André Marion

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André Marion

Third Provincial of Oceania 1904-1910

André Jean Dominique Marion was born in the hamlet of Cungy in Challement, Nièvre, France on 4 August 1855 to André Marion, ploughman, and Marie Cliquet, in the Diocese of Nevers. The youngest of five children, his brother, also named André, became a priest in the Diocese of Nevers. He attended the minor seminary of Pignelin at Varennes-lès-Nevers (Nièvre) 1871-1875, during the rectorship of a former parish priest of Challement, Nicolas Séry. At the major seminary of Nevers from October 1875, he was taught by Marist Fathers, who had staffed the seminary since October 1852. Jean-Claude Raffin, assistant general, when Marion was appointed provincial, became superior of the major seminary in 1878. It is from here that Marion presented in front of the military board and due to his ecclesiastical studies was exempted from military service.

However, his first contact with the Society came as a child, when Antoine Martin would visit the parish priest of Challement, Father Pierre Bussy, appointed in 1863. Martin had been the first Marist superior of the major seminary of Nevers when Bussy was a seminarian. Marion served Mass for Martin on two different visits.

Marion received first tonsure on 29 June 1876, admitted to minor orders on 25 May 1877, ordained sub-deacon on 15 June 1878 and deacon 17 June 1879. Having made requests to join the Marist Fathers, permission was granted by the Episcopal Council at its meeting on 19th June 1879, “Mr Marion, deacon, renews his request to join the Society of the Marist Fathers. This authorisation is granted to him.” Letters of recommendation and later dimissorial letters were sent by the bishop.

He entered the novitiate at Verdelais in September 1879 and was professed as a Marist on 24 September 1880. He had already been ordained a priest on 24 August of the same year. His record sheet summarised his novitiate evaluation as a man of normal capacity, rather serious, with good health, spirit and character. His piety, virtue and right judgment were regarded as satisfactory, and it was noted that he had both an interest and an aptitude for the missions.

Accepted for the missions and appointed to Fiji, his departure was delayed by a year as there were staffing needs to cover at Institution Saint-Vincent at Senlis much to the disappointment of Jean-Baptiste Bréhéret, the Prefect Apostolic of Fiji. With Louis Passant, he left London on the John Elder on 31 August 1881, arriving in Sydney on 24 October 1881. They travelled on to Levuka, on the island of Ovalau, on the Gunga, leaving Sydney on 18th November.

Marion was appointed to the mission at Levuka to assist Ephrem Bertreux. In February 1882, he accompanied Bertreux on a trip to Kadavu, 407 km away from Ovalau. A year after his arrival, he wrote to Victor Poupinel from Vabea on Ono Island, where he had spent two months to improve his competency in Fijian. While there, he also supervised the construction of a church at Nakasaleka on Kadavu.

In May 1883 Marion wrote, “I have made an interesting trip to Ba and Yasawa. I blessed the chapel in Na Cata (Yasawa) among a big crowd of Christians. It was all celebrated with all the joy and high spirits that one could wish for. In Ba I was able to say Mass in a newly built chapel. It all promises well. I brought back to his own people an assistant catechist who is a young chief of this area, who had been taught at Nazareth, and who was capable of doing a lot of good in his own district. I returned very happy to Levuka.”

With his and Passant’s arrival, there were 12 priests in the mission to cover the established mission stations on Ovalau (Levuka, Nazareth), on Viti Levu (Rewa, Verata), on Vanua Levu (Solevu) and on Taveuni (Wairiki) and distant districts, such as Kadavu and the Yasawa Islands. With so few priests in Fiji at the time, the spread of the faith depended largely on the Catechists, then known as the "Vukevuke ni Bete". In 1867 the first catechists' school had been opened in Verata. In 1875, Bréhéret had agreed to the establishment of a central catechists' school in Levuka. Two years later the school moved to Vatudamu (about 8 miles from Levuka) and became known as Nazareth. In 1885 the school was moved to a site near Tokou and was then named Loreto, after the tradition of the translation of the house of Nazareth to Loreto. Marion was appointed there to assist in the organizational work. He had gained a reputation as a builder and administrator, a man of initiative; he was well liked. The catechists’ school moved to Cawaci in 1893.

