Author to tell story of first 'district nurse'

If you lived in Hawke’s Bay in the 1870s and were sick, poor or in desperate need, there was a good chance that you would have been visited by French nun, Suzanne Aubert.

A talk by Jessie Munro, author of the award winning book The Story of Suzanne Aubert, will be held at the Hastings War Memorial Library on Saturday 7th July at 2.00pm. The talk will celebrate the life of this extraordinary woman and look at her part in our community’s history.

Hastings Deputy Mayor and member of the Landmarks Advisory Group Cynthia Bowers says Suzanne was Hawke’s Bays first ‘district nurse’ and studied Rongoa; traditional Maori medicine.

“Mother Aubert was known as ‘The Sister’ to the sick and poor she visited, and ‘Meri’ to her Maori friends,” said Cr Bowers.

“She concocted potions and elixirs in her little red shed at Meeanee, successfully combining Maori and Western medicines. She was the first person to prepare medicines from New Zealand native plant extractions on a commercial basis.”

Suzanne and her Sisters were dedicated to the wellbeing of others and opened the earliest childcare and disabled centres in New Zealand which included a soup kitchen and a hospital. These services were provided free of charge and available to everyone, regardless of race or creed.

Suzanne also taught, studied, wrote and published numerous works on the Maori language. Her funeral in 1926 was a significant national commemoration of her life and work. In 1997, the Catholic Church in New Zealand initiated the process through which Suzanne Aubert may eventually be canonised as New Zealand’s first saint.

An exhibition of Suzanne Aubert artefacts will be on display in the Hastings War Memorial Library during Matariki Celebrations, 11 June – 14 July.

The Process of Beatification and Canonisation: The making of a New Zealand Saint

Suzanne Aubert, founder of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, has always been held in high esteem by the people of New Zealand.  She died in 1926, but her name and the work she started, still lives on. Since 1988, the New Zealand Anglican Church has recognised her as a saintly woman in their Book of Common Prayer calendar.

The Catholic Church must follow a formal process in order that Suzanne Aubert can be recognised as a holy person or saint. In 1997 the New Zealand Bishops’ Conference agreed to support the first part of this process, which is called the “Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert”.  The publication of her biography has been another of the main steps in the process while her ‘virtues’ will be revealed from scrutinising her writings.

There have also been many prayers for the intercession of Suzanne Aubert, requesting cures and miracles.  Evidence will be collected and witnesses’ testimony examined to verify a miracle can be attributed to her.  When sufficient proof of her sanctity has been gathered, it will be sent to the Vatican, which then decides whether or not to proclaim Suzanne Aubert as a holy person.

“To be a Saint we have only to do the Will of God, that is all that He asks from us.” - Suzanne Aubert’s Directory page 361;35