Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in New Zealand

COHGl".?.EGATION OF OUR I,ADY OP LillHCY
IN
NEW ZEAL.AJifJJ
Codeword:
Aphis.
1.
Preface
Sisters of Eercy in our different dioceses have
often expressed regret that, so far, no one has
written a historical sketch of the Order of
roy
in New Zealand. Time is steadily stealing from our
midst those who were privileged to enjoy personal
acquaintance with the first religious wonen - the
Auckland Sisters of Uercy of 1850 - to cone to this
country. So, v1'11ile there yet remain ·with us, five of
the original band who in 1873 founded the~- first
Convent of I~rcy in the South Island, I have
attenpted to break the ice, however feebly, and thus
free the current for more competent explorers.
Owing to the lack of a central authority for the
Order, the collecting of sources and other data has
entailed :'luch :1ore research than one rr1igllt infer fror:t
the size of the WOl"k. A considerable a.rnount of detail
was necessa:r'y but I have endeavoured to so use it as
not to lose si~ht of the vivifyin~ spi t o~ nercy,
which enbraces even the least works of the Order.
pro;2pt an d. sene:;;ous response to :1any appeals
and
loans of useful naterials I owe abundant thad:s
to ~Irs.S.R.Goulter, Fairlie; I<Iiss Rona Oonnor,TT.A.,
Auckland; Hev. li'a ther Fogarty, Geraldine; Rev. E:. I.
nenrath, D.1I. 1~ditor, Parist I.~essenger, ';/ellington;
:Rev. Brother iiL~.rcelli.n, Timaru; l'fr. Alan 1\.Garter,
Editor, Hm;' Zealand r~ablet, Dunedin; Sergeant ,T.
~leary, Ashburton;
Sergeant Devlin, ni~aru and to
the foll.mving - named aenbers of the Order of 'leroy father;:. ~reronica, I . . ineric~c; I.I. Benie;nus; Auckland;
!1.~.1.:Wrances,'Jellington;
!·I.~·~.Claude, 1.'!estport;
S.!;~.
Derch:1ans, · l}reyr1outh; H. :r. Claver, Eoki tika; !~.
Aloysius, Lyttel ton; Rev. !'·~other IT. de Sales and
E.I\.Beni~nus, Timaru;
T.'·r.Ignatius and S.!I.St •.Tohn,
Dunedin.
11
Aphisn
Convent of
8 MAR ZOOO
~
Iercy, n:'inaru, 1930.
2
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
page
1.
PREFACE.
L~.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
7.
CHAPTER 1 •
ORIGIN AND SPIIUT OF' THE OHDER OP
CHAPTER 11.
THE COMING AND EARLY ACTIVITIES OP THE
1 L~.
W~RCY.
SISTERS OF' UERCY.
27.
CHAPTI~R
111 •
MOTHER CECILIA
L~EER:
AUCKLAND POUNDATIONS.
St. Uary's, Ponsonby, 1850;. St. Patrick's,
Auckland, 1850;
St. John's, Parnell, 1862;
St. Joseph's, Onehunga, 1864; St. Cecilia's,
Otahuhu, 1866;
St. hlar·y's, Coromandel, 1882;
st. Joseph's Orphanage, Talcapuna, 1894; St.
Leo's, Devenport, 1896;
St. Catherine's,
'waihi, 1902; Te Aroha, Our Lady of J.Jourdes,
1903; Holy Cross, Epsom, '1921;
r~,;t. Carmel,
Milford, 1922; . St. Bride's Avondale, 1923;
Star of the Sea Orphanage, Bowick, 1925;
Monte Cecilia College, Hillsborough Rd.,
Onehunga, 1926;
St. 1-.Iary' s, Pawarene§a, 1927;
Holy Cross, Henderson, 1932.
Mater Misericordiae Hospital, 1900.
39.
CHAPTER 1V.
WELLINGTON ARCHDIOCESE.
Guildford Terrace, Thorndon, 1851;
St.
Joseph's, Upper Butt, 1852;
St. Philomena's,
1873;
Blenheim, 1885; Ne·wton, 1890; Seatoun, 1909;
Kilbirnj.e, 1912; Picton, 1914;
Nai Nai:
the Beaut.: .. lll, 1916- '17; Ha.taitai
and Holy Cross. ·1930;
Other Foundations, 1936;
An Amalgamation - Reefton, 1881, Westport, 1894.
54.
CHAPTER V.
HOICITIKA:
"All Saints," Greymouth, 1882; St. Joseph's,
Lyttelton, .1890;
St. MaT·y's Christchm.•ch,
18:J4;
"Villa L1aria," Riccarton, 1918;
Loreto College, 1929;
Convent of Mercy,
Tirnaru, 1936.
3
Page
71.
OHAPrER V1.
DUNEDIN DIOCESE.
Gore, 1897; St. Philomena's College 18971904; Liosgiel, 1898; St. Vincent's Orphanage,
1898; Winton, 1898; \'!rey' s Bush, 1899
Alexandra, 1912; Riverton, 1~:13;
Nightcaps,
1916; I;Iornington, 1919; \,Vaveley Boys'
Or;)hanage, 1920; Mater Misericordiae
Hospital 1936.
79·
OHA-',TEH V11.
-·-------
CONCT.USION.
4
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1.
PUBLICATIONS.
1.
RELIGIOUS WORKS CONSULTED.
2.
Cardinal Patrick Francis Jvloran:
History of the Catholic
Church in Australasia.
(Oceanic Publishin~ Cor:Jpany, Sydney 1895.)
J.J. Wilson:
11
Memoirs of Early Days. 11
(The New Zealand Tablet
Publishing Co. Ltd.,
Dunedin, 1910.)
"In the Path of the Pioneer
(New Zealand Tablet Publish
ing Co. Dunedin, 1921.)
A New Orleans Sister of Mercy:
11
Leaves from the Annals of
the Sisters of Mercy. 11 Vols
1 and 11.
(P.O'Shea, New York. 1883)
Sister M. Josephene Gately:
11
The Sisters of L~ercy. rr
Maci;lillan. Co., Nevr York,
1931. )
M.G. Thither:
Thesis - Roman Catholic
Educational Activity in the
Province of Otago, N. Z.
(Canterbury College 1934.)
NON-~~L~GIOUS '.'IOR!CS
CONSULTED.
CYclopedia of New Zealand.~
Timaru Public Library,
)
Cambridge History of the
British Empire.
Horsley:
Vol.
Vol.
Vol.
Vol.
1. ~ellington
11. Auckland.
111.Canterbury. (1903)
V. Nelson, I~arlborough,
and Westland.
Vol. V11., part 11 n.z. ·
(cru~b. Press. London, 1933.)
11
The Romance of N. z."
('.r.c. and E.G. Jacli:.London,
1908. )
Rusden:
Hight ana Bamford:
1
'History of N.Z.," Vol. 11.
(Melville, lilullen and Slade,
Melbourne, 1882.
11
'l'he Constitutional History
and Law of Nevr Zealand. 11
(Whi tcornbe & Tombs, Ch. Ch.
1914. )
5
Shrimp ton and Mulgan:
"Maori and Pakeha."
(Whi tcombe & Tombs,
Christchurch, 1921.)
Scholefield:
"New Zealand Affairs."
\L. Il. Isi tt, Christchurch,
1929.)
Reeves.
"The Long White Cloud."
(Horace Marshall & Son,
London, 1898.)
3. OFFICIAL DOCU!i!EWrG.
Australian Catholic Directory, 1938.
Year Book by I.larist Fathers, 1927 and 1928. New Zealand
and A11stralia.
The New Zealand Police Gazette, 16th June, 1897.
4. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.
New Zealand Tablet.
(Dunedin. )
Zealandia.
(Auckland. )
hlarist Messenger.
(Wellington. )
Westport News.
The Universe.
(London. )
English Catholic Times.
(London. )
The Catholic Press.
(Australia. )
N. Z. Catholic Schools Journal:
23rd February 1938.
30th.March
1938.
23rd November 1938.
30th Noveliilier 1938.
18th November 1837.
5th March
1938.
12th I.·larch
1938.
28th July
1938.
20th October
1938.
8th December 1938.
1st December 1931.
1st September' 1934.
1st October . 1934.
1st November 1934.
Centennial Nur:1ber,
March
1938.
11-tth December 1931.
2nd Septenilier 1938.
11th December
1937·
3rd December 1931 .
Centenary Number,
1838 - 1939.
6
5.
PHAf,:PHLJ:TS.
Bishop Cleary:
Seventy Fifth Anniversary
of the landing in New
Zealand of the Sisters of lilerc
( 1850 - 1925.) (Mercy
Convent Archives, Auckland.)
Rev. W. LocJcington S.J.
'''.I'he Sisters of Mercy (Centenary 1831 - 1931.
Convent Librar•y,
\Vellington. )
11
Rev. J. Ryan s. J. !1!. A.
Litt. D.
Mother Catherine LlcAuley An Al?preciation (IJimerick
1938) (Convent Library,
Timaru. )
Teacher's Bulletin:
Surnrrw ·y of Hi or•y of CatholicCJ:F.lrch in New Zealand
(1828 - 1936.) (Lrs.
Goulter, Pairlie.)
Ur. Paul Kavanagh
'l'he Sisters of Mercy 1' in Nevv
Zealand. Catholic Schools'
Journal, Deptember, 1932.
(Convent Library Timaru).
11
1 1 . Ul:J:PUBLI smm. SOUlWES ._
1.
Annals.
/mnals of the Lytt ton
Convent:
(Convent of Uercy, Lyttelton).
Annals of the Hokitika
Convent:
(Convent of l'.lercy, Hold t
\
a J.
2. Personal Interviews.
-----------··~
I have been able to
eo;.;: u.p on much ma·i.;t;;;rial by
discussing doLtbtful points ·ai th five pioneers who, though.
they have passed beyond the allotted three-score- and-ten
are still quite clear on the events and life of sixty
years ago, though not always so clear as to more modern
events. ~jisters: too, who have lived VJith the first
Auckland and Wellington Sisters, have been kind in
furnishing details.
CHAPT:Bm. 1 •
THE LIBRARY 7
fAWTERBURY UNIVERSITY COLLEGd
CHRISTCHURCH, 11.1.
Ox•iqin and Spirit o:t_:_ the Order of l,lercy..!...
The Order of' Llercy sprang into being as an outc:owe
of the zeal and chm·i ty of a beautiful, noble-hearted
Irish heiress, Catherine McAuley, who was born in Co.
Dublin, in 1787.
century was a
faith"
11
( 1) Although the second hal1' of the 18th
CPitical period for adhel'ents of the old
:r:n Ireland, yet Catherine's father, a devout
Catholic, enjoyed all the privileges of polite society
without any apparent injury to his Catholic principles.
In those penal days when Catholicity vras a crime and all
things Catholic were
11
hidc1en away as in the days of the
Catacombs, 11 Catherine's father used to
asf~emble
at his own
home on Sundays and holidays the poor of the district to
instruct them in the truths of their religion.
His
lessons were to bear fruit in the life of his young daughtel"'
who never forgot them.
:/hen Catherine, who was the eldest of three children
1
vras but seven yem•s old, she lost her father;
and her gay
young mother seeing that to adhere to the Catholic faith
meant to belong to (2) a upoor, despised, impotent, ragged
and pitiful c onmnJ.ni ty, If
willingly accepted the Protestant-
isnt of her friends, with its monopoly
of wealth, power,
1.
Mother CathePine McAuley - An Appreciation (Eev. (.T. Ryan
f3.J.ii:.A.
D. Litt.)
(Limerick, 1938.)
2.
Ibid.
8
prestige and learning.
She died when catherine was eleven
and thenceforth the three orphans were brought up by
Protestant friends who could never persuade Catherine to
adopt their religion.
( 1 ) Vlhen sixteen years old, Catherine was adopted by
Mr. and Idrs. Callaghan, lately l'eturned from abroad, who
were old Protestant friends of the McAuley family.
Her nevv guardians idolised Catherine but were inflexible on one point - that she should not profess the
Catholic religion.
Yet so deeply.did she revere her
father's memory that she offered· to relinquish all, rather
than embrace any religion but his,· and this, even
she was yet ignorant of Catholic
any association with it.
though
aching and was denied
However, the strength of her con-
victions eventually secured her objective and she not only
resumed the open practice of her religion, but gained a
victory over the prejudice of years by winning her
guardians themselves to
e~)race
the Catholic religion.
Mr'. Callaghan who survived his wif'e by two
in 1822, leavin,e.· Catherine his sole heiresr:;.
now mistress of his sta.tely residence
11
ars died
(2) She was
Coolock House with
its plate, carriages and furniture, and income of £600 a
year· and a sum of £30,000 in the Bank of Ireland. 11
1.
2.
Already
Leaves from the Annals of the Sisters of Mercy 1' , Nev1
York 1881 Vol 1. page 10.
Article in "Zealandia 11 (IJirs.· Goulter) Auckland Nov.L5th.,1937
11
9
her good father's exrunple had borne fruit and we find her,
during leisure hours, distributing food and clothing to
the poor, and visiting and instructing the sick of her
neighbourhood.
So when she came into possession of this
fortune she decided to devote her life to the succour
of the poor, the sick, and the ignorant.
(1).
For their
benefit she sacrificed all; "her time, ·which ladies of' her
class were accustomed to 'Naste in pleasant distractions; her
energy, which in those days of cheap labour she would
never have been called upon to expend; 11 and her for·tune,
which could give her a life of affluence and even of splendour.
Almost irnmediatley after inheriting her fortune, she
gathered about her other, noble:...minded ladies whom she inspired with like, noble ideals and (2) on September 2LJ.th,
1 824, there was laid the foundation stones in Baggot Str'eet,
Dublin, of her first institution for destitute women and
orphans, as wel1 as of a school for poor children.
At thts
stage she had no idea of forming a religious order, but,
with her "practical capacity as :3:n administrator," she
(3) saw that by forming themselves.into a religious con-
gregation the good done by herself' and her colleagues
could be continued indefinitely in the future by those who
would follow in her footsteps.
(4) Hence after receiving
1.
M.C. McAuley·- An Appreciation- (Rev. S. Ryan S.J.)
2.
"Leaves frorn the Annals of the f3isters of Mercy 11 Vol.1.
pp. 21-22
"An Appreciation" op. cit.
Leaves from Annals. op. cit. pp. 33-67.
3.
4.
THE LIBP.J!RY
fARTERBURY UNIVERSITY COLLEG.S
CHRlSTCHUHCH, N.Z.
10
from Pope Pius V111 a Rescript of Indulgences dated l.iay ·
.,
23rd, 1830, Catheri.ne and two companions began a novitiate
on September 8th, 1830, under the Presentation Sisters
at Georges Hill, Dublin.
(1)
Here on December 12th,
1831, they took their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy,
Sister M. Catherine being appointed first Superior.
most
in~ediately
tested;
Dublin
their zeal and
for, in 1832,
Al-
charity were severely
cholera stalked the streets of
and the Archbishop appealed to the Sisters on
behalf of his suffering flock.
(2)
In answer to his
appeal the Sisters, we are told, "lcnel t down to receive
his blessing &'1d then r•ose up and made the cholera hospital their
home."
During the ten short years of her
religious life Mother McAuley founded convents throughout Ireland and opened, in England, the first
convent
since the religious revolt of the sixteenth century.
Lady Barbara Eyre, daughter of the Earl of Newbury, vvas
the first to receive the habit.
Of the progress made
by the Order we have the follovling from l.Iother EcAuley' s
own pen
( 3)
"We are now ( 1 839) above a hundred and desire
to join us seems rather on the increase. Though it was
thought foundations would retard it, the case appears
to be otherwise.''
