THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 46, 14 November 1907, Page 11

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

(Contributed.) (Continued from last week.) AUCKLAND. Laying the Foundations.

• A gentleman who recently spent some time in the district around the Bay of Islands, the ' Kororareka ' of history and the very cradle of the Catholic Church- in New Zealand, contributes the following interesting narrative :—: —

Saturday, January 13, 1838," will be for ever memorable in 'the history of the Church, in New Zealand, as being that on which the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered up for the first time in the Colony. On that day, as the Right Rev. Jean Baptiste Pompallier, who had been created Vicar Apostolic of Southern Oceania by Pope Gregory XVI., tells us in his diary 'the blood of Jesus, Christ flowed for the first time in this island.' After a _ pleasant but uneventful trip from Sydney in a little schooner, the 'Raiatea,' which he had hired at Tahiti, the Bishop and one priest (Rev. M. Servant), and a lay catechist, arrived at Hokianga on the previous Wednesday. -They were met and warmly welcomed by the few Catholic families living in the Hokianga district, and Mr T-homas Poynton, an Irishman who had been in the Colony for some years trading as a timber merchant, placed one of his houses— a four-roomed wooden cottage— at the disposal of the missionaries. The principal" room in this cottage was at once fitted up as a temporary chapel, .and here,- as I have' said, was the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for. the first time in the Colony. The mission was established under the title of the Assumption, and the whole of the Apostolic Vicariate was placed under the name of the Immaculate Con-

ceptiorir The missionaries at once set themselves to the task of organising the mission and of learning the language of the country, as well as improving their knowledge of English. It was soon discovered, however, that they -were in no friendly country — that they were, in fact, surrounded -by those who desired' their expulsion and- who meant -at all risks to get rid of them. Close to the house in which they lived was a Protestant missionary station, and within a radius of fifty .miles were seven other such stations. For reasons which were not far to seek the Protestant missionaries wished to get .rid of, the newcomers, who, they said, had brought out with them several wooden gods, which they worshipped, and further, that they intended to seize the land, belonging to the. Maoris,- to burn their whares, and then to take the country and hand it over to the French Government. The Maoris were not at _ all anxious for any increase in their country to the number of land speculators in the guise of missionaries. This may be readily understood when it is remembered that previous to this large tracts of valuable land had been absolutely filched from the Maoris by men who had come amongst them ostensibly to preach the Kingdom of Christ. Dr'Thompson, in' his ' Story of New Zealand,' says that at one time twenty-seven square* miles in the North Island were owned by Protestant missionaries. Red handkerchiefs, glass beads, iron pots, axes, and old firelocks were usually the mediums of exchange for land in those days. The marked distrust, therefore, with which the ' converted '. Maoris met Bishop Pompallier and his little band can easily be accounted for. He tells us himself that the heathen ' Maoris who had not come under- the influence of the Protestant missionaries received him quite favorably, . and paid little attention to the calumnies that were circulated against them. It was only from theChristians that

He Apprehended Any Danger, and the singular thing- about this was that tHeir hostility was always more manifest on the Monday mornings, and subsided gradually as the week advanced, generally dying out on 'the Saturdays. The reason was obvious ; their passions were in?" flamed by the Sunday lectures. On one Monday morning early, when he had been with them but a short time, a crowd of those natives on their way down the river to, their own settlement landed opposite the Bishop's place and surrounded the house. When the catechist rose about five o'clock he saw them seated in a half circle on the grass. Thinking that they had come to pay afriendly visit to the Bishop, he went to his room to inform Mm of their presence. Hurriedly dressing, His Lordship went to the door to welcome the natives, but he soon saw by their looks and gestures that they had come on , No Friendly Errand. Not being able to speak the language, he was unable to make them understand his feelings towards them, so he at once sent for Mr Poynton to know if he could succeed in allaying the angry feelings, of his visitors. Fortunately at this moment a chief of a friendly tribe, who had on a previous occasion evinced a desire to learn something about the true God from the Bishop, made his appearance and prevented the_ gathered throng from carrying out their threats against the missionaries. Mr Poynton and another European, who happened to be on friendly terms with the Maoris, "did all they could to convince them that the Bishop had no designs upon their lands, that he had no wife nor children to support, and that he only came amongst them to preach to them the doctrine of the true God in its integrity. For over three-quarters of an hour the discussion between the .Europeans and the Maoris" waxed hot, and at one time -it was

feared that the evil counsels of the leaders would prevail. During all this, time the Bishop was reading his Office in the house, and just as he had finished Mr Poynton came in to tell him that they had succeeded in persuading the natives to abandon their evil designs and to remain peaceable. It appears that they intended to break into the house and destroy the images and furniture of the chapel, and then to seize the Bishop and Father Servant, take them up the river- in their canoes, and dispose of them in the" usual fashion. They freely. admitted that they were urged by their missionaries to carry out this programme, and only for the timely arrival of the friendly chief; who was a pagan and who "stayed .the proceedings, the soil of New Zealand would probably be "consecrated for the first time with . the blopd of martyrs. A Timely Visitor. On the following day the Bishop,. taking Father Servant and an interpreter with him, procured a boat to visit some Catholic families who lived on the banks of the Hokianga River. While on this journey he was told of a very fierce and warlike tribe of

