CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE RIGHT REV. AMAND LAMAZE BISHOP OF OLTMPUS,VICAR

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 487, 11 August 1882, Page 19

CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE RIGHT REV. AMAND LAMAZE BISHOP OF OLTMPUS,VICAR

{Continued.) ) »~ m * m i. '• IBLAND O* TUTTJILA. BY Tutuila we began our visitation to the Navigators, and there too ZZ^OSS? H We . We f« * lrea * r acquainted with this island, having once parsed there, in 1864, with a few confreres. There were thei only 50 converts. A poor hut was their chapel ; two unsightly planka and a few stakes were their altar. f"»*"» A c ST*^ ° f C . atholic * is te n times as great. Their church IS? 7f7 f X H ?*y C ™« "one of the finest and largest in the vie SR^i t f !L Bh -° ff u ltS f^ 6 lifti *g far into the air the sign of salvation : at the sight of its stain-glass paintings, vestnrent^Mrd pictures ; and especially of its magnificent altar formed of tbreelaree I stones snrmounted by a tabernacle in incorruptible wood, how can z^ftrirsS/KS?* ' orthe •"""• " n4iwt •»•• *■?■?» Father Vidal who built this church, has left it to Father Didier, m order to busy himself with a new station, Notre Dame du^ Port. Iris situated in the splendid harbour of Pagopago which, being on i the track of toe great steam linos from America to Australia, W ; render this station very important Our two misaioners also want au estebhehment of nuns and a special school for the catecbista of Tntuila. May this project be soon realised. - , «,* So*? b^ tbC i^ s^ powerful means to hasten the conversion of the island. Our 500 Catholios are only as yet the tenth of the total jnpulat,on which is 5000. And besides we must add the aoOGof the little archipelago of Manua, situated at the east of Tutuila.. and where we nave not yet a single convert. ii. Islakd of Upoirr, Aan d * ial%nd " divided into three di fi fc r i cta : Tuamasaga, District of Ttjahasaoa. a nP'tT?? is the capital of al! the archipelago, Apia, and the habitual residence of late Bishop BUoy. The feastof Easter was drawing nigh: we longed to celebrate it with you, the nrivileged children ef our revered predecessor. " Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha mandware vobiseunr (Luke 22. 15.) What he aged to cay of you : "You are my joy and and my crown," we also said, stngtng with you the Easter alleluia. And you always will be, yea always, the joy and crown of your shepherd : " Sic state in Domino, eharUsxini. (Ph. iv, 1.) The great work of Bishop EUoy was the education of youth. Yon know with what devotedness and sacrifices he established at Apia the college of catechists and the convent of our nuns. College.- Under the direction of Father Gavet, the college of Vara .has already given many catechists, and has now 115 students. Ine formation of catechigts pious, zealous, docile and respectful to the mistnoier, what a laborious apostolate it is ! It was not enow* however for Father Gavet. To render still greater services to his confreres, he also prepares for them native lay brothers, and he trams them with a zeal beyond all praise to the exercises of the religious life. CoDyenr.--Our good nuns, so devoted to the mission, have had great trials. Despite these trials, perhaps because of them, the 2E3£i *£ alol V 8V 8 l n *, H^ B i ate of P^Perity. The sclool is attended by 110 pupils, borders and day-pupils, natives and Europeans. The evergrowing success of this school excites universal admiration. But what overjoyed us beyond all was, that the best pupils aspire to the religious life. 8 yen of them, after the pidinaTy probations, were admitted to profession ; and now, with their pious directress, form a very fervent community which edifies the whole vicamte/"" The lily has bloomed S£"° n ( C ft wf kUd *" " S e **to<>M* solitude, et flortUt guaH Other schools— Bishop Blloy had also established for the town boys an English sohool. After three years of interruption it has been reopened by Brother Barthelemjr, whom he brought from Sydney. At the opening twelve pupils presented themselves ; the number is Kid 'Yd Cert * lnly iDcrease u n d er the able management of £f J*? tinae the sc^ ool for little Samoans has been reconstitated. The war had given it, and all the schools of the vicanate, a terrible blow. We made an appeal to our 59 catechists, A»d au oar missioners. It met with a generous response ; everywhere village schools mad residence schools are rising. «*,-<» Church.— Besides the population of the town schools and a ?£^ ? IS"?**' ° f * hite m erely passing or residing at Apia this district comprises 1120 native Catholics scattered in 12 villages, l&e church, built 25 years ago by the Bishop of Enos, and then too We. is now insufficient On festivals we can hardly celebrate in it pontflD caiiy. The galleries, nave, sanctuary, and sacristy are crowded ; and there are "many people outside as in. It is therefore urgently necessary to build a new church, and change tbe old one into a residence. It is a considerable undertaking. Father Broyer has fearlessly set about it. Provicar and procurator afc the same time, he was overworked already, but he will he assisted in his parish and school workby Farthers Violette and Dole, and in building by our V? 2 "f-brofiiew and our brave converts. Apia will not shrink from ainicultaes. , w Sm^!^?^ £?* b at seven leagues from Apia, but still in the district of Taumasaga, is the station of Safataia which at the beginning of 1881, there was neither church nor presbytery : besides all the man had gone off to the war. When Father Leger arrived at Bafata, be accordingly found only old people, childrenTand invalids, but he «onTerted even these invalids into devoted work, men. >. -iJ^S 1 !: hem ll WM d «* id ed that after the w«t a charoh should U omit. But at once they began to cbistruct the ptesbytery. lime,

