Difference between revisions of "Girard0267"

Latest revision as of 17:53, 8 February 2025

9 July 1843 - Bishop Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier to Father Jean-Baptiste Épalle, Kororareka

Summary

Claims success for his first booklet published in Maori, at least in the North (Hokianga, Bay of Islands, Ahipara etc.)

Asks Propagation of the Faith to be told it is hard to get to them regularly, information on the progress of the mission. Shortage of men and funds an ongoing problem for the mission.

Based on the document sent, APM OOc 418.2. Sheet of “Bath » paper, forming four pages with the first one written on, the second and third blank, the fourth carrying the address and the annotation by Poupinel.

[p. 4] 

[Address] [in an unknown hand]

via England per “Fama” ¤

[in the handwriting of Pompallier] 

To Reverend ¤ Reverend Épalle ¤ or in his absence, to m(onsieu)r Poupinet, ¤ at Lyon, montée S(ain)t Barthélemy nº 4. ¤ to Lyon ¤ Europe France.

[postmarks] 

PAID SHIP LETTER AU 19 1843 SYDNEY — COLONIES &c.ART.12 — ANGL 14 MAR 4[4] 2 BOULOGNE — PARIS 14 MARS 44 5 (60) 3 — LYON 16 MA[RS] 1844 (68)

[in the handwriting of Poupinel]

New Zealand ¤ Kororareka 9 July 1843 ¤Bishop Pompallier

Translated by Merv Duffy, February 2025.

Text of the Letter

Kororareka, July 9, 1843

(No. 5) Jesus, Mary, Joseph

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, July 9, 1843

To Reverend Father Épalle,

Provicar of the Mission of Western Oceania

My Reverend and Dear Father,

[1]

Here are some news updates that I hastily send you, which will give you an idea of both our advantages, difficulties, and needs.

1º My first booklet in Māori (or rather, the graces of the Lord) has done great good in Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, Wangape, and Ahipara. I do not yet know how things stand in the southern stations. Here, many indigenous missionaries are beginning to open their eyes and come to us.

[2]

2º Please inform the Society for the Propagation of the Faith that it is still difficult for me to send them the descriptive reports of the mission as regularly as I would like. It takes a great deal of time to gather notes from the missionaries. However, I hope that in 4 or 5 months, these reports can be completed. My deepest thanks to these gentlemen for their allocation of 135,000 francs for the year 1841.

[3]

3º It is no longer books that the people are pressing us to give them; they know that the printing press is about to release my second booklet, which will be 96 pages long, and they are eagerly learning by heart the little catechism printed in the first booklet. But these are ariki. ^[1]In my letter No. 4, I must have told you about the stations we are still missing, not to mention several others. Now, it is morally impossible to send ariki, even if I had them, without also sending brothers at the same time. How eagerly we await reinforcements here! Several stations waiting to be established are languishing to the point of decline, and heresy is either nearby or, very often, right in the midst of them.

[4]

4º A great misfortune in the present circumstances! The funds you borrowed in Valparaíso will not be delivered to us until London has paid them to the bank in Sydney, which means not for another 3 or 4 months, and we have only a few pounds left in the treasury.

For the past seven months, we have had 8,000 francs in the hands of the commander of the corvette Le Rhin,^[2] who has not yet delivered them to us. After deciding to withhold these funds from us in Akaroa, he sent us instead, aboard the corvette L’Allier (commanded by Lavaud), the other portion of our allocations entrusted to Reverend Father Bernard.

[In the margin and written sideways]

We have still heard nothing about the schooner Sancta Maria; we only have a rumour that it arrived in Valparaíso, where it was supposed to be sold.

Reverend Father Bernard and his colleagues had told us that a shipment of brothers and priests was being prepared in Lyon shortly after his departure. But alas! It has now been more than 5 months since Father Bernard arrived, and we have received no sign of life. A chilling silence reigns.

On one hand, golden harvests are ready; on the other, crippling misery, due to the lack of regular communications. Right now, we are forced to pay interest at 10–12% due to not receiving the necessary funds. This is our situation.

Please insist on the execution of the plan I proposed in my letter of November 6, 1842, to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith for the transmission of funds, and write to me as often as possible.

Your most affectionate,

+ Jean-Baptiste François, Bishop.

Notes

1. ↑ Māori word which, in the letters of the missionaries, means "priest" (cf., for example, doc. 54, § 3; 99, § 48, 83, 85, 95, 107, 122; 107, § 8; 111, § 1); the normal meaning of the word is: "lord, noble, firstborn, great chief."
2. ↑ Commander Auguste Bérard.