It was while engaged on the Birmingham foundation September
1.
2.
3.
Ibid. Vol. 1. P. L~3.
"IJeaves from the Annals of the Sisters of Mercy."
Vol. 1 . P. 315.
Ibid. Vol. 1. P. 1L~.
11
1841, that Mother McAuley's failing health disclosed
. alarming symptoms. She died at Baggot Street on November
11th that year.
Though teaching is the chief work of the Order of
Mercy, yet, when opportunity calls, the Sisters pass
from class-room to hospital or sick-bed and, if need be,
even to the battlefield.
In 1854-6, in 1861, and again in
1899, the Sisters of Mercy by their devoted service to the
sick and wounded soldiers won the praise and esteem of all
creeds.
(1) On Friday, October 27, 1854 the first of several
bands of Sisters of Mercy embarked on the "Vectis 11 bound
fot the East.
With.Florence Nightingale and Miss Stanley
they showed themselves indefatigable in their efforts to
soothe the awful sufferings of the plague-stricken and the
wounded, on battlefield and in hospital, at Balaclava,
Scutari, and Inkerrnann.
(2) Two of the Sisters, victims of
cholera and typhus respectively, are buried on the bleak
heights of Balaclava.
Again, in the records of the American
Civil War, we read of the devotion of the Sisters to the
stricken soldiers of their adopted country.
(3) In 1900 we
find Queen Victoria giving a very cordial reception to the
Sisters of Mercy vvho had worked so heroically during
1.
2.
3.
Annals of the Sisters of Mercy Vol. 11. p. 129.
Ibid. pp. 197-198.
Supplement to .N.Z. Catholic Schools Journal, September
1932 (Aucldand. )
12
the siege of Mefeking.
The Annals tell that while express-
ing her gratitude for their kindness to the soldiers, her
Majesty pinned the Royal Red Cross on their guimpa.
As Mother McAuley had foreseen, the good wor•k she
began continued after her death to make rapid progress
so that within a hundred years of its foundation the
Order of Mercy had spread throughout the English-speaking
world.
At St. Johns, Newfoundland the first house of the
Order was opened in the rtestern Hemisphere and at
Pi tts·burg 1843 the first Convent of Mercy in the United
States.
Soon afterwards not only convents and schools
but orphanages, hospitals and homes for young women were
established by the Sisters in Amei'ica, Australia, New
Zealand. and South Africa.
The Centenary of the OI'der was celebrated in 1931
when the following statistics of the Order were presented.
(1 )
Ireland
England
Scotland
Channel Is.
Australia
New ZealwJ.d
Co:tNENTS OP MERCY
196.
93.
8.
3.
252.
Africa
B. \Vest Indies
North Arne ric a
South America
Central America
s.
5.
886.
12.
46.
Total 1, 507 Convents; 20 ,L-1-62 Nuns.
1.
Supplement N.Z. Catholic Schools Journal, Septenilier 1932.
13
CHAPTER 11.
THE COMING AND EARLY ACTIVITIES OF THE
SISTERS OI' MEHCY
It was as a result of the concerted effort of French
missionaries and Irish irmnigrants that the Catholic
Church was established in New Zealand.
In 1838 Monsignor
Jean Baptiste Pompallier, newly-named Vicar Apostolic of
Wester·n Oceania of which New Zealand then formed a part,
landed at Hokianga where he and. his intrepid band of
Marists were warmly welcomed by an Irish settler, Thomas
Poynton, and vvhence he set for·th determined to roughhew
his way and blaze the trail for· his followers.
In response
to his appeals to Europe, priests trickled into the country
and according as these became available, he established
mission stations throughout the land.
of his growing flock Bishop Pompallier
Realising the needs
embarked for Rome
in 1846, and tvro years later, New Zealand was divided into
tvvo dioceses Auckland and V/ellington.
Bishop Viard who had
been Bishop Pompal1ier' f> coadjutor since 1846, v1as appointed
first Bishop of Wellington with the Marist Fathers as his
helpers, while Bishop Pompalliel" retained the charge of
Aucklancl from which diocese the Marist Fathers were to
withdraw in favour of secular clergy, as soon as the
diocese was sufficiently staffed with priests.
14
on his return joul"ney from Europe in 181+9,
shop
Pomp allier called at St. Leo 1 s Convent of b:ercy, Carlow,
.
Ireland, where he begged for volunteers for his remote
sea-girt mis
on.
Mother Cecilia
Uahe1~,
the Carlow Convent, privately offered
then Superior
hel~self'
of
for the
distant mission as did several other members of the
( 1) When it becarne known that Mother Cecilia
Community.
Laher had volunteered, the whole community in a body besought
Bishop Haly, then in c.harge of the diocese, to dissuade
her.
Though aware of the singular merit of their Superior•,
this zealous pastor very pertinently
the Sisters how
they, themselves, would have got the Pai th, if st. Patrick
and St Augustine had remained at· 'home.
though he was sorry to part with any
demanded the sacrifice.
He told
them, that,
them, God's glory
So on August 8th, 1849, Mother
and seven companions set out from St.Leo's
Cecilia
Carl ow, to travel to tbe remote enc,s of the earth there to
carl"'Y on the works of Mercy - the amelioration of the spiritual
educational and physical needs of the growing population.
Cross", one of New
aland's earliest newsprints,
we find the following, dated Friday, April 12th 1850:
"Shipping Listtt
April 9. -
1•
'
1
11
In
0ceania", of Antwerp, 533 tons, Captain
Leaves from the Annals" Vol 11. P
591.
15
G-ustavus Radou, from Sydney, the 21st Uarch.
Passengers:
11
The New
Bishop Pomp allier 10 (sic) Sisters of Mercy ... "
alander, 11 a contemporary Auckland Newspaper,
bearing like date gives the names of those Sisters: "
Iv!esdames I.larie hlaher, Elizabeth Hughes, Mary Pages, Mary
Franklin, Mary Maher, Elizabeth Taylor, MaryBannox and
Mar·y Slattery."
Thus after braving the rigours of the
Atlantic and Pacific for eight months in a (1) 533-ton
vessel~
sailing
Mother Cecilia Maher and :per seven compan-
ions reached Auckland, then but a small struggling village,.
where they were to establish themselves as the first
religious community of women to set foot upon New Zealand
1
soil.
'The
outhern Cross 11 has the following account of
their landing and welcome:
assembl
11
0n Tuesday afternoon a large
was gathered together at Smale's Point to
witness the arrival of
shop Pompallier,
The wor>thy
gentlel:ian had, however, debarl\:ed in private, and the crowd
was gratified with a sight of the Sisters of Charity (sic),
and several members of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
As
the bell was tolling, a rush took place and the church·was
speedily thr•onged by an eager auditory..
and a
11
Mass was celebrated
Te Deum" chanted with no inconsiderable ability by
the choir especially considerj.ng the crowded state of the
church and the excitement of the occasion.
1.
11
"The Southern Cross" April 12th, 1850, as recorded in
The Seventy Fifth Annivel"say (Bishop c::.eary) P·age 5.
16
However, in the interests of historical truth, we quote
from a more accurate ace o~--<nt of that memorable day.
(1)
11
Old
residents have told us, 'ere they passed to their reward, that
everyone in the village w.as dmm to the shores of the vanished
Commercial Bay to welcome the nuns, the Catholics being in the
Minority.
The newly - arrived ladies were rowed ashore in an
open boat, t ~ land at Smale's Point, at the spot where nm''
stand the Government Buildings in Custnus Street West.
Procession was formed.
A
Preceded ·oy the ;hole Catholic Popul-
ation up the ti-tree lined track, then (as now) called Albert
Llt,:r.·c~::t:.
.• the Sisters in tvros, flanl<::ed by Catholic members of
the gar·rison as
guard-of-hon·Jur~
were. followed by acolytes,
the priests, the venerable Bishop· ru1d his coadjutor, Dr. Viard,
S.M.
When they reached st. Patrick's, Pontifical Benediction
of the Blessed Sacrament was given, hymns were sung and the
l,lagnificat and Te Dewn intoned by the Bishops, priests and
Sisters'.
Dr>. Pompallier briefly expressed his gratitude to
God for this happy culmination of his dearest
welcomed the Sisters to their new h01ne.
~vi shes,
and
rrhe citizens after-
wards extended their greetings in the recently erected schoolroom, where refr·eshments were provided for all.
The Convent
was a neat little wooden house, the walls lined 'vVi th canvas
and then covered vvi th paper.
11
--------·------..1•
11
Seventy-fifth Anniversary.
11
(Dr. Cleary) p. 15
17
T.o the newcomers, Auckland presented
town life.
a noYel picture of
Mother Cecilia describes the town of Auckland
in 1850 (1) as "singular-looking, partly in a valley and
partly straggling up a hill;
wooden houses, streets marked,
but sparsely strewn with dwellings; grass
ever~rNhere.
11
(2) The European population of the Colon.:r ,then totalled
about
30~000
of whom 35 per cent wePe in Aucl\:land; 22 per
cent in ';'!ellington;
in Canterbury;
Plymouth.
16. 6 per cent in Nelson; 12. 3 per cent
7. 7 per cent in Otago and 6. L~. per cent in New
(3) Of the 105,000 Maoris then in the country more
than tv;o-thii'ds dwelt in Auckland while fevver than 2,000 were
then to be found in the South Island.
The variety of the
climate, the character of the e6il, and the nature of the
surface-vegetation, largely deteri11ined the distribution of the
population so that, while some fortunate, fertile localities
could support a fairly dense population, others - paPticularly
such as were mountainous or su·bject to heavy rainfall - were
c;_ui te uninhabited.
The expansion o:f' Northern settlements .was
difficult because of the hilly nature of the country, and
it took stout hearts and broad backs to clear and burn through
the dense forest in order to link by roads the various settlements, and thus enable out-settlers to carry their
laboriously-procured produce to some convenient centre
1.
2.
3.
Annals, Vol 11. op. cit. p. 607.
History of N.Z. (Rusden) Vol. 11 Published London 1882.
"The Romance of New Zealand" (Horsley. )
from which it could be exported.
18
Gradually their unflagging
industry and the steady increase in population begot new
c ondi tionf:~ of life throughout the };;nd, so that
J:J!other Cecilia I,·laher could write frm: Auckland ( 1) "No aristocracy here; all are comfortable.
Immigrants are Irish or English."
She gives the following tariff of the necessaries of life
in Auckland 1850;GooJ. tea, 1 s. 6d. per pound; sugar, 3d.; beef and
mutton, very inferior, 6d.; very good pork; 4d.; butter
in summer 1 Od.; and in winter 2 or· 3 shillings; excellent
potatoes very cheap. Servants £15 to £20 a year; washer·women, 2s. 6d. a day; mechanics, 7s. 6d.; labour•ers, 5s.
No poverty where there was industry. 11
11
S~ne
years before the Sisters' arrival, (2)Father
Petitjean had opened a schooi
11
for the children of
inunigrants 11 and with the able assistance of stalwart laymen he pioneered the work of education.
Hovvever, (3) it
was not until the coming of the Sisters of Mercy, in 1850,
that the education of Catholic youth in Auckland became an
organi
undertaking.
In 1850 the Sisters took over
Father Petitjean's school, knovm as
11
St. Patrick' s 11 and soon
they opened another - a sort of secondary school - dedicated to st. Ii'rancis.
Their Schools began with seventy
Catholics eight of whom were war-orphans and fi:Lteen Protestants.
1.
2.
3.
They also improvised in the :Lirst week and
"Leaves from the lmnals" Vol. 11. pp. 600-601.
"Auckland Times" March 9th 1843 (not signed)
"Seventy-fifth Anniversary" (Dr. Cleary) Page 17 •.
orphan~
age in which to provide for the children of soldiers who
had fallen in the Maori Wars.
(1)
Their efforts in this
field vrere so successful that to-day they have tV'<"o wel
equipped homes, the one for• girls at Bowick, the other
for boys at Takapuna.
It was not during school hours alone
that the S1sters were kept busy.
native women came regularly
r.Iany (2). immigrants and
to be instructed.
The natives
were delighted with the Sisters, .. any of whom, dur-ing their
tedious journey of eight months, had acquired the 'Maori
language.
A chieftainess came to the convent and wept on
seeing the Sisters;
11
at length, she exclaimed:
I was in a state of suffering until I saw the
sacred girls'.
Now I begin to live."
(3) By the end of 1850 the school roll was 158 com-
prising 65 infants, 75 girls as well as 18 in the Orphanage.
The school re-opened in 1851 with 240 children in addition
to '14 from the Orphanage and 12 native girls.
year Sir George Grey visited the Si
During this
ers' schools and
described them as be-ing "exceedingly well-conducted.
1
'
(l.J.) In 1852 Bother Cecilia reported to Carlow:
"We have an orphanage, three schools - an infant
school, one for grown girls and a select or benefit school.
We have also a house for· native girls where after being instructed and taught everything useful, they leave and go
among the tribes and others are taken. 11
1•
2.
3.
4.
"The Sisters of Mercy" (Gately) New York 1931. p. 220.
"Leaves fPom the Annals 11 Vol. 11. p. 602.
Seventy-fifth Anniversary. (Dr. Cleary) p. 17.
Ibid.
THE Ll8RARY
CArrTERBURY
UNiV[RSITY
C:OLLEG£
CHRIS1CHURCH. N.Z.
19
20
(1)
re is a specimen of a Maori pupil; 11
11
'One of our native girls has returned to her tribe.
She is eight·een, very modest, religious, and edifying in
her conduct.
She is very talented.
After
learnin~
to read
and write her own language she was taught English, which
she speaks nicely, but with a lisp.
She reads and writes
English well, went through with Arithmetic, and has a good
geography.
idea
At examinations she was often asked to
point out remarkable places on the rnap; her knowledge of
the equator, zones, etc., would surprise you.
iron, knit stoclcings, crotchet,
dresses.
n~alce
She can wash,
and bake bread, cut out
She helped to malce a rochet for the bishop; can
.
scrub a house and put it in order.
As you may suppose, she
is regarded with admiration· by all.
She has a school of
thirty of her· country girls (in the Bush).
go to her'.
1
Some Europeans
'
As a result of Mother Cecilia's earnest entreaties
Carlow Convent opened a novitiate for Auckland and from
time to time sent out reinforcements.
(2)
In 1857 a band
of five Sisters about to embark at Chelsea, were visited
and encoUJX:lged by Cardinal Wiseman, who was deeply interested in New Zealand.
(3) Of the next contingent which
arrived in 1860, one member, Mother Bernard, the daughter of
-------------------------------1.
2.
3.
Ibid Page 615.
uLeaves from the Annals. 11 Vol. 11. p. 603.
Seventy-fifth Anniversary. 11 (Dr. Cleary) p. ·24.
21
General Sir Sheffield Dixon, and grand-daughter of the
sixth Marquis of Lothian, had served in the Scutari Base
Hospital and was destined to f'Dund the first convent in
\Vellington in July, 1861.
On ( 1) December 8th, 1861, Bishop Pompallier blessed
the foundations of the present I\.fother House Mount Street,
Ponsonby, and wrote the following to .B ather Therry of
1
Sydney:
" ••• The Sisters of Mercy (have) a part of Diocesan
ground of' eighteen ( 18) acres in extent near Auckland t t-self
for religious, charitable, and educational purposes, v i"Z.:
for their parent convent in the Diocese, for a Hospital,
and for their vast establishments of boarding-schools
in favoul' of bother races, 'whites and native' of
this countl'Y• The intended establishment, not yet built,
shall cost very likely between three and four thousand
poUnds •••• To build it) I depend .on the charity of the
faithful, and upon the assistance of God in His paternal
providence. 11
In 1852 the care of native children was handed over to
Dr. Pmpallier' s new· Order c
Order did not survive the
ed the Holy F'ami ly.
