A century after he
became Perth's first Catholic archbishop and 78 years after his death,
Patrick Joseph Clune was finally laid to rest in the crypt of his
cathedral.Archbishop Clune is the last of seven Perth bishops and archbishops to be exhumed from graves as far afield as France and reinterred in the new marble and stone crypt beneath St Mary's Cathedral.
His reinterment is a milestone for the Catholic Church in Perth because it coincides with the centennial anniversary of the Perth Archdiocese's creation, which Archbishop Clune was instrumental in securing.
"He was really responsible for putting a case to the authorities in Rome to have Perth created as an archdiocese," Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, who held a Mass last night as the reinterment took place, said.
Archbishop Clune became the fourth Bishop of Perth in 1909 and, when Perth became a metropolitan archdiocese in 1913, the first Archbishop of Perth.
Three years later he served as a senior chaplain to Catholic Diggers in World War I, travelling by troop ship to England in 1916 and visiting soldiers on the Western Front at Ypres, Belgium.
In 1920, the Irish clergyman met British prime minister Lloyd George who asked him to help in negotiating a truce between the British government and Sinn Fein in Ireland.
His diplomatic efforts did not manage to secure a truce.
"He was a very hard worker, always on the go," Archbishop Costelloe said. "He was known as a very happy and affable man, which I think says something about him because it was a difficult time. He steered the Church through the Great War and the Great Depression and managed to establish the church. He was a very impressive man."
Archbishop Clune is also remembered for starting the construction of St Mary's Cathedral.
The foundation stone was laid in April 1926 but the depression of 1929 halted progress and it was not completed until 2009.
When Archbishop Clune died in 1935, it was his wish to be buried at Karrakatta cemetery alongside his confreres in the Redemptorist order.
The order recently agreed to allow Archbishop Clune's remains to be moved to St Mary's Cathedral.