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Air Tahiti Magazine 54
culture reapprovisionnement et un centre de commerce avec les mangareviens. cependant, jusqu en 1834, tres peu d europeens ont definitivement elu domicile sur ces terres, alors qu a tahiti, europeens et missionnaires protestants de la lms demeurent depuis plus de 30 ans. car des la fin du 18e siecle, le pacifique sud attise la convoitise des grandes puissances coloniales europeennes, qui cherchent a implanter de nouvelles colonies pour etendre leur influence. une veritable course-poursuite se livre alors entre missionnaires protestants anglais et missionnaires catholiques francais. a cette epoque, les iles de l actuelle polynesie francaise representent un terrain vierge susceptible d interesser les deux nations. plus que religieuse, la puissance des missionnaires etait veritablement coloniale. des 1797, la lms debarque donc a tahiti pour «sauver» du paganisme cette nouvelle population. les missionnaires protestants evangelisent et parviennent a regir les iles de la societe, les australes et les tuamotu, mais echouent aux marquises ou les catholiques se precipitent alors en 1838. quality oyster shells were good business and this made rikitea an important stopping and provisioning point as well as the center of commerce for the mangarevans. however, until 1834 very few europeans elected to actually live on these islands while in tahiti europeans including protestant missionaries from the lms had resided for over 30 years. at the end of the 18th century the south pacific was like a prize that all the great european colonial powers wanted to win. these countries were looking to set up new colonies to extend their influence. a race began between the protestant missionaries of england and french catholic missionaries. during this period, the actual islands of french polynesia were virgin territory open to the interests of the two nations. more than religion, the power of missionaries was in their ability to colonize. from 1797, the lms had been working on tahiti to "save" the population from their paganism. the protestant missionaries evangelized and governed the society, tuamotu and austral islands but failed in the marquesas where the catholics hurried to in 1838. providence will ! take care of you in 1825 the congregation of the fathers of the sacred heart, also called the "picpuciens," received a mandate that would bring the catholic faith to oceana. numerous missions had already been made, notably to tahiti, but without success. the lms had surged towards the pacific islands and had taken position. father honore laval, at age 26, along with three other picpucien fathers, liausu, caret and murphy, left bordeaux on january 22, 1834. their destination, on board the ships sylphide and then the peruviana, was the gambier islands by way of peru and valparaiso, chile. without a coin in their pocket they sailed away with the belief that "providence would take care" of them. expatriated to the other side of the world towards the unknown, the missionaries tested the limits of their fervent and sincere faith. when the four fathers disembarked on august 7, 1834 in akamaru, they met "docile" people who, it seemed, wouldn't have trouble accepting their message. and surprisingly, this was so. the first mass would be celebrated on august 15, 1834, only eight days after the missionaries' arrival. two years later on august 25, 1836, maputeao, king of the gambier, was baptized and became king gregorio. the gambier archipelago was then to see the first catholic stone church in french polynesia. this edifice was that of saint rafael of aukeni blessed on october 24, 1840. of all those who were "sent by god" to the gambier, the one profoundly marked everyone's spirits was father honore laval. his work, which was miraculous for his time, is still visible today throughout the archipelago. laval commanded the construction of dozens of churches as well as a cathedral, a convent and a school. between 1840 and 1870 hundreds of religious edifices were constructed with only man power and rudimentary tools. the objective was to create a place for god and a religious education for some 4000 souls. laval was authoritative and zealous yet profoundly spiritual and was able, with the help of his compatriots, to convert the entire population of the gambier in less that seven years. the evangelization was dazzlingly fast and arouses some ethical questions. how did the missionaries do it? why did the mangarevans so quickly abandon their traditional beliefs? as well as father laval's two books, other witnesses from this > period give us some elements of a response. the mission to r e v u e d e b o r d n ° 5 4 / a i r ta h i t i / o n - b o a r d m a g a z i n e n ° 5 4 3 3 23
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