Thie
shop's departure, and his
niece, who was its Superior returned with him to Frsnce.
Yet the existence of this Order is of historical interest
for tvvo reasons.
(2) It included several members of the
Maori race who were undoubtedly
take the veil.
first liaori women to
In that Order also we first meet the noble-
hearted Suzanna Aubert who, before founding the Order of
the Sisters of Compassion, spent nearly a quarter of a
1•
2.,
Ibid. p • 1 9.
11
Zealandia" (M. Goulter).
November 18th, 1937.
22
century among the natives, teaching the children and
assisting the sick and aged.
The Sisters of Mercy vvere devoted to the Maoris from
the very start.
( 1) For Maori women who had to travel to
Auckland in order to dispose of their vegetables and
fruit, Mother Cecilia opened a house of hospitality with
the idea of protecting them from dangers to which they
might find themselves exposed in undesirable boardinghouses.
The Sisters were often impressed with the heroic
virtue of the native girls under their care:
( 2) 11 0nce," writes Mother Cecilia, 11 as our orphans and
native girls were walking on the shore, one of the
children clirnbed a rock overhanging the sea; hel"' foot
slipped and she fell down s .~me yards, and grasping some
shrubs, scPeamed for help.
The·situation was terrific; a
priest and a settler looked on shuddering. But one of the native
children leaped like a deer down fror.1 the rock and seizing
the almost breathless child, bore hel" in triumph to her
companions. 11
Mother Cecilia's constant solicitude for the
~~laoris
awakened in them a lively gratitude and. gave her such
influence over them that a few words from her often made
peace between hostile tribes.
(3)
On one occasion when
tv1o rival tribes were on the point of attacking each other,
t1other Cecilia sent them, by a friendly native, a flag on
which was worked a dove beari
an olive branch under which
was inscribed the message .- "The sacred girls beg the
1•
2.
3.
"Leaves from the Annals"
11
Leaves fran the Annals"
Ibid. p. 607.
Vol. 11 .. p. 615.
Vol. 11. p. 605
23
hostile parties to become good friends.
11
At once both
tribes yielded to her entr'eaties and hostilities wer·e
averted.
During their second decade in the country of their•
adoption
the Sisters experienced the horrors of the
devastating, hfaori Wars when they did much to assuage the
sufferings of the distressed and afflicted.
':i'he~',
them-
selves, suffered such extreme privations that in a letter
Home, Mother Cecilia remarks that ( 1) there was not a
single pound.in the house.
"It was with anxiety c::nd
solicitude that they made out what was barely necessary. 11
The Sisters were often impressed by the gratitude of the
r,:aoris.
Whenever the slightest danger threatened their
dwelling, both parties gave them notice and. assured them
that, no matter what happened, the 'sacred girls' would
( 2)
be safe.
Once, in the thick of war, a chief at the
risk of his life carne into the harbour and calling at the
convent warned the Sisters to be ready to flee if the worst
should. come.
He endeavoured to allay their fears by
pledging his word to give them timely notice and to convey
them to secure refuge.
the Sisters' work in Auckland during this time
Cardinal hloran writes:
(3)
1.
2.
3.
11
They proved themselves true Apostles to both the
"Leaves from the Annals." Vol 11. p. 619.
Ibid. p. 608.
Seventy-fifth Anniversary. p. 21.
2Lj.
'-'uropean and the natives in Auckland and throughout the
Amid the Vicissitudes· of that Diocese v;hen
;.issions were forsaken, and when difficulties arose such as
seldom have befallen a Colonial Diocese; for that suffering
-~)lurch was for years encompassed on every side with the
terrors and ravages of savage warfare, and 1, i th all its
direful consequences, dissensions, desolation, ruin, and a
crushing burden of debt, nevertheless throughout that trying
t~eriod st. Mary's Convent of
Mercy in Auckland was a t1>ue
fortress of the faith, and handed on to the faithful of the
Diocese the. tradition of piety and the blessings
of religion."
.
~!10 le Diocese.
Eighty years after their ari'ival, on the occasion of
the centennial celebrations of the Order in 1931, the Sisters'
woric was still held in 1 oving rnernory.
( 1) 11 'l1he arrival of the pioneer Sisters, 11 says a writer
in 'Zealandia, ·' 11 during the episcopate of His Lordship,
Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (whose memory is still deeply
revered by ~he Maori people throughout New Zealand) was an
epoch-making event in the social and religious progress
of this c Oil!ltry. 11
"Therein we are not f'orgetful of the fact that our
people substantially participated in the benefits thereof for many of our women-folk o:t' the past, sever•al generations
v1ere educated at the convent schools - and the names of the
Sisters of l\lercy are held in household reverence in many
homes. 11
J:l'or nearly twenty years, l,Iother Cecilia and her
c onmmni ty dwelt in a tottering old house with I,ady Poverty
as a constant companion.
(2) Yet when the financial crisis
came in the wake of the Maori Wars, their five convents
were found to be free of debt.
However poorly
the,y lived 9
the culture of good books and good music was always
cherished.
Even Vihen poverty obliged them to
economise in
food and clothing, the libr.aries were well stocked and
1•
2.
11
Zeal andia 11 (M,. Gaul ter) NoveLiber 18th, 1937.
Annals. Vol.·iL op. cit. p.619.
25
every book that was a help to spirituality or education
was ordered from Europe as soon as it appeared.
(l)"Buy
every good book for us" appears in lfother Cecilia's
letters home alwost as fr·eq_uently as "send us subjects."
In 1861 the present "Old Convent," St.l:Iary's, Ponsonby,
becrune the Mother House, and Novitiate.
For seventeen
years this convent was hallowed by the presence of
Uother Cecilia and is still redolent of her self-sacrificing
spirit.
Here still lives in her d~ughters, that whole-
hearted solicitude for the poor, the erring, the sick
and th.e orphaned.
1. liLeaves from the Annals" Vol.ll. p. 632.
26
HOTHER CECILIA MAHER.
27
CHAPTER 11:l.
MOTHEH CECILIA_ i',lAH}EH - AUCKLAND FOUNDATIONS
of women pioneers of the Catholic Faith in New
zealand the name of ]',[other Cecilia (Ellen) Maher, like
Abou Ben Adhem's name, might.easily lead all the rest.
:1er arPival on these shores, at the head of the little
band of Sisters of Mercy in ·J850, is a prominent landmarlc of Catholic Pl"ogress in New Zealand.
Ellen Maher
was born at ( 1 ) Fl~eshford, Co. Kill<enny, Ireland on
September 13th, 1799, and while yet but a child she
shouldered the responsi.bili ty of mothering her five
young step-sisters whose own rnother treated thera with
unnatural harshness and severity.
Thus, even in her own
home, she began heL' career of self forgetfulness and
sePvice to othel"s, showing affectionate sympathy for the
sick ancl afflicted as well as maternal love for the
child.
One of her step-sisters died in childhood, the
other· four entered religion and laboured disinterestedly
in the service of the neighbour under foreign skies.
Though Ellen lJiaher was not free to follow her vocation
until she was thirty-nine years old, yet she was destined
to bee ome a foundress of religious life in a new land.
Entering (2) St. Leo's Convent of Mercy, Carlow,
Ireland, in 1833, she was appointed Mistress of Novices
---1.
2.
11
11
--------- --------------------11
Annals op. cit. Vol. 11. Page 610.
Seventy-fifth Anniversary. 11 op. cit. Page 21.
28
four years later, and with her outstandinz qualities of
mind and heart vras elected
in 1842.
S~perior
of the Carlow Convent
This office she still filled
when, in 1849,
she generously answered Bishop p;)mpallier' s appeal f'or
volunteers for his hazardous mission in a land shalcen
by earthquakes and distressed by native wars.
r brave
and cheerful spirit counted not the cost, nor did it
suggest to her that on accoui1t of age - she was nmv past
her prime - she might well co:r.unend to someone younger,
the sponsoring of such an arduous underta1cing.
her
sev~n
Carlow,
Prom
yeaPs' experience as Mother Superior in
L~other
Cecilia well icnew the burdensome cares
attached to that
fice, yet from' 1850 to 1868, she bore
that ydce unflinchingly, guiding her Auckland c onununi ty
through the toilsome years of furPow
digging by "superin- (1)
tending every detail connected. with the pioneering vroPk
of the young cmrununi ty.
11
Pi red with apostolic zeal r3.nd
defiant of danger, ther•e hover•ed about her a radiance of
love and helpfulness as she struggled heroically with the
scantiest resources to secure a foothold in the land of her
adoption.
Her
(~)
ardent piety and high executive ability
so noteworthy in her life in Auckland, nave becone
a treasured tradition.
1.
2.
In 1868 she was given a well-
nseventy-fifth Ann::..versary'' op. cit. Page
Ibid. Page 23.
29
earned rest from her administrative duties but was
to resume office in 1871.
adrninistrator
played
or
Now,
obliged
as before in her role as
the affairs of the community, she dis-
a keeness of discerrunent and an
to the end, while ·always there was
the same. good sense.
ad~ptation
of means
the sam,e compass of wind
Ever cheerful, even when a loser,
she served as a constant source of inspiration to those
aro,~.nd
her.
Her overwhelming earnestness, and the spirit
she infused into all with whom
she came in contact, .largely
contributed to the perpetuation in the Auckland community
of the real spirit of Catherine. ticAuley.
Cecilia
hel~
that should
From Mother
subjects imbibed the (1) Christlike spirit
animate the approach to, and the sol uti ::m of,
the problems connected with the poor, the suffering,
and the neglected of humanity.
J?or Maori and vlhi te
alilce, she had the vvorcl of' personal appeal and inspiration,
which particularly suited each case, her exhortations
assuming the form surest to impress the soul she desired
to reach.
Having fully demonstrated by her life, (2)
what charity means, what service means, what true progress
means, her
owing heart poured out its last words of
hope and consolation on November 25th, ·1878.
During
the two days that her remains lay in state in the convent
chapel. she had loved so well, (3)
1•
2.
3.
crowds wllom she
Gately. op. cit. p~e 5.
Pamphlet C. '1.1 • S. t~elbourne. Sisters of Mercy - Centenax•y
"Zealand· u (G lt )
1931-W.J. Lockington S.J.
la
:rou er Nov.18, 1937.
30
had taught as well as numbers of non-Catholics whom she
had befriended, carue to pay her their last respects.
After
Requiem Mass she was borne by ten Sisters to her last
resting
place in Mount st. Mary's Cemetery.
(1).
If, as scientists tell us 1 not a leaf falls to the
ground, not a pebble rolls upon the shore
without in some
1:1easure affecting the harmony of the universe, what
trer;1endous
forces must have been put in motion, changing
the cowardice of weru{ness into strength of endeavour,
rounding irnrnature impulse into the shapeliness of fixed
purpose and keeping alive the fire of prayerful devotion
i~
the dark places of life, by the union of faith and
good works which marked the earthly career or lilother
Cecilia!
( 2). FOUNJJATIONS SCHOOLfi.
ST.
EAR~~-PONSONBY:
In a small wooden building,
st. Patrick Is' Hobson Street' Aucl<:land - the first in New
Zealand to be designated a Convent - the pioneer Sisters
entered in 1850 on the first decade of their activities
beneath the Southern Cross.
In 1863 the tottering con-
dition of this house induced the original band and their
first recruits to remove to Mount St.Mary's,.,Pons:Jnby,
vthich -has since become pregnant with valued memories and
hallowed traditions.
The new building included besides the
1 •. Cat:1olic World. (Number lost.)
2. Information received from Auckland Community and from
"Zealandia" (Goulter) Nov .. 7th, 1937.
31
convent proper, a fine boarding and day school for seconda1·y pupils, an orphanage for girls, and St.Joseph's,
school.
a primary
However! schCJol accom.mcdat:Lon was still
inadequate and aftel" the forming of the Sacred
Heart
parish in 1886 the church was used as a school.
nwnbers increased and in 1.893 we find three Si
Roll
ers of
1.:ercy and J.liss Foote teaclline; in the church some 150
pupils.
In 1895 Sacred Heart Girl's
School was opened, in
which girls and boys were taught. until 1913 when with the
opening of
too~;:
the Vermont Street Schools, the Marist Brothers
over the boys.
In 1929 ·at a cost
of £36,000 st.
r.;ary' s boarding and day schools gave ;Jlace to the
present superstructure in Spanish Mission style of
archi tecttu•e so attractively girt \Vi th neat lavvns and
friendly t:r·ees.
The traditions of many generati01l2 of
successful pupils combined with the most modern equipment
for the irnpar•ting of a many sided education by trained
teachers, several of \Yhom are University graduates, are
marked features of st. Mary's College.
The annual successes
of the pupils in University and other public examinations
v.;herein they hold their own with the public schools and
:::alleges of the Doraini on, together with the results which
are achieved by its pupils in the exam.i.nations held by the
two leading London Colleges of 1~usic - Trinity College and
the Associated Board of Music - continue
to give evidence
32
of the high standard of wo:r'k maintained
college.
In
addition~
practice the i
/
thl~oughout
St. Mary's
the pupils are taught to put into
als of Catholic education which Cardinal
Nemnan has epitomised as follows:"I wish the inte ect to range with the utmost freedor:1, but what I am stipulating for is, that they should be
round in one and the same place, and exemplified in the
same person. I vvant the same roof to contain both the
intellectual and moral discipline. 11
A junior Mercy Guild by its activities keeps the school
children in touch with the needy, and an enthusiastic Old
Girls' Association unites ex-students who joyfully look
f o rv1ard to their ra-union$.
1 85Q_z_ 8'-". PATRICK' 8 AUC;~LANl):
TH
, the first school in
v;hich the Sisters taught, gave place in 1880 to the new·
convent and schools erected by Archbishop Steins, S.J. on
the
te now occupied by the l!,ai'mers' Parlcing Area, corner
of Hobson and Wyndham Streets.
Thousands of scholars
conned their daily tasks in this school which in time gav:e
way to the new st. Patriclc' s, a handsome brick building
erec
d on a new site and adorned with the wooden crosses
of "Old St. Patrick's," which it st
dail~r
rears aloft as it
gathers in its three • hundred pupils.
To this primary
school is. attached a registered Technical School in which
pupils pursue an efficient post-primary course.
j_862, ST. JOHN'SLPARNSLL:
A little cottage, to which the
Sisters either wallced or drove in the Bishop's carriage,
33
";er·red for years as the first convent school hex•e.
s, S.M. de
st. John's was opened in 1862 by S.M.
Chantal and S.M. Ignatius.
The present attendance is round
1 oo.
--
Joseph's,.Onehunga~
1 861.+.
Here S.M. Philomena,
3 .1.!. Veronica and Sister r.larie opened a school for girls in
in 1905 b
1866.
st.
s.J.f.
Cecilia I
were admitted.
~Q_tahuhtU
The
roll is 263
This school, founded by
s, S,I,i. Philomena and S.I.I. Scholastica , has now
a daily attendance of about 215.
In 1874 the
~)is ters
opened
st. Thomas's, Thames, which in 1911 they gave over to the
Sister~
of St. Joseph.
1882. st. I.Iary' ~Q._ramandel__;_
bui
The re
of this convent were collect
;,;ahoney, 0. F. M., V. G.
site funds for the
by Rev. Fathe:t:>
The first Sisters to go there were
S.M. Gabriel, S.Ivl. Barbara, S.B. Alphonsus.
