Charles-Joseph Nicolas

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Charles-Joseph Nicolas

Fourth Provincial of Oceania 1910–1918

Charles-Joseph Nicolas was born at the maternity hospital, run by the diocesan congregation of the Sisters of Maternal Charity, in Metz, Moselle, France, on 10 February 1860 to Dominique Nicolas, carpenter, and Françoise Eugénie Maujean, who lived in Jussy, about 8 km out of Metz. He was the fourth of at least nine children.

His parish priest noticed early on his unusual piety and started him off in his Latin studies. He completed his secondary studies at the minor seminary at Montigny-lès-Metz and entered the major seminary in Metz for philosophy. He was tonsured there on 16 July 1882.

But he wanted to be a missionary in foreign lands. It has been previously written, that Bishops Louis Elloy and Jean-Amand Lamaze, both from the region of Lorraine, happened to visit that part of France. This is impossible as Lamaze was Elloy’s successor. Elloy visited Lorraine between 17-29 December 1877 and sometime mid-1878. There is no mention of him visiting seminaries. Victor Poupinel recorded that Lamaze did visit seminaries in 1880 after his ordination as bishop; however, Metz is not mentioned. 1880 also was the year of religious expulsions from France, which curtailed activities. It is possible that the death of Elloy and ordination of Lamaze brought enough visibility of the Society of Mary for the young Nicolas to seek admission.

Nicolas completed his novitiate at Paington, England in 1882-83, professing on 16 September 1883. He then had a year teaching nine-year-olds at Institution Saint-Joseph, Montluçon.

After three years of theology in Dublin (1884-87), he returned to Montluçon, where he completed his theology (theologia absoluta) while at the same time taught English. His scholastic record shows him to have been a man of good health and virtue, with an aptitude for the missions. In addition to his native French, he also spoke German and English.

He was admitted to minor orders on 16 August 1885, ordained sub-deacon on 22 August 1886 and deacon 15 August 1887. Nicolas was ordained to the priesthood at Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône, on 22 September 1888 by Bishop Lamaze. On 1 November the same year, he left for Oceania, aged 28.

Appointed to La Foa in New Caledonia, his time there was abruptly shortened with his transfer to Fiji. Pierre Chaix had looked after the English-speakers in Suva from 1883 until he was obliged to move for health reasons in May 1887. As an English colony, missionaries for Fiji needed to be English-speaking. Nicolas travelled with Claude-Marie Joly, Visitor General, arriving in Suva on 6 October 1889. Bishops Julien Vidal and Hilarion Fraysse had arranged to swap Nicolas for a replacement chosen by Joly; André Pépin was named. Vidal did not immediately permanently appoint Nicolas to Suva, though this is what occurred. Curate to Augustin Lepetit, Nicolas became administrator of the parish, when Lepetit left during 1890 for health reasons. Being in charge of Suva meant that Nicolas oversaw the construction of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (the towers were completed for his golden jubilee of ordination). In June 1897, Nicolas became Acting Pro-Vicar as he started to take over responsibilities from Jean-Baptiste Bréhéret, who was becoming more infirm and could no longer visit the part of the vicariate for which he had oversight. The Superior General and the Visitor General were to decide when it was appropriate to give him the title. During Vidal’s overseas travels in 1904 and 1909, Nicolas was appointed administrator of the Vicariate.

By letter in August 1910, Nicolas was appointed Provincial of Oceania, though he did not take up his appointment until arriving in Sydney on 20 January 1911. He was selected as Provincial thanks to his familiarity with the Pacific Missions, he was an experienced administrator, he knew English, and finally, because he was devoted to the Society of Mary and its works. The Superior General charged him particularly with revitalising religious life at St Patrick's and opening the juniorate.

Vidal’s circular letter, which publicly announced Nicolas’ appointment and a recount of his public farewell, showed the esteem in which he was held by all. On his way to take up the appointment, he visited Pierre-Marie Regnault, the New Zealand Provincial, and stayed with Bishop Henry Cleary in Auckland.

The juniorate at Hunters Hill, Sydney, the preparation for which had been started by his predecessor, André Marion, had by March 1911, three students. It was known as Montbel Apostolic School which later moved to Mittagong.

