Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix
Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix
Early life
Villefeix was born near
Chaplain
Villefeix was invited by the Surville family to be the chaplain for an expedition to the South Pacific on the ship Saint Jean Baptiste led by navigator and explorer
First Mass in New Zealand
Villefeix was the first Christian minister to set foot on New Zealand, pre-dating Samuel Marsden by forty-four years; and he was the first ordained minister to lead a Christian service in New Zealand waters. As a priest he was required to say Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation (of which Christmas Day 1769, when Saint John Baptiste was still in Doubtless Bay, was one). Villefeix is also recorded as leading prayers for the sick on Christmas Eve and for burials in Doubtless Bay.[4][5]
South America
In April 1770, the Surville expedition reached Peru and Captain Surville drowned while trying to land through surf on a beach. Seventeen months later, in 1771, while the Saint Jean-Baptiste was being held by Spanish authorities in Callao, Surville's nephew and Villefeix left the ship to go goldmining up a river.[4]
Parish priest
Villefeix returned to France and he too became parish priest at his home town, Étouars, where he died in 1780, aged 52.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c John Dunmore, "From Nieuw-Zeeland to Nouvelle-Zélande", Marist messenger, February 2020, p. 16
- ^ John Dunmore. 'Surville, Jean François Marie de - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10
- ^ King 2003, p. 110.
- ^ a b c d e Michael King, God's Farthest Outpost: A History Of Catholics In New Zealand, Penguin Books, Auckland, 1997, p. 73.
- ^ King, Michael. The Penguin History of New Zealand. p. 110.
References
- King, Michael (2003). The Penguin History of New Zealand. Auckland: Penguin.