The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

diocese of the

Archdiocese of Melbourne The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was elev ...

, erected in 1874, covering the central and north-east regions of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, including

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

. Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo is the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of the Bishop of Sandhurst. On 3 February 2012, the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

announced the appointment of

Les Tomlinson In Christ's name , province = , diocese = Sandhurst , see = , enthroned = 1 March 2012 , ended = 23 July 2019 , predecessor = Joseph Grech , successor = Shane Mackinlay , ordination = 18 August 1972 in St Joseph's Church, Red Cliffs , ...

as the seventh Bishop of Sandhurst. He was installed in a liturgical ceremony on 1 March 2012. On 23 July 2019, Fr Shane Mackinlay was announced as the next Bishop of Sandhurst.

History

The Diocese of Sandhurst was established on 30 March 1874, from the Diocese of Melbourne. When the Diocese of Melbourne was made an

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, the Diocese of Sandhurst became one of its suffragans. Both dioceses are within the Ecclesiastical Province of Melbourne. By 1911, the diocese had

Augustinian Fathers Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

, Sisters of St. Brigid,

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for S ...

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by the Venerable Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The Sisters of the congre ...

Faithful Companions of Jesus The Faithful Companions of Jesus Sisters (FCJ Sisters, French: ''Fidèles compagnes de Jésus'') is a Christian religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church directly subject to the Pope. It was founded in Amiens in France in 1820 by Marie M ...

and

Good Shepherd Sisters The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, also known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1835 by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France. The religious sisters belong to a C ...

. Construction of the Sacred Heart Cathedral began in 1885 under Bishop Crane. Its organ was installed in 1905, under Stephen Reville. The cathedral was completed in 1977 under Bernard Stewart. Sacred Heart Cathedral is one of the largest

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

cathedrals in Australia and its construction was largely made possible by the estate of the

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

-born German pioneer priest

Henry Backhaus George Henry Backhaus (15 February 1811 – 7 September 1882) was a German-born Catholic priest in Australia. Backhaus was born in Paderborn and was one of nine children of a boot merchant. He studied with distinction in Paderborn, going f ...

, the first Roman Catholic priest on the goldfields of Bendigo.

Ordinaries

The following individuals have been appointed as Roman Catholic Bishops of Sandhurst: : Following the death in office of Joseph Grech, Monsignor Frank Marriott, the administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral, was appointed to serve as administrator of the diocese. On 3 February 2012, Monsignor Marriott announced that Pope

Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

had appointed Les Tomlinson as the next bishop. Tomlinson's installation took place on 1 March 2012.

Coadjutor bishops

Stephen Reville Stephen Reville D.D., O.S.A. KGCHS (9 May 1844 – 19 September 1916) was a Bishop of Sandhurst, of Victoria. Biography Reville was born in Wexford on 9 May 1844. He entered the Augustinian order at Callan, and studied on the continent, taking ...

, O.E.S.A. † (1885–1901) *

Bernard Denis Stewart Bernard Denis Stewart D.D., B.A., LL.B. (2 August 1900 – 15 October 1988) was the Bishop of Sandhurst, Victoria (Australia). Stewart was born at Essendon, Victoria to Ronald and Rose Stewart. He had six brothers, who were enrolled at the sa ...

† (1946–1950)

Priests of the diocese who became bishops

Hugh Edward Ryan Hugh Edward Ryan (1888–1977) was a Roman Catholic priest. He was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Townsville in Queensland, Australia, from 13 July 1938 to 14 September 1967. Ryan was born on 25 April 1888 in Kyabram, Victoria. He studied at St P ...

† - appointed Bishop of Townsville in 1938 * Thomas Vincent Cahill † - appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1948 * Francis Xavier Thomas † - appointed Bishop of Geraldton in 1962 *

Francis Peter de Campo Francis Peter de Campo , (9 July 1923 − 23 April 1998) was an Australian Catholic bishop. Ordained to the priesthood on 24 July 1949, de Campo was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie, Australia in 1979 and died in 1998 whi ...

† - appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Port Pirie in 1979

Other information

The diocese comprises the area north of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

, south of the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

and east of the

Loddon River The Loddon River, an inland river of the northcentral catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Loddon Mallee regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters ...

, an area of 45,178 km² (17,450 sq mls). The diocese is divided into 41

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es and has 74 priests, 109 religious sisters and 5 brothers. The diocese had a Catholic population of about 86,000 in 2006. There are 50 Catholic schools in the diocese – 40 primary, nine secondary and one P–10 school – catering for 7,700 primary and 5,850 secondary students. Bendigo's oldest Catholic church is St Kilian's. Saint Augustine's Church, Myers Flat, is the oldest Roman Catholic church building in the Diocese of Sandhurst. The church was built by John O'Brien and consecrated by Monsignor Hayes in 1864.

References

External links

Official website

Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst website
{{authority control Sandhurst Sandhurst Sandhurst Sandhurst, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1874 establishments in Australia