Monsignor Antonio Johannes Gerardus Fyme

  General Notes:

aka Anthony or Anton Fyme

16 Sept 1999 per e-mail from Michael Fyme living in FL and nephew to Rev. A. Fyme.
Rev ANTHONY Fyme had a brother and a sister.
Brother:
GERARD Francis Fyme m. Bridget O'Dea
Children:
Gerard Fyme m. Margaret Moran; ch: Mary Francis, Delorus and Margaret Ann (Gerard deceased bef 1999)
Margaret Fyme m. Nat Mott; ch: Particia, Mary and Edward (Margaret deceased before 1999)
Michael Fyme m. Dorothy Connolly; ch: Mary Ann, Dorothy and Kathleen; 2nd wife named Gladys. (Michael living with second wife in Florida as of Sept 1999; first wife Dorothy died in the 70s)
Elizabeth Fyme m. Harry Sheshene; ch: Gerard, Betty Ann, James, John, Henery, Joseph, Paul and Thomas (Elizabeth lives in Long Beach, NY

Sister: ELLEN or ELIZABETH Fyme m. Fred Leonard; 2 children both deceased.

Their parents were Elizabeth (_____) and Gerard Fyme

Excerpts from obituary in Catholic Newspaper in St. John's NFLD Sept 1964 and recollections of J. O'Connor Foster:
Born Warnink in the Netherlands (Holland) in 1879..secondary schooling with Crozier Fathers at Uden in Holland (a minor seminary where the boys did not board but rather lived with local families)...studied philosophy in Roulers, Belgium and theology in Leeds, England. The Archbishop of Newfoundland made a recruiting visit to England to find priests willing to come to Newfoundland and it was to this invitation that Anton Fyme responded. He arrived in NFLD as a seminarian and was ordained 29 September 1903 in the chapel of the Presentation Convent School in St. John's. [According to the Adelphian a magazine published yearly , it was the Chapel of Our Lady in Cathedral Square] He began his ministry in the Cathedral and schools for 7 years in which time he began the Anti-Treating League. This was a program to stop the fishermen from squandering away their pay slips on alcohol and leaving families destitute. He also taught Christian Doctine in night school, composing his own catechism for use with the underprivileged boys ("wharf rats") he instructed. He was also active in rehabilitation of prisoners and organized clothing drives for the poor. In his spare time he enjoyed photograpy and made his own Christmas Cards (I have some of these and all the photos he took of my Dad [orphaned early] while growing up.)
In 1910 he was appointed as Parish Priest at St. Bride's on the Cape Shore. His sister Elizabeth and his mother had come from Holland and came with him to his first Parish assignment. He was a large man and physically very strong but was required to walk about 10 miles each day through rough terrain to fulfill his obligations and serve his parish. Together with his brother Gerard ( a draftsman in Holland) he built a Romanesque church at Branch in St. Mary's Bay.
In 1913 he was sent to St. Kyran's on the west side of Placentia Bay. His mother and sister accompanied him. A few years later his mother died and his sister married a local man (Leonard) and raised a family there. (Both of these woman are buried along side the stone church in St. Leonard's. (The church burned in 1921 and is in rubbles now and the cemetery overgrown and in bad condition).
Within two years he built a new church which would serve St. Kyran's; St. Leonard's; the Clattices; Presque; Big and Little Bona; Isle Valen; Darby's Harbour and a few people from nearby Merasheen Island. (He covered this extensive area alone for over 25 years, traveling by boat along the waterways of each of the communties.) It must be remembered that this time period covered the worst misery of the Depression but somehow he managed to develope a spirit of enterprise in the people. He taught the preservation of meat and vegetables and kept a garden along with cows and goats. He introduced the gas lantern and diesel lights and movies. He taught the girls in Mearsheen school how to weave and run a loom and the boys how to use saws and other tools to construct with. He built churches and schools and Halls. (My Dad said he built some 30 buildings and Dad helped make the bricks they used to construct them, each brick formed by hand.)
[In 1828 my Dad left NFLD to live permanently in the States] In 1938, due to poor health, Rev Fyme was transferred to the nearby island of Merasheen. Here a less rigorous schedule was afforded him but as he improved he took on the additonal duties of the parish of Red Island as well. He loved the Mass and instilled in all of his parishoners the same. Resigning in 1956, now 77 and in failing health, he left Merasheen and settled in at St. Bonnaventure's College in St. John's to a slower pace of life. He was Chaplain to the Brothers and students.
In 1964 and in his mid 80s, he was taken to St. Clare's hospital where he died on Sept 6th. He was waked in the chapel of his beloved St. Bonnaventure's (where the students kept vigil over his coffin); then taken to the Basilica for a funeral Mass. It was concelebrated by 4 priests with another 40 priests were in attendance, In additon to many local personages along with a large contingency of nuns and the entire student body of local schools. The Holy Name Society guarded his casket and following the funeral his remains were carried in a prosesssion, followed by all who had attended the services, to nearby Belvedere Cemetery (the priests plot) where he now lies.


Newfoundland 1921 Census St Kyran's
Name Sex Rel. Status Birth D. Age Birth Pl.
FYME, Rev A M Head P.P. 1879 Aug 41 Amsterdam, Holl

28 Aug 1921
Foundation stone of St. Kyran's Parish church laid by Rev. Father Fyme.

Jim Rogers Does anyone have a date for when the church was actually completed and dedicated? It was always said that "the new church was built in 1921" and according to the corner stone, it seems that construction was actually begun in that year. However, given the size of the building, and the amount of work and therefore time that went into its construction, it must have taken more than a year to complete. And what about the chapel as it was called located next to the priest's house? What is the time frame on the construction of that?

1935 St. Kyran's, Placentia Bay west
(name) Fyme, Rev. Anthony (status in household) Head (sex)m (marital status)s (age)56