Girard0248
From Marist Studies
27 March 1843 - Bishop Pompallier to Father Épalle, Kororareka
Summary
Pompallier bewails the loss of Father Borjon and Brother Deodat, which he has just received firm news of.
As well, a letter that Pompallier had sent to Épalle has come back to the Bishop, with possible serious consequences for the mission’s finances.
Sheet, “Bath” paper, written on the front side, with only Poupinel's annotation on the back.
Translated by Merv Duffy SM, January 2025
Test of the Letter
- [p. 2] [In Poupinel's hand]
- New Zealand ¤ Kororareka, 27 March 1843 ¤ Bishop Pompallier
- [p. 1]
- (No. 4) +
- Jesus Mary Joseph
- Station of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; New Zealand, Bay of Islands, 27 March 1843
- To the Reverend Father Épalle, Pro-Vicar of the Mission of Western Oceania
- My Reverend and Dear Father,
- [1]
- A letter that I wrote to you on 19 October 1842, entrusted to a ship captain in a box addressed to Reverend Father Borjon at Port Nicholson, has certainly not reached you. The captain, unable to find the dear father established in the town of that port, instead learned that the Speculator, the ship on which Father Borjon and Brother Déodat had traveled from Auckland to Port Nicholson, was shipwrecked with the loss of all aboard.[1] He returned the box and its contents to me at the Bay of Islands upon his return three or four months after departing from here.
- Alas, this is dreadful news—the loss of that poor father and the dear brother whom I had never met in this mission! Maketu no longer has Father Borjon, whom, alas, in my absence, you removed from his post; and while the Sancta Maria was being prepared to be sold—because some thought it unnecessary for this mission—here, on the very first voyages made using other small vessels, a priest perished along with a brother! [2]And this at a time when we have such a great need for workers! Neither Port Nicholson nor Maketu has a pastor! The sheep are wandering!
- [2]
- The consequence of all this is that a very important letter I sent to you has been returned to me and is now no longer useful, except perhaps in one regard: I was urging you to do everything possible with the Reverend Father General to settle through the Propagation of the Faith the drafts I had issued against him. At the same time, I announced that once the total of these drafts had been paid, we would not issue any further drafts until a new agreement had been established between us.
- Now, the total of these drafts amounts to £2,421.10 shillings, with the exchange rate at 25 and 28 francs. Alas, if any of these bills were dishonored, it would be a disastrous blow to the mission.
- Moreover, I ask you to adhere to the measures I proposed to the central council of the Propagation of the Faith in Lyon in a letter dated 6 November 1842. Request to read it. Keep me well informed of everything as soon as possible: the date when the association determines our allocations, the date when they can be remitted to the mission in Lyon, their nature, and the means to execute them in London so that I can draw upon you from the Bay of Islands.
- Always tell me what we have:
- 1º in reality,
- 2º in expectation.
- [3]
- My respectful greetings in Jesus and Mary to the Reverend Father General.
- Your very affectionate and entirely devoted servant,
- Jean-Baptiste François, Bishop, Apostolic Vicar of Western Oceania
- Your very affectionate and entirely devoted servant,
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- ↑ See the reports on this subject by Forest: doc. 205, §§ 4–5; 215, § 1; 222, § 2; 247, § 3. See also doc. 236, § 2.
- ↑ The author seems to establish a link between the death of Father Borjon and Brother Déodat and the sale of the schooner Sancta Maria. It is therefore necessary to note some facts: (1)The author himself states that he was absent "for 13 months," from "23 July 1841 to 26 August 1842," from the central house at the Bay of Islands (cf. doc. 193, § 2; 217, §§ 1, 9; 218, § 13). (2) Jean-Baptiste Épalle, “Pro-Vicar and Administrator” (cf. doc. 124, § 7; see also doc. 103, § 4; 110, § 12; 166, § 7), was in charge of the New Zealand missions at the time when Pompallier was in Wallis, Futuna, Fiji, and Tonga (cf. Pompallier’s letter to Épalle dated 15 November 1841, § 1, unpublished document, APM OOc 418.2; doc. 133, § 2; 153, §§ 12–15, 18–19).(3) New missionaries, among them Brother Déodat (Jean Villemagne), arrived on 4 May 1842 at the Bay of Islands (cf. doc. 166, § 7), and needed to be assigned. (4) Borjon, who had been at Maketu since 22 August 1841—a mission “vast and difficult to serve” where he had been robbed of everything (cf. doc. 127, § 6)—received in May 1842, according to Garin, “orders to proceed as quickly as possible to Port Nicholson to establish a station there with nothing” (cf. doc. 178, § 3; see also doc. 173, § 4).(5) Borjon arrived alone in Auckland—Louis Rozet and Brother Justin (Étienne Perret), who were supposed to go with him to Port Nicholson, had not yet arrived—and embarked on 31 July / 1 August 1841 with Brother Déodat, who had come with Forest from the Bay of Islands (cf. doc. 222, § 2).(6) In August 1841, Borjon and Déodat were lost at sea (suspicions of this fate emerged as early as October 1842, with probable confirmation coming only in March 1843) (cf. doc. 205, §§ 4–5; 215, § 1; 222, § 2; 247, § 3). (7) On 4 October 1842, Pompallier sent the schooner Sancta Maria to be sold in Valparaíso, passing through Tonga and Wallis (cf. doc. 217, § 30).
