What do you think?
Rate this book
Mannix
Daniel Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne from 1917 until his death, aged ninety-nine, in 1963, was a towering figure in Melbourne's Catholic community. But his political interventions had a profound effect on the wider Australian nation too.
Award-winning biographer Brenda Niall has made some unexpected discoveries in Irish and Australian archives which overturn some widely held views. She also draws on her own memories of meeting and interviewing Mannix to get to the essence of this man of contradictions, controversies and mystery.
Mannix is not only an astonishing new look at a remarkable life, but a fascinating depiction of Melbourne in the first half last century.
Brenda Niall is one of Australia's foremost biographers. She is the author of four award-winning biographies, including her acclaimed accounts of the Boyd family. Brenda has degrees from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and Monash University. She has held visiting fellowships at the University of Michigan, Yale University and the Australian National University. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for 'services to Australian literature, as an academic, biographer and literary critic'. She frequently reviews for the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Book Review.
444 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
4 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Niall
24 books7 followersBrenda Niall is one of Australia’s foremost biographers. She is the author of several award-winning biographies, including her acclaimed accounts of the Boyd family and her portrait of the Durack sisters, True North. In 2016 she won the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal and the National Biography Award for Mannix. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for ‘services to Australian literature, as an academic, biographer and literary critic’.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 22, 2015
It surely would be churlish to give less than a rave review for a book launched in such fine style.
Newman College at the University of Melbourne was overflowing with fine food, wine and speech-making as “Mannix” by Brenda Niall received its welcome to the world.
Margaret and I bought several copies and have enjoyed this thoughtful tome every bit as much as “The Riddle of Father Hackett”, Brenda Niall's work about Father Hackett, friend of Archbishop Mannix, and the man deputed to engage my Father-in-law prior to his conversion to Catholicism.
Old school/tribal associations ran deep in a room where many had come under the influence of Mannix. Like many Catholic school children of the 50s and 60s (and 30s and 40s) I had marched in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade – a display of Catholic influence, “lest they forget”.
Mannix, for us, was always there, presiding with an aloof dignity, intriguing with his poise and dry wit. Brenda Niall fills in the picture of his Irish academic past, the issue of Great War conscription, Australian social justice, following the fight for Irish independence, attitude to World War 2, state aid to catholic schools and his involvement in the political events which led to the Split of the Labour Party in the 50s.
She is well placed to tell this story and her experiences and insights are most impressive.
Nevertheless, at book's end, Mannix is still an enigma. Niall might well have paired her books “The Riddle of Father Hackett” and “The Enigma of Archbishop Mannix”. She has resisted the temptation to go beyond the evidence, which is scant because of Mannix's determination to leave as little of it behind as possible. Nevertheless, she has drawn much circumstantial evidence together leaving a healthy hint of the inner man.
There are many telling aspects – his asceticism, his aversion to touch and his lack of empathy to those nearest him stand out. There are powerful images – priests on vacation, isloated from the public, Mannix staring out to sea for hours murmuring only “Ships passing” while Hackett twiddled his thumbs in attendance.
Mannix emerges, for this reader, as an Irishman marooned in a distant land, obeying his conscience as he understood it. The fascinating denouement is his response to Vatican Two, a most impressive gesture from an old man. This underlines his whole life and makes his convictions crystal clear.
Curiously, I elicited, from a good friend and colleague, some unsuspected information about Mannix when I told her about the launch. Her parents had fled Communist Hungary on a ship with many other of their countrymen. On the ship was a handsome young priest and an attractive young woman. It was soon apparent to all that they were deeply in love.
Sure enough, they kept up their relationship in Australia and he decided to leave the priesthood and marry her (she was now pregnant). Mannix not only refused him permission, but summoned the woman to Raheen, where he told her that the baby would be adopted out and given a good education, but the father would not be released from his priestly vows.
I asked my friend G to corroborate this, and she wrote
“Hi Paul,
Accurate – Mannix told E that she could / should stay at a convent where they would look after her until after the birth, so that she would have no financial worries etc. and they would take care of all education including university – just let G stay in the priesthood. G was a deeply spiritual man and I think found it really hard to leave the priesthood but felt obligated and told Mannix that it was his responsibility. Mannix really took the line that it was all the woman’s fault. I remember often seeing G at church when everyone was leaving and he would be crying – very overcome.
