The Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, also known as Sisters of Compassion, is a religious institute founded in May, 1892. The Catholic order was founded by

Suzanne Aubert Suzanne Aubert (19 June 1835 – 1 October 1926), better known to many by her cleric name Sister Mary Joseph or Mother Aubert, was a Catholic sister who started a home for orphans and the under-privileged in Jerusalem, New Zealand on the Whangan ...

in Jerusalem, Hiruhārama, New Zealand. As of 2023, there are four main centres in the Wellington region with another operation in Fiji.

History

Suzanne Aubert arrived in New Zealand with a group of missionaries in 1860. Her vision was to become a member of the Third Order of Mary and to work with

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

. Aubert helped form the Holy Congregation in 1862 and they took over the Nazareth Institute near

Freemans Bay Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hist ...

in Auckland, which was a boarding school for Māori girls. Aubert taught at the school alongside Peata who was the first Māori nun and daughter of Ngāpuhi chief Rewa. Before moving to Hiruharama she cared for the sick in Auckland and

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

, where she gained knowledge of medicinal uses of native flora and fauna from Paeta and other Māori women 'tohunga rongoa' (healing specialists). She arrived in Hiruharama in 1883 with the interest of reviving a Catholic mission on the Whanganui River. Fluent in French, English and te reo Māori she published a Māori-English phrase book while there. Funding for the mission was helped by Aubert's selling of home remedies derived from native plants, which she had learned of in Hawkes Bay. The order was founded in Hiruharama, New Zealand in 1892. Concerned with the many social problems in Wellington she left Hiruharama arriving in Wellington on 6 January 1899, accompanied by Sisters Magdalen, Agnes and Marcelle. Suzanne was by then becoming known for her herbal remedies and her care of abandoned and disadvantaged children. In Wellington the sisters very soon established a Home for people with incurable illness; a soup kitchen and a crèche. The Home of Compassion at Island Bay opened in 1907, later becoming the headquarters of the Sisters of Compassion, and the formation house where the Sisters did their religious training. Our Lady of Compassion Chapel 04

In1913, frustrated with the church bureaucracy and wanting to obtain a Papal Decree for her Congregation, Suzanne Aubert, aged 78, travelled to Rome. In 1917

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...

conferred a pontifical Decree on the Congregation of the Daughters of

Our Lady of Compassion Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of "we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a Politics of Jamaica#Regulator ...

. In 1920 Suzanne returned to Wellington as Mother General of the Order she founded. Mother Aubert died at Island Bay on 1 October 1926, aged 91. Her funeral was reported in the newspapers as the greatest ever to be accorded to a woman in New Zealand.

Current ministries

The order has four main centers in New Zealand and one in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. The order has had women enter the order and profess vows as recently as September 2015. The Home of Compassion

Island Bay Island Bay is a coastal suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, situated south of the city centre. Island Bay lies on the bay which shares its name, one of numerous small bays off Cook Strait and west of Lyall Bay. 500m offshore in ...

is the site of the Sisters of Compassion headquarters and gathering place for the sisters. Located on the site is a Visitors’ Centre which celebrates the life and legacy of Mother Mary Joseph Suzanne Aubert. Aubert is buried on site. Jerusalem remains the Home of the Sisters of Compassion in partnership with the

Tangata Whenua In New Zealand, tangata whenua () is a Māori term that literally means "people of the land". It can refer to either a specific group of people with historical claims to a district, or more broadly the Māori people as a whole. Etymology Accordi ...

. The order's current leader is Sr. Margaret Anne Mills DOLC. At present the Sisters of Compassion are engaged in a range of ministries which aim to relieve human suffering. These include: * Nursing and caring for the aged, disabled and sick at St. Joseph's Home of Compassion in Upper Hutt and St. Peter Chanel Home of Compassion in Fiji; * education of school children and adults; * pastoral care; * prison and hospital chaplaincies; * social work and counselling; * parish ministry; * feeding the needy in their Wellington soup kitchen; * serving as advocates; * providing residential accommodation for the elderly.

After Suzanne Aubert

For some time Suzanne Aubert had foreseen the tremendous advantage of having the Sisters trained as general nurses. After many discussions with the Department of Health, a training hospital was added to the works at Island Bay in 1923. Following government legislation in 1930, the hospital was registered as a grade ‘A’ Training School in 1932. The congregation grew, and in 1930 a convent was built adjoining the Island Bay Home, with a wing for the Novitiate. The following year the Aubert Home of Compassion was opened in Wanganui for the aged. In 1933, Archbishop Redwood blessed the foundation stone of St. Joseph's Home at Heretaunga, which housed male residents of all ages suffering from chronic diseases. In the same year a nursery for children under 2 years of age was opened in Auckland, and in 1939 a four-bed maternity home was added to this work. In 1939 a St Vincent's Home of Compassion was opened by The Minister of Health,

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Lab ...

