mother Raphael to seek a foundation of Carmelite friars for Australia. Admiral d'Argenlieu meanwhile gained New Caledonia for the Free French and made it his headquarters. During this time he arrested and imprisoned a number of Marist Missionaries who were Vichy supporters. It is for this that the Marists in Australia and the Pacific remember him!

After further diplomatic work for the Free French he returned to London in 1943. He was appointed commander of the French naval forces in Britain and played a role in planning the Normandy invasion. At the liberation of Paris he walked beside Generals de Gaulle and Leclerc in the great victory parade to the thanksgiving Te Deum in Notre Dame. After the war he was Governor General of Indo-China until 1947, when he asked to return to his monastery. On his retirement, he was given a number of awards including the Grand Cross of the legion of Honour and being invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He then removed his admiral's uniform and resumed his Carmelite habit and lived a humble and quiet life of prayer. Because of his closeness to de Gaulle he wanted to avoid having his ministry politicised. He therefore seldom preached in public, preferring instead to lead 'enclosed' retreats for groups such as priests and nuns. He died at the priory of Avon in 1964.

Reference Journey to Carith, Rohrbach and Sr Margaret Mary, Ormiston

AGOSTINO GALANTI, OCD & TOMASO ATTANASI, OCD

Fr Agostino Francesco Galanti was born near Rome in 1901. He entered the Roman province of the Discalced Carmelites at the age of 17 and was ordained at the age of 25. He became a member of the community at Stella Maris on Mount Carmel. He taught humanities in the Order's inter-war International College of Philosophy. He was involved in administration as procurator. In later years in Australia he took pride in extensions to the monastery for which he was responsible and for building flats and shops in Haifa which were meant to provide income for the Stella Maris community. He was also secretary to a number of Apostolic Visitations in the Holy Land.

In March 1939 the British army, commanded by Montgomery, took over the Order's Villa of Abdalla, opposite Stella Maris, mined the entrance and restricted the use of the light house on the roof to friendly shipping. With the outbreak of the Second World War the College of Philosophy was closed and the students returned to their countries of origin. Several members of the community from enemy countries, including Frs Agostino Galanti and Tomaso Attanasi, were imprisoned by the British authorities. It did not help that Fr Tomaso was a Fascist. They spent 18 months imprisoned first at Emmaus and then in the Franciscan monastery of the Flagellation in Jerusalem. Frs Agostino and Tomaso were then brought to Australia, as prisoners of war.

In 1942 they were both interned, in Tatura or nearby Bonegilla camps, for the duration. In the camps, Galanti was able to have a limited ministry with the Italians. The chaplain of the camp, Fr Owens, always spoke very highly of Fr Agostino. Apostolic Delegate Panico (Fr Agostino's panegyrist said it was Archbishop Mannix) sought to have all the interned priests released into the care of their respective Orders. As there were no Discalced Carmelite friars in Australia, the Donvale Carmelites were asked to take in our brethren. The condition was that they were to follow the regular observance of the house, even to saying the Divine Office in choir. This they happily did. Although Fr Tomaso Attanasi was unhappy in his vocation, telling the friars he had been "virtually kidnapped" at the age of 13. Like Galanti he was a member of the Roman Province. Fr Tomaso was musical. The Port Melbourne priory house notes for October 1945 congratulate "Fr Thomas, O.D.C., for the great success of his 'Ave Maria' at its first public performance in the Cathedral Hall." He dedicated a motet in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel "To my Dear Fathers and Brothers at 'Whitefriars', 8 December 1945". (O.Carm archives) Attanasi returned to Italy after the war and left the Order and the ordained ministry. He is remembered by those who knew him on Mount Carmel as being somewhat unpredictable.

In 1944 Galanti was asked, by either Archbishop Mannix or Apostolic Delegate Panico, to assist Fr Modotti, SJ the Italian Chaplain in Victoria. This work he did unsparingly from the Port Melbourne Priory. From 1946 he was the principal Italian Chaplain in Melbourne. He continued this work until the arrival of the Capuchins in May 1948. He directed the magazine "Angelo della Famiglia" until the end of his life. Fr Agostino was also associated with the foundation of the Juventus football club in Melbourne, although I am unable, at present, to document this. In the last year of his life Galanti suffered from high blood pressure. He died as a result of a stroke, at about 2:00 am on Good Friday, 7 April, 1950.

Fr Matthew McGettrick came down from Brisbane for the funeral. He celebrated the Solemn Requiem Mass in Sacred Heart Church, Carlton. Archbishop Mannix presided, attended by Frs Nugent and Curtain O.Carm. The tributes paid at his death indicate he was greatly loved and respected. Fr Nazario Mammi O.F.M.Cap preached the panegyric. He said, "His humility and modesty concealed from the eyes of people the nobility of his soul and the integrity of his character. He hardly ever spoke of himself and his achievements in the mission field. A true Carmelite, he had a strong love for Palestine and the Holy Places, and at a young age left his native country to carry on the work of the sacred ministry (there)… There he spent most of his youthful years educating and training Carmelite students.. He was above all a most efficient administrator in the name of his own Order and the Holy See. When the war broke out he was taken prisoner and brought to Australia, a land he loved much. He was released through the kindness and influence of the Archbishop and became associated with Fr Modotti in the work for the Italian prisoners of war and the spiritual care of the Italian community of Melbourne." Fr Paul Clery, O.Carm. remembered him as "a gentle, capable man and zealous priest".

A long line of cars followed the hearse from Carlton to Fawkner General Cemetery where Fr Agostino was buried in the Carmelite plot. On 10 March, 1952 his remains were transferred to the private Carmelite plot at Donvale.

References: O.Carm Archives, On God's Command Pino Bosi, Ricordo del Sanctuario di S. Antonio e dei Fondatori, Padre Ezekiele (Venice Province pre-war student on Mount Carmel).

50 YEARS OF THE DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS
IN AUSTRALIA (1948-1998)

Contents::

Introduction
1. Daniel MacEvey - the first Discalced Carmelite in Australia
2. Other Discalced Carmelites in Australia before 1948
3. The First Foundation
4. Chronology of the Friars in Australia (1948-2002)
5. A Who's Who

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