E ended up giving birth to twins. They married and had one more child. The marriage was not particularly happy but they did stay together. G is no longer alive but I am not sure about E – would presume she is gone too as they were my parents' generation. He was lovely and rather lost outside of the priesthood. She was a teacher, scatty and according to mum a terrible housekeeper who couldn’t cook or run a household in any way shape or form!
Anyway that is just a little more interesting info for you – the push to stay in the priesthood from Mannix was very very strong. Still remember mum being quite appalled every time she spoke about it.
Keep well
G N”
I hope this fine book achieves the readership it deserves. I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot. It even got me revisiting Rod Quantock's excellent 2006 play “Mannix”. One suspects that Dr. Mannix may yet grant himself a wry smile at the speculation he engenders to this day.
Newman College at the University of Melbourne was overflowing with fine food, wine and speech-making as “Mannix” by Brenda Niall received its welcome to the world.
Margaret and I bought several copies and have enjoyed this thoughtful tome every bit as much as “The Riddle of Father Hackett”, Brenda Niall's work about Father Hackett, friend of Archbishop Mannix, and the man deputed to engage my Father-in-law prior to his conversion to Catholicism.
Old school/tribal associations ran deep in a room where many had come under the influence of Mannix. Like many Catholic school children of the 50s and 60s (and 30s and 40s) I had marched in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade – a display of Catholic influence, “lest they forget”.
Mannix, for us, was always there, presiding with an aloof dignity, intriguing with his poise and dry wit. Brenda Niall fills in the picture of his Irish academic past, the issue of Great War conscription, Australian social justice, following the fight for Irish independence, attitude to World War 2, state aid to catholic schools and his involvement in the political events which led to the Split of the Labour Party in the 50s.
She is well placed to tell this story and her experiences and insights are most impressive.
Nevertheless, at book's end, Mannix is still an enigma. Niall might well have paired her books “The Riddle of Father Hackett” and “The Enigma of Archbishop Mannix”. She has resisted the temptation to go beyond the evidence, which is scant because of Mannix's determination to leave as little of it behind as possible. Nevertheless, she has drawn much circumstantial evidence together leaving a healthy hint of the inner man.
There are many telling aspects – his asceticism, his aversion to touch and his lack of empathy to those nearest him stand out. There are powerful images – priests on vacation, isloated from the public, Mannix staring out to sea for hours murmuring only “Ships passing” while Hackett twiddled his thumbs in attendance.
Mannix emerges, for this reader, as an Irishman marooned in a distant land, obeying his conscience as he understood it. The fascinating denouement is his response to Vatican Two, a most impressive gesture from an old man. This underlines his whole life and makes his convictions crystal clear.
Curiously, I elicited, from a good friend and colleague, some unsuspected information about Mannix when I told her about the launch. Her parents had fled Communist Hungary on a ship with many other of their countrymen. On the ship was a handsome young priest and an attractive young woman. It was soon apparent to all that they were deeply in love.
Sure enough, they kept up their relationship in Australia and he decided to leave the priesthood and marry her (she was now pregnant). Mannix not only refused him permission, but summoned the woman to Raheen, where he told her that the baby would be adopted out and given a good education, but the father would not be released from his priestly vows.
I asked my friend G to corroborate this, and she wrote
“Hi Paul,
Accurate – Mannix told E that she could / should stay at a convent where they would look after her until after the birth, so that she would have no financial worries etc. and they would take care of all education including university – just let G stay in the priesthood. G was a deeply spiritual man and I think found it really hard to leave the priesthood but felt obligated and told Mannix that it was his responsibility. Mannix really took the line that it was all the woman’s fault. I remember often seeing G at church when everyone was leaving and he would be crying – very overcome.