When nurses were
badly needed in Coromandel, Sisters from this convent
attended the public hospital
daily~
anQ when the new public
hospital was built there, in 1896, the Sisters took temporary
charge and lived there until the opening of their
own hlater Hospital in 1900.
1894. st. Joseph's 0r2hanage, Trucapuna: On their arrival
in New Zealand in 1 850 the Sisters relieved the
r~rarist
Fathers of the responsibility of looking after eight
orphans, children of soldiers who had fallen in the Northern
~aori Wars.
In 1894 S.M. Alphonsus and S.M. ~ildred
34
established st. Joseph's Orphanage at Talcapuna and in 1300
·Nhen the boarding-out system was begun, an industrial school
was opened.
Fire destroyed the orphanage in 1923 and
in the following year
-~t
was rebuilt, and reopened by
Archbishop Cattaneo and Lord Jellicoe.
By 1927 the original
eight orphans had given place to hundreds and a new feature,
that year, was the admission of bo·'s of the parish to the
day
school.
·1896. st. Leo's, Devon12ort.: 'l'his school, called after the
gl:'eat parent-house Carlow, vVaB opened by S.M. Peter,
S.l.I. Columba and G.l.I. Stanislaus with a roll-call of
seventy children.
1902. St •.
The present roll is 125.
Cather~ne's,
Waihi:
This, the first Mercy Convent
opened in the present century in New Zealand, had for its
"
original staff four Sisters, S.M. Francesca, S.M. Ray:mond,
S.M. Frances and S.M. Stanislaus.
It has six Sisters on the
staff now and a roll of 100.
1903.
Te
Aroha, OUr
L~
of Lourdes: From the outlying,
scattered dairy-farms of this district two Sisters, Sister
Mary Patrick and S.M. Columba, gathered. in thirty children
with whom they opened this school in 1903.
now risen to 188.
The roll has
In 1904 the Sisters opened St. Dominic's
Convent, Gisborne, but in 1915 this convent was talcen over
by the Sisters' of St. Joseph .
.1~ Holu: Cr'oss 2 EJ2som:
Three oisters, S.M. Benignus,
35
s.J1l.
Borrorneo and s.r,L Cecilia began work here in 1921 but
the building was burnt to the ground in 1928 when the
sters
were lent the presbytery by the late Rev. T.J. O'Byrne.
The
con vent vtas inunediately l"ebuil t and has now a roll of 1
Desides the work of teaching and the visitation in their
homes of the sick poor, the Sisters also visit the Auclcle.nd
I nfi rrnary.
1)22.
Iiiount Carmel, l1iilford: With the intention of pro-
viding a rest-house
women this house was opened.
Hovv-
ever, it has so far been used as a school for boys under
twelve.
rrhis foundation i.s of particular inte:t•est because
the property adjoins the farm and home
ad of Thomas and
Lary Poynton, whose daughter, !iirs. Shea, gave them to the
Sisters.
1223. St. Br·ide' s, Avondale:
Sisters, S.M. Berchmans, S.M.
From a begin11ing uad.e b;J five
I1~onica,
S.Ivi. Josepha,
S. Li. Aloysius and S. £,1. Mal achy 'l'li th eighty-tvYo childl"en
this school has increased its st
roll to 200.
Three
to seven Si
and its
sters who serve Holy Cross, Henderson,
reside here •
.:!3.£2..!............:?t ar
of the Sea OrphanB£_~_:_.tJ.ov{j.ck:
Prorn 1913 the
''Pah 11 had been used by the Sisters as a girls' orphanage
but in 1925 the girls moved into "Star of the Sea~ a new
building, par"t of' which was of vrood.
The v10oden part was
destroyed by fire in 1929 a:nc. the follovving year saw the
erection of the new block together with the beautiful
Bishop - Cleary - Memorial Chapel - a fitting tribute to him
36
who so loved the orphans.
1926. r.;onte Cecilia College, Hillsborough H.d.
~
Onehunga:
The residence knovm as the "Pah, 11 a building
historic
interest, was purchased by the Sisters in 1913 and used as
an orphanage until 1925, in vFhich year, it was turned into a
boarding school for bo;{s too young for t'.n ordinary college.
The children of the surrounding district were also admitted
to
th~
day school.
1 927. St. Iviary 1 s, Pawarenga :.
';rere visited by Rev.
back as 1839.
The natives of this district
Pathers Servant and Baty S.M. as far
Four Sisters,
S~l.I.
Anselm,
S.J·,~.
J:,Iarcel
s .. M. Helen and s.r,I. Cyril founded this school for the
natives in 1927.
The number attending is 92.
11
'rhe ( 1 ) Sisters
conduct several schools for the native children, one at
Whang
e, an almost inaccessible point in the extreme north
of the North Island, where the little Maoris endear themselves to the Religious by their docility, intelligence and
eagerness for instruction .
.:l_ll?__.___Holy Cross, Henderson:
is serv
Avondale.
This school as has been stated
by three Sisters who reside at St. Bride t s,
The roll is 115.
( 2) Hosni tals:
As the care of the sick is one of the cherished
works of the Order of Mercy, th·
sters
·---·---1.
2.
eagerly longed for
---
Gately op. cit. p. 221.
Supplement N.Z. Herald Feb. 23rd. 1938, (not signed.)
11
Zea1andialf (Goulter) Nov. 18th, 1937.
Correspondence with Auckland Sisters.
.....
·---·
37
the day vvhen they would be able to open a hospital in
Auckland.
At last the time seemed ripe for such an under-
taking and on November 7th, 1900 the Sisters purchas
a
large private residence in Mountain Road, on the northern
slope of r.;ount Eden.
With M.lii.IGnatius as Superior, and a
staff of three Sisters and five nurses, the hospital
entered on its career vii th eight patients, an6. after
twenty years
enduring labour• was qu1 te free from debt.
Then the need for greater aoconunodation was felt and soon a
two storey brick building 'Nas added.
By 1925 this too
proved inadeccluate for their vrork and to comrnemorate the
Silver Jubl
e a fine, large residence was co:r.verted into
a convent and chap
and named "St. Ignatius 11 after the
hospit
As the training of the Sisters was of
vi t
foundress.
importance, several, vvho showed aptitude for the
nursing profession, were sent to the leading institutes in
Australia, St. Vincent's Hospital and the Mater Hospital,
::lydney, where they specialised in several branches of
hospital nursing.
The thorough training gained there formed
the firm foundation for the strikin,:?; success and exc
tion-
al speed with which they have pressed onward for the
thirty-nine years of the present century.
After the passage
of legislation enabling approved,privately-owned hospitals
to train nurses the Sisters pursued the irlea of' building a
new hospital of the most modern style.
For this purpose
38
liiother M. G::mzaga and I.lother M. Agnes, nursing enthusiasts,
were sent to America to see there all m:JclePn hospitals
appliances.
and
As the Sisters travelled through the United
states and Canada they visited each hospital of note, including the famous J..Iayo Clinic, and culled from each, wiclel,
knowledge and experience.
As a Pesult of that visit there
now stands on the slopes of T;Iount Eden, a magnificent !':later
I'Hsericordiae Hospital r1ith every conceivable convenience.
This towe:cing edifice can accornmodate one hunclr>,::cl and
twenty patients and is c Olllhilete with the world's latest and
best in hos: i tal appliances as well as x-ray rooms, private
rooms a-la-Llode ancl pleasant public wards.
In these vrar>ds the
Sisters delight to lavish on the poor that loving car>e
and attention inculcated by their revered foundress.
The
hospital is well staffed with twenty-three Sisters, fiftysix nurses and very full administrative ancl domestic staffs.
The two foundresses, !Jother
r..r. Gonzaga and Eother
I·,I. Agnes
are still in charge of the institution and have grateful
memories of the sustained progress ·;rhich it has made. On ( 1)
Jan. 1st, 1937 the Mater Misericordiae was officially registered as an apprQVed, private hospital with Training
School capa.ble of training nurses.
Ever solicitous for the
happiness and '<7ell-being of the nurses, the Sisters erected
1.
"Zealandia" Nov. 1Dth, 1937
(hi. Goulter.)
38B.
for them in 1938
11
a c omf'ortable, even stylish home" to
vrllich they retire clurin2 their hours of rest and leisure.
As testimony of the high esteeo in which the Sisters are
held ·by the med.ical pr•ofession we have the following
tribute from hlr. Frank Macky, President of the
Division of the British Uedical
Auc~land
~ssociation:
(2) "The :~Jiste:r·s have eEn•ned the esteen o:C the prof'essi. n thr'oughout the \Vorld.
They have earned it in an
unlimited sense for their enterprise, for their readiness
always to zo to t~~ last degree beyond the limits of a
meagr•e pur:3e in the provision o:t' hospital acco[-Lmodati:~Jn
and facilities.
'rhey m•e to be admired for• their :faith,
and :f'oc:· t~~e c '):'Viction that 3 job rrell clone will earn its
o·.ir. r'ertard. ''
I,U;:evvise the ~.lister's are loud in their• praise of ti1e
weH:ber•s oi' the n,:;Ci.ical lH':Jfession.
public warQs, in which doctors
'l'hey :eealise that the
generou~ly
atten~
in an
honorery capacity; frequently r/i tness scenes of noble self
sacrifice and sublir::e, .unostentiltious endu:r.'ance \J.nequallec_
elsewhere; showing as Pope says that:
11
In Faith anc_ Hope the world \7ill disagree,
But all I.Iankincl's concer>n is Charity."
39
G!lA.FVEH 1'T.
·----
r;
~arly
o r:.
G ,_,
in 1850 Bishop Viard
~ith
five
and ten Brothers left Auckland for the
Diocese of
~rellin~ton
Dociety of
=~ry.
!~rist
7athers
ne~ly-created
',\'11ic:: hr:d been entrust
to the
Shortly (l) after his arrivnl the
directed the building of a
~athedral,
shor1
presbytery and
convent, and petitioned Aucl:land and I!elbourne for Sisters
of :.:ercy to teach the children v:ho ·were _y;rov:i
an? education, religious or secular.
up '::i thout
Sisters could then be
only JITOtlised, and l)fmd1ng their .arrival he sta:"'fed tJ:e
schools •.:i th four your:n; ladies '\'.'ho ;::ere desirous of becol"ling
nun.:;, anc1
the
on Gepte:1ber f3th, 1850 OTJener1 .St. r:ar:r's,
:tst Catholic Girls
two-acre
sitE~,
I
f.~chool'
the town be
built y,•as the
in '.'fellinr:;ton.
( 2) mhe
, on v:!lich the convent \vas
f't o:" 7oord r·ctre, \\'hose daughter BUbse-
quently beca:1e a 1.1ellinc;ton f)ister. of l ~ercy. In 1861, the
fai thfu.l :·:other Cecilia
l:ep~c
her Dronise and sent the
Bishop three volunteers frau ./:..uol:land, 8. E. Augustine
·who had served at Gcutari, ''nd
f;is ter
~'arie,
in 1dellin[ston.
a
tulant, to establish tht.."l first convent
( 3) ':'he tmm then extended
~'lainly
alons the
beach aYlC. held a roimlRtion of nome f.i ve hundred, of whon
1. "Zealn.ndia" L'ov. 18th, 1£3'7. (lr. Goulter)
2. ".Annals!! o;;. cit. }'a-:;e o34.
3. Ibid. p. 634.
40
only forty were Catholic adults, while those in the outlying districts, "dwellers in the pathless woods 11 on account
of bad roads or
tr~acks,
their town neighbours.
were almost completely isolated from
However, despite the small p·roportion
of Catholic adults, the Sisters took charge of over (1) sixty
children in the primary grades and forty-four others ineluding t·wenty boarders, ready to start at the High School.
Though by this time the natural wealth of the country vras
'becoming known and appreciated, the Sisters found their
first twelve years in Wellington the leanest imaginable.
They experienced the chill
meagre and uncertain re-
sources, the cramp of quarters so strai teneci that one ( 2)
roop1 served as infirmary, community room, music-room and
parlour, and the utmost anxiety on account of a staff
numerically inadequate to cope 'iVi th the denanrl3 of ever
increasing numbers of pupils.
Yet, they pressed on, seeking
help from diverse sources until, in 1873, the intensity of
their plight wrung from Lather :rA. Ursula Frayne of
l'.:elbourne two of her community -
t~Jother
1.1. Cecilia Benbow
and L:other I:l. Xavier Butler - destined to put St. Hary' s
on its feet.
Heartened by the potent enthusiasm· of the new
Sisters the little group struggled on and slowly, but steadil;,\
the tide turned in their
favour.
1. · "Zealandia 11 Nov. 18th, 1937.
2. "Annals 11 op. cit. p. 636.
Better housing and
''
( l'.i.
Goulter.)
41
more spac,ious class-roorr.sbecaJne a necessity; so in 1876
( 1 ) Mother Cecilia Benbow left for> Europe in search of teachers
nnd funds and returned t·.:ro years later
and £2,000.
VIi th
sixteen Sisters
She lost no time in direciing the building of
new prenlises and before the year was out the present convent
sroup, st.
Uar~rr
sr Hill Street, had been erected.
Prom its
inception St. llary' s High School has stood for the best in
higher education;
it aims at the
~raining
of young women
for efficiency in things intellectual and social but its
chief care is the development of character according to the
ideals of true Catholic woman~1ooc1.
truly a picked band, children of
(2) Its first pupils were
ioneers v7hose own (3) in-
tellectual pursuits had, perfo1·ce, to give way to sustained
effort in order to wr·est a livelihood from virgin soil.
these pioneers (l.i.)
11
V.li th
education was almost a passion 11 and we
are not surprised to find their daughters travellj.ng to
school in a sailing ship and living on ship's biscuit and
salt pork vvhen contrary winds made the journey longer than
they had anticipated.
to and from
sc~wol,
So perilous were these
journeyings
that fwmetirnes on their return after the
holidays, the children found the ;")lster·s praying for their
souls as for those lost at sea.
It was not any catalogued
number of courses which the school professed, that induced these
1•
2.
3.
4.
Ze alanc1ia 11 Nov.. 18th, 1937. (M. Goul ter .. )
Ibid.
C.H. B.E.
Vol. 7 Part 2 Ch. X11 Page 242.
C.H. B.E.
Vol. V11. Part 2. Page 243.
11
42
pioneers
it
to expose their children to such risks, rather was
the conviction that, side by side with intellectual
artistic culture, v.'ent the
moral character.
~ore
pe1~s1stent
up-to-date
and c lass-roow equipment call
and
leavening of the
facilities in ace ornrnodati on
for attention and in (1)
1930 at a cost of £20,000 the new college in Hill
street,
was upreared under the c:t.irection of t:other M. de Sales
Goulter, wl1o for thirty years had served
the High School.
~s
Principal of
This new St. Uary's College with its ex-
cellently equipped class-room, library, studio, dresst:alcing room and. large assembly hall furnishes ideal envirorunent for the pursuit of all branches of secondary work.
(2) The roll for last year was 62 boarders, 154 secondary,
From small beginnings at St. Lary's of 1861 on Golder's
Hill the Order of Uercy has radiatect. branches throughout
the Archdiocese and Suffragan Uees.
(.3) GUIWJ<'OHD TERRACE, THOHNDON, 1 851:
Teachers 4, pupils
134.
This flourishing parochial school for girls dates
back to twenty-eight years before the State system of
education was set up in New Zeal1md.
In 1861 the school was
taken over by the Sisters and to-de.y there is fo;_md within
its 'Nalls the thil'd generation of its first pupils.
