Reverend John SmythPrint Page

The mortuary chapel (Smyth Memorial Chapel) was built to commemorate the Reverend John Smyth who arrived in Adelaide in 1853 and became Administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide and Vicar General.

The mortuary chapel erected in the Catholic Cemetery, West Terrace, in memory of the late Very Rev. Dr. John Smyth, V.G., was solemnly opened on Sunday afternoon, October 21, by His Lordship the Right Rev. Dr. Shiel, in the presence of a very large assemblage of spectators. His Lordship was assisted by the Rev. Fathers Horan, O.S.F., Murphy, Kennedy, Hughes, Nolan, O.S.A.,M'Closkey, and Nevin. The ceremony was commenced by a circuit of the exterior of the edifice, after which a similar circuit was made of the interior. The building then received His Lordship`s blessing in accordance with the ritual.

Rev. Father Horan in concluding an earnest and eloquent, discourse, the rev. gentleman said he addressed his hearers as the spiritual children of a father who had devoted his life and talents to the promotion of their eternal interests, and from the large meeting of Catholics there that day he was convinced that they had not forgotten him. No; the name of Father Smyth would be transmitted from themselves to their children's children, and the erection of that memorial chapel was a visible proof of their love for and appreciation of him, and one which in after generations would call to remembrance the name and merits, of one of the best and noblest priests who had set foot upon South Australian soil.
Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW), 18 November 1871.

Smyth Memorial Chapel

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