Sevenhill on the map for year of hope
National
As part of the universal Jubilee Year celebrations, three sites have been named pilgrimage churches for the Adelaide Archdiocese: Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Penola’s St Joseph’s Church and Clare Valley’s Sevenhill Winery and Ignatian Spirituality Centre.
Sevenhill’s place on South Australia’s spiritual map is undeniable. Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia (JISA) runs a retreat centre there which was established in 1851 and is the birthplace of the Jesuits in Australia.
The centre offers a space for prayer and contemplation according to the spiritual principles of St Ignatius of Loyola. It is also connected to one of Australia’s oldest and most famous wineries, originally constructed by the Jesuits to produce sacramental wine.
St Aloysius church, Sevenhill.
“Sevenhill was a place of pilgrimage for the last Jubilee Year in 2000. It’s special for us because this place is a place of sanctuary and a place of pilgrimage,” says Fr Kieran Gill SJ, parish priest of Sevenhill and Riverton parishes.
“Located on site, St Aloysius’ Church, is frequently visited as a place of prayer, as are our shrines, outdoor Stations of the Cross, and our retreat houses; and our winery produces sacramental wine which makes Sevenhill a place of hospitality as well,” Fr Kieran says.
“It’s great to be able to welcome people, and specifically pilgrims, who are seeking a renewal of their faith and looking for community as church, more broadly than just individuals coming to the retreat centre.
“Lots of parishes from Adelaide will do communal pilgrimages here for the Jubilee year so that’s a special aspect to the year for us.”
Pilgrimage groups are also expected to journey from interstate.
“The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is having a Jubilee pilgrimage for the anniversary of the apparitions to St Margaret Mary Alacoque,” Fr Kieran says.
“We have a stained-glass window of her apparitions in our Sacred Heart Chapel and the pilgrimage is happening in July.”
There’s certainly plenty of history to explore.
Sevenhill’s grounds, shrines, walking paths and the surrounding vineyard offer an idyllic and contemplative setting for deepening an experience of God.
Sevenhill was the first winery in the Clare Valley (established 1851) and its newly launched Digital Walking Trail offers a historic walking journey through the vineyards, the underground cellar and the spiritual heritage sites. The digital tour can be accessed from the website (sevenhill.com.au/walking-trail) at any time. Walking maps can also be collected from the cellar door from 10am to 5pm, seven days a week.
Sevenhill reconciliation stones. Photo courtesy of Tim Davies
During the experience, Fr Brendan Kelly SJ leads the way through 17 sites, including the St Ignatius of Loyola Shrine, St Aloysius’ Church and its crypt, and the Weikert Cottage.
“The first Jesuits to come to Australia were Austrian and German Jesuits who arrived in 1848 with the Weikert family,” says Fr Kieran.
“They were a Catholic family and farmers from Austria. They sold their land and funded their journey out here; not just for their family but for 140 others as well.”
The Weikerts wanted to be supported in their faith so they asked the Austrian Jesuit provincial at the time, Fr Pierling SJ, to send a chaplain.
“They sent two young, recently ordained Jesuit priests to accompany them in 1848. They were the first Jesuits to come to Australia and when they came here, they established this as the Jesuit mission in Australia.”
On January 29 1851, Fr Aloysius Kranewitter SJ purchased land, of which the Ngadjuri people were the first custodians, from the Crown in the Clare Valley and named it ‘Sevenhill’, after the famous ‘seven hills’ of Rome. Within a few years a small community of Jesuits had established a small winery for production of sacramental wine and started work on a college for boys which served as a boarding school, Jesuit novitiate, seminary and Jesuit community residence.
The Sevenhill crypt.
By the late 1870s St Aloysius’ Church and its crypt was all but complete. Today, 42 Jesuits are interred within the crypt. In 1871 St Mary MacKillop stayed on the property and visited the college where her brothers Donald and Peter were students. Her spiritual mentor and co-founder with Mary of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Julian Tenison Woods, was also a seminarian in the college.
In the 1880s the Austrian mission to Australia began to wind down and Sevenhill became part of the Irish Jesuit Mission and eventually the Jesuit Province of Australia.
Today, JISA Sevenhill includes a 25-bed retreat and function centre and the ministry is focused on the giving of Ignatian retreats in the tradition of St Ignatius of Loyola, author of the Spiritual Exercises.
Fr Kieran looks forward to the place he calls home being a Jubilee pilgrimage site.
“I love the community here. A lot of families in Clare Valley have been here for generations but there’s also lots of people who have moved here from interstate or overseas,” he says.
“It’s a very strong community and we’re enriched by people moving here to work in the wine industry or agricultural business.”
Sacramental wine and chalice at Sevenhill, Clare Valley. Photo courtesy of Don Brice
“Anyone who makes a pilgrimage during Jubilee Year will be welcomed with open arms.
“The healing ministry of the Church is experienced through the Jubilee as well: reconciliation, healing and renewal. With ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ as the theme, we’re seeking to grow in virtue. We want that same grace for our own local community as for the local church communities who are visiting us.
“It’s about renewing our faith and the hope St Paul talks about with the resurrection of Jesus.”
More details of Jubilee events in the Archdiocese are expected to be announced soon.
Visit adelaide.catholic.org.au
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