·1.
2.
3.
Singing
"Zealandia 11 Nov. 9th, 1937. (l:i.Goulter.)
Australasian Catholic Directory 1938. Pub. St. Mary's.
Ibid. Page 346.
Sydney. Page 345.
43
is a speciality with the pupils as is annually testified
by their achievement in this
St. J·oseph' s, UE.J2._er Hutt, 1852:
Bishop Vi
eld.
Teachers 6, pupils 248.
with his marked predilection for the
hiaoris built a home called "Providence It
native and
half-'caste girls on a strip of land ( 1) granted for the
purpose by Governor, Sir George G:r.,ey in 1852.
the Sisters of Mercy were in residence in
took over the char'
of this
As soon as
~ellington,
they
ovidence and taught the
Maoris to read English intelligently and fluently, to
vvri te neatly and '.vel1, to malce
ir own clothing and to
:.eep their quarters clean and tidy.
A
visitor> to tha Pr>o-
vidence in 1879 wrote -
( 2)
11
The children
e seperate "bed-ronms and are all
scru.pulously neat and clean. Each l"oom oper.s .. into a long
passage and there :Ls perfect ventilation. The teaching
and supervision of' the school is the gratuitous work of those
in charge. 11
rrhese Llaori girls on return to their tribes bee ame a potent
influence in the spreading of European culture for, as
Sir Apirana lTgata claims -
(3) "One
the greatest services rendered by the
schools, especially the secondary schools, to the ~aori
race is the gradual
sr~olub.:-1n of the comr:mnal idea
for w.. _ich the word 11 kianga 11 stands, and the persistent
substitution of the pakeha idea of home •.•• The eclucatecl
young women could not imbibe nev'i
as and t
es during
their residence in the secondary schools without insisting on changes in the vill
life. They have in··
1.
2.
3.
"Zealandia" Nov. 18th, 1937. (I-::.Goulter.)
Annals 11 op. cit. Page 639.
C.H.B.E.
V'i1 .Part 2, Page 2h9 quot
N. Z. Nwnber 22nd Februa1.,y 1927.
11
The Times,
f'luenced theil' elders
to the new standar·ds.
and the
young men to confoi'll
If
Too soon, however, the Maoris showed a tendency to move
inland and children of' the incoming Europeans were also
received at the Providence.
died in 1872 and in 1 876,
The Maori-loving Bishop Viard
owin.~
to the need for greater
accormnodation, his old house, the. gift of Bishop Hedwood,
was converted into an extra wing for the Providence, which
thus prolonged its existence until the end of the century.
Ready by the new century stood a new stone orphanage on the
old site but, by 1909, even this was over-cro\ided and gave way
to the present St. Joseph's,
Uppe,r Hutt, the land f'or
which was the gif't of (1) Hon, H.W. Petre of' Woburn
Estate.
Later, a desirable adjoini
which exten
on
property was purchased,
has made possible the flourishing farm
which now aff'ords no little help in supplying the needs 1 of
some two-hundred and f'ifty children.
Up to 1918 St. Joseph's
was exclusively for girls; but the catastrophic epidemic of
that year depl'ived so many children of' both parents that
the Sisters (2) improvised a boy's home out of a stout old
stable vvhich still withstands the invasions of vigorous
youths.
The upkeep of this double orphanage is a constant
source of' anxiety to the Sisters in charge.
It is mainly
financed by a large, annual donation f'rom the T.G. I,1cCarthy
Trust, by the yearly diocesan collection, and by devices
1.
2.
"Zealandiau Nov., 9th, 1937. (M.Goulter.)
"rrhe r,lonth 11 Dec. 1931.. (Leonard J. Cronin. )
45
such as Street Days.
ST. Philomena's,
1<~
Immigration had so flooded the country by 1873 that
numbers
Catholic children ( 1) strayed thr·cl'·~gh streets
and by-ways of '.re Aro vri thout a single Catholic school to
gather them in.
Mother L. Augustine r;;ax.well perceived the
want and with the generoLts co-operation of !lev. Father' Cummings
succeeded in converting the top
Utreet into two school-rooms.
OJ:'Y
of a S;lop in 'dillis
It was a pluck;? beginning
but the shop-school proved to be very inconvenient and in
137L+ the Sisters with £900 secured a more sui table pr-operty in Dixon Street.
'l'he number of
pupils· again in-
creased beyond the capacity of the acconnnodat:,. :m provided
for them, so in 1878 new schools were built and a High
School added in 1~~00.
(2) In 1908 the Dixon
re
property
was sold but the new High School was removed to Eroughrun
Street where it is still in use.
That year saw the erection
of a branch convent in Broughrun Street where the prese11t
convent v1as built soue few years ago, and where reside the
Sisters vtho teach in the Buckle Street Sacred Heart School
with its 250 pupils.
Blenheim, 188_,2;,
On 25th, August, 1885, the
·v~ell ington
Sisters of Mercy
opened a branch convent and High School in Blenheim and
1.
2.
11
11
Annals 1' op. cit. Page 63E\.
Zealandia" Nov. 18th, 1937.
(Iv:I.Goulter.)
took charze of the already existing school for girls.
In
1 889 an Infant School vvas built and seven years later the
Sisters accepted char-ge of the boys' school which,since
1872, had been in the hands of a succession of rnasters.
Soon after the incoming of the present
centu1~y
the present
fine convent and High School were built in Liaxwell ltoad
opposite the ole. site.
( 1) Total nuwber of pupils 249.
Newton, 1820: Teachers 7, puptls 260:
His GPace, Archbishop. Redwood, for·mally opened
st. Joseph's Convent School in Adelaide Street, Newton, on
June 30th, 1890.
To this school the Sisters tr·avelled by
tr'amcar for ten years until in 1900 they had the happiness
of establishing thei'e a branch convent, st. Anne's, toge tl:er
with a new
parish school and St. Joseph's High School in
Daniel Street.
SeatoU1f:;9__:!_209,
Pal'()_~pjaJ
Scho:Jl PreDaratory College:
A little cottage sltuat
on the present Church
property served as Church and School for many ye0rs. In 1909
the parochial school, St Anthony 1 s,w&s opened ana the
Sisters who teach here reside at the preparatory call
which was also built in 1909 under the title of Star of the
Sea.
The college is adrnir'ably si tuuted cowrnancUng a wide
view of the sea G.nd is well provided with playing-al,eas,
marked off into tennis courts, croquet lawns and football
1.
Directory op. cit. Page 346.
47
fields.
in
r.rother E.
ch~rge
of' l'ievv
Bernard Redwood has foP many :rears been
here where she has received boys from
:~~e
and.
Some
all parts
these boys have become priests,
some doctor's, others lawyers, but whatever
~heir subse<:~uent
calling, many of them return to 1nove again, if only for
a half' hour, rnidst the scenes of their care-free days.
Kilbirni~
1912:
Al terstions for conventual ne0ds were made in thr•ee
rooms attached to the Church School and in 1912 the Sisters
lfioved into these and began the daily rounds
of' Mere:,'.·
a Sister.
Two year's later a desirable property was pur-
chase,.L and on it was built the present convent and
i3t.
··atrick's Parochial School.
o:C a High ;3cho
The 'listers also have charge
under the patronage of St. Catherine.
answer to the claim macl.e by sorr'owing, suffertng humani t,y
the Kilbirnie Si
rs far many years vistted regularly the
VI omen 1 s prison at Point Halswell.
'l'he r:>ame visitation is
now the wonopoly of' the Seatoun Sisters who are 1nore conveniently situat a for it.
Northlands, Karori and Harton, 1910-1917:
Sisters from Hill Street tr'avel daily by tr·mncar to
the parochial schools in :uorthlands and Karor•i.
At Marton
they have a 'branch convent and large primary schools for
bays and girls.
Every week the Sisters drive from r.iarto.: to
imnter•ville and Bulls' there to teach music
a~1d
to instruct
48
children who are as yet unable
attend Catholic Schools.
'
Pic t on , 'I 91 4 ·:
Up to 1914 the Catholic children of Picton travelled
eighteen rlliles to Blenheim convent school, but on August
4Ll that year, the Sisters had the happiness of establishL1G'
''~· ~Jl'".:·:C~-
convent in Picton.
'l'he absence of a school,
hovrever, necessitated their teaching in the clmx•ch until
at length in 1924 His Grace, Archbisi1op Redwood, blessed
and opened the present parish school.
Dell back from the main
roa~
at the foothills of Lower
..
Hu tt, Nai Hai pi'ovides yet cmother
the Sisters of l.Ier·cy.
sphel~e
of' activity for
:B'or pictui•esc1ue scenery St. Thomas's
Hc;Jtle stands second to none in hew Zealand.
)rounds beauti-
fully set out ace ording to Cllli \/orld patterns:·
profusion of' Nature's wealth -
fresh-lookin~
dis~;lay
bush,
a
bri~hter
toned ferns and fronds; a whispering broo>: :L'lOY,EJ. beneath
r'ustic bl'idges sunnounted by Old
~,/orld
Statues~
rookeries
and neat drives and perhaps dearest of all, the lazy sw1ms
that glide up and down the slov1-moving waters.
This
beautiful home belonged tb the late John Dutchie and was
purchased for the Sisters of :Mercy in 1917.
Hai Nai fro;n all parts of the
.u~xninion,
Boys c owe to
they are taken from
five years of age and may be kept until they have passed
standard V1.
The fees are sufficiently low to bring Nai Nai
49
within the reach
tr1e working class and, in necessitous
cases, boys are taken without fees, provision for them being
obtained thrcmgh an annual church collection and through a
donation from the T .G.I'.1cCarthy J?uncl.
St. Thoraas' s is
paPticularly suitable foro delicate b.ys, who after the
first two months of its bracing air, its football, svvil[lming,
cricket, boxing and gardening, feel the full vigour of boyhood coursing
thr.m~)1
Mount Carmel, ar;
their veins.
up-to-eLate primary school at Hatai tai,
was opened by the Sistc.a's in 1930 ·,
is supplied with
Sisters from Hill. Street who travel thence by tra.mcar every
day.
The thickly peopled
st:cict
l.liramar has its
convent school, He>ly Cross, in which four Sisters from
Seatoun teach one-hundred and.
forty-tlu~ee
pupils.
In 1936 the Sisters frcm1 Hill Street opened a branch
convent near the parish school in Ar'o Street to provide a
co~venient
residence for the staffs attending the Aro
Street and Brooklyn Schools.
A house in R,Dna Bay v1as purchased
this year also, to serve as a convent foP the Sisters
who teach 1 already, nearly a h1JnU.red pupils in San Antonio,
the old building in which Mass was celebrated until the
building of the present church.
'fHE LIBRARY
t~I'ITE:RBURY UNIVERSITY COLLEGB
CHRISTCHURCH. N.Z.
50
An Amalgamation:
( 1) 1'Under the rule, originally established by the
foundress, a Convent of t:ercy was an indepenclent House,
electing its own
~uperior
and training its own novices.
In
more recent years, however, the need for centralisation in
government foP X"eligious communi ties, especially in the
equ:l
nt
of' the novitiate has made i tsel:f :felt, with the
result that in sowe c ountPies the ;3 :1 sters of Eercy, who
are under Papal jurisdiction, have been organised into a
general ate, 'Nhilst in others, their convents have been
grouped together v;i thin a diocese under one Superior, with
a Cowman novitiate, as the first step, it is hoped, of' reorganisation covering a vtiuer area."
Thus in 1927 His
Grace, Archbishop, Hedwo:Jd, desirous of placing all the
Convents of r. :ercy in the .-".rchdiocese unc1er one Superior,
amalgamated the H.eef'ton, \lestport and Grani ty Convents with
St. tlaPy 1 s, Hill Street, '.lnder the present, I.;other I'.I. Francis
Doyle as Superior General o:f the amalgamated Communities.
It may be mentioned here that this lceen enthusiast in recognition of her services in the interests of Education,
received a Goronc;tion Leclal, Jt.me 1937 !'rom their Eajesties
the King and Queen.
Reefto!l.'- 1 881 :
(2) u,~uartz x•ee:fs o.iscoverecL at i;;urpay' s Creek some sixty-
1•
2.
11
'
'
English Catholic 11 T iri1es Dec. 11 th 1937.
I.Iarist tlessenger, Page 9, Sept. 1st, 1931. (:a.ev. K. 1\IcGrath.S.M.
51
five years ago made Reefton' s name and fame."
Rev. Pat:,er C:umm:i.ngs,
s ..M.,
In 1875
erected a church and school, and
after la:r te: chers had taught
the question of religious t(;ac
'.l~e
chilO.ren for twelve years,
rs vms considered.
Hev. Pather Rolland, finding that Hoki tika was unable to
supply him with Disters of },iercy, successfully appealed to
the
foundress of Singleton, Mother 1-J. t:>tanislaus Kenny, who
not only gave up four of her Sisters but even
acc~mpanied
them on their arcl.uous jourm:y, first across the Tasman and
thence to \'/ellington, Greymouth, Hol;;:i tika, ac:cnsB t 11e
Terematau
by aerial tramvvay, and, by coach as :ear as the
railway terminus W11er·c: they boarded the train fo1·
'l1 he
~.e
ton.
;isters found a girls' school ax;aited them wlth some
hundred and forty on roll; they added a Hi
opt:necl i'.'1th
30 pupils and almost at once began the v7orlc of
visitation 0f the Biclc.
arly to
i3choo1 which
'l:'he Sisters visited Boatrnam regul-
truct the child~en in their religion.(1) A
school was opened in 1893 at Ikamatua, a little fanr:ing
settlenent in the Grey Valley, and \7as attended by an average
of about forty children not all of' whom vvere Catholics.
It
was a gl'ate:ful work and. though it meant trwt the Sisters
had to leave l?.eefton at 7: 30 a.m. and return at 8: p. rn.
they d.id not grudge the sacrifice.
However, a grr.::ater
sacrifice
was still to be made, for one of the two Sisters
1.
L~essenger
I.iarist
Page 12, Sept - November· ·1931.
52
'.who travelled daily to Ikamatua ( 1 ) returned alone one night
coL~panion
llalf-dr·mmec_ anc1 covered with blooCL, her
been the victim of a
f~t
l'oau acci
having
nt.
Vlestport, 1 ~2_4_;_
This town received its pioneer
sters
Kercy from
o~
Reefton which gave the (2) late r.:onsignor ·'
sh seven
whoi on Pebrura:c>y 3l"d.,made tbeir horne in \/e:;tport.
inuaed.iately they
too~-::
charge of
In
Government inspec t.Lon.
were unsui t
Alr;Jost
~ere
for' the
p~ep
St. Canice's School was
~
ened
• CJ·3.nice's School anc1
a Becondary school in Dhich pupils
public exmninationr3.
sters
anted
By ·1904 the old c :::nvent and School.,
le for further use by the :i.ncreased numbers of'
teachers emu. ['Ltpils so a new convent snci. Schools were built
in ;,iueen Stre
·J
was opened in
where later, St. Joseph's Scho
The secondaP,y colle
, st. ,,iary's, cu_1Pit
the first
tilenty rear-2. adr;1i tted. gi:cls only, but in later years large
classes of boys also, have GOiilpletecl the
seco!1Llary
education s.t st. Lar•y' s. In ·ISYI vie find that there v;ere
sixteen boys out of a total of fifty pupils.
at'e held f'or ambitious clerical
positions, are
ti
Horl~ers
Extra classes
who, havin.s:; secured
desirous of' pursuing their studies
under the Sisters' direction.