When Bishop Julien Vidal arrived in the newly elevated Vicariate Apostolic in August 1888, he was greeted in Levuka by Marion and Augustin Lepetit.

In 1889 Marion was appointed to found a station at Savusavu. In 1890 Bishop Vidal bought 1070 acres of land for £600 at Savarekareka and a station was established there with Marion and Gabriel Lahaye in residence. They built themselves a hut near the shore using timber salvaged from a wreck. Despite persecution by Wesleyans and indifference to religion by many Fijians, there were 52 baptisms and 5 marriages in the first 2 1/2 years.

In January 1891, Marion was informed by Bishop Vidal that he was to start the six months of pious exercises instead of a second novitiate. At the end of the six months, he reported to the Superior General the exercises he had carried out.

Marion also established his own local school for training catechists, and this provided a valuable work force for the coconut plantation which produced around 8 tons of copra a year. Nine “Vukevuke ni Bete” trainees moved with Marion in 1892, when he returned to Levuka.

On Sunday 30 April 1893 at the celebration at Loreto in honour of Blessed Peter Chanel in the evening, Marion preached for the beginning of the month of May. He talked eloquently about Our Lady and at the end of his sermon he encouraged every person to make a drawing or statue of Mary during the month of May.

Marion was one of those in the large gathering on 1-2 January 1895 at Naililili, in Rewa, for the examination of the school children. This seems to have been an annual event at the time. Many priests were present including three newly arrived missionaries. Marion preached at the Sunday Mass. In the evening entertainment was enjoyed by all. Next day the visitors went to see the plantations and the outside works of the students, such as the brickmaking plant.

A great cyclone struck Fiji on 6-7 January 1895. It came, unusually, from the Northeast. The newly erected lighthouse at Wailagilala was knocked down. Marion reported the following losses to mission property:

• At Levuka, sustained partial losses of roofs. As there were confrères from other stations there, they held onto windows and doors to lessen the damage to the presbytery.

• Lost François Trillot’s vessel, the Saint-André

• At Loreto, the church and the fathers’ and sisters’ houses were safe, everything else destroyed

• In Suva, of the churches, only the catholic church remained standing

• Cawaci was totally destroyed

• Wairiki stone church destroyed

• Tunuloa destroyed

At the time of Augustin Aubry’s visitation in 1896, in addition to the printery, Marion was in charge of the vicariate’s procure (since 1892) and focussed on ministry to Fijians.

Rebuilding Cawaci was important and Marion participated in the construction of the stone church, which was started in 1897. On 11 January 1903, which was the feast of the Epiphany, Fr Marion preached at the opening of the church at Cawaci in a mass led by the Bishop.

Bréhéret, one of the first Marists to land at Lakeba, lived in retirement at Levuka. On the day of his death, 12 August 1898, he had celebrated Mass as usual at 5am, said a rosary in the church to replace the minor hours at 8am. He then visited a young person dying of consumption. On his way back to the presbytery he collapsed. He was carried back to the house where Marion anointed him and began the prayers for the dying. Bréhéret did not tarry but quickly went to his reward at 9.30am. Marion led the Requiem Mass on the following day, with burial at Loreto. Huge crowds were present to pay their last respects to "Captain” Bréhéret, founding father of the Fiji mission, including the Wesleyan and Anglican ministers.

On 16 June 1904, Marion participated at the blessing of the foundation stone (and preached the sermon) for the new Lomary church, which was to be built under the direction of Pierre Bourdier, architect, who had built the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva, ordained a Marist priest in 1906.

