THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 23, 11 June 1908, Page 12

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

(Contributed.) .AUCKLAND. (Continued.) A Notable Event. The following narrative of a 7 notable event, translated from the writings of Father Hervier (' Les Missions Maristes '), will be read with interest, as it gives an account of some of the difficulties with which the .Catholic missionaries had to contend away back in the forties :— The Rev. Father John George Oolomb, S.M., who had been appointed Coadjutor to the Right Rev. Dr. John Epalle, S.M., Vicar-Apostolic of Melanesia and Micronesia, left Europe in 1845 for the scene of his future labors, with' the. intention of receiving consecration at the hands of the Bishop on arriyal. Whilst en route, an American whaling vessel was met with, and from those an board was learned the startling news of the murder of Bishop Epalle on his landing at one of the islands of his Vicariate. On arriving at the Vicariate it was found that" the sad news was only too true. Shortly afterwards a course was shaped -for Sydney, where the Bishop-Elect trusted to receive his consecration in the nearest episcopate. He was sorely disturbed in mind at the sad circumstances, which thrust the sole charge of the Vicariate upon him, instead of merely assisting as he anticipated. Yet further disappointment awaited him. Arriving at Sydney he found that Archbishop Polding was absent, and would be so for several months, whilst Bishop Douarre, of New Caledonia, had left for Europe. It was now necessary to undertake a voyage to New Zealand, to seek episcopal consecration at the hands of Bishop Viard. • After seeking available means of reaching New Zealand, Father Colomb hired a schooner, the c Speck,' and after some preparation embarked, accompanied by Father Vergnet, who had come with him from the island^of San Christobel. They set sail on May 9, 1847,' and on the 20th of the same month arrived at Kororareka, in the Bay of Islands. Here they found Monsignor Viard, and on May 23, the Feast of Pentecost, he conferred on Father John George Colomb the Order of the- Episcopate. • In virtue of a decree Fathers- Baty and Royet assisted at the ceremony. Father Vergnet was master of ceremonies, and Father Petitjean notary. The modest church was crowded. In the sanctuary around the two prelates stood the missionaries, priests, and Brothers. All prayed with fervor that the Holy .Ghost wolild fill with the plenitude of His gifts the new prelate, and would prolong his life. Among the congregation was a great number of Catholics and non-Catholics, Europeans and Maoris. ' * 'When I saw myself,' wrote Bishop Colomb in hia journal, ' clothed with the pontifical insignia, and seated on the throne of Monsignor Viard, the remembrance of death struck me, but- was relieved by the thought of the glory which awaits a bishop in heaven.' Rev. Father Vergnet had assisted at Rome at the consecration of Monsignor Epalle. ' I cannot refrain,' he wfote, ' from making a. comparison, very natural and very sad, between his consecration and that of his Coadjutor, of which I was a witness. Monsignor Epalle was consecrated by a prince of the Church, Cardinal Fransonne, Prefect of the Propaganda, with all possible "splendor in the centre of the Catholic universe,, beside the throne of St. Peter in the Church of the Propaganda. Monsignor Colomb, on the contrary, received his holy anointing at the Antipode"s, in a ruined country, in the midst of poor missionaries, in a church still poorer, and before a congregation of which the majority' were either _ pagan or non-Catholic. These two prelates who by their gentleness, goodness, and their virtues gave hope of fulfilling a grand destiny,

both died prematurely. Monsignor Epallc was - massacred one year after his consecration ; and the one whom he should have consecrated as his Coadjutor, died of fatigue and illness one year also after his consecration.'

(To be continued.)