Nicolas decided to live first at St Patrick's himself, the better to ensure observance of the Religious Rule. Later he moved to Villa Maria. At St Patrick's he found Pierre Piquet's manner of life and administration not to his liking. The two men never got on. Piquet was flamboyant, a zealous pastor and a very able administrator of the parish, particularly in fund-raising. But he refused to hand over to the Marists the statutory levy which was their due; and his religious practice left much to be desired. Nicolas tried to have him removed but with little success. Eventually however Piquet himself, after interventions from the General Administration offered to hand over the finances to somebody else. That was in 1918, just when Nicolas was finishing his term as provincial, extended by two years due to World War One.

He also had the pain of seeing three Marists leave the priesthood during his term of office, two of them from St Patrick's itself. But his work as Provincial brought him back to visit all the islands of the Pacific where he was a great inspiration to all the men in his love of the Society of Mary, his loyalty to superiors, and his prayerfulness. He was greatly esteemed by the confreres for his sympathy and wise advice on all occasions.

In early 1914, Nicolas was naturalised a British Subject in Australia, in spite of having been naturalised in Fiji.

He attended the General Chapter in 1914, where he reported that "there is unity and good spirit among all the members of the community, and great regularity" at Villa Maria, a change from earlier times! During his term of office, he also strove to get the New Zealand Province to establish a permanent band of home missioners in Australia as a way of building up the society and was keen to see a mission band established in the Diocese of Auckland, which could also be of service to the Missions.

Archbishop Kelly of Sydney did not display a good attitude to the religious of his diocese and there was a storm of protest to the Holy See when he raised, excessively they thought, the parish taxes. Nicolas did not sign the protest but sent a copy to the General Administration for their information. McMurrich commented on the problems Nicolas faced:

Like his predecessors Aubry, Olier and Marion, Nicolas found himself constantly short of men for the Society of Mary's modest Australian operations, or at least badly off for priests with sufficient capacity, personal integration and good health to undertake leadership positions. It is significant that at the end of his Provincialate not one of the Marist parishes was administered by a man who inspired Nicolas with any confidence: had it been possible to do so, he would gladly have relieved Julien Huault, Emile Talon and Peter Piquet of their respective parish responsibilities.

Like his predecessors, Nicolas looked for help from overseas to carry the Australian operations of the Society of Mary until such time as local Australian vocations could fill the breach. However, it was to New Zealand rather than to Europe that Nicolas looked for assistance. He eventually came to believe that the only way the Society of Mary could develop in Australia was through the establishment of a home mission band similar to that established in New Zealand in 1908, and sent to work in Tasmania during 1911...

Nicolas found it frustrating and galling that the Society had made no progress whatsoever in its 65 years in Australia, and that currently the situation was worse than it had ever been:

Being among the first religious who came to Sydney, we are just today what we were sixty years ago - only there were then men of good repute - at least for their holiness, among us, and now - well, it is not quite the same.

He placed the blame for the Society's poor position in Australia on the type of Marists who had found their way to Sydney in recent years...

But there were no fruitful discussions about this assistance between Nicolas and the New Zealand provincial before the end of Nicolas’ term as provincial.

On 12 August 1918, the Holy See named Nicolas, Coadjutor Bishop to Bishop Vidal, Vicar Apostolic of Fiji. He was announced as Titular Bishop of Panopolis in Egypt on 22 August 1918.

When presenting the three candidates to be the co-adjutor for Bishop Vidal, the Superior General had requested Marion’s opinion, which he sent two months after Nicolas’ appointment. “I have great respect for Father Nicolas; he is an excellent religious and very devoted to the society, but he is not the person I would want to lead the mission (if he is, he will have my support and my complete devotion). He is enthusiastic, zealous and devoted, but not level-headed, changing his mind at a moment's notice. He is also criticised for lacking discretion.”

Nicolas’ consecration took place at Hunters Hill, Sydney on 2 February 1919. Archbishop Bartholomew Cattaneo, Apostolic Delegate to Australasia, was the consecrator, and Archbishop Francis Redwood of Wellington and Bishop John Carroll of Lismore were the co-consecrators. Archbishop Redwood preached the sermon for the occasion. There was, however, no congregation due to civil legislation because of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. He also had to borrow a crozier and mitre from Archbishop Kelly. He commented that his consecration was truly a Marist event - ignoti et quasi occulti!

