THE LATE FATHER PEZANT.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 184, 24 December 1880, Page 3

THE LATE FATHER PEZANT.

TliK late Rev. Father I'ezant died on the qgiid | )ecenil)cr, at -0 minutes to 10 p.m. at Riveiiands, the residence of Charles Redwood, Ksq, where the kindest attention and care had been bestowed upon the reverent gentleman for the two last months of his long and painful illness. ’1 he cause of the roverant gentleman’s death, although it has at dilfereiit times assumed various forms iu its progress, lias been the complete although gradual breaking up of the constitution brought on partly by old age, for lie was nearly" 70 years when he died but principally by the hardships and privations lie has so unselfishly and so cheerfully endured, in the performance of his missionary duties. He was himself to the last humble, earnest, patient, sumptuously and lovingly attached to his ardeus duties, grateful for any service rendered him and perfectly resigned to the will of Cod. Owing to his child-like trust in the mercy of Cod, death had lost all its terrors for .him. He considered it as a friend who delivered him as St. Paul says, “from this body of death and misery'’ and who would put him in possesion ol eternal bliss. Here is another instance of the truth of those words “ As we live, so we die. ’’ The carreer of the late ltev. Father I’ezant has been a long one in New Zealand. lie landed on "the 11th of July, 18-10, at Ivororcreke, Ray of Islands, from the French man-of-war L Aube. Many are the places whcrehehascarried the good tidings and consolations of religion, and many are the friends lie has won to himself by his I cheerful and kind disposition. Soon after j his arrival in this colony he accompanied I Bishop Pompellicr to Akaroa, then a French j settlement. For 4 months he attended the districts of Tauranga and Rotorua, lie . spent M years among the natives of Waikato.

Thi-j reminds us that the late lather I’ezant was considcrcdßy competent judges one the best Maori scholars in New Zealand, lie performed his missionary duties lor some time in Auckland and Wellington, then for nine months he had charge of I aranaki, and afterwards of Otaki, for about six months, but the place of his predilection where he spent 17 years of the most happy of his life was Wanganui. During that time, at least for nine years, he had to visit New Plymouth, several times a year, on foot. JLis last 11 years been spent, as every one knows, m the .Provincial District of Marlborough, but especially in Tua Marina, I’icton, the Sounds, Port Underwood, Havelock, Kaituna, and Wakaiuariua. Several times a year, he visited every district, family, and almost every individual of his scattered parish, counting for nothing hardships and privations of all sorts, and truly it may be said that lie died a martyr of his zeal, and of his love for souls entrusted to his care. May ho now as a reward rest in peace, and many our last end he like unto his. Hi’s remains are exposed in the Old Catholic Church, and will be there till Sunday morning when they will he taken to Pieton for burial. —Communicated.