Guide to the Records of the Marist Fathers (Society of Mary) (As filmed by the AJCP)

Searching...

M425-M432

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Created: 2019

Collection Summary

Title
Records of the Marist Fathers (Society of Mary) (as filmed by the AJCP)
Date Range
1844 - 1946
Collection Number
M425-M432
Extent
99 items
Language of Materials
French
With occasional exceptions, all the letters and other documents are in French.
Repository
Australian Joint Copying Project
Sponsor
The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The records consist predominantly of letters written by Marist fathers, brothers and nuns in Fiji and Rotuma in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In addition, there are some journals covering the early years of the Mission and extracts from published works on the history of the Marist missionaries in the Pacific.

With occasional exceptions, all the letters and other documents are in French.

Conditions Governing Access

Available for Access.

Conditions Governing Use

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred Citation

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example:- M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Archival History

Filmed at Societas Marriae, Rome, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1957 (AJCP Reels: M425-M432). Original microfilm digitised as part of the NLA AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.

At the time of filming, the records were evidently in quite a disordered state. The letters of Bishop Vidal formed a discrete group and some of the letters of priests and nuns formed short chronological sequences. In general, however, the letters had not been arranged in any logical way, parts of journals had become separated from each other, and journals, manuscripts and published items were mixed up with letters. Unavoidably, this disorder was perpetuated on the microfilm. In this listing, an effort has been made to show the sequence of documents on each reel. Artificial Series have been created to identify the separate microfilm reels and the order in which the documents were filmed.

Existence and Location of Originals

Societas Mariae. Archivio Padri Maristi, Rome, Italy.

For further information, see Society of Mary [http://www.padrimaristi.it/]

Existence and Location of Copies

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn668333] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Finding-Aid Notes

This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.

Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.

Subjects

Bataillon, Bishop; Caroline Islands, Pacific Ocean; France; French in the Pacific; Futuna Island, Pacific Ocean; Marist Fathers (Society of Mary); Tonga: missions; Solomon Islands: missions; Samoa: missions; Papua New Guinea: missions; Fiji: missions; Missions and missionaries: Pacific Islands; Roman Catholic Church: Pacific Islands; Roman Catholic Church: Papua New Guinea; Rotuma Island, Pacific Ocean; Society of Mary (Marist Fathers); Wallis Island, Pacific Ocean

Bibliography

Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 308, p. 115.

Biographical / Historical

The idea of a Society of Mary originated with a group of Catholic seminarians at Lyon, France, in 1816. One of the group, Jean-Claude Colin (1790-1875), was subsequently given permission by the Bishop of Belley to form a missionary group to work in the rural districts of the diocese. In 1836 Pope Gregory XVI, who was looking for missionaries for Oceania, approved the formation of a religious institute, the Priests of the Society of Mary, or Marist Fathers. Colin was elected as the first Superior General and held the office until 1854. He was succeeded by Julien Favre (1854-1885), Antoine Martin (1886-1905) and Jean-Claude Raffin (1905-1922). Lyon was the seat of administration from 1839 until 1925, when it moved to Rome.

The Pope created the Vicariate General of Apostolic of Western Oceania in 1835. It covered a vast area, including New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands and New Guinea. Jean-Baptiste Pompallier (1802-1871) was appointed the Vicar Apostolic and, together with a group of Marist missionaries, he sailed for the Pacific in 1837. Pompallier made New Zealand the centre of his operations and he was to become the first Bishop of Auckland in 1848. The Marists quickly spread through the western Pacific, reaching Wallis and Futuna islands in 1837, Tonga in 1842, New Caledonia in 1843, Fiji in 1844 and Samoa in 1845. The large vicariate was soon divided into a number of dioceses and vicariates. The Vicariate of Central Oceania was created in 1842 under Bishop Pierre Bataillon.

