Bishop Robert Willson & William HallPrint Page

The pair of windows between the chapel and the confessionals are scenes from the life of St Joseph and were installed in 1871. One is in memory of Bishop Willson and his Vicar General, Dr William Hall, who both died in 1866 and includes their portraits. There is also a memorial window in St Mary's.

In 1842 Hobart Town was created a diocese separate from New South Wales. Willson was chosen as its chief pastor and consecrated at Birmingham on 28 October. With four missionaries chosen in England he arrived on 11 May 1844 to find two priests already in the island, churches at Richmond, Hobart and Launceston, and himself the ruler of a kingdom within a kingdom: a penal department and a body of free settlers. For the first ten years he gave his personal services almost exclusively to the penal abodes.

He therefore made Hall his vicar-general. With control of diocesan administration, the vicar had wide powers which he knew how to use.

Although the austere vicar-general made few intimate friends among his flock, he was never idle, for he attempted too much by himself. His administration for twenty-two years was very efficient. As the years rolled by a steady growth of affection and appreciation effaced the memory of uneasy beginnings until all Catholics, devout and lax, learned and unlettered, looked to Father Hall for advice and comfort.

The memorial window to the late Rev. Bishop Wilson and the late Vicar-General, Dr. Hall, was unveiled on Sunday morning at St. Joseph’s Church, Hobart Town. The window of stained glass, a joint memorial to Bishop Wilson and the Very Rev. Dr. Hall, was executed by Hardman, of Birmingham.
Examiner (Launceston), 21st January 1871
 

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