New Zealand

New Zealand Marist Brothers' Province

New Zealand

Marist Brothers
and New Zealand Catholic Education
- an Historical Sketch

Our History

In 1836 Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier, four Marist Fathers and three Brothers left France for New Zealand, the first group of Catholic missionaries to come to this country.

After leaving two missionaries each at Wallis and Futuna Islands in the Western Pacific, Bishop Pompallier, Father Louis Servant and Brother Michel Colombon arrived in the Hokianga district of New Zealand in January 1838.

As the numbers of Catholics in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands increased, they began to build Catholic schools with donated money and labour. Parents and teachers shared a vision of a school system which would teach their children the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic tradition while providing a general education in no way inferior to that of the state schools. From the 1850s the schools were staffed mainly by Catholic religious orders including Marist Brothers from France, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

1876-1889

In July 1876 Marist Brothers Sigismund, Papinien and Edwin began teaching at St Mary's Catholic School, Thorndon, Wellington near the Cathedral in Hill Street. It was replaced by a new school building in Boulcott St which became a centre of Catholic life in Wellington. The Brothers opened another school in Napier in 1878. Thereafter the history of the Marist Brothers in New Zealand runs parallel to the history of Catholic education in our country.

In 1885 the Brothers began teaching at Sacred Heart School, Auckland on the corner of Wellington and Pitt Streets. Six years later Brother Augustinus opened a secondary school next door, later named Sacred Heart College. Marist Brothers began teaching at schools in, Christchurch (1888), Nelson (1890), Timaru (1891), Greymouth (1892), Wanganui and Invercargill (1897).

1900-1940

In 1916 the Marist Brothers' Province of New Zealand was established, extending to Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Gilbert Islands and Ocean Island (now Kiribati and Banaba). The New Zealand Province set up a complete training programme for the three stages of a Marist Brother's spiritual and professional formation: Lavalla College Juniorate at Tuakau in the Waikato (1926); St Joseph's Novitiate at Claremont near Timaru (1933); and a Scholasticate at Sacred Heart College, Auckland (1935).

Schools in Tasman Street, Newtown and Hawkestone St, Thorndon replaced Wellington's Boulcott St school. In Auckland, Sacred Heart School re-opened in Vermont St, Ponsonby and Sacred Heart College re-opened in Richmond Rd. Between 1920 and 1940 four more Marist Brothers' schools opened: at Miramar in Wellington, and in Hamilton, Gisborne and Palmerston North, the latter three with small secondary departments. New schools were built at Napier, Christchurch, Greymouth and Invercargill.

A Marist Rugby Football Club was founded in Napier in 1908. In the following years others flourished in Auckland, Hamilton, Lower Hutt, Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill where they had their own clubrooms.

1945 to the present day

St Joseph's College in Masterton opened in 1945. In time, St Joseph's and the four other independent secondary schools in Masterton pioneered a pattern of cooperation by which the schools shared the talents of their senior class teachers. Xavier College in Christchurch opened in 1945. It amalgamated with Sacred Heart Girls' College in the 1980's to become Catholic Cathedral College.

In 1946 the Marist Brothers began teaching at St Peter's (Hato Petera) College, Northcote, Auckland, and at St Bernard's Primary School, Lower Hutt. Marcellin College (left) opened in Epsom, Auckland (1958) and Edmund Campion College (now Campion College)in Gisborne (1960).

In 1962 St John's College opened in Hamilton; and in Auckland, a new Marist Brothers' training college: Marcellin Hall. The new Marist College in Invercargill shared its senior class teaching resources with St Catherine's College and the two State secondary schools in the city in the pattern of co-operation pioneered in Masterton. The Catholic colleges amalgamated as Verdon College in 1982.

Cardinal McKeefry Marist Brothers' School opened in Wilton, Wellington (1970) and St Peter's College in Palmerston North (1974). In 1976 Edmund Campion College, Gisborne amalgamated with a girls secondary school, St Mary's College, to form one of the first co-educational schools in the Catholic school system: Campion College.

Marist House opened in Naenae, Lower Hutt in 1971 to enable prospective Marist Brothers to prepare for the novitiate. The Naenae community's keynotes were freedom with responsibility, study - including Scripture, theology and psychology - a sound prayer life and personal development and commitment by living and working as a community.

Marcellin Hall became the home of the Chanel Institute which offered older Religious an opportunity to become acquainted with modern developments in theology, Scripture and liturgy. The Juniorate at Lavalla College, Tuakau was closed and the buildings became a centre for retreats and conferences.

In 1975 the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act became law in New Zealand. It provided for independent schools with a special philosophical character to be integrated into the State school system, allowing them to receive some of the same funding as the State schools received. At the same time these integrated schools were able to preserve their special character.

Marist Brothers' High School, Greymouth and St Mary's High School amalgamated to form John Paul II High School (1980) and Marist College and St Catherine's College Invercargill amalgamated in 1982 to become Verdon College.

Since that time, the numbers of Brothers teaching in the schools has diminished. Lay leadership of the schools is commonplace, and schools are governed by Boards of Trustees, with proprietor, parent, staff and student representation on them.