The first Marist missionaries in Fiji were Jean-Baptiste Breheret and Joseph-Francois Roulleaux. They first worked at Lakeba in Llau and in 1855 moved to Levuka. Breheret became the first Prefect Apostolic of Fiji in 1863. In 1887 the Vicariate Apostolic of Fiji was established and Bishop Julien Vidal (1846-1922) was appointed Vicar Apostolic. He held the office until his death. He was also Prefect Apostolic of the southern Solomon Islands from 1897 to 1903. By the early twentieth century there were 30 priests (Marist Fathers) working in Fiji, together with 11 Little Brothers of Mary (Marist Brothers) in charge of schools and 24 European and 31 Fijian Sisters of the Third Order of Mary.

Item Descriptions

Series. Correspondence (Vicar Apostolic, Fiji), 1848 - 1935

31 items

The bulk of the letters in this series were written in the years 1889-1915 by Bishop Julien Vidal, the Vicar Apostolic of Fiji from 1887 until 1922. They were mostly written to the Superior-General of the Society of Mary, Antoine Martin and Jean-Claude Raffin, the Procurator of Missions and other priests in Lyon. There are also a few letters written by Jean-Baptiste Breheret in Fiji in 1848 and 1870-1878.

The order of the letters and other documents is as listed.

The Series is an artificial one created to described the documents originally filmed as AJCP Reel 425. No order was apparent in the original collection.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M425.

Solomon Islands (2 letters), July 1898 (File)

Suva (3 letters), November 1898 - January 1899 (File)

Solomon Islands (1 letter), 9 April 1899 (File)

Sydney (1 letter), June 1899 - November 1899 (File)

Suva (3 letters), May 1902 - January 1903 (File)

Sydney (1 letter), 3 November 1899 (File)

Fiji (29 letters), February 1889 - July 1913 (File)

Addresses on the occasion of Bishop Vidal's 25th anniversary (typescript, 4pp.), [1912] (File)

Memorandum, signed by Auguste Villaine, 22 November 1935 (File)

On the early history of the Mission to Fiji (incomplete manuscript, 30pp.).

Ovalau (2 letters of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), January 1870 - May 1871 (File)

Levuka (1 letter of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), 23 August 1874 (File)

Ovalau (3 letters of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), January 1878 - March 1878 (File)

Suva (2 letters), January 1903 - February 1904 (File)

Melbourne (1 letter), 8 March 1905 (File)

Fiji (4 letters of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), July 1848 (File)

Suva (4 letters), April 1905 - May 1915 (File)

R.C. Villaine. 'Le Reverend Pere J.-B. Breheret missionnaire et prefect apostolique de Fiji 1815-1888' (manuscript, 11pp.), n.d. (File)

Fiji (17 letters), November 1894 - January 1896 (File)

Apia (2 letters), January 1896 - February 1896 (File)

Sydney (1 letter), 20 April 1896 (File)

Senlis (3 letters), August 1896 - October 1896 (File)

Villecomtal (1 letter), 1 January 1897 (File)

Lyon (1 letter), 29 January 1897 (File)

Albany (1 letter), 21 April 1897 (File)

Suva (7 letters), June 1897 - January 1898 (File)

Julien Vidal. Letter to Mme de la Rupelle, Suva (typescript copy, 2pp.), 1 March 1898 (File)

Suva (2 letters), March 1898 (File)

Sydney (1 letter), 12 April 1898 (File)

Cooktown (2 letters), May 1898 (File)

Solomon Islands (2 letters), May 1898 - June 1898 (File)

Fiji (30 letters), June 1890 - November 1894 (File)

Series. Correspondence (Missionaries - Fiji), 1860 - 1905

10 items

Letters written by missionaries in Fiji between 1860 and 1899. The recipients are often not named, but the majority were almost certainly written to Fathers Julien Favre and Antoine Martin, the Superior-Generals of the Society of Mary, and the Procurator of Missions.

The correspondents include Augustin Aubry (Suva, Sydney), E.M. Bertreux (Loreto, Levika), Henri Bousquet, Jean-Baptiste Breheret (Levuka), Jean-Baptiste Chevreuil (Rotuma), Alfred Deniau (Verata), Laurent Faure (Ovalau), Jean-Victor Favier (Rewa), Laurent Favre (Solevu), Hector Jay (Wairiki), Francois Leberre (Solevu), Andre Marion (Rewa), Simon Montmayeur (Ovalau), Celestin Picherit (Ba River), Emmanuel Rougier (Levika, Rewa), Fabien Terrien (Wairiki), Victor Thierry (Loreto) and Julien Vidal (Suva, Levuka).

