Marist Studies:Current events

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Samoan Trousers

To read the reaction of a French missionary to the Samoan practice of tatooing, check out:

Progress Report

As at April 2018 we have translated and uploaded 555 of Girard's collection of letters from LRO. This is impressive but there are over 1300 letters in his 11 volumes so there is plenty of work still to do. If you know any retired French teachers, or others fluent in French who would like to do some translating please let Fr Merv Duffy know on mervduffy@gmail.com

The death of Fr Brian Quin SM

Brian died at Silverstream on 24 March 2018, aged 81. Among the many other things Brian did in his ministry was a huge amount of translation of the letters of the missionaries. He used to work in long hand, then send the translation to his cousin, Killian de Lacey, who would type them up and send them on disc (and later on CD) to Marist Archives in Wellington. At least 246 documents on this site are translated by him. We pray for the repose of his soul and pray thanks for the prodigious amount of work he did to honour the history of his Marist forebears.

Sad News from the Solomons

Mary Williamson translated this letter:

It starts out with Bishop Collomb carefully going over the accounts with Captain Marceau and it finishes in a way that one would not expect.

Fijian beginnings

Mary Williamson has translated some of the first letters from Catholic Missionaries in Fiji. They are trying to convert a Tongan group living on Fiji, the island having been thoroughly evanglelised by Protestant missionaries.

Not quite Politically Correct

Mary Williamson has, in October 2017, translated the letter of Fr Bréhéret to a young colleague of his. Perhaps because it is not intended either for his superiors or for publication he feels free to complain - of the weather, the Protestants, the locals ...

A Speech rather than a Letter

Mary Williamson has just translated an interesting document addressed to a different audience than most of these letters

Fr Rougeyron was speaking to a crew of sailors and a couple of his remarks reveal atitudes that do not come through in the letters.

Summaries in lieu of Translations

A long-time translator, Fr Brian Quin SM, has provided a series of brief synopses of letters which have yet to be translated. These have been uploaded and are indicated by the number of the document being italic rather than bold. See 1843 for example.

A Foundress of the SMSM

April 2017. Mary Williamson has translated Fr Junillon's letter which has a rare reference to one of the foundresses of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (SMSM).

"It is true to say that here the world is turned upside down. There are some customs that are so bizarre but nevertheless not bad in themselves, that one has difficulty in understanding, but not in believing that one is six thousand leagues from home. Miss Perroton, who is of a unique character for this country, has nevertheless suffered greatly in her first year, but her devotion and the strength of her character allowed her to triumph over all that naturally disgusted her."

October 2017. Mary Williamson again translating Fr Junillon, who is writing to the director of the Third Order, Fr Eymard.

"Now can I say a few words to you about Miss Perroton. She is a woman of rare merit, with a phenomenal character and capable of enduring the greatest of trials. She is of great use to the mission, in fact I could say a necessity. She has an angelic patience with the natives. If she cannot yet teach them by her words, at least she does so powerfully by her example, for she has wisdom without equal and a buoyant piety."

How a Mission Station is Established

Aug 2016. Mary Williamson has translated Xavier Montrouzier's fascinating account of the initial set up of the Woodlark Mission.

A LONG Letter

December 2015. Mary Williamson has just provided the translation to:

It is a fascinating and lengthy account of the conversion of Wallis to Catholicism and of the early days of Christianity in Samoa. It is approximately 50,000 words - so a major task of translation.

Robert Sutton

Wendy Di Tirro made contact asking about Robert Sutton. He is mentioned in several letters, the best account being by Xavier Mountrouzier in Doc 674 who says: "an Englishman called Sutton had just been massacred. (This Sutton was a young man of good family who, with talents enough to certainly make him shine in the world and a fortune sufficient to acquire him many of life’s pleasures, had had the singular idea of travelling through the islands of Oceania and living there like the natives. He had been to Australia, New Zealand, Tanna, Anatom and finally New Caledonia. I have seen this bizarre character twice and I must say that his behaviour was a problem for me. He spoke good French, knew Latin and Greek and read Homer in his native hut!)"

Wendy wrote to say: " A big thankyou to you and everyone who translates for your website. Without it I would never have known what happened to Robert Sutton. He was English, but completed his university education in France so he and the missionaries would have been able to understand one another, even if they didn’t see eye to eye. He travelled to Australia and New Zealand and was reported to have been killed on the island of Mare in November, 1843. This report was disproved when he was seen on New Caledonia, and the rest is recorded by the Marist Missionaries."

The Mighty Quin

In a letter dated 9 June 2015 Fr Brian Quin, the most prolific of the translators of these letters, reports: "I took the MS of my translations from the beginning of 1842 up to doc 187 over to Killian 2 or 3 days ago. [...] all the gaps in 1842 up to doc 188 should now be filled in." It will take some time for Killian de Lacey to type up all Brian's work, and then more time for it to be re-formatted and uploaded, but it does mean that the early part of the story will soon be all there.

Most of these letters have now been received and are slowly being uploaded. I've just uploaded

It is a terrific letter, especially when Épalle writes a section intended "only for Father General" - complaints about the cost of the Bishop's ship, the Sancta Maria, "A ship is a bottomless pit which endlessly demands money." Complaints about the attitude of the Maori. A frank division of the brothers of the mission into the useful and the not-useful.

Sydney Procure in Action

December 2014 - a new translator, Sr Marie Challacombe, has had a go at the letters of 1854 and among other things gives us insights into the operations of the supply base in Sydney

February 2015 - Sr Marie has continued her series, including some impressive complaining!

December 2015 - Sr Marie has continued and has done the last letters in the Girard volumes (i.e. the most recent ones, we have still many that are untranslated) - the final letter that Girard includes in LRO is this one from 1854:

Retribution in the Solomons

August 2014 - Mary Williamson has translated an account of the French reaction to the deaths of the missionaries in the Solomons.

And then some information about the situation on Woodlark of the missionaries who had left the San Cristobal

Marist Procure in Sydney

April 2014 Mary has added the translation of a letter from one of the missionaries from New Caledonia, who appears to be unimpressed by some of the Marists he is dealing with in Sydney.


March 2014 - Mary Williamson has just translated a series of letters from Fr Etienne Chaurain giving something of an insight into how the Marist Procure in Sydney was coping with the influx of Missionaries and New Caledonian locals who arrived there after the collapse of the New Caledonia Mission in 1847.

Less current events - past news

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