HISTORIC CHURCHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19780, 29 October 1927, Page 12

HISTORIC CHURCHES.

ANNIVERSARIES AT HiOWICK.

EIGHTY YEARS OF SERVICE.

FORTHCOMING CELEBRATIONS,

Two noteworthy anniversaries will be celebrated at Howick next week, when All Saints' Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, will attain their eightieth year. Both churches were built in October, 1847, the year in which the ships .Minerva, Sir Robert Sale and Sir George Seymour arrived with military pensioners, under' Sir George Grey's scheme of settlement. Special services will be held to commemorate the memory of the Howick pioneers of both denominations who established their own churches so soon after landing in the new country. The history of the Church of England in New Zealand is indissolubly bound up with that of AH Saints, the little old world structure built under the supervision of Bishop Selwyn in 1847. The years have wrought little change in the church. The stout old walls of heart of kauri are as solid as when they were first put np, and within them are enshrined many hallowed memories of early joys and sorrows. The tiny church stands as a thing apart, and to pass through its quaint doorway is to enter a world of yesterday. Small though it is, the church was designed by Bishop Selwyn himself with all the features of a very large building, and it possesses a . nave } miniature chancel, aisles, transepts and a central tower over the crossing! The framework was handsawn and was made at St. John's College, Tamaki, and transferred to Howick in the college boats Undine and Marian. A large body of associates of the college were ready with carts loaned by the neighbours to convey the parts to the site, and a few days sufficed to put the frame together. The first vicar cf the parish was the Rev. John Fisher, who was previously at St. John's College. The church's records date back to 1855, when the first entries were made in a scrupulously neat hand in the parish minute book. This wellpreserved minute book was used continually until last year, and contains the church's history for the past 71 years. Succeeding vicars of the parish were the Revs. V. Lush, R. A. Hall, R. M. Biggs, T. Farley, 11. Fox, R. G. Boler and N. D. Boyes, who was succeeded in 1925 by the present vicar, Canon H. Mason, one ol the few living to-day who remember Bishop Selwyn. Canon Mason was a child of 12 at Lichfield, England, when ho attended a function at which the great bishop officiated in the last year of his life.

There are still resident at Howick severai aged pioneers -who were among the very first parishioners of Ail Saints. These include Mr. Henry Andrew, senior, aged 85, Mrs W. White, aged 89, Mrs. Sarah Massey, aged 85, and Mr. H. Nicholas, aged 85. Special anniversary services will be held to-morrow, when the preachers will be Canon C. H. Grant Cowen in the morning and Archdeacon W J Simkin in the evening. Next Tuesday (AH Saints' Day, will be marked by a commemoration service conducted bv Archbishop Averill, and 3 nrocession of clerffy. A public meeting will be held in the Howick Hall in the afternoon. Next Thursday and Friday will be devoted to a special fair. CHURCH OF OUR LADY. TWO NOTABLE PARISHIONERS. Scarcely ten years had elapsed after the landing of the first Roman Catholic missionaries when the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, was erected at Howick. In its churchyard lie many pioneers of the early settlement. This little church is also built of kauri and it has withstood all weathers throughout the years in remarkable fashion. It is still dtund, although it is anticipated that repairs will have to be carried out in the near future. Unlike All Saints, the Church of Our Lady has not had a permanent resident priest for the whole time since it was built. For a quarter-of-a-cen-tury weekly services were held, but the church was then in a parish which extended from Papakura to Maraetai and it was not possible to attend to it carefully. The first paster was Father Garin, whom Nelson later claimed as its own. In 1852 Father (afterwards Monsignor) Fynes succeeded Father Garin, and he ministered to his people in Howick for over 20 years. Father Riordan was pastor from 1877 to 1883, and he was succeeded by Father M. D. O'Hara, who resided at Otahuhu. The next priest was Father Walter McDonald and Father Patterson, Father Toomey, Monsignor Hackett,»Father Wright and Monsignor Lane all ministered in turn at the Star of the Sea. The present priest is Father Mansfield.

There are to-day in Howick two notable Catholic survivors of the days of the Royal New Zealand Fencihles, Mr. Samuel Lord, aged 83, who was three years old when he arrived with his. parents in the Minerva, and Mr. E. Fitzpatrick, aged 80, who was born on the voyage. Mr. Lord later served in the Maori Wars and is the only pensioner now living in the district. The Catholic community did its full share toward the defence of the isthmus. as is shown hv the names of 59 soldiers of all ranks whose names are honoured on the walls of the church. The anniversary celebrations will begin with a Requiem Mass, at which Bishop Cleary will preside, on All Souls' Day, next Wednesday.