The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Sheil, Right Rev. Lawrence Bonaventure
Sheil, Right Rev. Lawrence[1] Bonaventure, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide, was born at Wexford, Ireland, on Dec. 24th, 1815, and educated at the Franciscan Schools at Enniscorthy and at Rome. In 1837 he was elected simultaneously to the chairs of Theology and Philosophy at St. Isidore's Franciscan Convent in Rome, and undertook the duties of the latter. Two years later he returned to Ireland, where he became head of the Franciscan Order. In 1852 he accompanied the late Archbishop Goold to Melbourne, where he was for some years President of St. Patrick's College, and was appointed Archdeacon of Ballarat in 1859. In 1866 he succeeded the late Dr. Geoghegan as second Bishop of Adelaide.[2] He attended the Vatican Council which decreed the infallibility of the Pope, and died on March 1st, 1872. Bishop Sheil contributed greatly, during his episcopate, to the development of the Roman Catholic Church in South Australia.