History and origin: the Marists in the Kingdom of Polynesia

Tonga is one of the last monarchical kingdoms of the Pacific, and its religious history is a fascinating account of real conversions, rivalries between missionaries and the survival of the Tonganese identity in the face of the pressures of colonization. The Marist Fathers arrived in Tonga in 1842, just a year after the martyrdom of St Peter Chanel in Futuna, with the missionary ardor renewed by that first Pacific blood.

El contexto que encontraron era complejo. El rey Tāufa’āhau Tupou I —que reinó de 1845 a 1893 y unificó por primera vez el reino de Tonga bajo una sola corona— se había convertido al metodismo en 1831 bajo la influencia de los misioneros wesleyanos de la London Missionary Society. Esta conversión real marcó profundamente la identidad religiosa de Tonga: el metodismo se convirtió en la religión de la aristocracia y de la monarquía, mientras que el catolicismo encontraba su espacio entre los sectores populares y en las islas más alejadas de la capital.

However, the tolerance of King Tupou I - and his successors - towards the Catholic minority was remarkable. The Marist missionaries were able to develop their work without serious interference, built schools and hospitals, and established a community of faith that, although a minority, was solid and active. The devotion to the Virgin Mary - who in Tonganese is called Clay- became the distinctive sign of Tongan Catholicism in an environment dominated by Protestantism.

The venerated image: Mālia, the mother in the heart of the Pacific

In the cathedral of Nukuoalofa, the image of Our Lady who is most venerated is a size of the Immaculate Conception that presided over the side chapel since the early years of the 20th century. The image receives from the Tonganese faithful offerings that reflect local culture: ta’ovala (the Pandanus mat that the Tonganese are bound to the waist as a sign of respect), crowns of fresh flowers, and on large occasions, shells and pearls of the Pacific seas.

Tonganese devotion to Mary has a very pronounced family and domestic dimension. In many Catholic Tonganese homes, the image of the Virgin - often the same Immaculate or the Assumption - presides over the Speak (the house) and receives the prayers of the gathered family every night. This practice, which the Marist missionaries introduced in the 19th century and which families have maintained through generations of emigration to New Zealand, Australia and the United States, is one of the most persistent elements of the German Catholic identity in the diaspora.

"For us, the Tonganese, Mary is not a distant figure from heaven. She's in our house, in our family, in our prayers every night. She is the mother who never abandons us, even if we are far from the kingdom." - Fray Sione Taufa, a Tongan priest, homily in the cathedral of Nukuoalofa, August 15, 2018.

Arquitectura: la catedral de Vuna Road

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Nukuoalofa is located on Vuna Road, the main avenue that runs the north coast of the island of Tongatapu off the sea. The current building, built in the 20th century on the site of the first church of 1894, combines elements of the colonial-tropical style with proportions of the Polynesian religious architecture. A tower of moderate proportions marks the main access, and the white facade contrasts with the tropical vegetation surrounding the temple.

The interior is wide and functional, with a central ship without columns that allows all faithful to see the altar clearly. The decoration is sober, following the Marist tradition of unostentatious but deep piety: the major marble altar, the dark wood banks, and the images of the Virgin and the patron saints of Tonga illuminated by the candles that the faithful ignite in their particular intentions. The image of the Immaculate which presides over the side altar receives every day the fresh flowers that the women of the parish offer to it according to ancient custom.

The Marists and the Preservation of Tonganese Culture

One of the least known but most significant aspects of the Marxist presence in Tonga was its role in the preservation of Tonganese culture during the colonial period. At a time when other forces - commercial, political, even Protestant missionaries - were pressing towards a faster cultural assimilation, the Marist Fathers were betting on learning Tonganese, reducing it to writing, making grammar and dictionaries, and catechizing in the language of the people.

Father Chevron, a Marist missionary who worked in Tonga for more than forty years, was one of the first to develop a systematic grammar of Tonganese. His language notebooks, preserved in the Marist archives of Rome, contain religious vocabulary that was the basis for the translation of the catechism and Marian hymns into Tonganese. The Marian anthem in Tonganese, which are still being sung today in the cathedral of Nukuoalofa, are in part a direct legacy of the linguistic work of the first Marist missionaries.

Miracles and graces documented

The healing of Sister Lupe (1934)

The chronicles of the Sisters of Mercy, who served in the hospital of Nukuoalofa, record the healing of the sister Lupe Taufa, a religious of Tonganese origin, who suffered advanced tuberculosis and was declared incurable in 1934. After a ninth to the Immaculate Conception prayed by the entire religious community and the faithful of the cathedral, the sister was completely restored. He lived until he was 87 and his case is in the archives of the congregation.

Protection during Cyclone Isaac (1982)

The March 1982 cyclone Isaac, one of the most destructive that Tonga has suffered in the twentieth century, caused the destruction of thousands of homes and the death of several Tonganese. A family from the parish of Nukuoalofa who had taken refuge in the cathedral survived without injuries, while the houses of the surrounding neighborhood were destroyed. The testimony was collected by Father Joseph Mafi, then parish priest of the cathedral, and appears in the diocesan archives.

La reconciliación de los clanes de Vava’u (1958)

El misionero marista padre Auguste Bourdin narró en sus memorias la reconciliación de dos familias de Vava’u que llevaban décadas enfrentadas por una disputa de tierras. La reconciliación se selló el día de la Inmaculada Concepción de 1958, ante la imagen de la Virgen en la capilla de Neiafu, después de que el anciano de mayor edad de las dos familias soñara con una mujer que le pedía que devolviera la paz a su pueblo antes de morir. El anciano murió tres días después de la reconciliación, en paz.

• 1831El rey Tāufa’āhau se convierte al metodismo. El metodismo será la religión dominante de la monarquía tonganesa.
• 1842The Marist missionaries arrive in Tonga. Foundation of the first Catholic community in the archipelago.
• 1875Tonga adopts its first constitution. Religious tolerance is guaranteed. Catholics can freely practice their faith.
• 1894Construction of the first permanent church of the Immaculate in Nukuošalofa.
• 1934Healing of Sister Lupe, documented in the archives of the Sisters of Mercy.
• 1966Paul VI creates the Diocese of Tonga through the bull Prophetarum voices.
• 1982Cyclone Isaac. The cathedral protects the refugees. Testimony of grace documented.
• 1998John Paul II appoints the first Tongan bishop of the diocese. The Church of Tonga is rooted in local culture.

The sanctuary today

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Nukuoalofa is today the heart of a Catholic community of about 17,000 faithful in a country of 100,000 inhabitants. The diocese of Tonga covers not only the islands of Tonga but also the Tonganese communities of Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, creating a transnational network of Marian devotion that keeps alive the cultural and spiritual identity of the Tonganese people in the diaspora.

Pray the Holy Rosary