By Angela Gregory
HOKIANGA - Bishop Pompallier, the pioneering Catholic missionary of the north, is returning to his second home - 130 years after his death.
His remains have been found and exhumed from a Paris cemetery and the Catholic Church here will prepare a special Maori carved coffin for his re-burial
in the Hokianga.
His new resting place will be Totara Pt, 8km north of Kohukohu, where he used a portable altar to take the country's first Mass in January 13, 1838. A chapel will be built at the site to house his remains in a crypt.
The $300,000 chapel is expected to become a national shrine for Catholics after the interment planned for January 13, 2001.
The French priest who exhumed the bishop's remains, Father Jean Yves Riocreux, found a Maori necklace alongside the full skull with white hair, bones, part of his cassock, and a shoe.
News of the French authorities' agreement for the bishop's return to New Zealand has delighted Catholics here. The Bishop of Auckland, Pat Dunn, who has visited the Paris grave, said the return would be "an historic occasion for the Catholic Church in this country."
"Bishop Pompallier was a great missionary bishop who gave his best years to New Zealand."
The Episcopal Vicar for Maori, Pa Henare Tate, said yesterday that the breakthrough after years of effort was exciting.
"I have just come back from Mass where I announced the news ... there was a silence, the spirit of awe."
Pa Tate said Maori had huge respect for Bishop Pompallier, who learned their language and had a strong rapport with Maori chiefs.
The bishop established a press at what is now Pompallier House at Russell. He became a British subject in 1850 and was appointed Bishop of Auckland in 1860. He returned to France in 1868, where he died three years later.
Pa Tate said the body would likely arrive next November and would be taken around the country.
