by Catherine Jones smsm (Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary)
Let us look closely at the famous 1842 “letter of the women of Ouvea” that so captured the heart of Marie Francoise Perroton she set out for the missions of Oceania, and so began the missionary vocation we smsm sisters are privileged to continue.
The letter is co-signed by Father Philippe Viard, SM,
who was a priest of the Archdiocese of Lyon, when he heard the call of the Oceania missions. He made profession in the Society of Mary on 19 May 1839, and left the following day for New Zealand, arriving on 8 December.
His is an extraordinary story of missionary availability: after a time of missionary orientation in the Bay of Islands and visits to several missions, he was appointed to found the mission at Tauranga that extended as far as Matamata and Maketu. Named vicar general to Bishop Pompallier in 1841, he accompanied him on his missionary journeys, including the trip to Futuna to bring back the remains of Pierre Chanel to New Zealand. Later that year, Viard returned to Wallis as Pompallier’s delegate for the Pacific Island missions of the huge vicariate of Western Oceania.
From Wallis, he wrote in November 1842:
“I am no longer in New Zealand. I have been here in Wallis with Father Bataillon for five months. Mgr Pompallier has asked me, during his absence, to watch over the missions in the tropics. It was not without great difficulty that I left my beloved New Zealanders; I was very fond of them. God has willed it so, may his name be blessed. I am very happy in Wallis and experiencing great consolation.”
It was during this appointment on Wallis that he and Father Bataillon sent the letters from the women, and also from the men, of Ouvea, begging for missionaries.
A true forerunner of many smsm today “called to set out and set out again”, Viard left Wallis in December 1843 for New Caledonia, where he worked alongside the newly appointed missionaries, drawing on his experience to help them in their adaptation to the country and its people.
He was recalled to New Zealand by Bishop Pompallier, and ordained his coadjutor on 4 January 1846 in Sydney.
On leaving New Caledonia, he wrote to Father Colin in October 1845:
“It was very painful for me to leave Mgr Douarre and Father Rougeyron. I thank Providence for permitting me to remain nearly two years with them …”
As he was writing these words, Marie Francoise Perroton, from the same parish of Saint Nizier as Viard, was already on the Arche d’Alliance with the next band of missionaries for Oceania.
Father Viard knew the missionary pain of leaving the familiar, and setting out to peoples of different culture, language and religion. So far, we have seen him in New Zealand, Wallis and New Caledonia, with extensive visitations to Tonga, Futuna and Fiji, as well as the far north and deep south of New Zealand.
What became his most difficult mission was still ahead of him: first bishop of the diocese of Wellington, which at the time was the North Island south of Lake Taupo, and the whole of the South Island! Bishop Viard’s appointment coincided with Father Colin’s decision not to send any more Marists to the missions, so that meant a constant struggle to respond to pastoral needs of both Maori and the increasing white population with a scarcity of personnel and finance.
In this overview of Viard’s early missionary life, we see the lines of an smsm vocation to missionary availability … can we include him as one of our founding personalities ?
In January 2009, I was privileged to be part of the Wellington archdiocesan pilgrimage to Lyon to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Philippe Viard. This initiative of the Archdiocese of Lyon was to highlight the missionary dynamism of Viard, and coincided with both the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and celebrations marking the Year of Saint Paul.
Besides the formal High Mass on Sunday 25 January, there were visits to places of Marist origin in and around Lyon, and to the birthplace of Suzanne Aubert. Our pilgrimage group included two students from Bishop Viard College in Porirua, an amazing visit for them in the footsteps of the missionary their high school is named after. I was also thrilled to meet up again with smsm and other friends I knew when I was missioned in Lyon, 1996 – 2001. It was also a privilege to revisit places known to Marie Francoise Perroton and other pioneers, and to introduce our pilgrimage party to these courageous women missionaries.
Thank you, Philippe Viard, for the part you played in our smsm origins … may we be faithful to that missionary availability that so marked your life.