stone, victuals, cofra, tnoneyaJl came at the right time. Shortly the work was finished. It was a regular chalet ; graceful as could be, but more graceful still was the welcome offered us by those brave workers. Their faces were beaming. It was a pleasure .to look at them, and we said, "We are happier here than in the palace of" p inces." ' . DI6TBIOT OP A&JSUU The native name of thi<? district suggested B^. Ann, to her therefore was consecrated the capital Tenlunioega. Brother Charles there built a large church, and Father Dole, schools anft a presbytery. A Breton by birth and heart, Father Dole did not fail to remember Sainte Anne D' Auray, and he gave popularity in Samoa to the " cherished devotion of the- Bretons." And now people gladly visitthe church of Aana ; they l'ke to pray before the statue of St. Ann, especially on the great fca<.€ of the 26th July which yearly attracts pilgrims. We are pleased to see that St. Ann, so much honoured Catholic Brittany, is not without honour in our missions. Children of Mary, we owe a special devotion to her Holy Mother, according to our constitution?. Speciali eultn honorabunt Sanctos Joachim et Annan. (Const. 20G). They reqaire even that on the day of St. Ann's feast, which with us is a double of the second class, we should offer Holy Mass, or go to communion fop our dear Society, lafestis sanetormnparentvniß. Marxce sacrijiclum m\s»ee' t aui, n non sunt sacerdotets communionein Deo offerant pro jSoeirtate. We have in this district 600 Catholics out of a population of 3,600 souls. The war, too, this year had brought hither men from all the archipelago. It was at Aana that Tamasese, one of the two kings who contended for Samoa, had established his head -quarters. Father Hellegonarch, being military chaplain, informed the King of our arrival. His Majesty is not a Catholic, and yet he instantly ordered his flett, army, artillery, guards and people to give a royal reception to the spiritual father of Samoa. More than 6,000 persons were there, both Protestants and Catholics ; all indiscriminately knelt down on our passage, many of them for the first time. All made the sign of the cross as well a* they could ; all applauded and mingled their acclamations with the chants of the Church, the filing of muskets, the booming of cannons, the sound of bellß and v lalis." Never was trere at Samoa such a demonstiation in favour of Catholicity. We had to celebrate the offices in the open air, under the large trees of the spot. It was Quasimodo Sunday. We could not h*lp repeating to these warrior's odr Saviour's words, "Pax vobis;'—" Peace be with you." Already we had visited the o'her party and had made the same proposals for peace. The time wa-i not yet come; peace was signed only three months after. Mayitbj lasting, and terminate this fratricidal strife which has desolated our dear Samoa for thiity years. District of Attja. This district comprises three stations: Lotofaga, Aleipata, and Lotofnga.— When the beautiful church of Tutuila wa? finished, Lotofaga was tak^n with a fit ct holy jealousy. At any cost it wanted a chuich at least as good. The people set to work at" onc<>. But in their atdour, ibey did not follow the missioned direc'ion- ; many a time they forgot both square and level. Henco successive slips told them they had been too hasty. Di-couragement was to be feaml. Happily Kathsr Estienne wa3 there. A veteran zouavp, he had c nrage to spare for those who had none. '• It is nothin?," he would say " clear away those ruins ; begin again, and be more careful to rio what I tell you. Thus the church is rising, rather more slowly hut with greater solidity. Joy has not left th.j spot. Men work mnch and sing still more. At the feasts of Pentecost, which w«> ctlebratod at LoUfaga, we have listened with delight to those charming Samom l-o-ms composed in honour