{
  "bookName": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
  "authorName": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
  "publisherName": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
  "publicationYear": 2026,
  "chapterNumber": 15,
  "chapterName": "The Oceania Missions",
  "pageFrom": 176,
  "pageTo": 183,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 176,
      "ocrText": "CHAPTER X V\nTHE OCEANIA MISSIONS\nTHE PICPUS FATHERS IN EASTERN OCEAΝΙΑ\nOceania with its islands large and small scattered over a sea\narea equal to one-third of the surface of the globe, possesses\na group of missions that is unique. It is the largest and yet\none of the least populous; in it the spirit of the pioneers can\nstill find (in New Guinea for instance) plenty of scope today.\nAnd in no other region have the conflicts between papists\nand anti-papists taken on such dimensions.\nBefore the nineteenth century, Catholicism had scarcely\nmade an appearance there except in the New Hebrides (and\nthen only spasmodically), which had been visited by the Fran-\nciscans who accompanied Quiros. The discovery of Oceania\nwas scarcely completed at the end of the eighteenth century\nand the descriptions embellished with lewd engravings which\nhad been published by Wallis and Carteret (1766), Bougain-\nville (1768) and above all Cook (1769-78) conveyed the idea\nthat these islands were earthly paradises. So much so that,\nat the beginning of the nineteenth century, Tahiti, Otaiti as it\nwas called, was a symbol for a country of dreams, liberation\nand beatitude, the garden of Eden regained. Of this idyllic\npicture, the missionaries were to find little more than the\ncountryside, the vegetation, the light and the waters. The\nnatives, when seen at close quarters, were in general not at all\nlike the pleasant Aoutourou whom Bougainville had brought\nback with him to France. The Whites were whalers, dealers in\nsandalwood, adventurers of all kinds whom the missionaries"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 177,
      "ocrText": "THE OCEANIA MISSIONS\n177\nwere to find in all sorts of odd places, \"a crowd of European\nand American deserters\", as one of them has said, \"roaming\nall over the islands and corrupting what remains of the good\nphysical and moral qualities of these peoples\". The mission-\naries were often to find their work thwarted by such men. And\nfinally they were to be exposed to the hostility and the calum-\nnies of the Methodist ministers who had preceded them by\nsome ten years in different parts of Oceania.\nThis was the case in the Hawaiian islands, an important\nport of call for the whaling-ships. The American Methodists\nhad already established missionaries when, in 1819, the chap-\nlain of the Uranie baptized two of the chiefs. In 1827, a\nproperly constituted mission arrived: three Picpus Fathers (one\nof whom, Fr Bachelot, had the powers of a prefect apostolic)\nand three brothers of the same order. The Methodist party\nsucceeded in having them expelled when they had baptized a\nfew persons. Liberty of worship could not be established in the\nHawaiian islands before 1839. And it was there that, a little\nlater, Fr Damien was to die a leper, in the service of the lepers.\nIn spite of the initial check, the Congregation of Propaganda\nimmediately amplified its plan of action and in 1833, raised a\nPicpus Father, Mgr Rouchouze, to the dignity of vicar apos-\ntolic of Eastern Oceania.\nIn 1834, two religious of the order, Frs Caret and Laval,\nlanded in the Gambier Islands. The natives tried to kill them\nin a bush fire. They succeeded in escaping and then completed\na Franco-Polynesian lexicon which enabled them to instruct\nchildren and soon after adults with unprecedented success. At\nChristmas 1834, one of the Gambier islands, Akamarou,\nburned its idols. Aukenia soon followed suit and shortly after,\nMangavera, the great island, whose sovereigns were baptized.\nIn two years, the whole archipelago had been converted and\nMgr Jerome Rouchouze set up his vicariate there.\nIn the Marquesa Islands, however, two Picpus Fathers who\nlanded in 1839, met with considerable resistance. Shortly after,\ndisaster overtook the Picpus missions. The ship in which Mgr"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 178,
      "ocrText": "178\nTHE OCEANIA MISSIONS\nRouchouze had set sail and which was bringing large reinforce-\nments-five religious, one subdeacon, seven Brothers and ten\nnuns, all belonging to the Picpus institute-sank with all her\npassengers shortly after passing the Island of St Catherine\nfacing Brazil.\nYet the spiritual conquest continued just the same. Although\non Tahiti it had experienced a setback because of the Pritchard\naffair, it saw better days when Mgr Jaussen, the first vicar\napostolic of Tahiti, came out in 1849. Today, a quarter of the\npopulation is Catholic.\nThe long and patient apostolate of Mgr Dordillon was\nneeded to undo the scandal caused by the apostasy of the king\nof one of the Marquesas. Mgr Dordillon was both a missionary\nand a scholar. He arrived in the archipelago in 1846 and died\nthere in 1888, as vicar apostolic.