MEEANEE MISSION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 921, 14 September 1910, Page 6

MEEANEE MISSION.

PEOPOSED TRANSFER TO NAPIER. ■; An event of.. considerable/: irilerest to the ■ Romany Catholic;. community ; ' in.".' New' Zealand ; is; th'e' contemplated. removal of the ,Marist-.Mission/ '; and. Seminary .:at Meea'nee,.;' ; Hawke's - Bay,', to , the/hills at. Gre'ehmeadows. at jtho rear oj the Napier, Park'racecourse.'; This '.decision has been .arrived : at', by the/Marist' Order .as' a ~re---sult:.'of.:'the continued -/eii'croachiheiits,'of the ;Tutaekuri -River,/-Vhich:./for : some yeara, especially;.ii) iloo'd time; 'hus 'thruatened /the; existence - of : the.- seniinary.;V I Dating. back's .to . 1858,- /the . Meeaneo Mission was founded by the Very Kev. Father Regnier, S.il.,' one., of; the. pioneer 'band f of French /priests' .who'-.came out; to'; New.Zealand 'in. the early : days, ' arid ;who;' with /Father/ La rnpila, S.M., - hnd_ founded / tlie .first- .Roman'- Catholio; Mission . "on. .-the ;Ahuriri Plains■ at- Pqukawa,/'eight years previously.;. In .',185G, the- :missionaries iwere/ forced,- , owing ; to ..Native;: disturbances to seek a more secure: headquarters 'than ...Poukawa, '.'and - accordingly ; they, :bought a : large 'tract '-of .land from the Government, at Meeaneo,. and' thither they, .transferred their mission; vAfter'.'u tirnu, the'/Meeanee..School -became,= the parish: 'school,: and, in.1880,/it'was .placed irnder. .the charge of the'- Sisters/,of. St. - Joseph de -Cluny. '-: -The . Meeatiee Mission continued to - grow and prosper :with- 'theadvance, of; years; , ' A! 'ture was. 'erected' .to." iicnonimbda'l'e' ! the 'priests, / brothers, and; novices' of the 'order,splendid vineyards ..were laid out and/cultivated; and the: fine: observatory, —until' recently in charge - of. the ! present rector of St.- Patrick's. College,; Wellington'(Very, llev. Dr. Kennedy, 5.M.,'8.A".-; 8.C.L.), sprang into; existence.- At: the ihome of his, life -work,' , the. / founder, Father/ Regnier, passed: away, in 1888/ ■'' A year later the districts under the Marist Fathers in New Zealand, were coiistituted an ecclesiastical province, and the head house at Meeanee became the Novitiate and Scholasticate of'/the: order.: The Very Rev. Dr. : , Pestre, S.M., who had previously ■ filled the Chair/of Theology/at similar institutions, in France, America, and Ireland, w;as appointed thofirst superior and, Master of .Novices!Since' then the ranks jof 'the Roman Catholic priesthood in New Zealand have been largely recruited from 'Marist Fathers trained .at Meeanee. and many of these, at present engaged, iu- tho , missioiiury field have in the first, instanco received their classical course at St. 'Patrick's College, ; Wellington. Amongst the clergy who thus graduated may be, mentioned such familiar names as the present' YicarGeneral and Administrator of the Archdiocese of -Wellington (Very: Rov.'Father O'Shea), Fathers Hickson (Hill Street), Venning (2), ; Bowden,Herring," Hurley, and , Quinn, \' as , well , • as_ • tho ; following : members of tho teaching staff of ■St. - Patrick's' College.:—Very: : Rev. 'Dr. ; Kennedy, Fathers Tymons (2)y' Graham, O'Riley, Gongringer, Schaefer, Gilbert, Eccleton, and . Bartley; The Meeaneo is at present under the direction .of the Very Rev. Dean Smyth, late parish priest of Hastings,:/./ : A' contract for the erection of tlio now, building* to be, erected.at Grconmc-itd&ws. has not been let so'far, but it is antici. paiod that the other expenses of removing the establishment, including the observatory,'will rim' well into a thousand pounds. " •