The Roman Catholic mission in New Zealand, 1838-1870

Abstract

On 10 January 1838 there landed at Hokianga, New Zealand, three missionaries who differed in certain important respects from any of the numerous missionaries who had arrived in the country during the previous twenty-five years. The most obvious difference was their nationality. The Maoris had known for a long time that though most pakehas who visited their shores spoke English, there were others, like those belonging to the tribe of Marion, who spoke other languages. These new men, however, were not only of different nationality. They represented a quite distinct religion, which, the old missionaries said, was false and bad. The new arrivals, Bishop Pompallier, Father Servant, and Brother Michel, were Frenchmen of the Roman Catholic religion. They were welcomed at Hokianga by a Catholic Irishman named Thomas Poynton, who placed his house at Totara at their disposal.