Each year members of the Italian community in Island Bay make sure that Mary’s Altar at
St Francis de Sales Church reflects the special significance of 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption.
Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier was the first Catholic bishop of New Zealand.
At the end of the first Mass he celebrated in Aotearoa New Zealand, on 13 January 1838, at Hokianga, he dedicated the country to Mary under the title of her Assumption.
The New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference, in a pastoral letter in 1988 said:
“In dedicating New Zealand to Mary in her Assumption, Bishop Pompallier placed our country under the protection of Mary as she is now – alive, body and soul, rejoicing in the happiness of God’s kingdom.”
UPDATE: