Mother Aubert and her orphan schoolchildren at Jerusalem. (NZ Herald Archive)
Mother Aubert and her orphan schoolchildren at Jerusalem. (NZ Herald Archive)
In December 1910 a function was held in the Wellington Town Hall to honour Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, founder of the Sisters of Compassion order, for her half century of selfless service to the people of New Zealand.
"This public testimony to the Reverend Mother," said Governor-General Lord Islington, "wasrepresentative of all classes, all creeds and denominations."
Aubert worked among the poor and the sick, especially at the settlement of Jerusalem - Hiruharama - and later in Wellington where she established a foundling home for illegitimate children. But even as she was being honoured for good deeds that would have filled the lifetimes of lesser people to overflowing, she continued to work.
In 1910 she set up a foundling home in Auckland - first in Hobson St and then in a Mt Eden mansion built by businessman J.C. Firth before he went bankrupt.
The Herald welcomed the initiative. "The good work which has been done in Wellington for suffering and incurable children has made the name of the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert known through the Dominion," it said.
And it urged readers to do what they could to help: "It is to be hoped that the citizens will take the opportunity of assisting these noble women in their national work."
In The Story of Suzanne Aubert, Jessie Munro writes that Aubert's "vision of large-hearted spiritual neighbourliness - call it arohanui - was an open vista. One by one, thousands of New Zealanders drew alongside her ..."
And to this day, the Sisters of Compassion continue the good work of Mother Aubert, our New Zealander of the Year for 1910.
