Church of Our Lady of Walarano (Malekula)
On the north-eastern coast of Malekulathe second largest island in Vanuatu, the church of Our Lady of Walarano is raised, the result of the mission effort of the Marist Fathers who arrived in the New Herbrids in 1887. Malekula was - along with the Holy Spirit - the land where Catholicism was most strongly rooted in the archipelago, favored by the French presence and by generations of local catechists who maintained faith among the Melanesian communities.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The first Catholic attempt in the New Hebridas (now Vanuatu) began from Fr. Charles Leforestier SM, who landed in Mele (Elate) in 1887 with three Marist and catechist priests from New Caledonia, laying the foundations of a mission network that soon reached the north of the archipelago.
- Fr. J. N. Pionnier SM carried a mission diary in Port Sandwich (now Lamap), in southern Malekula, between 1889 and 1899; its pages, preserved in the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau of the ANU, are the most direct testimony of the hard start of evangelization on the island.
- The French colonial influence in the north of Malekula facilitated the implementation of Catholicism in the face of the Anglo-speaking Protestantism that dominated the southern islands; the communities of the north adopted the Marian faith transmitted by the Marists and retained the chapels and schools of the mission throughout the twentieth century.
- In 1901, the Apostolic Prefecture of the New Herds was erected with Victor Doucé as the first Prefect; in 1904, he was raised to Apostolic Vicariate and in 1966, Paul VI raised it to the Diocese of Port-Vila, of Latin rite, whose bishop today belongs to the Society of Mary (Marists).
- The present diocese of Port-Vila has 22 parishes throughout the archipelago; Walarano is listed as "Notre-Dame," the only Marian temple registered in Malekula, in the north-eastern part of the island, opposite the Wala island.
Notre-Dame de Walarano (Marista mission in northern Malekula)
Church of Our Lady in Walarano, north-eastern coast of Malekula, Vanuatu. Inheritance of the Marist mission started in 1887, in the area of the archipelago where Catholicism took deeper roots thanks to French influence. The only Marian temple registered in Malekula according to the directory of the Diocese of Port-Vila.
"Our Lady, who accompanied the first Marist missionaries on these Pacific islands, remains the mother and guide for the Malekula communities that retain the faith received.
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