\nThe evangelization of the Tuamotou Islands began in 1847\nand was completed in 1889. Easter Island owes much to Mgr\nJaussen who wrote a remarkable monograph on the island\nitself and its mysteries. It was later detached from the Tahiti\nvicariate after its annexation by Chile.\nThere was still the Cook archipelago. When the Picpus\nFathers settled there in 1894, though without much success\nbecause of the very strong position Protestantism had acquired\nin the islands, the work entrusted to their zeal had received\nits foundations.\nTHE MARISTS IN WESTERN OCEANIA\nThe western part of Oceania, that is, Polynesia with\nMelanesia and Micronesia, was raised to the status of a\nvicariate (Western Oceania) by Gregory XVI in 1836 and was\nin the hands of the Marists, the missionary institute then\nrecently founded by Fr Colin. The first bishop, Mgr Pom-\npallier, landed in New Zealand in January 1838 and sent\nFr Bataillon to Wallis Island and Fr Chanel to Futuna. The\nevents that had taken place in the Gambier Islands were re-\nenacted here, though at a slower pace. On Futuna, there was"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 179,
      "ocrText": "THE OCEANIA MISSIONS\n179\na general conversion, largely due to the martyrdom of Fr\nChanel (1841) which brought about an extraordinary wave of\nconversions far beyond the island itself, while on Wallis Island,\nconversions were due to the inexhaustible charity of Fr\nBataillon, an apostle who put an end to the unending wars\nbetween the chiefs by acting as intermediary between them,\nand who forgave those who had intended to murder him.\nRome appointed him as vicar apostolic in 1843. He died on\nWallis Island among his people like an Old Testament\npatriarch, on April 10th, 1877.\nThe evangelization of Tonga shed lustre on one of his\ndisciples, Fr Chevron, who, by using the same methods as his\nmaster and thanks to his perfect knowledge of Polynesian lan-\nguages, overcame the opposition of the local feudal chief, a\nProtestant petty tyrant who called himself the \"Napoleon of\nthe Pacific\". On the other hand, another pioneer, Fr Breton,\nhad no success during his lifetime at Vavaou, a small archi-\npelago depending on Tonga, where he lived as a hermit until\n1881. But his death was mourned by the whole archipelago.\nEven the Protestant ministers wanted to be present at the\nfuneral of the man who has been called the anchorite of\nOceania.\nThe Marists entered the Samoan Islands in 1845. Their\nfounding of a mission there under the direction of Fr Elloy,\nmade it possible to consider that the evangelization of western\nPolynesia was completed.\nThat of Melanesia began in 1844, when Fr Bataillon sent\nFr Bréhéret to the Fiji Islands. There were hardly any con-\nversions before 1860, but nine years later the number of\ncatechumens was 4,000 and, by 1880, 9,000. The prefecture\napostolic of Fiji, which was established in 1863, became a\nvicariate in 1888 and included the Island of Rotuma.\nThe evangelization of New Caledonia demanded of the\nMarists continual patience, apostolic fervour and cost them\none martyr. Mgr Douarre and four religious entered the island\nat the port of Balade in 1843 and had to leave again soon after"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 180,
      "ocrText": "180\nTHE OCEANIA MISSIONS\nin order to avoid a general massacre (one Brother had already\nbeen beaten to death) plotted by the natives who considered\nthem responsible for a famine on the island. In 1849, Mgr\nDouarre again landed but this time in the south. But once\nmore and for the same reason, he was forced to fall back on\nthe island of Pines to the south-east. It became entirely\nChristian. While he was there, he received orders from Rome\nto take charge of the Samoa mission and to wait for better\ntimes before returning to New Caledonia. But he was drawn\nto the Caledonians, as St Patrick had been to the Irish. He was\nat Balade again in 1851 with a few missionaries as resolute\nas himself and a group of natives whom they had taken away\nwith them when they had left on the previous occasion and\nthoroughly indoctrinated in the meantime. With the help of\nthese converts the conversion of the island made rapid strides.\nThen the time came when the colonists, whose numbers were\ncontinually on the increase, and the administration drove the\nnatives into the interior. The Marists went with them and\ntried to group them in \"Reductions\". But their ministry\namong the Whites absorbed so much of their time that they\nwere unable to give themselves wholly to this apostolate.\nRecently, they have found it possible to return to it with some\nsuccess.\nIn the New Hebrides, where the Marists arrived in 1886, a\npopulation survived decimated by malaria, alcoholism and\ncannibalism. Yet they succeeded in obtaining a few con-\nversions.\nIt was in the Solomon Islands that they underwent their\ngreatest trials. The islanders were ferocious by nature and, in\nthe early days, did not distinguish between the missionaries\nand white men of doubtful character against whom they\nfiercely defended their independence.\nMgr Épalle, the first vicar apostolic of the archipelago, was\nbeaten to death a few minutes after he had landed on Isabella\nIsland (December 12th, 1845). At San Cristobal, another small\nisland, Fr Montrouzier in 1845, and in 1847 two religious"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 181,