In 1914 the Sisters
opene~
an
out school in Grani ty and in 1921, vthen free rail':;ay tid:ets
were wi thdravm1;a convent was established in the township.
1. Marist
ssenger. November 1934. Page 13 article not signed.
2. 11 \Jestpor•t 1:ev1s" Dec. 1L~ th 1·1931 .0-nsigned a:r·ticle).
53
In (1) 1912 the O'Conor Home for the Aged was opened in
accordance with the wi
of the late Eugene O'Conor, Esq.,
and har3 been conducted by the Sisters of 7vestport since
then.
'.::'he present number of inmates is
twenty~nine.
During
the influenza epidemic of 1918 the Sisters offered the
authorities one of' the
dormitories as a
Wai."'d
for out-side
patients, and for weeks they nursed all who were sent to
thelrl.
Ihur of the
~)iste:r.'s
nur·sed in the public homes.
rrhe total nlill:ber of pupils attending the Westport Sisters I
Schools last year (1938) was as follows:- St. Canice's 80;
St. Joseph's 106; Granity 53;
a total of 287.
~estport's
need
St. J;Jar~·'s College 48; rnalcing
In the year that followed its foundation
exceede~
that of its parent, Reefton,
accordin.:ElY the l.iot.her House and Novitiate were tr•ansferred
frOL, Heeftcm to Fv'estport and,
to
·~Iel
after arnalgamation in 1927,
ngton.
'rhe little band of three who left Auckland to found
the first convent in Wellington has indeed increased and 'multiplied
until at the present tirae the amalgamated Communi ties
of the Archdiocese m:unber slightly over two
.
hundred while the
nlilnber of ch1ldren ·taught in their schools approximates
to four
of
hundred out of a
66,714
according
(2) . Catholic Population
to Government Census of 1
6.
54
0 H.'>.PT ER
Almost
ei~hty
years
,John Lac
seei.
V•
provider;t, :Car•-
, in 1860,
foP ( 1 )
purchased the excessively
~estl
disproportionate area of the province of
pre~:;cnt
i
to
t
e ruagnet - gold. - allured thither flo
i tan
clay valu.es.
s of eve
Soon aftel"'V·tarcls that il.'resis-
v.ralk of li
of cosmop
who surged tlu"ough
Hokitika and converted it from an unimportant t
into one of
186h
leading ports of thecolony.
Dy the
, 000
population had 1·1sen fr•ow (2) 100 to
o:t' vrhom were Irish Catl10lics anxL\Us
secure the ministrations
Icev. Pather Ste
thei1~
a priest.
ly succe
Y:18.ny
new hon1es to
su:9ply thei:r.' ne
HaJ.lun was appointed f:l.
the West Coast an(t was
of
priest for
by a chain
self-
s u.c :.·if icing men, l1'ostly Ear ist Pathe1•s, vvho exlli bi ted
int
id C;!nstancy in theiP service of l)oth God and man.
ltp I.;artin,
r/e find, as a str•one link in ti1is chain, Rev.
S.l.~.
viho, born in the South of France in 1830, in due tiLe
became a
::.iission.
I.~a:dst
Pather and volunteered for
After rende
Dunedin anc1 Inverc argi
Australasian
valu.able service in
, Father I.:aPtin was sent to t
his gener·ous,
1. "Zealanclia' October 13tll, 1938, (not signed.)
2. Harist L:essenger. !>.larch 1938.
(Editor. )
55
franl(, unPeser'Ved tLough prudently guaro.ed raann:cr quickly
Vlon him the esteem and affection of' the 11arishioners vrho
were frankly
proud of having a priest in their midst.
man of untiring ener
A
Father J:.Iartin projected and
accomplishe _ many '•dorlt.s of zeal, anci. h.Ls LU1::oelfish devotion
to the :Lnter-e
:c fat
of souls led him to spare nei
nor anxiety in the shepherding of' his numerous flock.
Shortly after his appointmet<t to the
arisi:1, scho:Jls vlere
opened in which ( 1 ) a Cr. Carrick taugl1t the ·boys and a
Liss J Jn,:s too.:. charge of' the girls.
Eov1e·ver•, Father Lc:cPtin
llacl set his heart on secuPing. for his pa:eish
of a religious c our:mni Jc .. ·, and l:noviing tl:h::
Sisters of' L:ercJ were doing in
peti ticmed
of
I.:erc~r
Auc~clanct
service;.:;.
that tl!:::
'JOl'~·-
and ':/ellington, he
s op _:,:edvi0oc1 to obtain a cor:ununi ty of' Sisters
Holci tika.
The
shop hancied on the request to
!.Iother C<;;cilia 3en'bow then £tbout to embark for' Eu:r•ope
in
search of additional nub jects for the 'i!ellin1_ston foundaions.
In every convent the pe'!'sonality of the Superioress
cm.mts and at the time of L!othe;c L. Cecilia Benborv 1 s visit,
there was in char·ge o:f the Convent
:,:ercy,
Ennis,
Co. Clare, Ireland, a big-hearted, large-souled
t:ot ,er
r·. Vincent, LicL:ahon, who l'e -, ::\
of missionary labours in a new land.
wo~mn,
the inm1ense value
'i!i th (2) chaPacteristic
generosity sheselected eight fr8J runong volunteers in her
1.
2.
Liarist Liessenger, November 1934, (not signed.)
Hokitika Records.
56
own CorruH.lni ty to form
foundation.
the nucleus of· the Hoki tika
The eight Sisters selected were:
Mother M. Clare hlolony, Superioress of the band,
S.M. I::echtildes Boland,
S.M. Cecilia Sheehan,
Ryan,
,~).:.:.
S.M. Juliana Hyan, S.M. Claver
S.LI. Aloysius LlcGrath,
and two postulants.
Gabriel Kennedy,
Sister Angela O'Keefe
This little group of ten left
London for· L!elbourne via the Cape of Good Hope, on
the stearner
11
Garonne 11 on July 23rd, 1878.-
After a
short break at Melbourne the Sisters proceeded to
li/ellin::;ton where they were warnly received. by Bishop
Hedvrood and ( 1) the Ron. T .A.
dent of Westland.
Bonar then Superinten11
From 1iiellington on 'board the
they enjoyed the company of Mr. Bonar vri th vrhorn
Tararua 11
they
established a fr1end.ship vVl1icl-" v;as to end only v1i th his
death.
11
Hever once"
this great \1es
~.
records I.:other L. Clare, "did
Coaster fail to call at the Conve:1t on
Christmas Day to express his good-will on the festive
season.
11
(2)
At mid-day on October 15th, 187t3 the
appeared oi'f Port Holci tile a.
11
Tararua'
Its appearance vras a
signal for universal Pejoicin? equalled by the ardency
with WDich the entire town population had prepared for
the coming of the nuns.
described by Mother
1•
2.
11
Zealandia"
I'bid.
~.
Their' actual landing is
Clare as follows:
October 13th, 1938.
57
11
,,midst the acclamations of' the people, who had
::...;.-::ambled in vast numbers at the wharf to r:·reet them, the
~: ters arrived at
tika.
Mr. ~atthew Cleary, the
:-:-ern or of Hoki tika gaol, and l'.'fr. Edward A. Burke accompan~
them ashore, having gone out to welco~ne them on l::ehalf
:: the Catholic parishioners, RcN. PhiL~p
L
,
the
~: :ri p :1st or. was the first to meet them and welcome them
:: ::·iia1ly
the land of their adoption. He then conducted
:...:.::::: to the carriages in waiting, Wllich drove off rapidly
-::.:_:<)UJ..>;h ths tovm to their temporary residence, a charming
: -:; tae;e of eight r00ms, with garden and paddock."
:-=
the f'ine convent which had ·been erected for the:.1 on the
: _...,ner of Sewell and staffoPd Streets was not then quite
:·;; .:.dy for . occupancy, the Sisters took up residence in the
- :se in Stafford Stre t, in which the Hon.H.L.Michel
rs of his f,'ll:Jily aftervlai'ds dwelt.
~nd
On October 28th.
fHster's took charge of the girls' school which had been
::~ducted
by a succession (2) of three lay teachers-
__ ::s Jones, Miss Anne Brogan (later to bee orne l.Irs. McKeever)
:...:.::. l:ass Blanche Stevens who handed ove1, the chaPge to the
_ :: ters.
~
urrhe attendance was 105
and the children in
:::.eral vrere very intellit::ent" - Such was Eother ClaPe' s
~-~st
report of their new pupils.
-~rom
: .'lll, wet day
January 14th, 1879
thou~h
the weather> point of vieY'/, was for the
:_3ters, a day of great rejoicing; for on that day they
· -i
into their new convent called St. Columbkille' s.
.:> m"
as their pastor was far:'lilinrly c
11
The
led by his parish-
.:..:::ers, had suitably furnished it and provided all the
to
-- :;tle c omforto vthLch he thougLt the Sisters uight have been
1\
Hokitika Records unpublished.
l;'!arist
ssenger. November 193L!.. (unsigned. )
58
accustomed in their loved Ennis convent.
religious facing li
encouraging
in a new cauntry have had. such an
generous 1'riend.
fond parent, he
\Yi th the solicitude of a
ed them from the possibility of
cial worries by providing theE ·. i
cover their< ex
saw the SL>
Not many pioneer
tu~e
nan-
neans sufficient to
for over a year.
January 20th,1879
not only in the primary
rs PesULle teac
school of long standing but also in a select school later
to
orne the present Hi
Sc
num1Jers had increased to 1
ol.
By ( 1 ) PebrD.ary the roll
and included s
In the followin2: l.iar>ch, Bishop Hec1.W.iQd vi
music pupils.
ted
Eol~i tika
:, ;,d perfox'ued the
rst solnnn religious ceremony
Reception to the
igious
fe
Sis tel, J.:. Patr
- tht~
and
Uister J',;. Columba, the two postulants vrho had accompanied
the eight professed Sisters from 3nnis.
Before he returned
to Wellington the Bishop administered the Sacrament of
Confirmation (2) to forty children, and on two consecutive
days, visited the e.chools and
res sed himself as •;·-311-
pleased with the spiritual, :Lntel
gress already manifest in
children.
)880, st. Columbkille's accep
soon followed by
Sisters were
~ble
to open a conv
1•
2.
~70
tual and cultL'l,al proOn Eastel' Uonday,
its first postulant who was
many others that tvvo year>s 1
to comply with
r the
shop I?.edvrood' s request
in Greyli1outh, then a promising seaport.
tr Zeal andia'' October 20th, 1 ~;
Ibio..
, (unsigned. )
59
Within the follovfing five years schooJ.B were
Kanieri and H.imu ar1d to these the
In (1) 1
opened at
sters travelled daily.
8 the Ri::::;ht f{ev. J.J. Grimes, S.1J •. establj_shed the
diocese of ::Jhr'istchurch in which was incorporated the \'fest
Coust vrhich until then had been administered fr:)tl ri
1 inJ:ton.
Two months after his consecr'ation Dr. Grimes paid his
first episcopal visit to Hokitika where he was enthusiastically
received by the par•ishioners.
He visited the
schools,
ws.s fully satisfied with the. proficiency of the pupils
ancl confir'J,ted
occ~'Bton v'/8.~3
for the
\:~lttich
ty-five in St. l .. ary' s Chruch,
c;:mst:c-ained int'o holding, but by no
to
that the E3:i.ste1.'t3 should
orJen
1:1
b1:anch Convent, at :~oss and ( 2) in Lay ·1889,
i:lt. Patrick's Convent,
and tvrent;;r chilC:,:een
Boardinir
~3chool
ss ·,/as es tabli f;hed v;J. tl1 a
~J.uno.red
. 1.:ary' s, the first
tlle schools.
on the \iest Coast, vras also opened in ·1 El89
and enrolled pupils f'roL
E1;..::1.ny
stland.
arts of
st. Dr-ic"i..Q'et Is,
Kumara Has also opened that year ancl soon e.s ma.n.y as one .
hundred ard:l. fifty pupih3 vr0Pe in attendance.
The :.:ollm;i
y·eo.r sa·;i a little bane_ of three Sis tel's lep.ve Hoki tj,l.;:G. and
cross the
s to open
a convent in
I~tt
ton.
The Sisters had. now worked for- twelve years 8E1ong the
peo)le of Westland with wany
whom they had become
--1.
2.
11
Zealcmdia
Hoki tika
11
Octobel,. ·J3th.193,3.
ords, unpublished.
-------·-----·-·---·---~-
60
acquainted vVhile visi tin:£ the sick, the poor
prisoneo..
balm
the im-
To raany a heart sore-distressed they
resign~1tion
cheerful
ee
Sl1cl
spi
t
lp
the:r
scontent sl.
him
Love
st to pur'sue.
Uothei."'
~~1.
11
while to more than on': God-
to
sclose the sec
of his
"Pear Vlist not to evade, as
lEJV/ -
Throughout the period of expension
Clare continJ.ed to fill the office of
r.Phe full extent
hel~
L~other
that resnon~ible position.
Superior 811d in 18S;2 she retired
stland will never
the
work for Catholic educ r;ti on in
r-ealised,·
?or over forty years she
v1as actively engaged ln the inter'ests of education among
the children ·anc1 youth of the \fe
Goast:
Bless
'v'fi th
that rarest of rare [:ifts - a clear accurate uin;:1 - she
posse
a cheerful,
exciting effort and
e:et natc..r-e
arousin[~
ide
Vi
had the povrer of
· in others, Vll1ile her
knowledge, and the amazing
cla.ri ty and. chs.rrn
reputation as a te
pouring her' own
her exp
r.
tion, earned i'o:t.' her a unique
She never H1iss
an op ~~ u .:.·t·uni ty of
at love of scholarslli p and ac hi ev er;Jen t
into the heaPts of the young.
.A pupil of hel's in the
{ 1 ) 11 Only \·;e who v1ere pri vilesed to sit in her classes, or
those who hac1 the honour of living with her, cc-)ulcl r>ealise
the spirituality, the cieep lear·ning, the sirnplici ty and
sincere unclePstancUng of this woman of principle. Her
knovrledge of the classics, her love of history in all i
branches ancl., a·bove :::tl1, her absolute joy in 1..m:Cold:i.nz the
·1.
11
2:ealan~lia
11
October 13th, 1938.
61
beauties
tlili Faith, of Scripture and of the Liturgy,
made her a rare teacher for alv1ays · s~1e c om'bined vri th
love of lmowlec1ge a love of heP pupils. 11
Second only to her
at love of God cmne her ardent love
of her native land,
thOUc.Th she eschewed c
ontr'cwers~r
of
all kinds, yet, vvhen occasion deuano.ec5. it, she could launch
a crushin:?; rejoinder barbed with a polite ir·ony altogether
disaru:ing.
Por the
her stronJ
sin~lici
')ris she had a very special love and
gave her an empire over: then1 which
no diplo;:wcy coul1i have
well as their: white
her to ac qui ''e,
neig11bour:c~,
They, as
sought he1·counsel and
syrnpatny in times of trouble, knowing full '.;ell t."'at her
frienC:Lship lmew no hesitations,
r:o
ehills, no wear•ying.
Great was the mournin::r at the Arahaura pall when on Octobe:r
20th, 1
1 they heard of her death.
sympathy ¥7l1ich t
l:la;~;
flmning rata 1 kindling the hillside with t
glor•y., is indeed a fitting SYJ:lbol of her
\~Jllich
rs,
, vre read - "The rata
f'slllen at last and we grieve for· her.
soue sparks of
e of
se L:aoris sent to the Iioki til(a Si
and ';,:n:Lc!: the Sisters fondly che:ei
flower
In the mess
u
"\nd ·the
aze of its
glowing charity,
inflcuaed the he art ; of nany rrho v;ere
so fortunate as to come under the spell of her influ.ence.
