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- Who
Are the Capuchins?
|
NewsGunfire in the CathedralThis story appeared in the "Catholic Weekly" January 25, 2004 by Dr Joe Morley … “On Christmas morning in 1884, a man named Hugh McCaffery, clad in an enveloping cloak, walked briskly up the nave of the Cathedral of St Mary and St Joseph in Armidale, opened the altar rails gate and entered the sanctuary at the Epistle side. His cloak concealed a sword and a gun. Bishop Elzear Torreggiani, a 20 stone (127kg) Italian Capuchin monk, had already entered the sanctuary to celebrate the 11 o'clock High Mass - his third Christmas Day celebration - as the choir sang Adeste Fideles and Venite Adoremus. He was kneeling at the foot of the altar and saying the prayers before Mass. The praying congregation took no notice of McCaffery until he was alongside the bishop. Then he drew the sword from under his cloak with his right hand and brandished it above his head. Br Francis Gatti OFM Cap moved towards him. The bishop turned towards McCaffery, rose to his feet, and asked what he wanted. Constable J.T. Clarke (one of many Irish policemen in the congregation) ran up the aisle, vaulted the altar rails and grasped McCaffery's arm. McCaffery had stepped back from the bishop but, when seized, raised his left hand, which held a revolver, and fired at the bishop. The governor of the local jail, S. Caldwell, warder J. Holland and others joined Clarke in overpowering the screaming McCaffery who was pinioned then taken outside the cathedral. Some members of the congregation tried to attack him. Only the protection of Clarke, Caldwell and Holland saved him from severe wounding or lynching. Then Police Sergeant J.T Rafferty arrived, calmed the situation and took McCaffery to the police station. Inside the cathedral, confusion reigned. Women and children screamed. Some fainted; many ran out, crying: "The bishop is killed." The bishop, though, remained calm and unruffled. He assured the people that he was not hurt, then genuflected and withdrew into the sacristy, where he waited until order was restored in the cathedral. He was, indeed, unharmed, but the bullet had torn a hole in his vestments before lodging in the Episcopal throne. When order was restored and his assailant had been taken away, Bishop Torreggiani re-entered the sanctuary to celebrate the Mass. It was reported that he preached without a quiver in his voice and gave Benediction afterwards. McCaffery appeared in Armidale Police Court on December 29, charged with having feloniously attempted to stab, and having shot at the bishop, with intent to kill and murder. Constable Clarke said in evidence that when he secured the revolver he found five chambers were still loaded; only one shot had been fired. McCaffery had been carrying a pouch with a further 17 bullets. McCaffery said he had wanted to get a secret from Bishop Torreggiani and that if he did not get it he intended to kill the bishop. Clarke said that McCaffery was about three metres from the bishop when he fired. Bishop Torreggiani said..that as he knelt he saw McCaffery raise the sword. As he asked him what he wanted, he heard an explosion and saw smoke but thought that only powder had been fired. He later found a bullet hole in the vestment. He said he had known his attacker for some years as a remarkably devout Catholic. Sgt Rafferty produced a bullet he found in the cathedral, near where the bishop had been kneeling. He said that when he asked Hugh McCaffery why he shot at the bishop, McCaffery said the bishop had never done anything to him but he had refused to give him the "secret of the Stations of the Cross". "One day in church the wind blew up his vestments and I saw three crosses underneath and he would not let me kiss them," McCaffery had said. "I did not want to take them away. I have been five years working this secret up." He had added: "Some time ago I bought a revolver at Richardson's and went to the church to shoot the bishop. Dean O'Connor was there and I went back again. The revolver was no good so I threw it in the bush, and went to Tamworth for the one I have now. The sword I bought in Sydney. I went to the church again and the bishop was not there. "On Christmas Day I did _ not intend to kill him, intending not to do so until St Stephen's Day, and I would not kill him at all if he would give me the crosses. "I fired the shot because the people came running forward and I thought they were going to lynch me, and I fired in the honour of God. "If I had wanted to kill the bishop I could have done it during the week when he was by himself." Rafferty asked him why he had fired at the bishop if he did not mean-to kill him. "I did mean to kill him," McCaffery said. "I bought the revolver on purpose, but I could not kill him in private, as I was bound by the Stations of the Cross to kill him before the congregation. "I had to be fasting, which I was that morning. I was at the first Mass. I had the sword and revolver with me then. I went back to my tent towards the railway line and afterwards to 11 o'clock Mass." He then said that if the court wished to hear the whole story he would have to confess all his sins. Then he said: "It was by signs I worked out and it was by the Stations of the Cross I found I had this to do. There was a sign on the cross but I cannot say if it was the sign of a secret society or of God. "There were three sons of God, not one. They were Faith, Hope and Charity. Hope and Faith, and one of them was an Irishman, and Jesus was Charity, and I don't know what countryman the other was." McCaffery was committed to stand trial. "If I am hung for it I don't care that," he said. Then he banged his fist down on the side of the dock. At the Quarter Sessions in January, he was found to be suffering from religious mania - not guilty because of unsound mind. He was committed to an institution. Bishop Torreggiani spoke on McCaffery's behalf before and during the trial. Elzear Torreggiani had worked in England and Wales for 25 years before being appointed the second bishop of the pioneer diocese of Armidale, where he served from 1879 to 1904. He lived for 20 years after the attempt on his life. He carried the bullet from the sanctuary in his purse until he died, calling it his 'little Christmas present'. A wooden altar carved by German woodcarvers was erected in the cathedral to commemorate the bishop's escape from death… Recent News Items
2003
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