Fr Pieter De Vries SMA

Life before Australia

Pieter De Vries was born on April 30, 1915 at Wodsend in the Netherlands. He was the second in a family of 16 children – eight boys and eight girls.

On June 28, 1937 he joined the Society of the African Mission (SMA) of the Dutch Province. He was ordained priest on July 6, 1941. He continued his studies at Nijmegen for a further year and then was a teacher at Herlaer. From 1943 to 1948 he undertook promotional work for the Order.

At the end of 1948 he went to work as a missionary in the diocese of Keta in Ghana, where he remained until 1972.  At this time missionaries were being expelled from Ghana so he had to leave.

Coming to Australia

On October 27, 1972 he arrived in Adelaide. He was actually on his way to New Zealand but stopped off in Adelaide to visit his brother Ynte who was living at Glenelg. A combination of brotherly love and good taste in the physical surrounding inspired him to stay in Adelaide and his Visa was changed so he could stay for a term of three years. But in fact he stayed in Adelaide for the rest of his life.

On November 1, 1972 he was initially appointed as assistant priest in the Woodville parish, but on January 25, 1973 he moved to the St Peters parish for a year and then to Goodwood parish where he remained till the end of September 1975.

On January 21, 1975 he was approved for an additional three-year term in Australia. On October 1, 1975 he was appointed chaplain to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This was work he enjoyed and he remained there for 11 years, living in the parish at Woodville. In May 1976 and again in June 1982 he took leave to attend family reunions in Holland.

Service to the Dutch Community

Throughout this time he also served as chaplain to the Dutch community in Adelaide and provided special Masses for them, cared for the sick, officiated at funerals etc. He also became involved in the Dutch Radio program and was a regular speaker on the airwaves. Pieter was every inch a Dutchman and though he had a great love for the Netherlands, his home country and he was always enthusiastically proud of it – but it came a poor second to his love for God. He had a good relationship with the Dutch Consul at the time and in 1990 he was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of Orange by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in recognition of his 25 years of service as a Missionary in Ghana.

In July 1986 he was appointed Priest in Charge of the parish of Murray Bridge in the absence of the parish priest. And then in January of the following year he was appointed parish priest of Strathalbyn. However in January 1991 his health broke down and he was hospitalised. And later that month he was appointed to the Cathedral staff on light duties. The staff at the Cathedral came to appreciate Pieter as a delightful man and a great priest. Yet he still loved his Bols gin and the occasional cigar.

The Latter Years

On July 6, 1991 he celebrated 50 years of priesthood and took three months leave to visit his family again in Holland. Towards the end of 1999 his health was failing again, and on January 7, 2000 he retired to Villa Murphy. But where possible he continued his pastoral work at Southern Cross Homes and also with the Dutch community. On June 24, 2001 he celebrated his 60 years of priesthood with a special Mass at St John Bosco Church at Brooklyn Park. After a short illness he died peacefully on July 23, 2004 in the Flinders Hospital. His funeral Mass was celebrated at St John the Baptist Church, Plympton and was buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

In his eulogy at Fr Pieter’s funeral Mass Mgr Robert Aitken paid tribute to his missionary spirit. He said: “I believe that the missionaries are the really outstanding heroes and heroines of the Church. You have to be remarkably unselfish and courageous to leave your loved ones and whatever is familiar by way of customs and culture and go off to a land where the climate might be harsh and living conditions uncomfortable. Yet Pieter de Vries did all that. For almost one third of his life he was a missionary in Africa, and he was a missionary here too.

And speaking of his time living at the Archbishop’s House, West Terrace he said: “In his friendly, unassuming way Pieter was forever showing us how good it is to be a priest and how privileged we are to be serving the people. Altogether strong-minded and courageous but kindly and gentle with everyone, and in particular with his fellow priests.”

May he rest in peace.