“NEW ZEALAND’S GREAT LOSS”

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12570, 6 October 1926, Page 8

“NEW ZEALAND’S GREAT LOSS”

THE LAST GREAT TRIBUTE TO THE REV. MOTHER MARY AUBERT YESTERDAY’S IMPRESSIVE SCENES PENNILESS WOMAN WHO BUILT CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS The greatest funeral New Zealand has ever accorded, any woman was accorded the Reverend Mother Mary Joseph Aubert yesterday. The scene was of the utmost solemnity. Impressive in every way, one big impression brought away by the countless witnesses was that in our midst there live people of rare greatness whose names we do not even know—the Little Sisters of the Poor, the devoted followers of her whose last remains, were being carried to an honoured grave. Wonderful wom ( an as Mother Aubert was, she was but the l(ead °f a- noble corppany. That is what the populace realised when they saw the members of that company paying their last respect to their leader-—and they knew not the name of even one of them.

Requiem Maas.was celebrated at Sit. Mary of the Angels, and long before the service began, at 9 a.m., crowds were wending their \yay to Boulcott street. Those arriving at 8.30 found the church filled, and a little later not even the packed aisles could accommodate another. Unable to gain admission, men, women, and little children waited outside the doors, and as time passed the patient crowd grew till, it extended right up and down the thoroughfare and far round the vantage corners. CREEDS AND COLOURS GATHER Within the church, and without, every creed, colour, and generation' the country knows was gathered. Many of them had come from afar at great sacrifice. Not crowds of sightseers these, for the element of curiosity so natural in ns all is banished when a’ nation mourns. She'who had left a

home ol luxury in ber native France to do the works of charity in these lone islands had laboured with such results that even the most careless, the most hardened, were moved vj marvel, to admire—and to meditate. The example of her life seemed to rise up before that huge crowd, inspiring);, almost accusingly, shouting at even the best of them: “And what have YOU done with YOUR life?” Great was her sacrifice. How great must be her reward? Great were her achievements—great to a degree . approached only by her faith. Unaided, penniless, armed only with that unnounded faith, she set out upon undeitakings that the affluent would shrink from. She never failed; her faith was not misplaced. There were times innumerable when to the ordinary heart til would have seemed lost. Xot so with Mother Aubert. She prayed and hoped, and, though it were at the eleventh hour, help always came, from Gentile or Jew, from pakeha or Maori, often from the most unexpected source. Many a' busy man has gone to his office in the morning thinking only of his merchandise, and before the close of the (lay has found himself impelled as by an unseen hand to write a clieijue for a large sum for the Home of Compassion, and has discovered later that his gift coincided in time and in value with an obligation toward which there had not been a penny in Mother AubcrtV purse. CROWD WAITED HOURS \ aguelv the crowd had sensed these things. “She wffis a grand woman!” one could hear them say as they stood for two hours waiting for the procession to move toward Kffrori. Traffic had to be stopped awhile as tho milelong cortege moved away. Wellington elosed its doors and drew its blinds. tYillis street and the Quay were as silent as unpeopled lands, though thousands lined the route. Hundreds, unable to obtain admission to the church, and unable to do dther than wait on the roadside, had preceded tho procession to the cemetery, where the last

act of all .was performed .in the presence of the sorrowing hundreds, where many a man let fall a silent tear.upon the hallowed ground which has become the last abode on earth of Mother Mary Aubert. PRACTICAL TO THE END As Mother Aubert went through life, she .went to her final restingplace; .there were no flowers. In her, day she'asked for nothing for herself. Like the sisters who are left .to carry on the work she began, she renounced • all personal comfort and wealth for the sake of the.young and the: old whose disabilities made them the more needy. So in the hour of her death, she willed that’no, worldly honour, no ..token of esteem;, Should be bestowed 'upon her remains.- In the main her wish was respected; Absent were , the floral tributes which we have been accustomed to see on the occasions of the funerals

of tho great. Present was a country’s love, and out of that love cheques and other donations are flowing, iij to supplement .the scanty funds which are necessary if the good work is to continue, and. doubtless the- city, the count ry,. will realise that the most fitting monument which can be erected to the memory of the most practical woman who breathed is practical help for those . this noble nonagenarian lived, sacrificed, slaved, built, and organised. for and died among. They were aearest of all to her. They will be dear indeed to those who truly revere her memory. ' ALL CLASSES LOSERS I • . . - “New Zealand has sustained a great loss by the demise of the Reverend Mary Joseph, foundress of the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion,” said Archbishoji Redwood. . in the course of a short address at the close of the mass. “All classes of society are losers by the departure of so great a woman and so great a Christian. So great a woman because so great a Christian. For it .was her Christianity that was the cause of her greatness and all she conceived and achieved.” At the beginning of her career she was penniless and seemingly helpless, continued His Grace, but her unbounded confidence in God gave her courage, energy and strength beyond the power of human speech to describe. She used to say: “1 . have no bank but the providence ol' God, and it has never failed me yet.” All the Dominion to-day was loud in her praise and in extolling the importance of the work she achieved, and nothing of his could add to what had been said and written to her honour in regard to the things which appear to the eye of man. But great events demanded great causes, and the inquisitive eye of man tried to find what they were. He would say at once they need not seek theso causes in anything human, nor in more philanthropy. They must seek them in higher ground, not in tho

