Marie Henriette Suzanne Aubert had a concern for the sick and disabled, shaped by suffering a serious childhood accident and through the influence of the Curé d’Ars. At age 16, convinced of a calling to serve God she joined a religious nursing order, against the wishes of her family. She served as a nurse in the Crimean War, mainly at the base hospital in France and on hospital ships.

Bishop Pompallier, known to her family, arranged for her to serve in New Zealand (NZ). she arrived in Auckland, in September 1860 and June 1861 joined the order of Joseph of the Congregation of the Holy Family. These French nuns with 2 Maori sisters were attached to the Maori girls’ school in Ponsonby. Within a year her Te Reo (Maori language) was good enough for her to be sent on mission work to Northland and the Waikato.

1868 - Bishop Pompallier left NZ, and the work of the mission became severely restricted, eventually ending. Bishop Croke told her to return to France, but she refused, saying, “I have come here for the Maori, I shall die in their midst.” Profound love for the Maori, led her from Auckland to Meeanee near Napier, then Jerusalem on the Wanganui River. With 3 sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth and a priest, they set up 2 schools, a dispensary and offered refuge to orphans and the chronically ill, within the impoverished community. The work of the mission was supported by work on the land and the sale of medicines down the river in Wanganui.

1879 - Mother Aubert published a Te Reo Prayer Book followed by a manual of Maori Conversation. Then a collection of spiritual writings called The Directory for the use of her sisters.

1884 - The Sisters of St Joseph withdrew, and the Daughters of our Lady of Compassion was formed in 1892, with Mother Marie Joseph as its superior.

1899 - It was apparent that the mission could do more in Wellington, so they moved. They did district nursing and founded St Joseph’s Home for Incurables and in 1902 a day nursery for children, followed by a children’s home. Then a soup kitchen for the unemployed. In 1907 they opened Our Lady’s Home of Compassion for handicapped and incurably ill children.

1913 - Mother Aubert after years of problems with Catholic hierarchy, wanting her to confine her work to Catholic circles, went to Rome to seek papal approval for her work. She gained this in 1917 but remained in Europe. World War I had started and her nursing skills were greatly needed.

1920 - She returned to NZ. In her finaal years concentrating on establishing nursing training at the Home of Compassion, approval was given after her death. It is said that her funeral was the largest ever held for a woman in New Zealand.

BORN: 1835, Lyons, France.

DIED: 1926, Wellington, New Zealand.