What a standard he set

Photos: Missionary Society of St Columban

The first South Australian to join St Columbans Mission Society was Fr Peter Gabriel. Peter was the eldest of the nine children of Salem and Mary Gabriel who both came from Lebanon which was part of Syria at the time. They were Catholics of the Maronite Rite. Peter was born on May 12, 1889, and received his early education from the Christian Brothers at their Wakefield Street College in Adelaide. He left school at 15 years of age but two years later he was managing a drapery store in a small country town. Two years later again he was engaged in mining in Broken Hill and this was followed by a period of prospecting in Queensland. But then the death of his father brought him back to Adelaide to help his mother care for his brothers and sisters.

By the year 1917, when he was 28 years of age, Peter was living in Victoria and studying accountancy by correspondence. He became a member of the Federal Institute of Accountants and an Associate of the Australian Institute of Secretaries and in his spare time was riding horses at picnic race meetings.

A few years later in 1924 Peter met Fr Ned Maguire, the Irish priest who set up St Columbans Mission Society in Australia and this contact led to Peter applying to join St Columbans. But as he was now nearly 35 years of age he needed special permission from the Columban Superiors to enter the seminary. In time that permission came and after an initial period in the Essendon house Peter set sail for the seminary in Ireland. Towards the end of a thirty day retreat there his Columban director advised him to test a vocation to the monastic life. But it only took a fortnight at the Cistercian Monastery in Roscrea for Peter to decide that St Columbans was where he belonged.

Despite his older age he was a popular student with an infectious sense of humour. His short stature led him to put blocks of wood on his bicycle pedals so he could reach them, thus causing much amusement. His acting ability made him a great favourite in the College concerts and plays. At the same time his maturity and earnestness as a seminarian made him a valuable influence among his fellow students.

Peter was ordained in Ireland on December 21, 1929, at 40 years of age and was appointed to China. His journey from Ireland to China via Australia included a visit to the Holy Land and from there to Lebanon, the home of his parents. Subsequently he wrote articles for The Far East magazine about this section of his journey. Arriving in Adelaide in early August 1930, he had a short time with his unwell mother and then boarded the Changte steam ship in Sydney on September 24 destined for Hanyang, China.

While studying the language in Hanyang his practical skills were used in the supervision of the building of a catechetical school there. He was then sent as an assistant priest to a boys’ orphanage. But 1931 brought a disastrous flood down the Yangtze River and 80,000 people in Hanyang were homeless and ill. For three months the Columban Mission headquarters was under water up to the first storey. As many refugees as could find a space sheltered there and thousands more were living in temporary camps on neighbouring hills. An epidemic of cholera broke out. Bishop Galvin, Fr Gabriel, other priests, and the Sisters did all they could to care for and help the refugees until the waters subsided.

Photo: Missionary Society of St Columban

Later Bishop Galvin had the idea of a trade school to provide boys, particularly the orphan boys whose fathers had been killed by Communists or bandits, with a trade that would give them employment. He entrusted the project to Fr Gabriel who introduced the skills of carpentry and shoe-making. He also built a foundry and set up an electroplating plant working in gold, silver, copper and nickel. Progress was slow and money and experience was short, but with many houses and churches being built, the school was kept busy supplying furniture and other church needs.

The trade school expanded and became a valuable asset of the vicariate. Then Fr Peter handed it over to Columban Br Colman and was given a new role as Bursar to Bishop Galvin. This involved caring for the needs of all the Columban missionaries in the district and giving advice for the construction and repair of many of their buildings. He also supervised the completion of a three-storey convent for the Columban Sisters.

However in 1936 illness came upon him and early in 1937 he returned to Australia to recover his health. But his condition worsened and eventually chronic tuberculosis, which affected the bones in his legs and one arm and finally his whole body, was diagnosed. Despite two operations and devoted nursing care he failed to recover. Although never free of pain, he never complained. His last gesture was a faint attempt to raise a hand in blessing over the assembled family. He died in Adelaide on July 14, 1938, aged 49. At a Solemn Requiem Mass in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Archbishop Andrew Killian spoke movingly about him. “Fr Gabriel,” he said, “was the first South Australian priest on mission in China, and there he spent all the years of his priestly life. He returned only to die in his native land, having contracted a fatal disease, doubtless as a result of hardships and privations he endured on the mission field. He has brought great credit to the Church in this place by the sanctity of his life and by his heroic work on mission fields in The Far East”.

Columban Fr Ray Scanlon resides at the Columban House in Essendon, Australia.

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