mere human, but in the divine. She was a great Christian, and there lay the secret of her wondrous achievement. She lived a life thoroughly imbued with the faith and spirit derived from Christ. She realised that Christ, the incarnate son of Go 3, lived and died for the salvation of immortal souls—the souls of the lowliest and the meanest of mankind—and therefore she strove for their salvation. She realised the importance of the words of Christ when He gave the great command: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy mind and with all thy soul, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” She obeyed that command; sho loved her neighbour supremely. , Her faith made her realise the importance of the words of our divine Lord when He solemnly declared . . . “When I was hungry you gave Me to eat; when I was thirsty you gave Me to drink.” . . . 1 ‘When did we do this? “would be the question asked. And tlid King would answer: “As long as you did it unto the lowliest of Mine you did it unto Me.” THERE WAS THE SECRET There was the groat secret of Mother Aubert. She realised the identity between Christ and the lowliest of her brethren, and when she found creatures lowly and dejected she loved them as Christ loved them. So when she composed the rule for the new Order she founded, a rule first approved by His Grace and afterwards by Rome, it was not surprising that it was this passage from the words of Christ: “Whatever you shall do for the lowliest of Mine it is done unto Me.” Christian charity was in another sphere from philanthropy. The two were as the poles apart-. Every one of the sisters of the society founded by Mother Aubert looked upon _ dejected creatures as other Jesus Christs, and everv day they kissed the hand of a foundling as they would the hand of Christ. No wonder they treated these poor dejected ones with such kindness and gentleness,- did everything to make them as bappy as Possible, and endeavoured to conduct them through life to eternal salvation. The lesson he wanted the congregation to learn and never forget was the immense distance between

mere philanthropy and Christian charity. The one was natural, the other supernatural; the one human, the other divine. It was that Christian charity, founded on the very words of Christ and anchored in hope and unbounded confidence in God, that enabled Rev. Mother Aubert to * achieve all she did in this life and prepare for a happy eternity. Let all try to imitate her,. imbibe the spirit of true, supernatural, divine charity, in order that we might one day share with that lovely deported one the joys of heaven for all eternity, a blessing he wished to all. AT THE MASS Those present in the church included the Chief Justice (the Hon. C. P. Skerrett), Sir Robert Stout, Sir John Hosking, Sir Joseph Ward, Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., senior magistrate in Wellington, Mr M. F. Luckie (representing the Mayor of Wellington and the' City Council), Mr R. Triit (actingtown clerk), Dr T. H. A. Valintine (Director-General of Health), Dr T. JlcKibbin (of the Health Department.), tho Rev. H. Van Staveren, Mr W. Gallon (Auckland), Sir John Luke, M.P., Mr R. McKeen, M.P., Mr P. Fraser, M.P., Messrs R. W. Tibbs, W. Watson, and Corkhill (representing the Bank of New Zealand), Mr W. Divine (Palmerston North), the Very Rev. T. A. Gilbert (Rector of St. Patrick’s College), and the Rev. Brother Justin (Provincial of the Marist Brothers of New Zealand). There were also present many sisters of the various Orders in New Zealand, members of ■ the Hibernian Society (in regalia), and children (from the home. The celebrant of the Mass was his Grace Archbishop Redwood, and the assistant priest was Dean Regnault, S.M., one of the |ate Mother Aubert’s oldest friends. The deacon was Father Connolly, and the sub-deacon was Father Venning (of Jerusalem, Wanga.nu'i, .where 'Mother Hubert worked among the Maoris for some years). Dr Casey, S.M., of the Ureenineadows

Seminary,. was the Master of Ceremonies. Other members of the clergy present were his Grace Archbishop O’Shea, the Rignt Rev. Monsignor Power, the Right Rev. Monsignor McKenna, V.G. (of ’Masterton), Archdeacon Devoy, Dean Holley, the Very Rev. Father O’Reilly, S.M. (provincial), Father Hurley (Timaru), Father Cashman, and many others. ' During the celebration of the Mass a choir of priests, under the baton of Father B. J. Ryan, of St. Patrick’s College, rendered the impressive “Dies Irae,” and following the Mass Fathers Ryan and Outram sang “In Paradiso.” iVir W. McLaughlin was at the organ. The Rev. Father Mark Devoy, of the Island Bay parish, officiated at the graveside, where the choir sang “Benedibtus,” after which the mortal remains of the Reverend Mother were laid to rest among the sisters of her Order in the special plot reserved lor them.