Rejuvenated basilica

LOMBARD ROMANESQUE: St Patrick's Basilica.

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Now restored in its centennial year, a Waimate landmark resounded for decades to the accents of presiding French priests, writes KEN FRASER.

When a casket containing the remains of 19th- century French bishop Pompallier was brought to Waimate on a national tour in 2002, it rested in a former base for French priests preaching to mainly Irish worshippers and offspring.

Jean Baptiste Francois Pompallier's Marist priests were until the 1880s - as Frenchmen - the main ethnic group among New Zealand's Catholic clergy. Assisting change was an influx of Irish immigrants and clergy.

But French priests, beginning with John Goutenoire in 1881 and ending with Leopold Carcenac (1939-47), continued to serve with distinction at Waimate, Carcenac being the last French Marist cleric stationed in New Zealand. The fusion of French accents and Irish heritage seemed to work, in contrast to the linguistic frustrations aired by West Coasters.

Waimate was a logical part of the itinerary seven years ago for the journey of Pompallier bones and relics after their exhumation on the outskirts of Paris and, finally, re- interment at Hokianga in the Far North of New Zealand, the country in which Pompallier directed his "Sons of France" for three decades.

Visiting French priest Jean Baptiste Chataigner said the first Waimate Mass in 1867 at the home of Larry and Sarah Tooher. Their bluestone cottage is just up the road from St Patrick's Basilica, which was completed in 1909 after congregations outgrew a wooden church built in 1876. The latter (also dedicated to St Patrick) was in 1934 shifted 50km to Washdyke on the northern outskirts of Timaru.

Depicted in one of the Waimate basilica's beautiful stained-glass windows is St Peter Chanel, who sailed with Pompallier from Le Havre, France, in 1837. As members of the new Marist order, their mission was to evangelise the far- flung islands of the southwestern Pacific, Chanel becoming the First Martyr of the South Seas after being murdered on the island of Futuna in 1841.

The basilica in its centennial year has also completed a nine-year $600,000 restoration programme. Parishioners and others in their donations and fundraising have emulated some of the faith and sacrifice of the early congregations.

A third of the cost has been paid by the Lottery Grants Board and there have also been contributions from other charities "including the Mid and South Canterbury Community Trust and the Lion Foundation", says John Foley, chairman of the restoration trust.

The Lombard Romanesque basilica designed by Francis William Petre, perhaps New Zealand's most significant neo-classical architect, is nationally recognised with a Category I (Historic Places Trust) registration and top heritage rating in the Waimate District Town Plan.

Oblong with a semi-circular apse accentuating Petre's masterful use of light, the structure has for most of its life been known as St Patrick's Church but is now "confirmed as architecturally a basilica", Foley says. It makes Waimate the smallest town in Australasia with a basilica in its midst.

Built in concrete, Oamaru stone and bricks from Quinn's kilns at nearby Makikihi, the basilica's airiness and Carrara marble from Tuscany are among interior features, including marble altar rails recovered from among the church piles for the restoration. The tower's three bells were cast in Belgium.

Long concrete columns support the organ loft and choir gallery above the main entrance of the nave, the Hobday organ having been restored in 1996 at a cost of $70,000.

Christchurch organist Martin Setchell has been among the visiting performers at fundraising concerts in St Patrick's, as has renowned soprano Dame Malvina Major, who has received standing ovations.

Ecumenism is also alive and well at Waimate, with St Patrick's and St Augustine's Anglican Church having recently held a combined dinner and auction in the Waimate Stadium. The 136-year-old St Augustine's has a $500,000 restoration programme and will share proceeds from the next concert in St Patrick's Basilica.

"We (the basilica trust) plan to have two major events (concerts) every year in the basilica, " says Foley.

"And the basilica is open to the general public every day of the week, Mondays to Sundays, 9am to 5pm."

The landmark on the northern entrance to the town's main street seems to have an assured future.

Perhaps that's a widening smile on the face of the statue of Ireland's patron saint near the front pews.

Saturday, February 27, 7.30pm: Martin Setchell, organist, and the Christ's College Chapel Choir perform in St Patrick's Basilica, Waimate.

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