Servites in Australia Part One
We should like our history in Australia
to be a permanent memory of the definition of the Dogma of the
Assumption; this great Marian act of our Holy Father, Pius XII."
- Fr. Alphonse Benetti, O.S.M. (Letter dated January 6, 1951)
The earliest history, of the Servites in Australia revolves
around three men. Between them there was such a bond of mutual co-operation
and esteem that a good solid foundation
of the Order was almost inevitable, in spite of difficulties.
These three were Fr. James Keane, O.S.M., Archbishop Prendiville of Perth and Fr. Albert Langmead.
The first of these had by that time a reputation and background of zealous work for the Order and devotion to the Blessed Virgin that needs no citation here.
Raymond Prendiville, lrish born, had been the Archbishop of one of the most far-flung dioceses of the Catholic world since 1933; always on the alert for personnel to meet the growing needs of Perth, West Australia, he took a keen and personal interest in the establishment of the Servites.
Father Langmead was the pastor of the
vast parish of Osborne Park in the northern section of Perth from
which the first Servite parish was excised. He worked so closely
with Fr. Keane and the first Servites in Australia that it has
often been said that the foundation was as much his as ours.
In late 1950 a layman from Perth, Mr. P.J. Mann, was in London,
where he visited the Servite church in Fulham Road. In
conversation viith Fr. Francis McEnerney, Prior of this
community, he spoke of the needs of Perth and the very real
possibility that the Servites could establish themselves there.
On his return he reported this conversation to the Archbishop,
who then extended an official invitation to the Order to come to
Perth. It had been a long standing ambition of Father Alphonse
Bennetti, then Prior General, that the Order spread to this
sector of the English speaking world, and soon correspondence
began between Fr. Bennetti and Archbishop Prendiville. Father
Langmead was asked to conduct a study of the large northern end
of his parish, known as Wanneroo. His conclusion was that this
large area, made up mostly of market gardens run by Italian and
Yugoslav migrants, would be viable as a separate parish. A small
church had been built there in 1932 and there was a school of 100
children taught by the Sisters of Mercy. On July 1, 1951 the
General Council in Rome accepted the offer of Archbishop
Prendiville and decided to send its English speaking Councillor,
Father Keane, to begin what must have seemed a bold step into the
most distant corner of the globe ever ventured by the Servites.