Site 16: St Aloysius Church – Crypt

A resting place for Sevenhill’s most notable Jesuits. As the only parish church in Australia with a crypt, this final resting place for Jesuits is widely considered an historical treasure.

The names that are carved into the slate and marble headstones that line the vault refer to the Jesuits who have significantly contributed to the development of Sevenhill and its missions from 1851 when the property was settled. To be interred here, you must have been considered to have had substantial impact on Sevenhill and the local community, and with only one exception, have passed on the property.

From 1851, there have been 42 Jesuits interred in the Saint Aloysius crypt. The first to be placed there was Brother George Sadler, who died in 1865, aged 51, when he was hit by a flying fragment of rock while quarrying the property to obtain stone for the building of the Church above us now.

Other notable burials here are Brother Schreiner, aged 79, the first of the seven Jesuit winemakers of which both Brother Lenz, Brother Storey, Brother Hanlon, and Brother John May join him here.