Of the original band. of ten pioneer Sisters who began
the vtorks of the Institute of l'.'iercy in the South Islano.
sixty-one years ago, five are not only.still
still mentally alert, tho
ive, but
wont to view with yearning gaze
62
the· progressive course of life's day-star•, now,
for them,
nearing the western horizon.
Gr'e;ymouth, 1 882 :
In 1870 Rev. Father C
omb, S,l,;. built the first
Catholic School in CJ.reyrnouth on a stte ( 1 ) later p1.H'chasec~
·by tLe Government for hLu•bour requirements.
the request
Bishop Redvroocl the Iloki tika Cornr.mni ty
sent
Gre;ymouth.
a founctation to open a Branch Convent
those e
In 1882 at
In
y days the j curney frorri Hoki tika to Greywou.th
v1as both tedious
danger>ous.
an(\
Short as was
actu
distance it had to 1Je cover·ed in successive sta'2:es,
of which v.; a0 the horse-t:r:sm journey as far al::; Ku:<rlara at
a speed averaging sl
Then faLL
the
i s1:t1y c nlJecl.
an old
an four rniles an hour'.
y mo:ce
t11e
at of crossi
11
aePi
(2) This
li
oaf-iron csge susp
d by
VIR;./
across,
111iles
consi
ed
the I:wod for
was
·~:;arely
whenever the river was in flood.
at was
by
)ropellec1
res
an asthmatic engine, 'irhich when
movewent, chug:.red its
'i'erer:Ja~·;:au
clearinc
remaining e
'/later
een
jotn'ney were 1:1ade by Coach frau \l.bich tlie
traveller alighted weary bu.t yfi th a sense of triumph on
having
last reached
~ourney's
that as long as Greymouth
tr
End.
re~:minecl
The
stel's real
a B1•anch Convent,
ling between the two tovms would be a frequent
-~-----·-·~-
1.
2.
Church in l'T.Z. Vol. 11. p. 10S'.
I.!arist
senger, September 1934.
63
necessity ancl
travelli
llO'Ii/
that tl1ey had tasted the joys of such
, they decided to relinquish them by constituting
Greymouth foundation an independent Convent b
of the year 1882.
At once
Sisters of
andarcL i , as
l
s new
gir-ls, and
ti on opel}ed a p:Pimary school
to
the end
boys up
as a high school with bo
an1\ secondary depar·tments.
founda-
p r:iwary
The present St. Lary 1 s High
School, Alexander Street,. dates 'back to those early days
anci holds an admil'able
scholastic
r~ecorcl
uusic eire
annual successes in
Out-schools were
ic children
vii:~o
are
L!-1-~5
a total
Brunnerton, Cobden a..11d Runanga
C
ened
ta~J.[Sht
GreyElouth fli
ers.
Lyttel ton, ·1890 :_
( 1 ) In 1
Sir> Prederic:·: ·:reld then Prime Lini
l
New Zealand, out of l1iD orm 1Jo1.mty presented the Gat ,o' ics
of Lyttelton with a strip
Chul'ch.
ocese
St.
ground for the erection of a
eph' s Chui'ch, now
oldest Church in
Chriscchurch, and the olde
stone Gimrch in
l'i. Z. vras ·built in ·J 865 a..11d the school erected
v1as
staf':i.'ecl vri th lay teachers until ·J 890 when thl'ee Si
rcy arrived from Holci tika to take chal'ge
sc
On account of the diffic
ties
ers of
the parish
tr•av
in those
days, the Lyttel ton Convent from the 1Jeginning \7as made an
independent house ;ai tl1 the
of self - gover.nrnent and
-~-------
1 ..
ChUI'Ch il) H.Z.
• cit. Vol. ·) L
page 104.
s
64
consequence -
self-support~
From small beginnings in a
house formerly mvnecl by Captain Gibson in Exeter Street, .
the Sisters pressed onward vti th great endurance under the
leadership of
1·1er U. Aloysius McGrath, one
original band of pioneers from Ennis.
the
Their new mission
was not one to fire the blood - it demanded constant
sacrifice and only after years of suffering and str•uggling
did they triumph.
':Pheir perseverance was in large measul"e
clue to the inspiring e:-;:arople of . other M. Aloysius whose
ever-increasing self-restraint moved forward progressively
with a daily enlar.:Jed innulgence foi' the weakness of
other's.
Slle was an able and well-balanced guide wJ.wse
earnest spirit, combined 'Ji th an aptitude
organis
ion,
preser•ved her fr•om discouragement snd infused additional
vigour· into those amon::; whorn she vvox•ked.
Organising and
superintending everything rrith a skill, presence of mind
and cheeriness which endeai•ed her to
woraan laboured on, knowing well that in
would give'the increase'.
1, this zealous
s
O\Vll
time God
(1 )In 1902 rauch needed improve-
ments vYere effected in the Convent and a new school was
built.
Four years previously I.,yttel ton sent foul' Sisters
to open a Branch Convent in i\karoa and again, in 1912 and
1913, similar Convents were opened in Rakaia and Llethven re-
spectively.
In 1934 the present artisically-constructed
----~-------------------------------
1.
Lyttelton Records, unpubli
65
building was erected on the site of the old convent.
St. IJ:ary' s High School and St. Joseph's Sci·1ool a1<)e the only
OatllOlic Schools in Lyttel ton~ so in these the S:i.sters
teach ·1)oth girls and boys.
pupils is ninety-two.
The present total nuwber of
Besides teachi
, the 81
rs
sedulou:3ly attend to visitation of the t'.licl-: anci the
tressed, as 'Nell as the impriso:qed.
s-
Their influence over
the inmates of the gaol uay best be exemplified by re-
o alling the tPansfol"lDati on vrhich they ;;el''e instrumental in
cting in the dispositions of ( 1 ) Williarn Sheehan, who
was found guilty
the murder of a
youn;::-~
wo1:mn and con-
denmed to cieath by hanging on June 16th, 1897.
This un-
foi•tunate man vras recalcitrant fPou childhood, spent some tiJ:Je
in st
Orphanage and at the age of twenty-six -vvas
already sear•ed vri th crime:
Hearing that in infancy he had
been baptized a Oat11olic, the Sisters endeavou:r.•eC:t to
awaken in him trust in the L:er>cy of God.
Great as
W'J.i3
their
zeal f'or his repentance it was no greater than the sullen
gloom w•. icll steacliJ.y enveloped hie to the exclusion of any
impress fPom out
de influence.
The priest,· the SisteJ>s and
the people of Lyttelton stormed heaven with prayer that this
poor man wight die reconciled to Lis God.
Undauntec~
frequent repulsion I:Iother l:I. Aloysiut"> again strove
him seek forgiveness for his
1.
cri~tie
Ashburton Police Gazette 1897.
and hacl the great
by
to malce
66
happiness of'
tting him to pr'ay.
She taught him hov1 to say
the Rosar;;,r and in a shor't tiue this hal"dened sinner had become a model penitent.
He asked the mother of t
girl
whose life he had taken to forgive hiL:; he thanked the
people of Lyttelton who had prayed foX' him, and he faced
::md met the death he had deserved, with such admirable dis-
pas
ions that those who witnessed the sad spectacle real-
ised the force of Tennyson's claim that11Llore t
ngs ar'e wrought by prayer
Than this vrorld dx'e81TIS of.
11
J.iother L. Aloysius is still a member of the Lyttel ton
Community ancl though life's ve
ers have come, lit by a
slanting sun, still her reminiscences of' those early clays
are clear and vivid as
old.
St. l.lar'r' s Convent, Christchurcllj 8)L•_:
The Greymouth foundation prospered so well that on
July 25th, 1894 it v1as strong $Dough - o give a band of Sisters
to st. Llary's pari
, Christchurch v/i:lich had been established by
the persevering ( 1 ) ef:f:'orts of H.ev.
Chesnais, &.ti. and his curate
I~ev.
t:n.el' Le Uenant des
Pather> Earnane, S.M.
Five
Sisters of Liercy and a postulant crossed the Alps and on
August 1894
too~\:
charge of the pariG.il school,
• Mary's, a
fine brj.ck building situated behind the Church and separated
from it by the play-ground.
1.
At first the Sisters
The Cyclopedia of N.Z. Vol. 3 (Ch.Ch.
1903.)
occu~;iecl
a
house at tlle corner of l.iancheste:r anc1 Salisbury Streets
but in the
loviing 1-iovembex- they pure
quarter·
an acr•e site on vri1ich Vie:re two
facin::E C olc.lmbo Strec.::t.
a tlu·ee-
CL
jacent houses
'.Chese houses for- wany ye r:n·s sel'ved
as st. L:ary' s Convent until it became nece s
to secur·e
better i'acilities in h :'using accor:Lodation. In 1900 the
lfully
present convent chapel so
was erec te,.. as
i
r1s
1GlO\Yn
osin __:
LancLe ;c;ter Street Sci:co
s ti;.e
tendr:tnce at
0chool is :.::
L.
'
u.
build-
's, Uol:Jrnbo· Street. ,.i,.icll lncludes
Ut. M
e rec teL in l:JlG and ti1e l.:usic Elock
UCl1tJ
in grey stone
Convent
Collegiate Hi::;;l1 Scl1ool bt.tilt in 19·12; t
• l.lax-y' s
Gee onclal'y
~xecute~
upreaPe~_,
i ster·::; teac!1
s c ncluc teci.
annually :L'or·
b~r
publ:fc
. In
present 2
• Lo.ry' s Col1egiate Hign
incluO.ing 3) boys. ilere as in
c)C ciO
1
·~11~~
other
Sisters, pupils are preexm~inatians
in v;hich their
succes . testifles to
ies ·.:Jn
anu. pooP in tilei r
ostent
,es anc, in iwspi tal, and by t
ious charity 'bl'ing l'elief to son:;
·!1'10
iP un-
are too
c rushect to let their want 'bee ome known to pu.blic charities.
Eother Ll. 1.1echtildes Boland, as
the worki
I'i:l t
tperioress,
gui
d
of' St. Liary' s Convent for tnan;,r yecu-·s. A pioneer,
who hai begun her lifo as a Sister of
rcy in Ennis and who
68
had filled. the of1 iee of Assistant in the J::o'<.:i ti:c,3.
of their holy foundress - Mother Catherine UcAuley - until
her sudtien
~eath
Greymou~h.
i.lere
in 1928, while she was on a visit to
a~:;
in the othei' independent
founda<~ions
a
Novitiate was i'or·nel). which aclmi tted several subjects fr•o1.1
over-searJ as· 'Nell as fr,om .Australia and. Hevr Zealanci..
In Darfielll. they openec.. . a
~:ranch
Convent in Vlhich
r-eside the .:Jister•s Hho teac1l in. the pariBh scLwol vthich
at
~)resent
gE,tllcrs in thirty-six pupils fl·ou t;1e sur1-·mmd-
in.z CListr,ict. 'l'J:w disters also opene<l an out-school,
St. Joseopl1' s, in Papanui, to which they traveLLed <laily by
tramcar until Lor.::to Colle:::·e
to Papanui in 1 ,.2c;
_.
_.
)
AI
7 ·J·
~i _)I..
_.1
\1:1~">
establishecl on the :eoute
•
11
''Vil.la Llar•ia Upner Hiccarton,
_..;.-=-c:....:..:...=-...:.:..:..::::.=-::::...::::_..::..£:..,.____
By ti1e yearo 1918 such
'1918:
pr·ogres~'
hau been made in the
sphere of transport in New Zenland that there Das no
longep any great reason why the Corwents of bercy in the
ChriL=,tchurch d:iocwe should r·euain disDociated. Consequently,
in that ye:-J.r, a Llotller· House with a centPal n?vitiate nas
established at
"Vill~biiaria"
a beautiful
~lrivate
residence
which tr1e Sisters of Lcr•cy of tile combined Convents pul'chase6. fror1·1 Mr. Joseph of Upper
F.icr~
art on. Her,e again vre
find one of the pioneer band - Mothe:e :.:. Claver - acting
as Superioress anu wi til mar(;:eu. executive a·bili ty governing the
M1algamation until ill-health
in 1921.
supe1~ened
ing School
girls was built
splendid
·imn was added 1 ater.
A
ard-
joining the Convent anc1 a
sters who live
at "Villa L:aria" have charge of the High School with both
primary and secondary departments; the parish school, and
the new kindergarten school in Puiriri street; opened in
1937.
In 1930 a boys' junior college was opened in
\iinderrnere Hoad, Papa:nui under the title,
and
re the Sistel'S conduct a
flouri~3hing
day scl1ool for bo:rs in the primary
J_,ol~eto
College
boarding ai1d
s.
The
saw th.::: transfer 'o:r the Lother House and novitiate frmn
nvilla ;,:ar•ian to Tiuaru where the Sis
rs had
purchasec~
grand old Convent and property frou the Sisters
Sacred rleart Order
services in other
w~o
a·
t11e
were desirous of giving their
re help 1Nas
s of their Order
needed.
Convent of Mercy 2 Tirnaru, 1936:
• :.:other' LI. Agatha LlcDonnell, Superior'ess of
t11e A.lJo.lgamated
diocese,
t:Jo~c
Convents of L:ercy in the Christchurch
up Pesidence in wllat had been the Sacred
Heart Convent, Craigie Avenue, ri'imaru.
Here with the
novitiate and a steff of Sisters selected from ttte various
Convents,
initiated the v10rks of the Ue
Order.
3he
brought to her' task a highly cultivated intellect, are-
70
marl<:able spirit of trustful abandonment to God.' s guiding
providence and, above all, a charity that compelled her
influence.
3ar deeply regretted death within
first
six 111ont!1s of her settling in 'J:lil(.aru deprived t11e Sisterhood of a valued. Super>iox•ess whose very presence VIas an
inspiration and a steppini_i:-f3tone to nighel, things.
Sacred
lie art Girls 1 College w"l1ici1 is both boarding and. clay school
has at present 120 pupils and Sacred Heart School adjoining the
Convent . roperty t1.as an attendance of 210.
This year· ( ·1939)
the Sisters took charge of St. Joseph's School, in the
North Enc:.. of tlle parish, anu. have at present a roll of 53
pupils.
Thus has spread. the seed sovm by the 1i ttle band of
pioneer Sisters of
~ercy
who arrived in Hokitika in 1878
and g:we the S:)uth Island its fir-sec religious community of
women.
They sowed the seed, the people tilled the ground,
but God gave the increase.
71
CHAPTER V1 .
When the Hight Hev. Dr.
ran was trans
rred in 1 D70
Grahcnfistown, South Africa to the new See of Dunedin,
secured a foundation of Dorninic an
sters frou Sion
Hill, Dublin wi til whose assistance he openeci the first
Catholic priuary school in the diocese on Pebruary 20th,
1
1
school a week later.
a
The education of
tile girls of __:une6.in re111ained in
t[J.ese indust
i
e
e
care
d to Hev.
ablishin2· an ,.,l,der,
would carry aut visitation of the
poor in their· homes as
woc.lci. t
1
th
ox'plwno.
her
as in hospitals,
ani
Lo
s object in view lle
acl.S
f"3uper'ioress of the Convent of Ler·cy,
Jingl
to lay t!1e foundations af the Order in
ant Community unLier
r~irby,
1 897,
:'~enny \'ill a
on,
v;as then
.. "
·-~:
l'i
I''
::, •. /.
lete6. Coumunity a group
and obtained froL1 !1er already
i
6
shop Verdon, was consecrated Bishop of
Ltmeclin where he saw the need
the mern'ber•s of
hands of
In the. L:ay of 1
ous nun:3 until ·1897.
iii s Lordship,
s
cap
leade
p
l~une6.in.
l,:other
'his
1.:.
t.:a
landed at Port Ciialmers on Sunday, Jannary '17th,
and were welc or:1ed to
ir future home ·Ly IIis
Lordship, Bishop Verclon anci_ the priests of the
three days the Sisters were the gue
::a ty.
