# Angelo Confalonieri > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Angelo_Confalonieri > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Angelo_Confalonieri.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Confalonieri > Source revision: 1316263001 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Italian missionary in Australia (1813–1848)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2025}} '''Angelo Bernardo Confalonieri''' (22 June 1813 – 9 June 1848) was an Italian [linguist](/source/linguist), [cartographer](/source/cartographer) and [missionary](/source/missionary). He was the first [Catholic](/source/Catholic) missionary to the [Northern Territory](/source/Northern_Territory) in [Australia](/source/Australia), where he served on the [Cobourg Peninsula](/source/Cobourg_Peninsula).{{Cite book |last=Pryer |first=G |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=104–105 |chapter=Angelo Bernado Confalonieri (1813–1848)}}{{Cite news|last=Bowling |first=Mark |date=2017-08-08 |title=Northern Australia's first missionary priest remembered 170 years later |url=https://catholicleader.com.au/features/northern-australias-first-missionary-priest-remembered-170-years-later/ |access-date=2025-01-14 |newspaper=[The Catholic Leader](/source/The_Catholic_Leader)|location=Brisbane}} == Early life == Confalonieri was born in [Riva del Garda](/source/Riva_del_Garda), in [northern Italy](/source/northern_Italy), son of Peter and Mary Confalonieri. When he initially joined the priesthood, he studied in [Trento](/source/Trento); after completing his studies, he served for a number of years in [Ala](/source/Ala%2C_Trentino) before entering the [Pontifical Urban College for the Propagation of the Faith](/source/Pontificio_Collegio_Urbano_de_Propaganda_Fide) in Rome. In Rome, Confalonieri met [John Brady](/source/John_Brady_(bishop_of_Perth)), the soon to be [bishop of Perth](/source/Roman_Catholic_bishop_of_Perth), who had travelled there to recruit missionaries and seek financial assistance for the region. Based on their conversation he agreed to travel to Australia and work on the [Cobourg Peninsula](/source/Cobourg_Peninsula). Brady was very impressed with Confalonieri due to his zeal and his evident gift for languages. == The shipwreck of the ''Heroine'' == The journey from Italy to [Fremantle](/source/Fremantle), via London, took four months and Confalonieri, alongside Irish priests James Fagan and Nicholas Hogan, arrived in January 1846. On 1 March 1846 they left Fremantle to head to their final destination and they had to first travel to Sydney and then the [Torres Strait Islands](/source/Torres_Strait_Islands); at one o'clock in the morning of 24 July 1846 their ship, the ''Heroine'', struck a reef there and sank within six minutes. Confalonieri, and a number of other passengers, where able to cling to the topmast head and Nelson, a [Newfoundland dog](/source/Newfoundland_dog) owned by the ship's mate Mr Ral, helped move the survivors to a nearby reef where they were picked up from at daylight. Eight people died in the shipwreck, including James Fagan and Nicholas Hogan, and twenty-six people survived.{{cite news |date=19 November 1846 |title=Wreck of the Schooner Heronie |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37128569 |access-date=14 January 2025 |newspaper=[The Australian](/source/The_Australian_(1824_newspaper)) |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=III|issue=571}}{{cite news |last=Confalonieri |first=Angelo |date=6 January 1847 |title=St Patrick's Society for the Propagation of the Faith |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750712 |access-date=14 January 2025 |newspaper=[Sydney Chronicle](/source/Sydney_Chronicle) |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=4|issue=340}}{{Cite web |title=''Heroine'' (shipwreck ID 2598) |url=https://www.environment.gov.au/shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck.do;jsessionid=48DE8BE6A56A8362A1F30B50FA3DFDA4?key=2598&action=collapseAll |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database}} In the shipwreck Confalonieri lost all of his possessions, including his glasses, and, as the result of requests through media substantial funds where raised for Confalonieri and his soon to be established mission.{{cite news |date=27 February 1847 |title=Fund for the Rev A Confalonieri |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31751142 |access-date=14 January 2025 |newspaper=[Sydney Chronicle](/source/Sydney_Chronicle) |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=4|issue=355}}{{cite news |date=13 January 1847 |title=The Rev Angelo Confalonieri |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750757 |access-date=14 January 2025 |newspaper=[Sydney Chronicle](/source/Sydney_Chronicle) |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=4|issue=342}} == Life in the Northern Territory == After the shipwreck Confalonieri was taken to [Port Essington](/source/Port_Essington), on the Coburg Peninsula and had a period of recuperation. He was greeted warmly by James McArthur, the commandant, who soon after arranged for the construction of a home for him on top of the Red Cliffs to the side of Black Rock about {{Convert|29|km|mi}} from the main settlement; this was done for Confalonieri as he was impractical in relation to domestic matters and did not even know how to mix or cook his ration of flour.{{cite web |last=Flynn |first=Frank |year=1992 |title=Rebuilding the beacon : Point Smith, Port Essington |url=https://hdl.handle.net/10070/718181 |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Territory Stories |publisher=State Library of the Northern Territory |publication-place=Darwin}} At the settlement Confalonieri lived with the [Iwaidja people](/source/Iwaidja_people) and quickly mastered the [Iwaidja language](/source/Iwaidja_language); he amazed people with how quickly he was able to learn the language. A visitor to the settlement, John Sweatman, laughed when he realised that Confalonieri had (likely unknowingly) learned many Iwaidja obscenities and used them in sermons. A later church source reported that Confalonieri made 400 converts in his time at Port Essington but also that he faced occasional hostility and theft from older members of the community and Confalonieri himself said that the Iwaidja people had "no understanding but for their belly". thumb|Graves of Father Angelo Confalonieri (front) and Mrs Emma Lambrick (back), date unknown As well as ministering to the community Confalonieri also studied the Iwaidja and spent significant amount of time exploring the Coburg Peninsula and preparing maps, showing the clan areas, and making small vocabulary lists of seven of the [local dialects](/source/Iwaidjan_languages). He also translated the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Creed and created the manuscript of a prayer book and short Catechism which included the Ten Commandments and parts of the New Testament. Confalonieri died of fever from [malaria](/source/malaria) on 9 June 1848 less than two years after arriving there.{{Cite web |title=Fr Confalonieri's Legacy in the Australian Church|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/fr-confalonieris-legacy-in-the-australian-church-1632 |access-date=2025-01-14 |publisher=[EWTN](/source/EWTN) Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}} It is believed that, before his death, he suffered from [malnutrition](/source/malnutrition).{{cite web |last=O'Loughlin |first=John Patrick |year=1986 |title=The history of the Catholic Church in the Northern Territory |url=https://hdl.handle.net/10070/718878 |access-date=14 January 2025 |publisher=Library Service of the Northern Territory |publication-place=Darwin}} He was buried alongside [Emma Lambrick](/source/Emma_Lambrick), the first European woman to die at the settlement in 1846.{{Cite book |last1=James |first1=Barbara |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=332 |chapter=Emma Jane Lambrick (1822-1846)}} == References == {{Reflist|30em}} == Further reading == * {{cite book|last1=Pizzini|first1=Rolando|last2=Girola|first2=Stefano|year=2013|title=Nagoyo: The Life of Don Angelo Confalonieri Among the Aborigines of Australia, 1846–1848|publisher=Fondazione Museo storico del Trentino, Trento|isbn=9788871971582|ref=none}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Confalonieri, Angelo}} Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Australia Category:Catholic Church in the Northern Territory Category:1813 births Category:1858 deaths Category:Deaths from malaria --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Angelo Confalonieri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Confalonieri) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Confalonieri?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.