Voyages to Europe.

When Pompallier wished to make a visit to his native land in 1846, and to render to Rome an account of his labours, Captain Berard, commanding the French corvette “Le Rhin” provided him with a passage. The ship sailed from Akaroa on April 16, 1846, and arrived at Toulon in August. The Bishop visited Rome in September and paid homage to His Holiness the Pope, and reported the progress of his missionary work in New Zealand and Oceania. He returned to New Zealand in 1850, landing at Auckland on the 8th of April. He brought with him a number of Irish and French priests and the first contingent of the Sisters of Mercy, who rendered such noble service in New Zealand in caring for the orphans and the sick and helpless and distressed. The good Bishop now had his Church well established throughout the colony, and he was ceaseless in his endeavours to extend the mission. He brought out priests who became not able figures in the growing community.

Pompallier was a greatly experienced voyager in all manner of vessels, from smart frigates to leisurely whaleships and tiny schooners. He seems to have made a second voyage to Europe to recruit his forces for New Zealand and the South Seas, for it was recorded that the French whaleship “General Testa” arrived at Auckland on December 30, 1860, bringing as passengers Bishop Pompallier, 21 of his clergy, and several Sisters of Mercy.

After thirty years of labour in his widely-spread mission field the great Bishop obtained leave from Rome to retire. It was reported that in his time he had baptised ten thousand natives of New Zealand. He sailed from Auckland finally on February 18, 1868, in a French warship, and on arrival in France he was raised by the Holy See to the dignity of Archbishop of Amasia (Asiatic Turkey) in partibus. His rest from his long and trying toil was not long. He lived chiefly at Puteaux, near Paris, where he died on December 20, 1870, worn out by his great labours and travels in the cause of his Church.

Such is the story, in necessarily brief compass, of a wonderfully energetic and able man, and a brave, zealous and self-sacrificing apostle of his Faith among the primitive folk of the strange new Southern world.

There is a small pakeha and Maori settlement in the far north of Auckland whose name commemorates the great Bishop. It is called Pamapuria, which is the Maori pronunciation of Pompallier. On the gate of an old fashioned and pretty home in Russell township, a place of history and garden-charm, there is the name “Pompallier,” a reminder of the fact that the house was the home of the Bishop when Kororareka was his headquarters ninety years ago. The record of his early days in New Zealand and the South Pacific is given in his own narrative, edited by Bishop Luck, and published in Auckland in 1888; and the pioneer period of the Church is carried on by Mr. J. J. Wilson in two volumes that represent a vast amount of careful and patient research.

For the use of books and notes consulted in writing this sketch of Pompallier's life I am indebted to Mr. H. E. Fildes, of Wellington.