THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

New Zealand Tablet, 30 July 1908, Page 30

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

(Contributed.)

m THE FAR NORTH.

Having overcome to -some extent the opposition, trials, and many difficulties that followed his arrival in New Zealand, and which were referred to in preceding chapters, Bishop' Pompallier succeeded in getting a residence' erected at Papakawau, in the centre of the Hokianga district. The formal opening was accompanied by a religious ceremony. That was followed by a -fete in which the European andi Native Catholics took part. The Bishop's approach, we are told, was heralded by a salvo ■ of musketry. Mass was celebrated in the principal room, which had been decorated with materials at hand, and where the mission altar had been previously prepared. After the Gospel the Bishop preached for the first time in Maori to the numerous Natives who had assembled. From then onwards instructions in the Faith in Maori were regularly given on Sundays, and frequently -on week days, to the Natives. Father Servant was entrusted with the charge, whilst the Bishop was principally .occupied in visiting the tribes in "the vicinity, ._and*»giving them the first lessons in religion 1 , and calling them to the Kingdom of God. Soonr- too, the ' Our Father,' ' Hail, Mary,' and ' Creed ' .were translated into the Native -language. The success of this first-established station .and the eagerness with -which the Natives embraced the Catholic faith, as has been previously shown, awakened the dormant spirit of intolerance among Protestant missionaries, who long before were on the scene of ' an evidently unprofitable religious enterprise. As a consequence petty tyrannical methods were adopted, and a persecution of the Bishop and his associates ensued. Undeterred, however, he had the satisfaction of welcoming at the Bay of Islands on June 16, 1839, his first contingent of helpers, who brought with them some much-needed funds. These were Fathers Baty, Epalle, and Petit. With the funds brought, a wooden house and a small plot of land were purchased at Kororareka, which the Bishop fixed as his residence henceforth, and made the head of the whole mission. There was only one Catholic among the seventy white residents who constituted the then settlement, but everyone extended a kindly welcome. The people of Hokianga deeply mourned the Bishop's departure from them, but Father Baty was sent there to assist the pioneer, Father Servant, and learn the Maori language. At intervals Kaipara, Whangaroa, and Mongonui were visited by the Bishop, and much useful preparatory work accomplished. In the following December, four new priests of the Society of Mary arrived at the Bay of Islands. These were Fathers Petitjean, Viard, Comte, and Chevron, and Brother Atale, who brought with them additional funds for the mission. Father Chevron and Brother Atale left almost immediately for the South Sea Islands, whilst Father Comte departed, for Hokianga to assist, and. also to qualify as a Native linguist. The others meanwhile remained at the Bay of Islands engaged in similar necessary studies. Six months afterwards, wishing to establish - a third mission station at Whangaroa, the Bishop, accompanied by . Father Epalle, embarked on a small vessel for that place,- where the latter was installed in charge — the acomplishment of a promise which greatly delighted the people. The Natives insisted on the Bishop choosing a site for a residence, and they .also set apart a plot of land on which to build a church, suffi- . cient for a cemetery, and a small enclosure for a garden, Whilst the offer of a Catholic European, an Italian, of a temporary residence, for the missionaries was accepted. A little later Father Petitjean and a catechist Brother " were also sent to assist in" the mission, which was placed under the patronage of the Epiphany, and developed rapidly. The mention of this great feast of the Church recalls its application in quite another way, two , centuries . before, and~ ." in comparatively close proximity to. the scene of "missionary endeavor -now referred to. ■We .read in the journal of Tasm'an that,' during his memorable - voyage of discovery in 1642, happening to be passing a small group of islets, lying north-west of the northern extremity of New Zealand, on ~ the feast of the Epiphany, he named them the .Three Kings in honor of the occasion, a name they have ever since borne. On returning to Kororareka "at the commencement of May, 184 a, after one of his periodical tours of visitation, the Bishop learnt th.at two French corvettes, belonging to the scientific <

expedition of M. Dumond d'Urville, had remained there several days expecting to meet him, to whom and his .mission the commander had v shown himself' very well disposed^ At a special Mass, celebrated on the Sunday during his stay by Father Petit, who was in charge of the station, the commander and several of the ship's company had assisted thereat with much edification. M. d'Urville, after presenting a quantity of useful objects to the mission,' departed, greatly disappointed at not having met the Bishop. At a little later date Kaipara was again visited by the Bisfiop, a permanent station established there, and a priest placed in charge. A hazardous journey overland from the Bay of Islands to this settlement once undertaken by Father Petit in the discharge of his sacred duties is thus described in one of the early numbers of the ' Annals of the Propagation of the Faith ' : '.After five days 'of fatigue, we arrived at the River Kaipara (it was hardly two days' journey ; they had 'missed their way). Great was our disappointment on finding no' canoe, nor a house. We fired several shots, but no person appeared. We then turned back, and endeavored to make our way through an immense marsh, in which we were often up to our middle in water ; two of my companions became quite discouraged. I tried in vain to keep up their spirits. With our clothes all wet, arid covered with mud, without ' food or any means of procuring it, we arrived very late in the evening at the entrance to- a forest. We. had eaten nothing since morning, except a few leaves of raw- cabbage, and we were to 1 have nothing for supper. As I was seeking by groping for some dry wood to light a fire, I heard the flutter of a bird, which I had startled among the branches of a tree. I ran to the place whence the noise came, and succeeded in securing a pigeon. It was not much, I allow, to make a supper for six persons ; however, .we took this repast with thanksgiving, and I fell asleep, recommending myself to our Blessed Mother-, and relying upon her .intercession .for our deliverance from this trying situation.' In 1844, the Bishop entered upon an episcopal visitation of the whole New. Zealand mission. Whilst journeying down the East Coast Whakatane was called at, where the Maoris, through their chiefs, had given a fine site for the mission station, and here Father Larqpila was placed in charge. Returning from the south again to Whakatane, the schooner was sent to headquarters,- the Bishop electing to go overland on foot to Auckland, visiting by the way the numerous tribes to be found in the interior, including those in the neighborhood of Rotorua, who were then in the spiritual care of Father Regnier; thence to those of the Waikato and Mokau, confided to the care of Father Pesant ; finally, after three months' 'wandering, the indefatigable, self-sacrificing, and zealous Bishop' reached Auckland. Soon after the events above related, war N clouds began to gather over the cherished dominion of these holy men of God. Bursting with a fury which paralysed all immediate efforts, the distress of spirit and enforced inactivity must have sorely tried, if not in a measure disheartened, ■ those whose whole life and energy were engaged in the noblest of all human endeavor — the salvation of the souls of their fellow-men. Mention was made in the earlier chapters of this narrative of the part taken by Baron De Thiery in a colonisation/project in the far north of Auckland province. It was durTng a time of great peril to Bishop Pompallier and the Catholic mission when, the intervention of De Thiery, backed up by an official letter from the French Government which strengthened his hand, in a measure probably saved the situation. The fol|pwing is a copy of this historical document : — ' Paris, September 24, 1836. ' Minister of the Colonial Navy, etc. I Sir, — This letter will be handed to you by his Lordship Francis Pompallier, Bishop of Marone'e', Vicar Apostolic of "the Western Islands of the Pacific, who, in the course of his" august mission, may often perhaps require the- support and good Services of the ship of State. I request you to receive this prelate with the honors and the attention due"to,his office and his person, and I most particularly desire you to seize every opportunity of giving him the assistance which his situation may require, and which yours will enable you to afford. You will give similar instructions to the commanders of ships under your orders. ••"I shall -witness with pleasure all that they and yourself may do to be useful to his Lordship the- Bishop of Marone'e'. Receive, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. ' ' ' The Vice-Admiral, Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, ' ' Rosamel. 'To the Commanders of the 1 French Squadron, stationed in the Southern Ocean, Valparaiso.' . (To: be continued.)