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ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD DEAD

Renowned Prelate Fails to Survive Major Operation CATHOLIC BISHOP FOR OVER SIXTY YEARS The death occurred shortly before 11 o’clock last night of the Most Rev. Francis Redwood, S.M., DID Archbishop and Metropolitan of New Zealand. He was in his ninety-sixth yeai. His Grace entered Lewisham Hospita, Wellington, on Tuesday morning, : and it was found necessaiy to perform a major operation. His right leg was amputated above the knee, following indications of gangrene, which had been troubling him for some weeks. . _ Immediately after the operation his condition seemed satisfactory, but during the past two days it became steadi y worse. The funeral will take place on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. from the Basilica, Hill Street. . ~ The body will be taken to-night to Archbishop Redwood s late residence, and it will lie in state in the Basilica all day on Monday.

Shortly after 10 pan. many priests gathered in at the bedside, among them his Grace Archbishop O’Shea, and also a number of the Lewisham sisters. The last rites were administered by Father P. J. Smyth, at 10.30, and immediately afterward his Grace Archbishop O’Shea gave the Papal blessing, the authority for which he had received yesterday morning. Archbishop Redwood was the fourth son of the late Henry Redwood, one’ of Nelson’s pioneer settlers, and the founder of a family which has made its presence felt in connection with the culture and general advance-

ment of New Zealand.’ Henry Redwood left Lower Hanyard, Tixall Estate, Staffordshire,- with his wife and young family by the ship George Fyffe in 1842, at which time Archbishop Redwood, who was born in 1839, was three years of age, and the youngest eon, Austin, was an infant six weeks Old. Even at the age of three his Grace gave promise of abnormal brain ■capacity, for late in life he could recall incidents which occurred on the voyage to this country, and could recall the vessel’s. visit to Wellington on its ■way to Nelson.

Nelson was a struggling hamlet like Wellington in f those days. % The father did not loiter'in the town, but took up (an area in the country, and straightway ■commenced to break it into farmlands. 'ln order to do this the -family first lived in a tent, and later in a clay and gravel cottage, but the sturdy Englishman never lost heart. He'could see that there was something ahead for 'him and his sons, and he slaved early and late to make what later became one of the most comfortable home■steads in the district. And pure from the soil sprang the vocation of young Francis Redwood to higher things.

Early Training.

His earliest training was received fromjiis sister and brother-in-law, Mrs. find Mr. Joseph Ward, and though the place was only visited once a year by a priest, Father O’Reilly, afterward of Wellington, still the vocation i>ersisted. At the age of 11 he was sent to Nelson to attend the school of Father Garin, who also had a boarding-house for the reception and care of Catholic boys. There he made an apt pupil. When lifteen years of age he developed yearnings for the holy calling, and the chance of fulfilling that desire came when the 152-ton schooner, Mountain Maid, put into Nelson en route to France, having on board an invalid Marist priest. It was his path to glory. Arrangements were hurriedly ' made; there were sad scenes in the home over the departure of the lad, but there was Destiny at the prow, and young Redwood finally shipped by the schooner and eventually reached France. Of his life at the French college of St. Chamond (Loire) little is known, except that he carried off prizes for French rhetoric and French narrative, though the Archbishop, in his •‘Reminiscences,” disclaims great credit for either achievement. After his course at St. Chamond, he entered the Marist scholasticate at Montbel, near Toulouse and Hyeres, in France. After a year’s novitiate at St. Foy, near Lyons, he was called by his Superiors to Ireland in 1863 to teach Latin and Greek at the Marist College at Dundalk, Ireland, a distinction for a young man only 24 years of age. There he also pursued his studies in dogmatic and moral theology. .On January 6, 1864, he was ordained sub-deacon and made his profession as a Marist. The year following he was ordained a priest at Maynootb. Three years later the even tenor of his life was broken by an attack of pneumonia, and the result was a year at Rome. In 1869 he returned to Ireland as Professor of Dogma to the Marist Scholastics, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin. Then followed momentous bappen-

ings. Remembering that the talented young priest was from New Zealand, and desirous of seeing those he held dear, he was, in 1872, told by his Superiors that they wished to appoint him Coadjutor to Bishop Viard, of Wellington. While negotiations were going forward that/ saintly Bishop died, and in 1874 Francis Redwood was appointed to succeed him. He was at that time 35 years of age, and thus the youngest bishop in the Roman Catholic world. That he lived to be the oldest bishop is something more than remarkable.

Father Redwood’s elevation to . a

bishopric was regarded with great joy by all who knew his great ability and could measure the extent of his learning. The appointment was acclaimed in Ireland and France, where he studied in. the duties attaching to a member of the heirarchy. After visiting the various Marist institutions in France, his Grace set out for New Zealand accompanied by the Rev. Father Kearney, S.M. The voyage was x made via Australia, and the first contact with New Zealand on that occasion was at the Bluff. Among his fellow passengers on that occasion were Sir Francis Bell and the late Sir Charles Johnston. He was met in Dunedin by Bishop Moran (afterward Cardinal), and ho was given a great welcome on his arrival in Wellington. A Tireless Worker. 'lt is scarcely necessary to elaborate in detail his successful occupancy of his high position. He was a, tireless worker; he neglected no corner of his diocese; he was a gifted administrator; a man with a will of iron, who had the almost uncanny habit of always being right. So in the doing of good works, in advancing the cause of education, and that of his Church he spent a busy life; not, however, too busy to prevent his keeping touch with Rome. He was a great traveller, 'and never felt better than when at sea. (He attended Eucharistic Congresses at Brussels, Chicago, Dublin and Sydney. There are many in Wellington who will remember vividly the great and historic gathering of prelates from all parts of the southern hemisphere who honoured the occasion of his golden jubilee as bishop in 1924, and again the celebrations held in connection with his diamond jubilee (sixty years a bishop) last year. Those were occasions that Wellington is not likely to see repeated for the simple reason that priests do not as a rule rise to the high office of bishop at so early an age as in the ease of Archbishop Redwood, and man’s span of life is not usually so extended as his has been. A Great Educationist. His Grace has alwayis been an advocate of higher education for the Catholic youth of the country, and in many instances he has been the mainspring of the establishment of secondary schools. He laid the foundation stone of St. Patrick’s College, Wellington, and was preserved to lay the foundation stone, and see the opening of the new St. Patrick's, at Silverstream "Lapis mole parvus spe grandis” (stone small in size but great in hope) he wrote upon the foundation stone of St. Patrick’s, Wellington, and .he lived long enough to see his hope more than fulfilled. His sole recreation were reading—he was a voracious reader of the best in English and Continental literature —and music. He was the owner of a genuine Stradivarius violin, which was given him by a Catholic gentleman in England, long since passed away, in exchange for another instrument the Archbishop carried with him at the time. It seems that the owner of the Strad was very attached to the instrument, and having no relatives of his own, he wished it to rest in safe

and respectful hands, it lias been a possession of great joy to the Archbishop, am! many notable players while visiting Wellington have had tiie honour of playing on this cherished violin.

All the Archbishop’s .sisters ami brothers have long since died. He has fiieces ami nephews ami grand-nieces and grand-nephews in New Zealand, Australia and England. Perhaps the best-known niece in New Zealand is the Rev. Mother Bernard. Mother Superior of the Star of the Sea Convent at Seatoun. Her brother, Mr. Vernon Redwood. who at one time promised to be a ■noted singer, still resides in England. These were the children of Mr. Charles Redwood, who settled in Queensland.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19350104.2.83

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 10

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,503

ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD DEAD Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 10

ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD DEAD Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 10

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