The order of the letters and documents is as listed.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M426.

Fiji (8 letters), 1885 - 1899 (File)

Etat des recettes et depenses presumees pour l'annee (File)

Revenues and expenses.

Fiji (5 letters), 1882 - 1889 (File)

Fiji (4 letters), 1863 - 1867 (File)

Fiji (11 letters), 1898 - 1899 (File)

Levuka (6 letters from Jean-Baptiste Breheret), 1878 - 1879 (File)

Fiji (5 letters), 1860 - 1865 (File)

Fiji (10 letters), 1891 - 1905 (File)

Fiji (15 letters), 1863 - 1869 (File)

Fiji (14 letters), 1897 - 1899 (File)

Series. Correspondence (missionaries and nuns), 1882 - 1917

8 items

Letters written from missionaries and nuns in Fiji between 1882 and 1917. The recipients are often not named, but they were mostly written to the Superiors-General Antoine Martin and Jean-Claude Raffin, the Procurator of Missions, other fathers at Lyon, and Father Augustin Aubry in Sydney.

The correspondents include Pierre Bourdier (Suva), Henri Bousquet, Joseph Calviac, François Dupont (Levuka), Thomas Fox (Macuata), Alexis Gonnet (Loreto, Levuka), Yves Helliot (Levuka), Gabriel Lahaye, Leon Lejeune (Loreto), Sister Marie Adèle (Wairiki), Sister Marie Agnes (Wairiki), André Marion (Levuka), Jean de Marzan (Lomary), Pierce Michel, Jean Orève (Natovi), Célestin Picherit (Macuata, Suva), Alphonse Roth (Naduri), Emmanuel Rougier (Rewa), Jean-Baptiste Schneider (Solavu), Lucien Soubreyan (Sumi), Fabien Terrien (Wairiki)and Auguste Villaine (Ba River).

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M427.

Fiji (34 letters), 1899 - 1903 (File)

Auguste Villaine. Incomplete typescript, 12 September 1913 (File pp. 40-51)

Unsigned and untitled typescript (File pp. 9-40)

Auguste Villaine. Incomplete letter, n.d. (File)

Ba River (1 letter), 25 February 1915 (File)

Fiji (12 letters), 1915 - 1917 (File)

'Quelques notes sur les stations de la mission Catholique de Fiji 1887-1913' (typescript), 12 September 1913 (File pp. 1-6)

Fiji (77 letters), 1882 - 1909 (File)

Series. Journals and Correspondence (Missionaries - Fiji), 1844 - 1914

11 items

Includes parts of journals of the first two Marist missionaries in Fiji, Jean-Baptiste Breheret and Joseph-Francois Roulleaux, and letters written by missionaries in Fiji, mostly between 1909 and 1914. The recipients are often not identified, but many of the letters were addressed to Father Regis.

The correspondents include Henri Bousquet (Solevu), Joseph Calviac, Benjamin Courrech (Wairiki), Francois Dupont (Levuka, Suva), Thomas Fox (Suva), Alexis Gonnet (Levuka), J.L. Guinard (Namosi), Yves Helliot (Levuka), Gabriel Lahaye, Leon Lejeune (Faguta), Sister Marie Agnes (Wairiki), Sister Marie Suzanne (Makogai), Jean de Marzan (Nausori), Jean Oreve (Suva), Celestin Picherit, Alphonse Roth, Alphonse Soubreyan, Lucien Soubreyan (Matusa, Levuka), Fabien Terrien (Wairiki), Julien Vidal (Suva) and Auguste Villaine.

The order of the letters and documents is as listed.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reels M428-M429.

