ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD’S MEMORIES

New Zealand Tablet, 13 March 1919, Page 11

ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD’S MEMORIES

: ? On the occasion, recently, of the consecration of the Right Rev. Dr. Nicolas, S.M., as CoadjutorBishop of Fiji, his Grace Archbishop Redwood, S.M., was among the speakers. . ; . ..-;■ • The remarks of Archbishop Redwood were particularly interesting (says the Tribune) ~ and the fine vigor with which the address was delivered was a source of much gratification to those who remembered that the Archbishop will be eighty years of age in April next. Archbishop Redwood said: I deem it a great honor and happiness to have taken a prominent part in this consecration of Bishop Nicolas, S.M., Coadjutor, not to say successor, of Bishop Vidal, S.M., now sinking under the weight of years and labors and infirmities, after an heroic and most successful career for half a century in Samoa and Fiji groups. I congratulate the new Bishop most heartily upon the fact of his elevation and consecration to the eminent dignity and authority of the episcopate, where he now ranks as a successor to the Apostles: as one of the rulers appointed by the Holy Ghost to govern the Church of God, which Christ, the First Pastor of our souls, purchased with His precious blood —the Church which He loves above all created things; His spotless bridenay, His own spotless body, for whose interests He governs the world. To use another simile, it is indeed a great thing to be a leading officer in the great army of which Jesus Christ is the generalissimo and the faithful throughout the world are the rank and file. By the episcopate he excels the lower clergy in dignity and authority, and he is thus bound to be conspicuous among them for his superior virtue and holiness. , .- •

An Exceptional Privilege. :V Again, I congratulate him on this exceptional. privilege, that he has received the power and graces of the episcopate at the venerable hands of the Apostolic Delegate, the direct representative of his Holiness Pope Benedict XV. It was the nearest approach to his being consecrated by the Pope himself, and it will greatly tighten the close existing bonds of loyalty and affection between the Society of Mary and the Vicar of Christ. But I congratulate him still more on being made a bishop of the Society of Mary, a Marist bishop, because he thereby joins a band of heroes and saints who, in the space of over half a century, have been the life and glory of the wide expanse of Oceania, and have there written with their lives, in indelible letters of gold, one of the brightest pages of Church history. Glory to them, and glory to you who now join their ranks, to emulate their virtues and achievements and to share their immortal crown. I am by age and experience specially entitled to speak of them and praise their deeds. I have known the Society of Mary— so illustrious through the length and breadth of the South Pacific Islands. I have known it for over half a century. I knew its venerable founder, John Claudius Colin, now on the high road to Beatification, and I often served his Mass. I often got his blessing and benefited by his prayers. I remember— it is one of the sweetest memories of my life—how, after my consecration at the hands of Archbishop Manning on St. Patrick's Day in 1874, I hastened to the solitude where the man of God was spending the last years of his saintly life, in immediate preparation for his holy death, to receive his especial blessing before I took my departure for my See of Wellington, New Zealand. I also remember how I prized that blessing, and also the kind and affectionate letter which he wrote to me on the occasion of my appointment.

—. . Bishop Bataillon. I knew the first Vicar-Apostolic of Central Oceania, Bishop Bataillon, S.M.— clarum et venerabilznomeri, — the Apostle of Wallis, and the instrument in God's hands to reap with his. fellow missionaries in Futuna the harvest of Christians which sprang miraculously from the blood of the proto-martyr of Oceania, Blessed Peter Aloysius Mary Chanel, S.M.; I mean the convert

sion of all the pagan and cannibalistic population of Futuna, with one exception— the chief of the island, who ordered the murder of the saintly apostle in hatred of the faith, and so procured for him the halo of martyrdom. I must dwell for a few moments on the heroic career of Bishop Bataillon. There are traits in his life combining in the most perfect manner the heroic and the sublime. Look, for instance, at that moment when another Marist Vicar-Apostolic was sent from Europe to convey to him the brief of his appointment as the first Vicar-Apostolic of Central Oceania, and to consecrate him in Wallis Island, whose inhabitants in their totality he had converted. What hardships he had endured, and what perils! What hunger and thirst; what persecution for a while from the head chief of the island, who endeavored to starve him to death, while the hero sustained his precious life with the loathsome food given to swine—food picked up in scant quantity and by stealth ! ' At last his heroic perseverance conquered even that chief, and with him all the inhabitants. "There He Stood in His Sublime Purity." After the marvellous achievement of missionary zeal, how was he found when the messages from the Holy See came to raise him to the sublime dignity of the episcopate ? See that venerable man, with his long, flowing beard; see him, hatless, shoeless, in a ragged and tattered soutane, walking along the strand in sight of his astonished confreres, landing in a boat from the ship. He knew nothing of his appointment; he had no inkling of the dignity and exaltation in store for him. There he stood in his sublime poverty, the apostle of his island, the father of all his faithful children, won from degrading paganism to the sweet and benign religion of Jesus Christ, his beloved Master. Such a scene is worthy to stand with the best in the history of the conversion of the world; and it is a pity that no great painter's brush has perpetuated it on immortal canvas. That is one sublime and unique instance of his heroism. Take another, his last on earth, the very hour and moment of his death. He felt that his last hour was approaching. There, close to the handsome stone cathedral he had well-nigh finished, he had himself clad in his episcopal vestments and placed in a chair within view of most of his converts, gathered from every part of the island. Then he addressed them in his last solemn and touching words. "I am going to die," he said, "and I hope, through Purgatory, to soon reach Heaven, where I shall help you more than I could here on earth. I have been, perhaps, sometimes too harsh in my zeal for your correction, and I humbly ask your forgiveness. Keep the faith you have received at my unworthy hands from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary, our Queen and Mother; live up to your faith; frequent the Sacraments; be peaceful and charitable to one another; and then we shall meet again soon in Paradise." At these words he leaned back in his chair and expired. Sublime soul! On a par with what is most sublime in the first ages of the Church, forming a page in the annals of the Society of Mary ever to be remembered, revered, and treasured as one of its greatest glories. "One of the Joys of My Life." Well, I knew that hero, apostle, and saint. Many a conversation I had with him on his visits to Europe, France, and Rome. It is one of the joys of my life that I knew such men. I also knew his successor, the gentle, courteous, and saintly Bishop Elloy, and the two next successors, Bishops Lamaze and Olier, the latter of whom I ordained priest in 1874. And Bishop Olier's successor, Bishop Blanc, I consecrated in Tonga about seven years ago. I also knew the late Bishops Broyer and Bertreux. I ordained Bishop Broyer first in 1874. I also enjoyed for manv years the friendship of Bishop Vidal, whom you are to succeed. His great, long, and most successful career is nearing its end. His sun is setting—and what a glorious sunset! \ —and yours is rising. May your career be as long and as fruitful as his ! You shall have my poor prayers and

best wishes to accompany you. You will hay© the graces of your consecration at the hands : of the Pope's direct representative. You will have the prayers and examples of the Society, of Mary in every land where their zeal is known. You will have your paraclete, your life and strength on the altar and in 'the tabernacle. You will have the protection and patronage of Blessed Mary our Mother, the Queen of Apostles. You will have the angels and saints and patrons of every member of the society to help you, to cheer and protect you. Go, therefore, with confidence to your noble work, emulate your predecessors in the same field ; and may we all meet again, at no very distant day r in Paradise, to share the eternal bliss of the Heavenly Court with the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. Amen.