Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier
From Marist Studies
Jump to navigationJump to search
Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier (1801-1871)
Printer friendly version of this biography by Fr Michael O'Connor SM
Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania 1836 – 1842
Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of Auckland[1] 1842-1848
Vicar Apostolic of the Diocese of Auckland[2] 1848 – 1869
- Jean-Baptiste Pompallier had expressed an interest in joining the Marists but was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania in 1836. Under Church law he was not allowed then to take vows in the Society.
- As it happened his missionary endeavours in Oceania brought him into a lot of friction with Fr Colin which resulted in a gradual re-organization and division of his Vicariate of Western Oceania and his becoming Vicar Apostolic of the Diocese of Auckland in 1848 with the Marists moving out of his diocese. The ill-feeling generated at that time has only recently dissipated.
- Since he was never a Marist, and because his biography[3] has been published elsewhere,[4] his story is not told here. Suffice it to say that he was a significant player in the evangelization of the Pacific and the turmoil between him and Fr Colin certainly gave a direction to the Mission which it might not otherwise have had.
Notes
- ↑ 23rd August 1842 till 20th June 1848.
- ↑ 20th June 1848 till resignation on 23rd March 1869
- ↑ Lillian Keys, The Life and Times of Bishop Pompallier [The Pegasus Press: Christchurch, 1957]
- ↑ Other references: E. R. Simmons. 'Pompallier, Jean Baptiste François', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990, updated November 2010. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, [1] (accessed 12 August 2025).