Extracts from a published book with a reference to Jean-Baptiste Breheret (File pp. 383; 386)

Fiji (3 letters), 1886 (File)

Fiji (51 letters), 1909 - 1914 (File)

Journal du Jean-Baptiste Breheret, Lakeba, 1851 - 1852 (File)

'Journal du P. Breheret et Roulleaux de la mission de Notre Dames des Sept Douleurs etablie a Lakemba' (15 pp.), 1844 - 1847 (File)

Fiji (43 letters), 1912 - 1913 (File)

'Journal de la Mission de Notres Dames des Sept Douleurs a Lakemba', 18 September 1844 - 28 February 1847 (File pp.18-148)

'Journal de la Mission de Notres Dames des Sept Douleurs a Lakemba', 16 May 1847 - 22 August 1850 (File pp. 1-33)

'Etude sur journal de la Mission de Lakemba', 1844 - 1853 (File pp. 1-20)

Letter from G. Morvan to M. Tardau, 2 August 1879 (File)

'Etude sur journal de la Mission de Lakemba', 1844 - 1853 (File pp, 21-81)

Series. Correspondence and Journals (Missionaries - Fiji), 1844 - 1946

20 items

Letters from missionaries in Fiji, dating from 1844 to 1897, a journal of the Fijian Mission (1850-1852) and other documents and extracts from publications. The letters are addressed to Julien Favre and Antoine Martin, the Superior Generals, Francois Poupinel, the Assistant Superior General, the Procurator of Missions and other fathers at Lyon and also Bishop Alloys Elloy, the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania.

The correspondents include Jean-Baptiste Breheret (Levuka), Isidore Bochettaz (Wairiki), Alfred Deniau (Verata), Pierre Dezest (Rotuma), Jean-Victor Favier (Rewa), Laurent Favre (Solevu), Antoine Grosselin (Levuka), Louis Hurlin, Hector Jay (Wairiki), Francois Leberre (Rotuma), Victor Lenniger (Levuka), Stanilas Loyer (Rotuma), Charles Mathieu, Simon Montmayeur (Ovalu), Joseph-Francois Roulleaux (Lakeba) and Joseph Trouillet (Rotuma).

The order of the letters and documents is as listed.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M430.

Levuka, 1889 - 1897 (File)

17 letters from Jean-Baptiste Breheret.

Fiji (7 letters), 1880 (File)

'Journal de la Mission de Notres Dames de sept Douleurs a Lakemba', 1850-08 - 1852-10; 1851-02-16 - 1852-10 (File pp.1-56; pp.34-52)

'Etude sur journal de la Mission de Lakemba', 1844 - 1853 (File pp. 82-96)

'Le P. Roulliaux seul', notes written on verso of a letter (23pp.), c. 1946 (File)

Fiji (116 letters), 1870 - 1879 (File)

Levuka, 1882 - 1884 (File)

18 letters from Jean-Baptiste Breheret.

'Prefecture apostolique de Fiji, lettre du R.P. Brerehet au T.R.P. Martin', 6 November 1885 (File)

(pp. 369-377 from an unidentified book)

Fiji (5 letters of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), 1886 - 1888 (File)

Joseph-Francois Roulleaux. Notice sur L'Archipel Fidji (4pp.), 1845 (File)

Fiji (6 letters of Joseph-Francois Roulleaux), 1845 - 1848 (File)

Fiji (3 letters of Jean-Baptiste Breheret), 1881 - 1882 (File)

P. Breheret. Mission des Iles Viti au Fiji (7pp.), 28 April 1879 (File)

Fiji (11 letters), 1879 (File)

Chronology of Fiji 1643-1938 (File)

typescript, 4pp, in English.

'Convention entre Jacobao Jui Viti (Roi du Boi) d'une part et au nom de S.M. Empereur...', 7 July 1858 (File)

'...des Francais M. le Capitaine de Frigate Le Bris Durumain, Commandant la Corvette La Bayonnaise, fonde de pouvoir de M. le Gouverneur des establishments francais de l'Oceanie d'autre part' (3pp.)

Letter concerning the convention from L. Lejeune (Ovalau), 9 July 1926 (File)

Letter from Father Charles Mathieu to Emperor Napoleon III (draft, 12pp.), n.d. (File)

Tonga (1 letter from Joseph-Francois Roulleaux), 24 July 1844 (File)

Lakeba (1 letter (copy) from Joseph-Francois Roulleaux), 12 November 1845 (File)

Series. Correspondence (Missionaries - Fiji), 1881 - 1899

18 items

Letters, including a few reproduced in published works, from missionaries in Fiji, dating from 1881 to 1899. They were written to the Superior General Antoine Martin, Francois Poupinel, the Assistant Superior General, the Procurator of Missions and other fathers in Lyon, priests in other French cities, and Father Augustin Aubry in Sydney.