In 1892 Vidal put Marion in charge of the newly founded printery at Levuka (moved to Loreto in 1902) and he began the publication of A Talanoa for which he was to be responsible until he left Fiji. The printery, run by the Catechists, published many leaflets and catechetical material for the mission. In September 1904, A Talanoa announced that Marion had been appointed Provincial of Oceania. This had come as a big shock to him. He wrote to Antoine Martin, Superior General, "I am confused, surprised, dumbfounded ... How is it that you have considered a poor person like me for such a posting?" On 3 August a farewell was held at Loreto. On 5 August 1904 the Catholics of Levuka gathered to honour Marion and on 9th August the Chiefs of Levuka presented him with an inscribed address of thanks for all the good work he had done. It was with a heavy heart that he set sail on 9 August and he arrived in Sydney on 17 August 1904.

On 19 September Marion wrote to his friends, the “Vukevuke ni Bete”, who ran the printery shop and published A Talanoa. Although his letter was private the editors decided to publish it, knowing how greatly loved Marion had been by the people of Fiji, and how anxious they would be to have news of him. He wrote:

The Hauroto has just docked at Sydney, and I have received your letter which came on it. I was very happy to read your news. All the good things about Fiji are very sweet to me. It's true I'm now here in Sydney but half my heart is still in Fiji. My thoughts often fly to you.

It was a great joy to read the Talanoa, I read the whole thing and I'm very grateful for it, and it will help me not to forget the Fijian language because it will be useful again when I see you again some time. The Talanoa was good for me because I saw your work, Brothers. I know that it is a good work in the eyes of God. The reward for all who have helped in it will be one of great joy. Thank you, thank you. Keep up the effort.

One thing that delighted me about Sydney was the keenness of the faithful: their zeal in building the church, and in following the retreat and the liturgies. For example, yesterday the Cardinal came on an official visit and asked for help to finish paying off his Cathedral. The people here at Villa Maria gave £71. So, the Cardinal thanked them profusely. The Cardinal dined with us. He is an old man but healthy, he was 74 years old just on that day.

Some touching news that emerged last week, in case you hear by telephone there in Fiji: 2 priests, 3 Brothers and 5 Sisters were clubbed to death in New Britain, a dependency of Germany. One Sister was clubbed in front of the altar in Church; one was clubbed while she was busy tending an ulcer on one of the native children. The people of Sydney were surprised, and they have spoken and written much in praise of those like this who go to enlighten people in darkness. So, the Cardinal has ordered the Requiem Mass on behalf of those who were so pitifully beaten to death. There will be a Mass on Thursday in the big Church of St Mary's: all of us, priests of Sydney, will gather there.

Kindest regards to you all. Let us continue to pray for one another.

There were problems in several places, but nothing more newsworthy than the activities of his confrere in Fiji, Pierre Joseph Emmanuel Rougier. He, who is described as “a fiery and talented Marist missionary”, made the progress of the mission much more apparent. He is portrayed as inventive, could handle money, possessed vision and individualism and was always ready to make his moves ahead of his opposition. It was Rougier who managed to get Matanitobua to lead the people of Namosi to become Catholic – but the burning of bibles, immediately after that, caused much anger in Fiji and beyond. Later, he managed to have a small chapel erected in Bau; but from then on, his effectiveness as a missionary waned. He became distracted with family and personal development – which eventually included buying Washington and Fanning Islands, leasing Christmas Island, leaving the Society of Mary and retiring to Tahiti. Vidal, Marion, Charles Nicholas and the Superior General Raffin, all at different times, sought to correct him.

In Sydney itself one of his great problems as provincial was the St Patrick's community. There were two aspects to the problems at St. Patricks. They were long regarded as being rather lax in the religious life. This was undoubtedly the classic tension between the demands of the apostolate and those of a quasi-monastic religious rule. Marion tried to bring some order into the place. But he also had to contend with Augustin Ginisty, the Parish Priest and Superior, who tended to be quite independent of religious authority. The second aspect was the bad health of the men there – Augustin Ginisty (stomach); Pierre Piquet (painful throat); Victor Suleau (bad liver). Marion asked for a priest who would come directly from France because he had enough sick and disaffected priests from the islands.

