John Bede Polding

John Bede Polding OSB (18 November 179416 March 1877) was an English Benedictine monk and the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia.

Early life Polding was born in Liverpool, England, on 18 November 1794. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother came from the Brewer family of recusants since the sixteenth century. His family name was also spelled "Poulden" or "Polten". His parents died and at age 8 he was placed in the care of his uncle, Father Bede Brewer, president-general of the English Benedictine Congregation.

Polding was first taught by the Benedictine nuns of the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation of Cambray, who as refugees from revolutionary France were located at Much Woolton, near Liverpool. At 11, he was sent to St Gregory's Benedictine College at Acton Burnell near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. On 15 July 1810, Polding was admitted to the religious community, taking the name "Bede" in honour both of the saint and his uncle. He received minor orders in 1813 from Bishop John Milner in Wolverhampton and was ordained priest by Bishop William Poynter at Old Hall College on 4 March 1819. In turn he held the offices of parish priest, prefect, novice-master and sub-prior in his monastery. In 1819 Polding's cousin, Bishop Edward Bede Slater, was appointed vicar apostolic with jurisdiction over Mauritius, Madagascar, the Cape, New Holland and Van Diemen's Land.

From 1826 to 1834 he was secretary to the president-general of the Benedictine Congregation.

Experiences in Australia

In 1834 Polding was appointed Bishop of Hierocaesarea in partibus infidelium and Vicar Apostolic of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land and the adjoining islands. This cannot be true, since the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved de facto in 1806. It is possible, on the other hand, that he was made a papal Count. Reports are probably accurate which say that he was appointed an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, an honorific title formerly granted by the Popes to some bishops.

Despite his many successes as a founding bishop, Polding experienced a degree of resistance from his largely Irish Catholic church in Australia. Even after the English Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, the Irish were resistant to non-Irish bishops.

He helped establish St John's College, University of Sydney and Mary's College, Lyndhurst.

In January 1874, he retired to Sacred Heart Presbytery, Darlinghurst. He was later reinterred in St Mary's Cathedral.

Legacy Apart from the many churches he founded, Polding began the construction of the second St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney in 1868, where he was later re-buried. Polding also founded the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in Sydney.

Bede Polding College, South Windsor, in the state of New South Wales, Australia is named after him.