of this church. They relate its history, its fall, and resurrection ; they especially relate it* future glory fur decidedly Lotofaga is piously jealous : it hfts already one of our finest presbyte ies, and it is determined that its church shall be one of tbe best in the vieariate. We firmly hope it will succeed. Aloipata — For mx months this station had been in mourning, bather Verne died in January, at the age of 76 years, after 30 years of profession and 50 years of priesthood. Who coul 1 tell ail the pood he did during his long apo*tolate ? His memory is still doar in ins old cure of Virieux, in the diocese of Bellev, Franco, nnd it will be many a day before lie is fm gotten in these missions. For all his confreres he was always the Angel of prod counsel. Of a vory different tempr fiom that of the revered Father Breton, his compatriot, he had at bottom the same devotedness, the came constancy, and the same attraction for the hidden life which so becomes the bocietyof Mary. He loved his converts as a mother does her children ; hp co-ild refuse them nothing. His great age, his infirmity, and above all, his great modesty, did not allow him to undertake great constructions. But if he leaves fo his successor neither presbytery n r church, he bequeaths to him a fine Christian congregation of 328 natives, solidly instmcted, and -whose fervour is prug,jd in nil Banana. To console the orphans of Aleipata we left Father Menuei. »our last travelling companion. It was a trial for \w, on our separation uroni this young missioner, to lay upon him so heavy a charge. To 1-a n the language, attend to the converts, build cbnrch and presbytery, found schools; such is hia lot. But the example of Father Verne will support him. May he reach at Aleipata the years of his holy predecessor. Falefa.— This station is not in mourning. After twenty years of hardest work, Father Chouvior, the elder, is alwajs full of life, ft was a treat for ns to pray with him and his 430 Christians, in U>e Ueautitul church which they have erected to the Sacred Heart of ♦ tTTt' - • Was bere fchat Bisho P B11 °y consecrated all his vieariate to t hat L lvme Heart, and from here too that devotion so amiable and dear to tbe missioners spcead through all S itnoa. •t, ■ lp ' > P ula tiou of Upolu.— The population of the island is 24 310 inhabitant^, and out of. that number we have 3,198 CathoKcs. that is, about one-spventh of the whole population. HI. ISLAND OF MANOno. Thiß island is the smallest of the group, but is deemed the noblest. Bishop Elloy did not hesitate to put a missioner on it. The station is

recent, and yet we have already 100 ■ converts,— that is one tqntfc of the population atngantin^ to 1090 «oujs. This field is too narrow 5 tfr Father Henquel. *He has widened it, by atteudiug to the fordga workera in the employment of European planters. These poor "workers to the number 6f 3000, come from all the islands of Micronesia ; they speak different languages, and (ire despised by our natives, who call them not men but things, black things, v^a uli. But these black things have a soul redeemed by -Jesus Christ and, destined to the bliss' ol Heaven. To evangelise them", Father Henquel has had to -learn the language most used among them. He, knows it now, and on Sunday, their only free day, he visits the three nearest camps to Manbuo ; he has already prepared 100 , Catechumens for the grace of Baptism. After a.certain number of years these workers have to be restored to their country. You may perhaps ask me. Reverened Fathers, whftt will become of them in that Micronesia so long deprived of missioners. Be comforted. The Holy See has just intrusted it to the religious of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. May we, one and all establish the roign of our Saviour Jesas Christ in the whole of Oceania.

To be Continued.