ARCHBISHOP DEAD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20504, 4 January 1935, Page 12

ARCHBISHOP DEAD.

Veteran Roman Catholic Prelate. LONG LIFE OF SERVICE. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, January 3. Archbishop Redwood died at eleven o’clock this evening. The funeral will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Archbishop Redwood underwent a major operation on Tuesday morning, when his right leg, which had shown indications of gangrene, was amputated above the knee. # Ilis Grace Archbishop Redwood was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop in New Zealand. lie was the youngest bishop in the world when he was consecrated, and at the time of his death was the oldest. He was also the oldest member of the Marist Order, and had attained the sixty-first year of his Episcopate at the age of ninety-six years. He was regarded as one of the most outstanding

figures in the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of ninety-three he attended the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, before visiting which he made a stay in Rome and also in France. In all, his Grace was present at seven congresses.

Much of the credit for the growth of the Church’s work in New Zealand was due to Archbishop Redwood. In spite of the heavy w’ork he undertook for many years, he found time during his early years as a bishop to preach in Australia and to write for various journals. He was a member of the New Zealand University Senate for several years. In his sixty years as a bishop, Dr Redwood saw many changes. New Zealand’s rapid development, its emergence from concentration on parochial politics to active participation in matters of Imperial and of international concern; its passing through the period of experimental labour legislation, and through' that of the Great War twenty years later—all touched him closely in his administrative duties. “Patriarch of Pacific.” Termed in many a European capital as “the Patriarch of the Pacific,” this active nonagenarian had travelled extensively overseas. Three years ago the present Pope told the Archbishop that he was “unique” when informed that he was the fifth Pope to whom, as a. bishop, “the ancient one” had paid his respects. He lived through the reigns of three British sovereigns, excepting the first two years of Queen Victoria’s record reign of sovereignty.

Messages of congratulation were received from all parts of the world when the Archbishop celebrated the attainment of the sixtieth year of his episcopacy, at Wellington in February of last year. All religious denominations joined in honouring him on that historic occasion, and at the public reception a crowded Town Hall was the crowning recognition of the unique record achieved. Reference to the fact that his Grace was born before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and arrived in New Zealand shortly after the signing, was made by the Prime Minister (the Right Hon G. W. Forbes) in his congratulatory speech on behalf of the Government and the people of New Zealand. The messages received at the, diamond jubilee celebrations included the following from the Governor-General and Lady Bledisloe:—“Lady Bledisloe and I join wholeheartedly in the felicitations which are reaching your venerable and venerated Archbishop from every part of the world on the occasion of celebrating the sixtieth year of his Episcopate. Throughout his long life and in positions of high authority in his Church he has held aloft the torch of Christianity as a source of enlightenment, comfort and peace among his co-religionists. Both Archbishop Redwood and those over whose spiritual welfare he presides have our warm congratulations and good wishes.” Arrived in Early Days.

Archbishop Redwood had been well described as a pillar of the Church in the Dominion—an eloquent preacher and an indefatigable worker; “his literary ability and activity were represented by his admirable pastoral letters, his lectures, and the many pamphlets and valuable articles which, from time to time, had emanated from his pen. He always evinced a deep interest in religious education, and in this regard St Patrick’s College, Wellington, stands out as a glorious monument.” From his youth up he*had always been passionately fond of music, and his one recreation was to play the compositions of the masters on his beloved “Strad.”

Brief as was the period of Hobson’s rule as Governor of New Zealand, he was still alive when Francis Redwood reached Wellington. The future Archbishop, then three years of age, had accompanied his parents from his native Staffordshire, in the George Fyfe, which brought the pioneer settlers of Nelson, where the first white woman had set foot ten months earlier. Only three years previously the New Zealand Company’s survey party had arrived at Port Nicholson in the Cuba. Auckland was a tiny village, and, outside of Nelson, Akaroa had the only civilised community in the South Island. There were not more than 6000 pakehas in all New Zealand, and Te Rauparaha was still a power in the land. Wide and Scattered Diocese.

The Redwood family reached Nelson when there was little more to welcome them than the site of the present city. At once they took up their prescribed area in the Waimea Valley, and the first home in New Zealand of the future archbishop was a tent. Barely

a year after their arrival, the Wairau trouble caused consternation among the Nelson colonists. Only a few miles of bush land separated the Redwood home from the site of the killing of Captain Wakefield and twenty-one others by the Maoris. In the midst of such disturbances Francis Redwood spent his early boyhood years. The Canterbury settlement was founded, and the New Zealand Constitution Act had been passed, when young Redwood left New Zealand in December, 1854. to continue his studies in Europe. He had outgrown the possibilities of the colony for higher education. In 1874 he returned to New Zealand as second Bishop of Wellington. As yet there were only two Catholic dioceses north of the Waitaki River, and for many years the young bishop became well acquainted with the bush tracks, bridle paths and river crossings of Canterbury and Westland, which were within his spiritual jurisdiction, as was the North Island outside of the Auckland province. Distinguished Career Overseas.

Ilis decision to seek further education overseas had been made as a result of the recommendation of the Rev Father Garin, S.M., to whose school young Redwood had gone in Nelson. He was such a promising student that Father Garin prevailed upon his parents to give him a better education than was available in New Zealand. When a lad of fifteen he was sent to France, where tor some j r ears he studied in the Department of‘ the Loire, and then continued his studies for ten years in Ireland. After a distinguished course he was ordained priest, and made his religious profession in the Society of Mary on January 6, 1864. The first years of his priestly life were occupied in the important position of Professor of Scholastic Philosophy and Theology in ’Dundalk and Dublin, Ireland.

Dr Redwood was called to the Episcopate and was consecrated by his Eminence the late Cardinal Manning, v;hen Archbishop, in the Church of the Marist Fathers, St Anne’s, Spitalfields, London, on St Patrick’s Day (March 17), 1874, and was then appointed Bishop of Wellington. On May 13, 1887, he was created Archbishop of Papal Brief, and was then constituted Metropolitan of New Zealand.