      "ocrText": "THE OCEANIA MISSIONS\n181\nand a brother, perished victims of a cannibal feast. Finally,\nmalaria decimated this first mission. The Marists received\norders to evacuate the archipelago in 1852. They returned at\nthe end of the century and on this occasion were given a\nhearing.\nTHE ISSOUDUN FATHERS IN NEW GUINEA\nIn New Guinea, on the other hand, evangelization is far\nfrom complete, but where else in the whole world has it met\nmore obstacles? Even Torres in his time, when crossing the\nstraits to which his name has been given, had noted that\naround this island, one of the largest in the world, navigation\nwas exceedingly difficult. When the Italian naturalist,\nd'Albertis, provided precise information concerning its relief,\nits snow-covered mountain tops (and this in the Tropics) close\ntogether and separated by steep chasms covered with an im-\npenetrable undergrowth, New Guinea seemed to offer more\nobstacles to discovery than any other territory in the world.\nAs for its inhabitants, it was gradually to be discovered (and\nthere still remains a great deal of work to be done in this\nconnection) that they belong to human groups which have been\ncut off from the rest of mankind for thousands of years. They\nhave distinguishing characteristics of every kind and obey a\nmoral code which authorizes infanticide, homicide, cannibalism\nand polygamy. The planisphere made for the Holy See in the\neighteenth century was therefore not far from the truth when\n-although from hearsay alone-it described New Guinea as\nl'Isla de las malas gentes.\nGregory XVI had included it in the Marists' mission field.\nThey tried to approach it via Woodlark Island in 1848 and\nwere decimated by fever. Priests from the Milan Foreign\nMissions relieved them in 1852 but after the murder of Fr\nMazzuconi in 1855 they were obliged to give up any hope of\nremaining.\nFor more than twenty-five years, the Congregation of Propa-\nganda made no further move in the matter. Then, in 1881, it"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 182,
      "ocrText": "182\nTHE OCEANIA MISSIONS\nappealed to the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred\nHeart of Issoudun. Three religious, one of whom was Fr\nNavarre, set out during the same year with this final blessing\nfrom Leo XIII: \"Go without fear, it is the Church who is\nsending you.\"\nTheir destination was Papua, that is, the English area of\nNew Guinea. After a halt at New Britain, they landed on\nThursday Island in the Torres Straits, then on Yule Island\n(1885), a small holm lying nearest to the great island itself.\nFrs Navarre and Verjus organized there a base from which\nto operate. Fr Verjus went forward and established the first\nmission post in Papua on Moou, three hours from Yule in a\nrowing-boat (1889). Meanwhile, Yule itself, now wholly\nChristian, served as the residence of the vicar apostolic. This\noffice had been given to Mgr Navarre and soon after Mgr\nVerjus was appointed his coadjutor. He, with the help of a\nfew pioneers, opened some ten mission stations in the Mekeo\ncountry, beyond Moou. Nothing could stop them, neither the\nclimate which gives almost no respite from attacks of fever,\nnor famine, a constant threat, nor the hostility of the natives.\nHe returned to Europe to inform the pope of the first results\nof the mission (and these were not to be despised, since a\nChristian village was in existence at St Anne in 1891), and\ndied worn out by his labours.\nIn 1894, Papua had already taken a toll of twelve victims\namong the youngest and most active members of the Issoudun\nCongregation. But new recruits were constantly coming for-\nward. Mention must be made of at least one of these, Fr de\nBoismenu, Mgr Navarre's successor. He was the moving force\nbehind a simultaneous movement which included discovery,\nthe erection of mission posts even in the most unlikely places,\nand the deepening of the Christian life by well-prepared cate-\nchisms in the various dialects, and the training of good\ncatechists.\nSome ten years after the arrival of the Issoudun Fathers, the\nGerman Fathers of the Divine Word began to evangelize the"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 183,
      "ocrText": "THE OCEANIA MISSIONS\n183\neastern and western regions of New Guinea. There also,\nthrough suffering and sacrifice, they founded firmly established\nChristian communities before 1914.\nIn New Britain and New Ireland, the islands to the north-\nwest of New Guinea, the Issoudun Fathers experienced the\nsame ups-and-downs as in Papua.\nIn Micronesia, they settled on the Caroline and Marianne\nIslands in 1886 and 1891 respectively. These islands had\nalready been evangelized in the eighteenth century by mission-\naries from the Philippines. In 1888, the Issoudun Fathers were\non the Gilbert Islands. The evangelization of Guam island was\nundertaken in 1911 by American Capuchins. In a word,\nimmediately before the Great War, there was no island in\nOceania which had not heard the good news of the Gospel."
    }
  ]
}