Charles-Eugène Mathieu

Charles Eugène Mathieu

Vice-Provincial for Wallis and Futuna, appointed by Calinon

Charles Mathieu was born at Amiens, Somme on 23rd July 1809. A diocesan priest of that diocese, and secretary of his Bishop, he joined the Marists to go to Oceania and was professed on 11th March 1843 along with Fr Philippe Calinon, who was to become the Provincial of the Vicariate of Central Oceania, and Fr Pierre Rougeyron who would assist at the first Mass in New Caledonia on Christmas Day of 1843.

Both Frs. Mathieu and Rougeyron left Europe in 1843 and travelled with Bishop Douarre to Oceania. Fr Mathieu spent his first four years on the missions in Wallis. He was appointed Pro-Vicar for Central Oceania by Bishop Bataillon.

In September 1842, Colin had been granted permission to appoint a provincial. In February 1843, Epalle had arrived in France and given his report on the mission in New Zealand, after which Colin drafted a regulation listing the principal duties of the provincial. Calinon was professed on 11th March 1843, and soon after (and certainly before he sailed from Toulon on 25th April 1843) Colin appointed Calinon, Provincial of Central Oceania. When Philippe Calinon arrived in Wallis, one of the first applications of the regulations given to him by Colin, was to appoint Charles Mathieu (with whom he had been in novitiate) as Vice Provincial for Wallis and Futuna.

Of Matheiu’s work at this time Calinon wrote:

Father Mathieu admirably suits the office job. He is cool and collected, methodical, accurate, knowledgeable in administrative matters, a gentle nature, respectful, discreet, outgoing. He should have been chosen to play a direct role in converting pagans because of his passion. It has been a sacrifice for him to remain at Wallis where there are no pagans left. I think that he would be more useful in the mission field in the role that he plays at the Bishop’s side. His not very exuberant nature together with his shortness in stature would give him few opportunities among the people who love tall people, open faces, playful personalities, and those knowing how to hit while the iron is hot.

Bishop Pompallier at this time was anxious to clarify the distinction between the authority of religious superiors and ecclesiastical superiors. In 1846 he recommended to the Holy See that the Vicariates of Western and Central Oceania be divided into properly erected dioceses and that Fr Mathieu be appointed Bishop of Lakemba (Fiji Islands). This recommendation was not followed. Nevertheless Fr Mathieu, in 1848, found himself appointed to the mission in Fiji. (It was about this time (1848) that Dubreul was appointed Visitor General of the Missions with the duty of reporting to Fr Colin on the state of the mission and the welfare of the men.)

Arriving in Lakeba, where the mission had been founded three years earlier, he and his companions decided to move their headquarters to Levuka. From there, Fr Mathieu along with his companion, Fr Pierre Michel, founded the station at Rewa in 1852. They had to withdraw three years later to strengthen the community at Levuka. While working in Fiji Mathieu participated in the writing of the first French-Fijian dictionary.

Mathieu left Fiji, intending to return to Wallis around Ascension 1855. Roulleaux-Dubignon was to accompany Bataillon to Europe. He arrived Sydney from Noumea on Brig Maria with Fr Vachon and Br Joseph Muraour. Mathieu did not go to Wallis, as he arrived in Sydney 4 July 1855 with Bataillon and Fathers Ducrettet and Servant. While in Sydney he taught the indigenous students brought there by Bataillon.

Mathieu intended to go to Europe with Bishop Bataillon, who wished to have him made his Coadjutor Bishop, but he contracted typhoid and could not travel with the Bishop. In fact, he died in Sydney, aged 47, on 24th May 1856, just a week after Bataillon had left for Rome. He is buried in the cemetery of St Charles Borromeo, Ryde.