Northland Catholics have celebrated the 175th anniversary of their first mass on New Zealand soil.
Tradition has it that the nation's first Catholic mass was led by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Pompallier, the Bishop of Western Oceania, at the property of timber merchant Thomas and Mary Poynton on January 13, 1838.
Their home - at Totara Point on the banks of the Mangamuka River in North Hokianga - is long gone, but the spot is marked by a modest monument in a field beside the river.
The anniversary was celebrated with vespers (an evening prayer service) and a benediction at Totara Point on Saturday evening, followed by mass at Tamatea Marae at Motuti on Sunday.
Bishop Pompallier's remains were re-interred in 2002 at Hata Maria (St Mary's Church) in Motuti, a church originally built at the Catholic mission station across the harbour at Purakau.