EIMBERLEY
645
EIMBERLEY
Glasgow, with a fair steiple of 7 score foote of height,
yet standing quhen I myselve did see it". The length
of the church was 225 feet, breadth of the nave sixty-
five feet; and the monastic buildings covered several
acres.
A community of TjTonensian Benedictines was brought from Kelso; the abbey was soon richly en- dowed by royal and noble benefactors, possessing granges, large estates, and the tithes of twenty parish churches, and a revenue equivalent to some £20,000 a year. For nearly four centuries Kilwinning re- mained one of the most opulent and flourishing Scot- tish monasteries. The last abbot was Gavin Hamil- ton, who whilst favouring the Reformation doctrines was a strong partisan of tjueen Mary. He was killed in a fight outside Edinburgh in June, 1571. The sup- pression and destruction of the abbey soon followed, and its possessions, held for a time by the families of Glencairn and Raith, were erected in 1603 into a tem- poral lordship in favour of Hugh, Earl of Eglinton, whose successors still own them. The Earls of Eglin- ton have taken some pains to preserve the remains of the buildings, which include the great west doorway with window above, the lower part of the south wall of nave, and the tall gable of south transept with its three lancet windows. The " fair steiple" was struck by lightning in 1809, and fell down five years later.
Collections towards a History of the A bbey of Kuwinning inArch. andHistor. Collect, of Ayrand Wigton, I (Edinbureh, 187S), 115- 222; Pont, Cunninghamc, ed. Dobie (Glasgow, 1876), 254 etc.; Hat, Scotia Sacra in MS. Advoc. Librarj', Edinburgh, 505; Ker, Kilwinning Abbey (Ardrossan, s. d.); Wylie, Hist, of Mother Lodge, Kilwinning, with Notes on the Abbey (Glasgow, 1878); Gordon, Monasticon (Glasgow, ISOS), 494.
D. O. Huntek-Bl.ub.
Kimberley, Vicahiate Apostouc op (Kimber- LiENSi.s), suffragan of Adelaide, erected by Leo XIII, 5 May, 18S7. The Vicariate of Kimberley embraces the whole district of that name, and is under the Apos- tolic administration of the Bishop of Geraldton. The territory forms one of the six land districts into which Western Australia is divided, and in this, the north- west portion of the state, a plentiful supply of gold is found. The Bishop of Perth, Dr. Matthew Gibney, whose (hocese was charged with the administration of the Kimberley Vicariate, was early engaged in de- termining upon a suitable place to organize a new set- tlement for the aborigines of the district. On 4 June, 1890, he set out in person, with Abbot Ambrose of the Trappist Order, to observe the conditions of the local- ity, and the journey resulted in the establishment of a mission station, the Holy House of the Sacred Heart, at Beagle Bay. In response to the invitation of Dr Gibney, supported by the recommendation of Cardinal Moran, the fathers of La Trappe took charge of the mission. The natives, computed at between five hun- dred and six hundred, were found mostly on the western coast in the vicinity of Beagle Bay. The country was well wooded, deficient in water courses, but abounding in springs, with luxuriant vegetation in the neighbour- hood of the swamps. A temporary monastery was constructed of wood covered with large sheets of bark, and at a few yards distance was erected a church of the same poor material. Difficulty was exi^ericnced in maintaining the staff of not less than ten promised to the Government in return for certain concessions, and the abbot was forced to leave the community for a year (February, 1891-March, 1892) through the neces- sity of obtaining recruits.
On the departure of the Trappists for Europe, the Pallotine Fathers, or Fathers of the Pious Society of Missions, were installed in their stead through the in- strumentality of the Bishop of Geraldton, under who.se jurisdiction the vicariate had meantime passed. Be- sides the chief house at Beagle Bay, the mission has flourishing stations at Broome and Disaster Bay, and from the beginning good results have been achieved in the work of Christianizing the natives. In 1903 sta-
bility was given to the undertaking by the erection of
a commodious monastery and convent; the missionary
body, too, was strengthened by the coming of one
priest and five lay brothers. Since that date a new
chapel and school have been raised. In June, 1907,
nine sisters of the Order of St. John of God arrived at
the mission from Subiaco, Perth. This community,
under the direction of Mother Antonia O'Brien, is es-
pecially concerned with training the girls and caring
for the sick. During the last three years remarkable
progress has been made; the mission at the present
time (1910) numbers four priests, twelve brothers, and
nine sisters. There are churches at Beagle Bay and
at Broome. Schools have also been established at
these two centres: the former, ami.xed school, founded
from Perth, has an attendance of 56 girls and 55 boys;
the latter, also a mixed school founded from the Beagle
Baj' institution, has 39 pupils. Both are in charge of
thesistersof St. John of God. (See Australia, Period
of Comparative Calm.)
Australasian Catholic Directory (1910); Annuaire Pont'jical Catholique (Paris, 1909); Missioncs Catholicm (Rome, 1907), 677; Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Sydney, s. d.), 583 sqq.; Gerarchia Cattolica (1910).
P. J. JL^CAULEY.
Kimberley in Orange, Vicahiate op (Ky.mber- LEYENSis IN Okangia). — The portion of South Africa which at the present day forms the Vicariate of Ivim- berley in Orange became in the division of the Vicari- ate of Good Hope part of the Eastern District, and later on part of the Vicariate of Natal. In 1886 it became a separate vicariate comprising Basutoland, Griqualand-Wcst, Bechuanaland, and the Orange River Colony (then Free State). On 8 May, 1894, Basutoland was separated and made an independent prefecture. At the present day the vicariate in- cludes the Orange River Colony, Griqualand-West, and Bechuanaland, and since the late Anglo-Boer war all this territory is under British rule. The whole vicariate lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the southermnost point of the Orange River Colony, and between 22° and 30° East Longitude. Before the dis- covery of diamonds the white population was practi- cally composed of Boers. The nimiber of Catholics was insignificant. The towns now in existence were then mere small villages or had no existence at all. But in 1870 Kimberley began to attract attention; diamonds had been first discovered alxiut tliree years previously by John 0'Reill.y, and immigration brought to South Africa and especially to Kimberley multitudes of Europeans, most of them Irish and Eng- lish. By the time Kimberley was leaping into exist- ence there was already a priest in Bloemfontein, Fa- ther Hoendervangers of the Order of Saint Norbert, who had followed the troops as military chaplain dur- ing a war between the British and Boers in 1854. He built a church which was replaced by a new one in ISSO. When Father Hoendervangers left Bloemfon- tein he was replaced by Father Victor Bompart, sent by Dr. Jolivet to minister to the scanty Catholic popu- lation. For some time the mmiber of Catholics re- mained limited to eight or ten. All of them were poor and consequently unable to support the priest who very often saw himself on the verge of starvation. However, Father Bompart never swerved from his duty; he was always ready to face sacrifice. His greatest trial was neither starvation nor physical suf- ferings, but the fruitlessness of the soil he had to culti- vate. Being obliged to live in the midst of an element prejudiced against anything which might remind them of Rome and hating the very name of Catholic, his laljours were to remain ;i] ijiarent I,\' fruitless for sev- eral years. The Boers were at that time, as they are now, unwilling to hear of another creed than their own. Their ministers never wearied of railing at and abusing pope and priests. Owing to such a spirit con- versions ha\'e been always few; many prejudices, how-
