New Norcia, Western Australia

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New Norcia is a town in Western Australia, approximately 130 km (80 miles) from Perth, around one and a half hour drive north along the Great Northern Highway. Situated in the Shire of Victoria Plains, New Norcia was established in 1846 by Spanish Benedictine monks and is the only monastic town in Australia. It is named after Norcia in Italy, the birthplace of St. Benedict.

[edit] Town

New Norcia has quite a large amount of tourism, focussed mainly on its Spanish architecture, and many historical sites. Among these sites are the two old boarding schools, St Ildephonsus' and St Gertrude's (both now used for accommodation and various social functions), the Abbey Church, containing the tomb of Bishop Salvado (the monastery's founder), an old mill and wine press, the hotel and, of course, the monastery itself. Tours of the town operate twice daily and encompass all of the historic sites. The monastery chapel has recently been included in the town tour.

There is also a museum and gallery containing works by many famous Western Australian and Australian artists, and museum displays explaining the history of the area. The gallery is most noted for housing a painting by Raphael.

New Norcia is famous in Western Australia for its bread, cakes and biscotti, baked every morning in its small bakery, which is privately owned, but whose products are sold at the museum. Another bakery also operates in Perth, supplying several restaurants and private customers with bread.

A ground station for the European Space Agency is located eight kilometres south of the town.

St Ildephonsus' Boys School	St Ildephonsus' Boys School	Abbey Church	St Gertrude's Girls School
Monastery	Blacksmith Workshop

St Gertrude's opened in 1908, and St Ildephonsus' in 1913.

Until 1964 inclusive, St Ildephonsus' was run by the Marist Brothers. From 1965 onwards, it was run by the Benedictines as St Benedict's College.

In 1972, St Benedict's and St Gertrude's became co-educational, with the boys and girls sharing most of their lessons. In 1974, the two colleges became known jointly as Salvado College, but were still referred to individually as St Benedict's and St Gertrude's.

In 1986, Salvado College became New Norcia Catholic College, which closed at the end of 1991.

There were also two aboriginal boarding schools; St Mary's (for boys) and St Joseph's (for girls), which closed in the early 1970s. They were inaccurately called orphanages. The two buildings still exist. St Mary's is next to St Ildephonsus', and St Joseph's is next to St Gertrude's.

[edit] Abbey

The Benedictine abbey was founded on 1 March 1846, by a Spanish Benedictine, Dom Rosendo Salvado, for the Christianizing of the Australian aborigines. Its territory is bounded on the south and east by the Diocese of Perth, and on the north by the Diocese of Geraldton. This mission at first had no territory. Its saintly founder, like the Baptist of old, lived in the wilderness, leading the same nomadic life as the savages whom he had come to lead out of darkness. His food was of the most variable character, consisting of wild roots dug out of the earth by the spears of his swarthy neophytes, with lizards, iguanas, even worms in times of distress, or, when fortunate in the chase, with the native kangaroo. After three years of unparalleled hardships amongst this cannibal race, Salvado came to the conclusion that they were capable of Christianity. Assisted by some friends, he started for Rome in 1849 to procure auxiliaries and money to assist him in prosecuting his work of civilization. While in Rome he was appointed Bishop of Port Victoria in Northern Australia, being consecrated on 15 August 1849. Before he left Rome, all his people of Port Victoria had abandoned the diocese for the goldfields. Bishop Salvado thereupon implored the pope to permit him to return to his beloved Australian blacks. He set out for Spain, and obtained there monetary assistance and over forty young volunteers. All these afterwards became Benedictines. They landed in Australia in charge of their bishop on 15 August 1852.

Bishop Salvado, with his band of willing workers, commenced operations forthwith. They cleared land for the plough, and introduced the natives to habits of industry. They built a large monastery, schools and orphanages for the young, cottages for the married, flour-mills to grind their wheat, etc. An important village soon sprang up, in which many natives were fed, clothed, and made good Christians.

On 12 March 1867, Pius IX made New Norcia an abbey nullius and a prefecture Apostolic with jurisdiction over a territory of 16 square miles, the extent of Bishop Salvado's jurisdiction until his death in Rome on 29 December 1900, in the eighty-seventh year of his age and the fifty-first of his episcopate.

Father Fulgentius Torres, O.S.B., was elected Abbot of New Norcia in succession to Bishop Salvado on 2 October 1902. The new abbot found it necessary to frame a new policy for his mission. Rapid changes were setting in; agricultural settlers were taking up the land, driving out the sheep and cattle lords, and absorbing the labour of the civilized natives. The mission had now to provide for the spiritual wants of the white population, and Abbot Torres boldly faced the situation by entering upon a large scheme of improvements in and around the monastery. With the approbation of the Holy See, he had the boundaries of the abbey extended to embrace the country between 30º and 31º 20' S. latitude, and between the sea and 120º E. longitude -- a territory of over 30,000 sq. miles (nearly as large as Ireland or the State of Maine). Abbot Torres brought out many priests and young ecclesiastics for the monastery and parochial work, and built churches in the more settled districts of his new territory. Since Abbot Torres became superior in 1901, the number of churches has increased from one to ten. To foster higher education, Abbot Torres has erected a magnificent convent and ladies' college, and has in hand a similar institution for boys. He has already completed a large and commodious girls' orphanage. All these works have been accomplished at the expense of the Benedictine community.

Abbot Torres did not confine his energies solely to New Norcia. In 1905 he ordered the foundation of the Drysdale River Mission (later known as Kalumburu), 3,200 km away, at the northern tip of WA. This mission was opened on 12 July 1908, with two priests in charge of a party of 15.

Abbot Torres was consecrated Bishop in Rome on 22 May 1910. On the fourth of the same month, by a Decree of the Propaganda, he was appointed administrator Apostolic of Kimberley, and had the Drysdale River Mission erected into an abbey nullius. He has now under his jurisdiction a territory of 174,000 square miles -- an area nearly as large as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Maine. The position in 1910 of the mission was: churches, 10; priests, 17 (secular, 7); monastic students, 9; other religious, 33; nuns, 18; high school, 1; primary schools, 4; charitable institutions, 2; children attending Catholic schools, 350; Catholic population, 3000.

There are 11 monks living in the monastery, ranging in age from 40 to 95. They pray together seven times a day.