Matthew Gibney

Matthew Gibney

Bishop Matthew Gibney was born in November 1835 at Killeshandra, Cavan, Ireland. He studied for the priesthood at the preparatory seminary at Stillorgan and from 1857 at the Catholic Missionary College of All Hallows, Drumcondra, Dublin. He was ordained priest in 1863 and arrived in Perth, Western Australia later that year.

In Victoria on 28 June 1880, while travelling by train from Benalla to Albury, he learned that Ned Kelly's gang had been surrounded at Mrs Ann Jones's Glenrowan hotel and were shooting it out with police. Gibney left his train and tended the seemingly seriously wounded Kelly, heard his confession and gave him the last rites.^[1] In January 1887, Fr. Gibney was consecrated as His Lordship The Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Gibney, the Lord Bishop of Perth. Bishop Gibney served in this role until his forced resignation, due to the financial crisis the Diocese of Perth was then in, in May 1910.

He died of cancer on 22 June 1925.

Exhumation

Matthew Gibney at CBC Perth

Gibney was buried within the grounds of St Mary's Cathedral in Perth, Western Australia, but the exact location was kept secret to prevent the remains from being disturbed. The location of the grave was soon forgotten, and remained unknown until the 2000s. Around 2003, archdiocese archivist Sister Frances Stibi discovered a cross carved into the church's floorboards near the altar. Three years later, pews were removed during restoration work, and three more crosses were discovered, marking out the boundaries of a rectangle. When archaeologists probed the dirt under the floorboards, they discovered a small brick and plaster crypt capped with metal, and containing two coffins. Decorative plates on the lids identified them as holding the remains of Gibney and Bishop Martin Griver.^[2]

See also

• Catholic bishops and archbishops of Perth, Western Australia

Notes

1. ^ Biography
2. ^ West Australian 14 October 2006

References

• Laurie, Tiffany (14 October 2006). "Cathedral reveals the secret of its lost bishops". The West Australian: p. 3. 
• Appointment of the Very Rev. Matthew Gibney, Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Perth, Western Mail, 25 Sept. 1886, p.11
• Kimberly, W.B. (compiler) (1897). History of West Australia. A Narrative of her Past. Together With Biographies of Her Leading Men. Melbourne: F.W. Niven. 

Persondata
Name	Gibney, Matthew
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Date of birth	1835
Place of birth
Date of death	1925
Place of death