Maoris called the Whirinaki, which had resisted every advance of the Protestant missionaries to make them Christians. When they arrived at the pah, strangely enough arid quite unexpectedly, they were received, so to speak, with open arms, the head man saying to his people : ' These two strangers have neither wives nor children ; they do not appear to be well off, but they have not come for our lands. They must be the ministers of the true God.' It appears that there was an old tradition among the Maoris of the North Island that the ministers of the true Church were unmarried, and that at some future time they woulcl come to New Zealand and would be known by their celibacy. The party remained all day at the Whirinaki settlement, and when night came the young men and women lit torches and sang songs in front of the whare which had been appropriated to their use, and where a hospitable host supplied them with kumeras and fish and other Maori delicacies. Next day, at an early hour, a crowd arrived to see the Bishop, who, being requested to say a prayer to the true God, knelt down and recited some prayers from the. breviary, which upon being finished they all cried out 'Kapai! kapai !' Thus came into

The True Fold

a tribe who, from the fierceness of their character, were called Whirinaki (wicked), a tribe which the Protestant missionaries gave up in despair. They pressed the Bishop to remain with them, and they would give him land on which to build a house and get their young people to wait on him, but all that he could do was to promise them that, at some future time, he would return to them and settle everything to their satisfaction. Meanwhile the Protestant missionaries were busy in spreading the most alarming rumors about the Catholics among their disciples, telling them that if they wished to save their country from the French they must be got rid of. Bishop Pompallier was privately informed that his house was to be burned down and he and his priest and catechist taken in a canoe up the river, and disposed of in the usual Maori fashion. Fearing an outbreak, the Europeans, Catholics and Protestants alike, advised His Lordship to leave the country at once. They were foreigners, and, moreover, there was no French Consul on the island to whom they could appeal for protection, so in the interests of peace and order they were urged to leave the country. However, at the time when the discontent was rifest and the inevitable was about to be accepted, one of the unconverted chiefs brought a little child of his who was on the point of death to be baptised, he having heard that after Baptism the soul would go to dwell with the true God. The Bishop hastened to comply with his request, and, immediately after the ceremony was finished, the child began to show signs of recovery, and before two days were over was as well as ever. This circumstance soon became known to the natives, who admitted that the. God of the Bishop was a good God. But notwithstanding this the vilest calumnies still continued to be spread about the Catholic Church and her ministers, and

The Danger to the Infant Mission

became every day more and more imminent. At this juncture the French corvette 'La Heroine ' arrived in Sydney Harbor, and her commander (Captain Cecile), learning that the Vicar Apostolic, his priest, and catechist were being persecuted and harassed in New Zealand by the Protestant missionaries, set sail at once for the Bay of Islands in order, as he said in a letter sent on before him, to teach these gentlemen a lesson in civilisation. He added that he meant to settle the question of liberty and justice, which was being violated by the persecution of a French subject, and, if needs be, he was ready to employ h"ls artillery and the weapons of his sailors for that purpose. The publication of this letter had the desired effect, and neither the artillery nor the weapons of the sailors were needed to quell the disturbance. M. Cecile placed one of his boats at the service of the Bishop, who was thus enabled to pay several visits to the natives around the bays, by all of whom he was received with marked respect.

It is needless to say that the presence of 'La Heroine ' in the Bay of Islands put a stop effectually to the persecution of the Catholic missionaries. On the Sunday after her arrival Mass was celebrated on the deck of the vessel amidst all the pomp and splendor at the ship's command. The deck was splendidly decorated with flags and awnings, and the Captain undertook the decoration of an altar. Most of the sailors, who had been to confession on the day before, received Holy Communion. The inhabitants around the bays and the natives were invited to be present, and the function was very impressive. The com- - mander and his staff were in full uniform. A number of Pro-

testant ladies and gentlemen from Kororareka were present. Altogether there were about 300 people on board. At the Elevation the gunners went through their 1 exercises, kneeling while the sounds of the drums reverberated along the shores and re-echoed among the adjacent hills.

(To be continued.)