TWO MODERN "CATHOLIC PIONEERS."

New Zealand Tablet, 31 July 1919, Page 35

TWO MODERN "CATHOLIC PIONEERS."

That Catholic missioners have rendered no inconsiderable services to the cause of science is a fact not generally known, says the editor of The Field Afar. We have been especially pleased, therefore, to receive from Bishop Berlioz an appreciation of one of his priests, the late Father Faurie, written by a non-Cath-olic Japanese professor. Father Faurie was a botanist, and his spirit may be seen by the following extracts from the article referred to above :—■ "In making botanical collections he travelled throughout all Japan, striking into many unbeaten paths. His assiduity was almost incredible. He would climb any mountain, however difficult, if he thought it botanically interesting. Quite alone, with his pressplates and very simple provisions on his back, he would travel and work for many days in the mountains, sleeping at night, perhaps, in a tree or under a crag. His collections were very extensive, his herbarium at. Aomoril being by far the largest in Japan. Father Faurie was a cheerful, amiable man, much beloved by us. Still working for evangelism and botany even at the point of death, and at last when he found his powers fading away lying down to sleep quietly in the arms of Him ■whom he served, he died as he had lived, a man of sincere piety and lofty ideals." . Plans are being made for the erection of a monument which will commemorate Father Faurie's distin-

guished labors for .the. extension of botanical knowledge. This work has been undertaken by his friends and admirers, especially among botanists. ; : We learn from Bishop Berlioz (continues our contemporary)' j that Father Faurie discovered "hundreds of new species, and, what is more rare, a new genus, which bears the name of Fauria Japonica." The Bishop also tells us that the. camellia is called after a missioner, Father Camelli, S. J., who was the first .to make this flower known in Europe. -'. ' ' . \