E ended up giving birth to twins. They married and had one more child. The marriage was not particularly happy but they did stay together. G is no longer alive but I am not sure about E – would presume she is gone too as they were my parents' generation. He was lovely and rather lost outside of the priesthood. She was a teacher, scatty and according to mum a terrible housekeeper who couldn’t cook or run a household in any way shape or form!
Anyway that is just a little more interesting info for you – the push to stay in the priesthood from Mannix was very very strong. Still remember mum being quite appalled every time she spoke about it.
Keep well
G N”
I hope this fine book achieves the readership it deserves. I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot. It even got me revisiting Rod Quantock's excellent 2006 play “Mannix”. One suspects that Dr. Mannix may yet grant himself a wry smile at the speculation he engenders to this day.
January 20, 2016
There is a moment, towards the end of this biography when the subject, Archbishop Daniel Mannix (1864-1963) is in his nineties, when any thoughtful reader will pause. Commenting on the Archbishop’s decision to buy his first electric razor at such an advanced age, his friend, Father Hackett said that Mannix didn’t like to be touched. I think that is terribly sad. No matter what you may think about the priesthood and its scandals, it seems to me to be a dreadful thing not to have the comfort of human touch in old age. This one small snippet from the book really brought home to me what a lonely life is imposed by the Catholic priesthood…
Daniel Mannix was a man associated in my mind with destructive authoritarian power wielded from the pulpit to interfere with Australian politics. He died when I was a child, but his protégé B.A. Santamaria (1915-1998) was active long after that, and the name of Mannix used pejoratively often made its way into the newspapers and books when I was old enough to take an interest in politics. But elsewhere in the book Niall comments on the man’s loneliness, and this, I think, is her achievement in this book – not only does she tell the story of his life to correct so many of my erroneous impressions, she also shows the human price he paid for the way he lived it.
Mannix was born in Catholic Ireland to a family of six at a time when it was customary for a son to be gifted to the priesthood. Daniel was the clever one and in time off he went to the seminary at Maynooth. He was ordained in 1890 but never had a parish: he became an academic at the seminary instead and remained there until – in his forties, and without consultation – he was despatched in 1912 by the Vatican to be Coadjutor (archbishop-in-waiting) to the Archbishop of Melbourne. Niall begins her book by noting that Mannix had his personal papers destroyed after his death, so there is no record of what must surely have been dismay. He was passionately interested in Irish nationalism, and to the consternation of some in the church had been to some extent intemperately involved. He was – publicly – a supporter of Sinn Fein, an admirer of the then radical Eamon de Valera and an opponent of making the Irish language compulsory for Matriculation. Mannix was an Irishman, with a keen interest in Irish politics. But off he went to Melbourne…
Catholics in Melbourne then, were almost exclusively Irish Catholics, disdained by the Protestant majority as a matter of course and automatically considered suspect in the matter of loyalty to Britain. Nobody was expecting a local man to replace Archbishop Carr because all the archbishops were Irish then, just as all the Governors-General were Brits. But the Irish Catholics were delighted with their new coadjutor who was tall, handsome, beautifully spoken and an impressive orator, and the rest of Melbourne looked on with apprehension.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/03/28/ma...
Daniel Mannix was a man associated in my mind with destructive authoritarian power wielded from the pulpit to interfere with Australian politics. He died when I was a child, but his protégé B.A. Santamaria (1915-1998) was active long after that, and the name of Mannix used pejoratively often made its way into the newspapers and books when I was old enough to take an interest in politics. But elsewhere in the book Niall comments on the man’s loneliness, and this, I think, is her achievement in this book – not only does she tell the story of his life to correct so many of my erroneous impressions, she also shows the human price he paid for the way he lived it.