The correspondents include Augustin Aubry (Levuka), Isidore Bochettaz (Ovalau), Henri Bousquet, Pierre Chaix (Wairiki), Jean-Baptiste Chevreuil (Rotuma), Alfred Deniau, Laurent Faure (Solevu), Jean-Victor Favier (Rewa), Karl Flaus (Wairiki), Antoine Grosselin (Loreto), Karl Flaus (Wairiki), Joseph-Marie Guitet (Loreto), Hector Jay, Louis Hurlin (Metz, Levuka), Gabriel Lahaye (Sovelu), Francois Leberre (Solevu), Augustin Lepetit (Wairiki, Suva), Louis-Jean Lezer (Loreto), Stanilas Loyer (Levuka), Sister Marie St Clair (Loreto), Sister Marie Stanilaus (Rewa), Andre Marion (Levuka), Jean de Marzan (Wairiki), Louis Passant (Rewa), Eugene Rideau (Ba River), Emmanuel Rougier (Rewa), Jean-Baptiste Schneider (Rotuma), Fabien Terrien (Levuka), Victor Thierry (Ba River), Francois Trillot and Joseph Trouillet (Rotuma).

The order of the letters is as listed.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M431.

Wairiki, 12 November 1886 (File)

1 letter from Augustin Lepetit concerning the death of Rev. P. Courveck.

Fiji, 12 January 1887 (File)

Wairiki, 12 January 1887 (File)

1 letter from Augustin Lepetit to his parents.

Fiji (4 letters), 1887 (File)

'Lettre du A. Hurlin au R.P. Assistant pour les Missions', 5 July 1887 (File)

pp. 24-31 from an unidentified printed book.

Fiji (28 letters), 1881 - 1889 (File)

'Lettre du R. Pere Deniau, missionnaire apostolique aux Hebrides a Mesdames Poil et Isambert de Bonneval' (printed), 21 June 1888 (File)

Fiji (7 letters), 1882 - 1883 (File)

Fiji (1 letter), 5 July 1887 (File)

Nantes, 14 July 1887 (File)

1 letter from Sister Marie St Clair to her parents

Fiji (8 letters), 1887 (File)

'Lettres des Soeur Marie Saint Clair, n.d., et P. Hurlin a Mgr Vidal', 29 October 1887 (File)

(pp. 41-47 from an unidentified printed book)

Fiji (26 letters), 1887 - 1889 (File)

Fiji (3 letters), 1883 (File)

'Missions maristes aux Iles Fidji, lettre de Sœur Marie du Sacre-Coeur au R.P.M.', November 1883 (File)

pp. 185-191 from an unidentified printed book.

Fiji (4 letters), 1884 - 1885 (File)

'Prefecture apostolique de Fiji, lettre du P. Grosselin au P. Lenninger', 5 July 1885 (File)

(pp. 101-108 from an unidentified printed book.)

Fiji (66 letters), 1890 - 1899 (File)

Series. Correspondence (Missionaries - Fiji), 1850 - 1897

5 items

A small number of letters dating from the early years of the Fijian Mission, as well as three letters written in 1897. Most of the letters were written by C. Mathieu (Rewa). The other correspondents include Joseph-François Rouillaux, Jean-Victor Favier (Ovalau), Jean de Marzan (Solevu) and Sister Marie Agnes (Wairiki). The recipients are not named.

The order of the letters is as listed.

Archival History

Originally filmed on AJCP Reel M432.

Fiji (2 letters), 1857 - 1858 (File)

Sydney (1 letter), 6 July 1855 (File)

Rewa (21 letters), 1851 - 1855 (File)

Fiji (3 letters from Joseph-Francois Roulleaux), 1850 (File)

Fiji (3 letters), 1897 (File)


Top