in Hafyanui Crescent, Ponsonby, Auckland. In 1941, St. Anne's Home, for orphan girls, and chronically ill residents was opened at

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

(Australia). A modern nursery adjoining the Island Bay Home was built during the same year. From 1945 - 1949 the Sisters helped with the domestic work at

Holy Cross Seminary Holy Cross College or Holy Cross Seminary is the national Roman Catholic seminary of New Zealand for the training of priests. It was first opened in 1900 in Mosgiel and was relocated to Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland, Auckland in 1997. Estab ...

until the arrival of the Sisters of Cluny. In December 1949 four sisters went to

Castledare Boys' Home Castledare Boys' Home was a residential college in Wilson, Western Australia owned and operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers from March 1929 to 1983 and established for the treatment and training of intellectually handicapped childr ...

(Australia) to help the Christian Brothers care for the 6- to 10-year-old boys, and remained there until December 1951. On 28 March 1949, Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi, obtained the Decree of Final Approbation of the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion and its Constitutions from Rome. St Vianney's Home in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

was opened in 1951 and 1952 three more Homes of Compassion were established. Loreto Home in Wagga Wagga (Australia), St Raphael's in Carterton which included a registered primary school), and Chanel Home of Compassion (Fiji). The work in Fiji expanded when the Sisters taught at the newly opened St. Agnes primary school. Bishop Warren of the

Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

(Australia) in 1965, invited the Sisters of Compassion to live and work among the Aboriginal people in

Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th ce ...

. The Sisters provided a dispensary and education from kindergarten level to year 3. The Sisters were there until the end of 1988. The following decades have seen the Sisters work as Hospital and Prison Chaplains, Pastoral and Social workers in Flaxmere, Tonga, and Christchurch. Because of the renewed interest in Herbal Remedies, the Herbal Remedy (

Rongoā refers to the traditional Māori medicinal practices in New Zealand. Rongoā was one of the Māori cultural practices targeted by the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, until lifted by the Maori Welfare Act 1962. In the later part of the 20th centur ...

) Analysis Project was initiated in 1993 to analyse the remaining medicines. The project also reconnected the Sisters of Compassion with hapū from Hawke's Bay and Peata's home area in the Bay of Islands, where Suzanne had earlier gained knowledge of rongoā, as well as from

Ngāti Hau Ngāti Hau are the Māori ''iwi'' (tribes) of the Whanganui River area in New Zealand. There are two stories of where the name ''Ngāti Hau'' comes from. One is that it comes from Haupipi, who arrived in New Zealand on the '' Aotea'' canoe, afte ...

and Ngāti Ruaka on the Whanganui River. The project, led by Dr Max Kennedy of

Industrial Research Ltd Industrial Research Limited (IRL) was a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand that was established in 1992 and merged into Callaghan Innovation, a new Crown entity, on 1 February 2013. IRL provided research, development and commercialisation s ...

, was unable to decode the recipes. However, it successfully documented Suzanne Aubert's rongoā expertise and experience, defined and protected the 100-year-old intellectual property and led to a distinguished biotechnology award for Suzanne Aubert and for the

Māori healers In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teache ...

and herbalists who assisted her. During recent years because of changes in society and the diminishing numbers of Sisters, the sisters have had to make the difficult decision to close several institutions. Today the Sisters continue the vision of Suzanne Aubert by addressing the needs of society in the ways that they are able. At Our Lady's Home of Compassion Island Bay, their services include a small Conference and Retreat Centre. In the Wellington inner city, the Suzanne Aubert Compassion Centre operates a soup kitchen and the Sisters visit people in need. In Upper Hutt affordable quality housing for the elderly is provided. Homes of Compassion for the care of the disabled and elderly are situated at Heretaunga and Suva (Fiji). The Sisters of Compassion work with people in Wellington,

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, Jerusalem,

Flaxmere Flaxmere ( mi, Paharakeke) is a township in the Hastings District and outlying suburb of Hastings City, in the Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand's North Island. It consists of a series of cul-de-sacs, radiating from a main street. History The ...

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city cent ...

Wairoa Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. The town is the northernmost in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west of ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

(Australia). The sisters are involved in education, social work, pastoral ministries and care of the elderly. They are also Co-workers, employees, and Directors on Boards. The Mother Aubert Home of Compassion Trust Board established in 1917 holds the land, buildings and investments of the Congregation in trust for the general purpose of maintaining and carrying on the charitable works of the sisters. In 2022 Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard was appointed Co-Chief Executive Māori-Tumu Whakarae. Sister Margaret Anne Mills said of the appointment, "Our multicultural reality is only made real and will only be successful if we understand our bicultural foundation... It is an expression of our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

The making of a saint

The process leading towards the

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

of Suzanne Aubert as a saint is now underway. A Diocesan Inquiry was held in Wellington during 2004. All the information gathered during the enquiry was collated and sent to Rome for further investigation. Mother

has been declared 'venerable'.

Notes

External links