Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

Suzanne Aubert and Our Lady of Compassion on the Whanganui River

Jerusalem / Hiruharama, New Zealand

On the banks of the Whanganui River, in a bend of New Zealand called Jerusalem (Hiruharama in Māori), lived and worked a woman known to the people as Meri Hōhepa: the Venerable Suzanne Aubert. French by birth, she arrived as a missionary and dedicated her entire life to the Māori people, the poor, abandoned children, and the sick. Today, the Church recognizes her with the title of Venerable, the first step on the path to sainthood.

Her spirituality was explicitly Marian, and this is well documented. She founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, and in that very name is condensed her entire vision: Mary as Mother of Compassion, she who stands with the poor, the sick, and the marginalized, as she stood at the foot of the Cross. From 1883, the mission in Jerusalem was her center, with a school, healthcare, and pastoral care, always under the protection of the Virgin Mary.

In the house in Jerusalem, there was an image of Our Lady of Compassion, and before it, Suzanne and the girls, both Maori and European, would gather to pray the Rosary and entrust the sick to her. What is documented here is precious in its simplicity: daily prayer, the Marian oratory, the favors that the congregation's archives generally attribute to the Virgin's intercession in dire situations, such as sick children or hunger. These accounts are usually presented in a general way, without embellishment; therefore, regarding a specific, publicly verifiable anecdote, it must be honestly stated that it is not documented. What is true and moving is the whole picture: a life of service sustained by the Rosary.

Suzanne Aubert also knew how to inculturate the faith, speak the language of the people, and respect their world, showing that Mary did not come to erase the Maori but to embrace them as a Mother. Today, Jerusalem/Hiruharama remains a place of pilgrimage centered around her and the devotion to Our Lady of Compassion.

Anyone who wants to understand Suzanne Aubert only needs to look at what she prayed: the Rosary, slowly, before the Mother of Compassion, with the little ones by her side. Therein lay her whole secret, because Mary's compassion is learned through prayer, and it is contagious when you share the Rosary with the poor.