On Vidal’s death on 2 April 1922, Nicolas became Vicar Apostolic for Fiji. For the next twenty-one years he put his whole energy into the development of the Mission of Fiji, building on the foundation laid by the late Bishop. Twice he travelled to America and Europe to collect money for the many church buildings he had planned. Under his direction Catholic education made giant strides, until every mission station had its schools for boys and girls - all of which were given Government recognition and registration. He asked for, and obtained, more sisters of the Missionaries of the Third Order, and more Marist brothers. He called in the Marist Sisters and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny for the higher education of girls. He founded a Native Brotherhood and a Native Sisterhood, broadened the work of the Catechists, founded a Preparatory Seminary for Native Clergy, and started a normal school for the formation of teachers. The Leper Home at Makogai under his direction became an efficient establishment.

On his first visit ad limina to the newly elected Pope Pius XI in 1922, Nicolas was told by "the Pope of the Missions" that a seminary for the training of native priests would give more joy to his heart than all other good works together. On his return to Fiji, Nicolas, despite many difficulties, established St. Theresa's Junior Seminary at Cawaci for the teaching of secondary school subjects. This seminary was opened at the beginning of 1923. In 1932 a higher seminary for philosophers and theologians was opened at Cawaci. It may be noted that Vidal had attempted such a seminary as far back as 1904, but the attempt failed because of opposition and difficulties, and he died without seeing his ardent desires in this matter fulfilled.

Nicolas faced severe financial problems in the 1920s and early 1930s. He managed the situation extremely well, but he was sometimes difficult to deal with. Marist provincials and Visitors from 1922 to 1926 were critical of the way he dealt with his priests. Jean-Baptiste Chevreuil, then Provincial, in 1922, spoke of him showing “lack of patience and discretion” while Dubois in 1924 spoke of his “cold nature and bad temper”. But in 1931, Eugène Courtais spoke of him as “better humoured and more respected by his missionaries".

In 1936, Nicolas and Jean-Marie Orève approached Daniel Hurley, New Zealand Provincial, regarding New Zealand accepting Fijian and Fijian-Indian seminarians (there were already Fijian-born Europeans in formation and Fijians supported by the vicariate finishing their secondary education in New Zealand), who replied, “we shall gladly co-operate with you in the education of future clergy".

In 1939 he had the honour of ordaining to the priesthood, Tito Daurewa, the first Fijian Marist priest. Just before he died, he was making plans for the ordination in Fiji of two other Marists, Julian Waqa and Paul Yavala, who were finishing their studies at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary at Greenmeadows, Napier in New Zealand. He had also ordained to the priesthood an Indian, Claudius Lurkur (secular), and two Europeans, Daniel Scully and Philip Brailey, in Fiji.

The Government of the Colony readily recognized many of the educational and charitable foundations of Nicolas and generously gave him substantial "grants in aid". To acknowledge his work, he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), “for services to education in Fiji”. At the public ceremony of investiture, Sir Harry Luke, Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, spoke words of high praise for his work in the Crown Colony of Fiji.

A great celebration commemorated Nicolas' Golden Jubilee of priesthood in 1938. To mark the occasion,Suva’s Roman Catholic community, as a gift, erected two towers to complete the Sacred Heart Cathedral, whose construction had been started under his watch as administrator of the parish. About this time also Nicolas completed the fine three-storey ferro-concrete school of St. Anne's in Suva.

On 9 August 1941, in Cawaci, while going up the steps leading to the sacristy, Bishop Nicolas fell backwards, hitting his head against the cement. He never fully regained consciousness and died at 1.55am on the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1941, in the Colonial War Memorial Hospital at Suva. He was 81 years old. After the solemn requiem Mass held the same day in the cathedral, his remains were taken to Cawaci, where after another solemn requiem Mass held in the morning of Sunday 16, Nicolas was buried in the mortuary chapel at Cawaci erected to the memory of his predecessor, Vidal.

The tributes paid by Catholics and non-Catholics on his death were striking evidence of the wide respect in which Nicolas was held. The tributes to him by leaders of other Christian Churches on his death are eloquent testimony to his ecumenical inclinations. Gratitude was one of his marked characteristics. The press release sent to the Australian papers after his death described him as "a great Bishop, an untiring missionary and a perfect Marist".

He had a great love for people and his relations with all classes of people and his dealings with the authorities of both city and colony helped to destroy any remaining prejudices against the Catholic missionaries.

Notes

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