Raphael Martelli
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Canon Raffaele Martelli (13 March 1811August 1880) was Toodyay's first
Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
. He was a scholarly and gentle man who was much loved by settlers of all faiths. Martelli did not keep a diary, but his personality and humour shines through his regular correspondence with his friend Bishop
Rosendo Salvado Rosendo Salvado Rotea OSB (1 March 1814 – 29 December 1900) was a Spanish Benedictine monk, missionary, bishop, author, founder and first abbot of the Territorial Abbey of New Norcia in Western Australia. Early life and background Salvado was ...
of
New Norcia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. His letters from Toodyay reveal the day-to-day travails of a priest who started out with no house or church. He had to rely on the goodwill of his parishioners for a roof over his head and food on the table, while a pair of woollen winter socks from Salvado brought him untold joy.


Early life

Martelli was born in
Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
, Italy, on 13 March 1811. His
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
al certificate gives his full name as ''Napoleone Raffaele Mariano Melchiorre''. As a young boy he was enrolled in the
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
of San Carlo in Ancona. He studied the humanities and learnt French and English, eventually acquiring fluency in several languages. In 1834 he was
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
a priest, then created a canon of the church of Santa Maria della Piazza. For a time Martelli was also politically active as Italy was undergoing the upheavals of the
Italian Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
. However this did not sit well with his priestly vocation and he had to withdraw his involvement.


Western Australia

Martelli’s path to
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
started with his appointment at the Monastery of Santa Scolastica in
Subiaco, Italy Subiaco is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, in Lazio, central Italy, from Tivoli alongside the river Aniene. It is a tourist and religious resort because of its sacred grotto ( Sacro Speco), in the medieval St Benedi ...
where he taught
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
. Monks were prepared for missionary work at the monastery, and soon after his arrival in 1851 the monastery was visited by
Rosendo Salvado Rosendo Salvado Rotea OSB (1 March 1814 – 29 December 1900) was a Spanish Benedictine monk, missionary, bishop, author, founder and first abbot of the Territorial Abbey of New Norcia in Western Australia. Early life and background Salvado was ...
and Venancio Garrido, both of whom became dear friends. Salvado had travelled from Western Australia to seek funds from Rome and resources for his Benedictine monastery at
New Norcia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
where he planned to establish a mission for Aboriginals. Martelli wanted to join Salvado and sought letters of recommendation to this end. Abbot Angelo Pescetelli in Rome wrote: In April 1853 Martelli accompanied Salvado on the '' John Panter'' for the journey to Western Australia. There were two other priests and 39 monks on board. They arrived at
Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
on 15 August 1853. The friendship between the two men enabled Martelli to leave behind everyone and everything he knew and loved for the unknown. Martelli worked in Fremantle before being appointed to Toodyay in 1856. Salvado had visited the town in 1855 and with the assistance of a ticket-of-leave man had marked out a site for a church and petitioned the governor for 10 acres of land. Although the number of Catholics in the region was relatively small, it had increased with the arrival of convicts and Enrolled Pensioner Guards (EPGs) and their families at the two rural convict hiring depots at
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and Toodyay. At first Martelli was allowed to use one of the new unfurnished EPG cottages built at the depot, now located upstream of the townsite. The Guards had been occupying A-frame straw huts at the first Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot and Pensioner Guard Barracks while the cottages were being constructed. When Martelli was instructed to vacate the cottage he was offered EPG David Gailey's straw hut as temporary quarters. Gailey was an Irish Catholic and helped Martelli in various ways. Martelli reciprocated with small gifts such as a pot of butter that he asked Salvado to acquire for him. In one letter to Salvado he wrote, "I received some plants and herbs which I gave as a present to Mr Gailey." His stay in the hut was short and he had to move into a wooden shack by the river. During heavy flooding in July 1857 he found himself marooned in his "cheerless house" while floodwaters swirled around him. During these years Martelli worked hard for his parishioners while trying to raise funds to build the church. In September 1856 the Catholic Church had been granted Toodyay town lots 51, 52 and 53 for a schoolhouse, presbytery and church. The following year a lot was secured for a cemetery. He requested assistance from the government, and by November 1856 with help from volunteers the walls of the chapel had been erected, but the church needed a roof; lack of funds caused a lengthy delay. In March 1858 he was transferred back to Fremantle to serve as chaplain to the Convict Establishment. For Martelli to work at the Establishment he had to become a
British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
and swear allegiance to
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
; he thus became the first Italian in WA to be a
naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
a British subject, although "matters of nationality or citizenship meant little to him". In January 1859, the Church of Sancta Maria in Toodyay was blessed by Bishop
Joseph Serra Joseph C. Serra (born August 8, 1940) is an American politician who served in the Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature ...
. He also consecrated the original St Patrick's Church in York that Martelli had undertaken to build. During his time at York and Toodyay, Martelli gained the respect of both Catholic and
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
alike. He and the Reverend Charles Harper became firm friends at a time when religious intolerance was encountered all too often. In 1868, after his time at the Establishment, followed by more years of work based in Fremantle, Martelli was given permission to "withdraw" to the monastery at New Norcia. He lived a very happy and active life there before Bishop
Martin Griver Martin Griver y Cuni (11 November 1814 in Granollers, Spain1 November 1886 in Perth, Western Australia), an Australian bishop, was the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth, serving from 1873 until his death in 1886. Early life in Spain As a y ...
transferred him back to Toodyay in 1872, where he again served the Avon Valley district. By then the new town of Newcastle had been established at the depot, and a new St John the Baptist Church constructed, where Martelli conducted an unofficial school in a back room. Martelli remained in Toodyay until June 1880 when he retired to New Norcia, his "earthly paradise". He was already ill and died there on 3 August 1880; he was buried next to his friend Garrido.


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martelli, Raffaele 1811 births 1880 deaths People from Ancona People from Toodyay, Western Australia Settlers of Western Australia 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Australian Roman Catholic priests Italian emigrants to Australia