George F. Dillon

George Francis Dillon (1836 – 29 January 1893) was a 19th-century Catholic missionary and writer from Ireland. He became well known in 1884 for having given conferences in Edinburgh about what he claimed to be a Masonic war against Christian civilisation. His speeches were later compiled with his best-known book, War of Anti-Christ with the Church and Christian Civilization. After being read a summary of this work, Pope Leo XIII approved it and funded the publication of an Italian version.

Early life

Dillon was educated at All Hallows College in Dublin.

In 1861, he left Ireland to serve as a Catholic missionary in the Australian bush country, where he founded a mission for the aboriginal people at Burragorang, about 65 mi from Sydney.

Throughout his years in Australia, Dillon worked under the supervision of the Archbishop of Sydney. John Bede Polding was Archbishop of Sydney from 1842 to 1877, and Roger Vaughan (brother of Cardinal Herbert Vaughan) was Archbishop of Sydney from 1877 to 1883.

In his career as a Roman Catholic priest and missionary, Dillon served in several parishes in New South Wales, Australia. He served as a curate at St. Mary and Joseph's Cathedral, in St. Mary and St. Joseph's parish (Armidale), from November 1861 to August 1864. Next, he was transferred to the Sydney parish of Balmain, where it is known that he served from at least March 1868 to at least 1876. While there, Pope Pius IX commissioned him to undertake a special investigation, due to which he became authorised to use the title "Missionary Apostolic". After serving in Balmain, Dillon moved on to St. Paul's Catholic Church in the parish of Camden.