Mannix was born in Catholic Ireland to a family of six at a time when it was customary for a son to be gifted to the priesthood. Daniel was the clever one and in time off he went to the seminary at Maynooth. He was ordained in 1890 but never had a parish: he became an academic at the seminary instead and remained there until – in his forties, and without consultation – he was despatched in 1912 by the Vatican to be Coadjutor (archbishop-in-waiting) to the Archbishop of Melbourne. Niall begins her book by noting that Mannix had his personal papers destroyed after his death, so there is no record of what must surely have been dismay. He was passionately interested in Irish nationalism, and to the consternation of some in the church had been to some extent intemperately involved. He was – publicly – a supporter of Sinn Fein, an admirer of the then radical Eamon de Valera and an opponent of making the Irish language compulsory for Matriculation. Mannix was an Irishman, with a keen interest in Irish politics. But off he went to Melbourne…
Catholics in Melbourne then, were almost exclusively Irish Catholics, disdained by the Protestant majority as a matter of course and automatically considered suspect in the matter of loyalty to Britain. Nobody was expecting a local man to replace Archbishop Carr because all the archbishops were Irish then, just as all the Governors-General were Brits. But the Irish Catholics were delighted with their new coadjutor who was tall, handsome, beautifully spoken and an impressive orator, and the rest of Melbourne looked on with apprehension.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/03/28/ma...
November 6, 2016
I found this more readable and engaging than I thought it might be given its main focus. Enjoyed all the historical context it offers around Melbourne in the early twentieth century, but felt like Mannix himself remained slightly elusive and distanced from the reader.
May 14, 2019
Fascinating biography of an important figure in Australia's history. Very well written and quite revealing.
January 14, 2017
Niall is a competent writer with an excellent personal knowledge of Mannix and Catholic Melbourne
during the mammoth reign of this Irish archbishop. Many details have been expanded to improve my knowledge of my home town and the religious divisions of the time. BASantamaria has access to the archbishop and it a major player in the division of the ALP and the formation of the DLP. Arthur Calwell rates a mention as does John Wren and the writer Frank Hardy.
Mannix is an accomplished and complex character with a patriotic bent on Irish home rule that sees him lecturing overseas and being denied access to his beloved Ireland. Mannix does much to encourage and improve Catholic education in Melbourne and seems conscious of the need to accomodate European Catholic arrivals after WW2.
Altogether an interesting read and l can't wait to talk to some Catholic friends about his memory.
during the mammoth reign of this Irish archbishop. Many details have been expanded to improve my knowledge of my home town and the religious divisions of the time. BASantamaria has access to the archbishop and it a major player in the division of the ALP and the formation of the DLP. Arthur Calwell rates a mention as does John Wren and the writer Frank Hardy.
Mannix is an accomplished and complex character with a patriotic bent on Irish home rule that sees him lecturing overseas and being denied access to his beloved Ireland. Mannix does much to encourage and improve Catholic education in Melbourne and seems conscious of the need to accomodate European Catholic arrivals after WW2.
Altogether an interesting read and l can't wait to talk to some Catholic friends about his memory.
May 17, 2015
My interest in this book.
1. I was born in the same town in Ireland, 101 years after Mannix
2. I emigrated to Australia, 75 years after Mannix
3. I too am an archbishop
Ok, I lied about point number 3. I was well aware of the name but not the story which was strange given that he's my home town's most famous son and I received a very Catholic education there.
As a retired Catholic I fully expected to read the early parts of his life in Co. Cork and then lose interest; but what a fascinating life and character. It's a great pity that his personal papers were burned on his instruction.
Very well written & researched. Brenda Niall is to be congratulated on a fine piece of work.
1. I was born in the same town in Ireland, 101 years after Mannix
2. I emigrated to Australia, 75 years after Mannix
3. I too am an archbishop
Ok, I lied about point number 3. I was well aware of the name but not the story which was strange given that he's my home town's most famous son and I received a very Catholic education there.
As a retired Catholic I fully expected to read the early parts of his life in Co. Cork and then lose interest; but what a fascinating life and character. It's a great pity that his personal papers were burned on his instruction.
Very well written & researched. Brenda Niall is to be congratulated on a fine piece of work.
August 31, 2016
Engaging biography
This book won a prize for biography and it's easy to see why. It is a well researched but personal study of a man who dominated the Australian church for such a long period. His influence on key figures, both in Australia and Ireland, was profound. I learned much from reading this book.
This book won a prize for biography and it's easy to see why. It is a well researched but personal study of a man who dominated the Australian church for such a long period. His influence on key figures, both in Australia and Ireland, was profound. I learned much from reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews