SELWYN'S DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 122, 26 May 1942, Page 4

SELWYN'S DAY

AUCKLAND SERVICES

SATURDAY PROCESSION

An open-air thanksgiving service on the shore of Judge's Bay will be the main feature of the Auckland celebrations on Saturday next of the centenary of Bishop Selwyn's arrival from England. The service will be preceded by a procession of bishops, clergy, lay readers and the laity from St. Mary's Cathedral, leaving the cathedral at 2 p.m. and arriving at Judge's Bay half an hour later. A combined men and boys' choir and a band will lead the procession. If the weather conditions are favourable it is expected that those taking part in the procession will number many hundreds, and that the occasion will be a picturesque and memorable one. Should conditions be unfavourable for an outdoor service the service will take place in the cathedral. At Judge's Bay. hymns, prayers, a lesson and an address by the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. W. J. Simkin, will comprise a service of about three-quarters of an hour, after which the procession will return to the cathedral. It is expected that Bishop Cherrington, of Waikato, and Bishop Bennett, of Aotearoa, will be present.

Earlier in the day the centenary celebrations will commence with Holy Communion at 7 a.m. in the historic St. Stephen's Chapel, built by Selwyn near the place where he landed. There will also be Holy Communion services in the cathedral at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. On Sunday, Selwyn centenary services will be held in all the churches, and the importance of the event and of Selwyn's life and work will be emphasised in addresses from many pulpits.

Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, after a long voyage from England, reached Auckland on May 30, 1842. On coming ashore at Judge's Bay, his first act was to kneel down on the sand and give thanks to God. As the sun rose he climbed the hill to the house of the Chief Justice, William Martin, and the next day he went to stay with the Governor and Mrs. Hobsoh. The following Sunday he conducted service in the Auckland courthouse. By speaking in Maori as well as in English, he greatly pleased the natives present. For 26 years Selwyn worked in Zealand, and before he left in October, 1868, to become Bishop of Lichfield, six dioceses were established, together with the missionary diocese of Melanesia, and the church Was provided with a democratic constitution.