Introducing the Fictional PriestThe other main player in the Saint Johns story is the resident Chaplin. He has been portrayed as the "crazed" priest that went on a killing spree. Off course this is not true but her is an example of the fictional nonsense I found on the internet.........
" A priest called John Killian ran the place. The few nuns who also worked there helped take care of defiant girls. A some point Priest Killian went crazy and killed a lot of the girls and nuns. He buried them them outside the reformatory. On of the nuns was pushed down a well. The ones he kept alive in little rooms. He beat and raped and tortured them regularly. One of the girls whom name was Ruby Olive became pregnant to the evil priest and aborted her baby himself. She died aged 18. Her ghost is said to roam the cemetery looking for her baby". All I can say about this version describing the priest at Saint Johns is that it is total and uter nonsense the only two bits of information this individual got correct was Ruby's first name and her age. This individual who obviously did not research anything about Saint Johns implicating the wrong priest. Killian was the Archbishop of Adelaide in the 1930s over 20 years after the death of Ruby Bland. His name can be found on a memorial gravestone at Saint Johns Cemetery dedicated to Fr. Fallon, the first Catholic Priest to die in South Australia in 1860. Archbishop Killian conducted the memorial service in 1936 and the Archbishop's name in on the gravestone as the the one who unveiled the memorial gravestone. I must iterate that the priest did not kill large numbers of girls and nuns. No nuns were thrown down the well. There is no evidence of any babies being aborted and Ruby was not pregnant when she died. I will now introduce the real priest that resided at Saint Johns Reformatory between 1897 and 1909. Saint Johns Resident ChaplinSo who was the Reformatory Chaplin and what do we really know about him. His name was Fr. James Martin and he was born in Ireland in the year 1864. He became an ordained priest in 1890 and arrived in South Australia around the same time. Circumstantial evidence show that he was sent to the Dioceses of Port August. If this is correct he would have been under the supervision of Bishop John O'Reily who would later become the Archbishop of Adelaide in 1895. In 1897 Archbishop O'Reily sent Fr. Martin to Saint Johns Reformatory as the resident Chaplin to give guidance and to take confession from the female inmates plus other duties.
Fr. Martin being stationed at Port August meant that the Archbishop would have known him personally which means that he would have known of Martin's mental condition. I believe that the Archbishop knowing of Martin's mental state, he would have also known that he would not be able to function in a rational manner within a mainstream church environment. This could be why Fr. Martin was sent to Saint Johns. Being at Saint Johns he would be able to perform his duties as Chaplin at the same time he would have been out of the public eye. It is interesting to note that Martin was payed directly by Archbishop O'Reily not the Catholic Church according to Mary Mackillop. So it appeared that the Archbishop to took a personal interest in Martin's welfare. Unfortunately for the Archbishop , the unstable behaviour and improprieties by Fr. Martin caught the eye of the Children's Department of South Australia. The situation became intolerable and the Children's Department wanted him removed from the reformatory. We know this because of a number of letters sent to the Archbishop from the Children's Department of South Australia in 1909. The head of the Children's Department, Mr. James Gray was very concerned about the Chaplin at Saint Johns. He Wrote a letter to the Archbishop in August 1909. It reads..... "I have the honour to inform you that at the State Children's Council meeting on the 9th inst. II communicated to the council what I heard respecting the reformatory at Saint Johns and alleged fact that a priest of the church was residing at the reformatory and his mental condition was to say least unstable, while his physical frame powerful. I was further instructed to write to you again, pressing upon your attention the alleged fact, and asking your grace will, as speedy as possible, favour me a reply to my question of 21st July". Signed..JAS Gray. Secretary. In this letter Mr Gray was very concerned about the behaviour of the resident Chaplin at Saint Johns. He used the terms "unstable mental condition" and "physical frame powerful". This is evidence that Fr. Martin was acting in a aggressive manner and was mentally unstable and the Archbishop was ignoring these issues. Mr Gray was concerned that the Archbishop had not replied to his letter that was sent on the 10th July 1909. The Archbishop eventually replied to Mr Gray's letter on the 28th August. This was to be a very important letter as it was to announce the closure of Saint Johns Reformatory. It reads........ "If I have delayed answering your letter of the 21st July and the 10th August, my delay has been due only to my desire to take the opinion of my advisers. In our efforts to help those who need help, our chief reliance is upon the influence of religion. In religious matters I claim for every charitable institutions under my control absolute freedom. The duty is mine and I expect full responsibility of any steps I take in my attempt to discharge my duty. To speak of physical frame of the clergyman resident at Saint Johns as powerful is a statement as contrary to fact as a statement can be possible. That mentally he is not robust I unreservedly admit. But I thought him, and still think him, equal to and fit for light work he has to perform at the girls reformatory. There is no need, however to discuss the matter further. I decline to have the state wards residents at present in the reformatory of Kapunda after the 30th September. Meanwhile I refuse to receive from the state any fresh wards. On the 1st October the institution will be closed! On that date, or any other date before the council prefers, I hand the present wards over to your control, and shall be glad if you take measures to receive them. I find the examination of my books that I have spent 1, 165 pounds on building improvements and furnishings connected to Saint Johns since 1898. Towards these expenditures the Sisters in charge was able to contribute out of monthly subsidy from the council for the whole 10 years only a slight fraction over 100 pounds The present debt stands at 994 pounds. The debt, however does not trouble me. I shouldn't have paid it off more easily; it is true, though the generosity of the Catholic public if the institution remained in existence. But shall pay off in any case, in the course of a few years. You will please take this decision of mine as final. Regard it as decisions deliberately come after much thought, and is not open to any reconsideration". Your Truly (signed) John O'Reily Archbishop of Adelaide. Archbishop O'Reily made the division to close down Saint Johns Reformatory to avoid any scandal that could cause embarrassment to the Catholic Church by the unlawful actions of the resident Chaplin, Fr. Martin. The Archbishop was concerned because the reformatory was under state control and was subject to state inspections. The Archbishop delayed replying to Mr Gray until he got legal advise, this indicated that he was worried about the situation that was developing between the Children's Department of South Australia and the Catholic Church. In the letter the Archbishop denied the allegations that Fr. Martin was physically abusing the female inmates but did admit that is mental state was not robust. If the Archbishop had agreed to remove Martin as the Children's Department requested that would have been a admission that the allegations were true; this would have embarrassed Archbishop and the Catholic Church. The other problem the Archbishop faced was that he paid Martin's salary, not the Catholic Church. The Archbishop knowing Martin was unstable would have been implicated in any scandal coming out of this matter and would have been subject to any enquiry that would have been held by the State Government. On the 29th September 1909 the Archbishop wrote a letter to Mr Gray discussing the closure of the reformatory and the departure of all the staff. It reads.... My reasons for closing the institution now will be intelligible who will take trouble to read letter No. XIV in a large institution of the Catholic world a resident Chaplin is customary thing. The State Children's Department of South Australia makes no object to custom be followed at Saint Johns. I am quite satisfied. The sisters leave on the 30th November. The Chaplin leaves on the same date too. I hope the department will be satisfied as I am. Yours Truly (signed) George O'Reily. Archbishop of Adelaide. In this letter it states that the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the Chaplin would be leaving on the 30th November 1909. The Sisters left as planned but Fr. Martin didn't. According to Kevin McNeil's research stayed behind. Official documents and newspaper articles state that the reformatory was abandoned and the contents, furnishings and livestock were sold off in a public auction. Circumstantial evidence found by Kevin McNeil suggests that the Archbishop didn't want Martin to return to Adelaide (even tho letters and newspaper articles tell as that he was leaving with the sisters on the 30th November) as he would have been a liability to him and the church. With his unstable aggressive behaviour he would not be capable of working with other clergy or the general public. Martin was now a liability to the Archbishop but he still appeared to have a soft spot for Martin because he left him in Kapunda living at the old abandoned reformatory. He lived on his own at the reformatory for another 12 years before dying from malnutrition caused by his failing health and his untreated mental state in 1921 aged 64 years. At the time of his death he was still an ordained priest and was buried at the Saint Johns Cemetery along side Monsieur George Williams who died in 1920. It appeared that Fr. James Martin with his aggressive abusive behaviour was never made accountable for his actions again'st the female inmates at Saint Johns. The abuse was covered up by the Archbishop and Martin lived his days out at the old abandoned reformatory. But looking at it, Martin to became a victim of the cover by the Catholic Church, they left him at the reformatory were he abused the female inmates for all though years. He lived on his own for 12 years before dying a lonely sick old man, being buried less than 20 meters from Ruby Bland. |