In 1905 Marion made his first tour of the islands, visiting Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga. He unfortunately contracted malaria on this visit, and it would ever after have a weakening effect on him. Nevertheless, during his time as Provincial, Marion visited all the islands several times. But his failing eyesight and other health problems were quite a cross to him. So too, was his lack of confidence in his ability to do the job and his social awkwardness. During his time as Provincial he made desperate appeals to the General Administration and to the New Zealand Province to get more men, especially young men uncontaminated by the rule-less life of the islands. He also tried to have a minor seminary or juniorate established for those Australians who might wish to join the Society of Mary.

In June 1907 Marion went to Europe to attend the General Chapter at Differt, Messancy in Belgium. While he was away there was a furore in Sydney led by Cardinal Moran's secretary who vindictively laid charges about the faults of Piquet and the other "French Fathers" at St Pat's. The issues were arguable, but the motivation seemed malicious. Marion returned to Sydney in December, interviewed the Cardinal, and reported to the Superior General that in his opinion the whole business had been prompted by "jealousy". But the Marists were not in favour after that. Even the Cardinal was cool towards them.

That same year the General Administration had consented for Marion to help establish the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Australia. He had a letter of recommendation from Pope Pius X's Secretary of State. This Society had been collecting and distributing huge sums of money around the world and now wished to organize and begin collecting in Australia. Marion's appeal to the Cardinal and the Bishops received a very poor response.

In 1908 the Marist Sisters opened a school at Woolwich, Mt St Mary's, with the support and encouragement of Marion. Two years later, just before completing his provincialate Marion appointed Alphonse Ginsbach, a returned missionary from Samoa, as the first rector of the proposed Montbel Apostolic School, which his successor would have the honour to open.

In February 1909, Marion was naturalised a British subject under the Commonwealth of Australia Naturalization Act 1903 (No. 11, 1903).

During visitation in 1909, he took part in the retreat with the Fathers and Brothers of the Fiji mission at Cawaci.

Marion learnt in a letter from General Administration in October 1910, that his provincialate had finally come to an end. The following assessments have been made concerning Marion:

Marion was Provincial of Oceania from June 1904, until the end of 1910. In concluding the story of the Society of Mary in Australia during his Provincialship, it is worth noting some of his heroic struggles with poor health, failing eyesight and a crippling lack of self-acceptance, all of which made his six years in Australia a time of great personal trial; and finally, to detail his essentially unsuccessful attempts to coax more recruits for the Australian Mission from the Marist general administration, and his abortive efforts to establish a juniorate for young Australians wishing to become Marist priests.

Marion's Provincialate was not a productive period for the Society of Mary in Australia. It had been characterised by tensions between members of the Society and Cardinal Moran, and no headway had been made in attracting local vocations. But as Marion's period in office came to an end, there were hopeful signs: the dispute with Moran had been patched up, and at long last the juniorate was to become a reality. Perhaps the Provincialate of Marion's successor held better things in store for the Society of Mary in Australia.

He was a kind, gentle and sensible man, qualities which emerge again and again in the letters of encouragement and consolation he wrote to his missionaries. If he allowed himself to believe that his Provincialate had achieved anything at all, it was that the men felt cared about.

As he himself stated:

I have done all I could to encourage our confreres, to lessen their small discomforts, and give them some advice as well. Perhaps these things will bear some fruit.

After his term as Provincial, the Superior General directed him back to Fiji. He left Sydney on 23 November 2010, and returned to Ovalau. He was appointed Pro-Vicar for Fiji and was based at Levuka. At Marion’s request, in early 1915 he moved to Wairiki (in Taveuni) in semi-retirement. He no longer felt able to carry the responsibility for a mission station and was having eyesight problems. He was going to use the time to focus more on his interior life and prepare for the great passage. He assisted Fabien Terrien, particularly with hearing confessions. During 1916 he felt well enough to supervise the construction of a dormitory.

Marion had had problems with his eyesight for several years. He arrived in Sydney in May 1922, and entered Mater Misericordiae Hospital for the removal of an eye. The operation went well and he made good progress – so much so that he had intended to leave on the Monday to return to Fiji. He had a relapse on the Saturday and died unexpectedly on 29 July 1922. He was 68 years old. He is buried in the Villa Maria Cemetery.

Notes

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