Tag Archive for ‘Fr Delach’

A Nightmare and its Consequences

From the Golden Jubilee Speech of Fr Delach (3) Every house in which someone died became tapu, along with everything it contained. So when someone sick started to decline, they would be removed from the house and sheltered under a tent, a tree, or any other place, and they would die there in peace. René […]

A Nightmare and its Consequences – (2)

From the Golden Jubilee Speech of Fr Delach The second part of Fr Delach’s address to the students at the Institution Saint-Vincent at Senlis, Oise, which is about 40 km north of Paris, translated by Elizabeth Charlton, NZ Province Archivist. By defeating the spell placed on bim by the tohunga, the witch doctors, Fr Delach […]

A Nightmare and its Consequences (1)

I was seized with terror. I started to tremble. I was hypnotised, paralysed, incapable of moving, incapable of calling for help. The serpent was approaching rapidly.

Pā Hohepa’s Dream (2)

Fr Delach said there should never have been any need for the government to have to take steps to improve forcibly Maori living conditions, and much of their tradition and noble customs could have been preserved, and the Māori language perpetuated among them.

Fr Francis Delachienne sm, known as Fr Delach and as Pā Hohepa

Fr Delach arrived in NZ within months of his ordination in 1890. He spent his entire ministry in this country among Māori. He became steeped in te reo and tikanga – language and custom.