For
s of the hospitable
Dominican Sisters who oesto1.'ted on them evel'Y conce
able
72
l<:::indness, until their ovm Convent was
habitation.
Pead~r
for
\fell-trained in the duties
Sister·s were soon busily engaged in the sc._oolc;, and on
t.ne visi tGtion, so
t~1at
\Ji thin
first we
, their
I
had already begun to teem with activi
Subjects from Home with the addition
Austr·alian and
~.ew
Dany
o~
Zealand candidates so enlargeri t:le
Cmr:munity that tlle Novitiate acconn:10dation ·,.:as taxed t·) its
u t1;1ost cap :cci ty.
Expansion began and soon the net- .. orl\:
of 13ranch Convents S)I'ead throughout
ov ince.
this year· six Sister-s of L:e:ccy who
opened a sma11
in Gore in
:ounedin Sisters
·J
anat
8_:0
widened their sphere of influence.
t
ster•;:; nm; conduct s 1
At this centre the
priL;c:;.ry
oursihing School of
Dunedin secondary school was opened by
i.iothel'
~.:.Kost~ca
as a
in Au
school.
n
3oardi
School was adcied in 1904 ami its annual succ esse;.:; in the
ublic examinations have
aced it auong
leacLi
educational establishments of the province of Ot
rrlle
present number of pupils, inclu.c1in,; the ·cn··imar-y
'lrtment,
is
ic
~1s
?riuary School in :louth
::_,,_~_nedin
73
a c1aily attendance of 215.
this SemirH'J.PY town the Sisters of tiercy in Lay
1898 opened t.heir first t3chaol ta which they tl'avellecl
daily by·train
1~1
Dunedin.
'rhe tr·ain sel. . Vice did n
prove satisfactory for their' wor'k ·so it '>'!as decided to
establish a Convent of
Pro1~1
the t orm. ·
'I
G u.ntil
·i 912 the c:J.ildren were taught in ·t;he Church but in ·1912,
Fr.~iston
llev.
Losgi
then Parish Priest,
~orough
ly con-
whicil was re
Council a btiil
scJ.1ool.
into an aCI.mirab
v
( 1 ) pur·cllaseci frol•l the
r;U>.ib
e·~·
of pupils at
present in attenCJ.ance at Liosgiel Convent •3choo1 is· 60.
'.VI:le founclation stone o:L·
a few 1.1onths after the
vras 1
Dunedin and received the
July i 896.
s chm•i t
~3isters
e institution
arr
in
rst little orphan
Here ol";Jhan gir:::.a are received even in infancy
and ar•e looked after with suci1 tender solicitude that
many
ti:.ern, in later• li
.J...·
St. Vincent's as vne na
a1·e c aref
ly
1
, cheris!l
iest
ir rtJel!lOl.'ies of
their lives.
ated according to the principles of
Catholic r.::1mrcl1 which l::elieves in sendi
to school - the
ac
Lees
,,a
C onve
the wll:)le child
art ns well as the mind - so that she
taste fol~ uoins rrood", a taste for· j;~ght living.
-·-
1.
These .::;i
-----··----
Records, Dunedin.
-----~-----·---
-
-----
74
~ith
Children
special aptitudes, as well as tLJsa with
special disa'bili ties, are treated apart end prepared. to
fill, in later life, the positions for which
sui ted.
t~ey
are best
At prer:;ent the Uisters have sixty-two oi'[Jh9J1s in
st. VincEnt's.
Rev.
P.O'~eill,
paris~
priest of
~inton
applied in
·1898 to the Superioress oi' tlle :_;onvent of :.. ei'cy, Dunedin
for· a Conn:J.111.:. ty oi' Ststers fu:c· his pa:c•i::;i1.
·been the aifil of the
best of'
ti~eir
~:listers
It has alvvays
of Lercy to supply, to the
ar)ility, Catholic School;:; for the suallei'
r•arL:.lws in each cliocese, so the i·e(Juest t·J provide
\linton r;i th a Cor.]:JUni ty
Vfc\S
reacl.ily gPc:mtecL
Cn the feast
oi' Jt. 3er•nar•ci_, August 20th, 1898, three ;)iste:cs
:=lt. Be:r'nard's C:)onvent, \Hnton.
ope~1ed
ll'r'om t .. is cent.·; Siste:es go
This settle1nent was a1most entir·ely Catl1:-,lic in i C!)_.
and foi'
schoo1.
sm,,.~
yeal's the children had been attendin · the
r;:'hat year,
o~1
~)l~'i•J'ic
the :J?east of st. Joseph, ::arch 19th,
the Sister's opened a Convent ancl schoo1 here and the
public school auton:atically closed.
Alexandra, 1912:
At the re c~uest of I{ev. :L'1 atJ:1er Hunt of Alexandra,
Central Ota<];o, the Sisters of l.iercy from Soutll Dunedin
75
e
there a convent and school, L1 Hhich there ar•e :J.t
prefJent tln•ee Si
ers and seventy-tv1o c1lilLLr'en re
Dis
rs
ectively.
sc ::rp e
nd
Ol1~t
11g
v e r.'y 1 m·
e:cton p
sh, he found
t·,,enty-threc
no Catnolic
Irl1:n1ediately
rel
there
t
s
about -:;n·ovid.ing a rJ(::anG of
ous instr·uction fo1• the chil
·en and obtained
0!;1
five Sistel'S of
(Y)enecl a Convent :;nd school in Riverton.
!.Jerc3r
froL the
Ohil
, Tikaka,
ous s."'t le: .. ents, Tev1aewae,
Ot aat au, Thor'nbU.I\'{,
ly
~y t~aiil
t~
2iverton
Conv nt
JI'e~r 1 s
in
3ush openecl., in ·1916, a sc
coal-mining tormship of Hightcaps, five
t:eq.vell
ol
es
thither daily 1.mtil. ·1936.
cdstant,
8.l1CL
year
school at 'Hrey 1 s Dush had :Callen to a r-oll
nu.n1:;er of seven while that at Nightcaps ha0. :eiDen to
eighty.
Oonsec;uently the
sterc-; clos
the Convent
·,irey 1 s Bush and opened one at r"iightc aps rfi::.ere they nort
reside.
rrhe p:eesent m.m1ber of children is ninety.
at
..\t this
the :)is
little tovmsl:ip. in
, at
tl~e
suburbs of Dunedin
r-equest of His Lordship, Bisho:)
rdon,
Convent and School in ·1 S'1 •
openec1. a
In 191 p it became necessary to acl.r.dt -snall
bo~rs
to
St. Vincent's Girls' Orphanage but as these proved to
too
at a tax on
sought
8
ters
sting accommodation the
sui table property on \Vhicl"l to open an orphanage
for lJO,:·s.
In 19 0 a beautiful hor:·1e at 'Javerl
by the late Llr. Scobie McKenzie, rras
Lessrs • ."-.ndrev1 and Henl'y Hagerty
Dunechr; Dister·s
:.·ercy.
Here St.
~oseph's
a·blishecl ct.nd the present new buil
by t
generosity
lan of'
is taxed to capacity and
y.
by l.ir. \·:·helan.
l)y
' Howe
At present the Home
to the
Sisters hone t;:;
institution in the near future.
is a populs.r
purc~1ased
c1 tc:> the
was e
Dec.m Lie
, till then
Doys 1
\i8.'/el'l
ature of the Hor:1e and is ably c ondu.cted
The peo:;:>le oi'
~)unedin
~
r-ovide an annual
outing for the .iaverly Boys and nm'e than c:>ne clwri table
citizen has, fro1n tiDe to time, su.ppli
eve~y
th boots, overcoat or suit of clothes.
attenCl to
of
boy in the
:Pive
;~isters
igious, mor·al and intellectual tr'aining
boys and rfi th noble purpc:>se and hi
endeavour
77
fo:c·-,;e_rd con
ar'e mov
their menazeoent.
acqUil'C(L
C
lee
The boys are he
its
oppor>tuni. ty to
tc~
tlw and happy, they
ste
OUl.'
Eport
i .. e:ccy
co
1
t
i11
antly to a h1gl.ler e:Lfici ncy in
i nc1us tr ,'.',
ev1nce filial respect for
~nd
the Gistel'S
a:..··~
a.Lways glac:L of an
en a llospit
by nuns waG a lonB-
dioces
t vtant in
of
ic uitizenc
the 0
rille
are
i.,
o.e.
selectec:L for· nu.:·si
an~
haci
unaer!onc traini
the Superiorcss, anu
·e ss of the hospi t ::1, ci.i(,
):Jssible to
it
'l'hc Ho
a hal
a
i
the Sisters for their nev vork.
on a site ::Jl'
ne bride
f:t
and
in
;:;ne
ac1·es in
r·s(_·nnel
be~-.s.
I
ei
ti.L se be
te1"l
:::nrth
;Jistel'S 8lld a cap;::tci ty o:r
~c.t
nnine;s .::-re :eel ati vel~r
ae gives promise of p
ser·ic or
a··0 ll s att
.;
'G.:J
nm:1e
~.3
In Ot
e :3tabli
tend towards the uplifti
l, ;ret
i
ann.
.. ie rc ·r have
ities
Confraternities which
yotm
v1omen of the
78
oc ese.
l.:ercy
lcLs
ach the alusgiver hov1 to be
ov1
her aln:s, hov/ to see in the poor rec:::_pient o1' her charity,
one sent by God to test her justice ann to enable
hear fr01:1 Justice Hirl1self:
II
did it to one of t
a use
least bretJ:u•en,
yc>"l).
cliO. it unto ue."
se,
l'
to
79
CH.i\.PTER V11 .
COlfCLUGIOJ.Y.
Coincident wit1l the esta'blisllrJent in Ne.i Zealand of'
the 'i/Orlcs o::. ti:re Or•der of Lercy
there proceected tl1e daily
perfecting oi' the religious life in eac:C. Corm;mni ty.
The fire kincJ.leCL in th:Jse pioneerinG.· ·.·0.ys 1Jy valiant
vw;:·;en ha::;
~een
steaci.il;yr fannec1 into "ever q'lickening life''
as is Low· attested
·b~r
the 473 I!ev1 Zealand S LSters of r.:ercy
who, vi vifieC:t 'by the sa.me u.isinterested spirit, have bc.n.md
ther:lSelves
unresei"/ec~.ly
by the thr:..cc V·.J':rs •Jf
\ rder has ever been
to the· service o:L' God, and of' nan,
~'overty,
r·er:larl<:~:c,·ble
Chastity and Obedience.
r.::'he
f'or its unfal terine; r•eligious
obser'VG.nce, i'··n· its unfl ag2:ing a:. tentLm to the needs oi' those
whom j_t ser·vcs, ana for the alacrity v1it11. vriJ.ich it r·esponds
to local needs.
If
~.ev.
\1.
Lockin0ton 3.J. is cor·rect in statinJ: that
( 1) ' 1 Forer:.ost arnon;~; the builders of ou:.:· nation stands the
CatllCJlic nun 11 then the Sisters of J.Iercy are muong the
builders of this nation.
(2) "For r:ore than thirty years,
they were the only nuns in Aucldanci, si.1ar·in,s in an intiuate
'Nay the lives of' tl1e lonely Irish and. other exiles
.nd. digging
deeply the fo:-.nd.ations of the Clmrch in Auc.i.-:lanc5.• "
Their
schools, howes, orphanages, hos;Jitals, open alike to Catholics
and
Hon-Cat~10lic
s, bear• unerr·ing testimony to the service
that the Order of l.:ercy renders here in Hevr Zealand,
1.
2.
The ~3isteJ.•s oi.' Ler·cy Cent.ena:ey 1831-193'1. J.ev. ·:;. J. Locl:in;J:t:Jn f.:.l.J. (s.T.:J .•.. '~J.b <.rne.)
Larist L:essengt:r ::.:ev. ~=· LcGrath, :Oece;:;iber 1st. 'l9.J7.
so
not only to the Catholic
gen~ral.
section~
'but to the CoLJ.nuni ty in
s:'hese nuns are at present the educators of
(1) 8,94L+ young Hew Zealanc1ers;
they mothei' the orphan;
they a:ee the guai>d.ians of· the aged; the :nealers of the
sic:\:; the comforters of the infir'Li and.
incur~a·ble.
'liwugh
the Order' wa,::, specif'ically founded for "the service of
the pool', sick ancl ignorant,
11
yet
Sistel~s
all depar-tuents of' eC:iucational as of
are engaged in
ilO:=·~:>i tal
rror'~;:.
The
gr•eatel' nur:1ber spend, in general, five days a-v1eek in
sc~cool
or> LiUsic-rOOLl ancl the remaining t'HO, in ,:; al':c·yi ng ot<.t
srnJe of the other works of their Institute.
The young
f3isters undergo, during their novitiate, a perioC:i_ Df
traL1in2 in tile pPinciples and Letllocls Df' teaching.
they Gi t fDl'
deg:c·ees.
'l'eacllel'i~'
~JertLL'icates
2-nd smne f'Dr University
i.:usic in all its ·branches is
the :Jisters of Lle:c·cy, ;.. an.:~ Df
·;.'h:Jln
~nd
c:.un 3cllools of Mu::;ic - r:;.'he
8
f:l1lecial1"cy .iith
pursue tl1ei 1' stu.Cies
in 31DCLltion; Singing and Instruuental
the awsrds of Licentiste
I.~u:::;ic
as far as
FellDwship by the
~.:.o;sral
Later
.:~caderiiY
t~o
LDn-
and 'l.'rini t:r
Colleze •
.ii tl1 tlwir advent to :t:e\v Zealand in ·1 <3_50 tl1e Sister's
of ;:ercy completec:. ti.·Le ci1ain of Jdercy wi t:1 vrhich, in ·1838,
l.Iothel' r.:c.Aulcy unl:nowingly be.s:;o.n to span the entire earth.
She lived to gui6e her Order for only ten, very full years
--------~-----------?+
·1.
Catiwlic
Directur~,',
19)C3.
81
and under the rule she then established to suit the
exigencies of the time, eac11 Convent of Uercy was en independent
its
O\tn
Hou~:;e,
novices.
electing its own Sup
o:: and training
With the expansion of the Order the need
for centralisation in government has made its
especially in consideration of the noviti
f
felt
e training,
as a step toward:3 Pemedying this Viant, the C;)nvents
in FieH Zealand have ·been
diocese under one Supe
Had i.iother Ec.Auley
oup
ther
w~thin
i,iercy
each
oress and vri th a common novitiate.
th
r p.r:actical con:r,on sense lived
to see the rwrld- .. ide ezpcmsion of the Order, she
w;::~ulc1
have b3en one of the first to eli cern the advisability
securing tl1e unific
iDn of the Ol"'der; which u.ni
is the aPdent hope, if
vast majority of
rw~
also 'tL·;. fel"'Vent
cation
,·r·ayer, of the
r 20,L1.62 Siste.::s scattered throughout
the v10rJ.d.
THE LIPP.<IRY
.f,l\NTE)~B\IRY
UNIV HSITY COLLEG8
CHRISTCHURCH, N.Z.