22 Facts About Francis Redwood

Francis William Mary Redwood SM, was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Metropolitan of New Zealand.

Francis Redwood's parents were Henry Redwood and his wife Mary.

Francis Redwood's father had bought land from the New Zealand Company, and the family settled in Waimea West in the Nelson district.

Francis Redwood was educated at the Nelson school of Fr Antoine Garin, SM.

Francis Redwood was ordained priest at Maynooth in 1865 and gained his baccalaureate in theology at Dublin.

Francis Redwood was consecrated by Henry Edward Cardinal Manning at St Anne's, Spitalfields, London, on 17 March 1874.

Francis Redwood spent his time appealing for funds in France and personnel in Ireland before returning to New Zealand in November 1874.

When consecrated second Bishop of Wellington, Francis Redwood was the youngest Roman Catholic bishop in the world.

Francis Redwood favoured the appointment of his fellow Marist John Grimes, who was English-born, as Bishop of Christchurch, but in 1885 the first plenary council of Australasian bishops recommended that the appointment go to a diocesan priest and that Dunedin be the new archdiocese.

Francis Redwood was created archbishop by a papal brief dated 13 May 1887.

Francis Redwood established numerous churches, hospitals, and orphanages, was a founder of St Patrick's College, Wellington in 1885, and lived to open the new St Patrick's College, Silverstream in 1931 in the Hutt Valley.

Francis Redwood expanded and completed St Mary's Cathedral and, after it was destroyed, replaced it with a basilican church which eventually became Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Francis Redwood encouraged the foundation of the New Zealand order, the Sisters of Compassion.

Francis Redwood founded the Seminary in Hawke's Bay and lent his support to the foundation of Holy Cross College, Mosgiel.

Francis Redwood became the first life member of the Early Settlers' and Historical Society, Wellington.

Francis Redwood agreed that alcohol was one of the evils of the day, but advocated temperance rather than prohibition.

Francis Redwood resolutely resisted pressure to support prohibition, and a pastoral letter of 1911 urging Catholics to vote against prohibition was widely believed to have been responsible for the defeat of the measure in that year.

At the Diocesan Synod, in 1878, Francis Redwood framed the practical Canon law for the New Zealand Church.

Francis Redwood's Statutes provided a pattern later followed by the Auckland and Dunedin dioceses.

Francis Redwood convened and presided over the first Provincial Council of Wellington, and played a prominent role in the first Plenary Council of Sydney.

Archbishop Francis Redwood died at Wellington on 3 January 1935, aged 95.

Francis Redwood was succeeded by Archbishop Thomas O'Shea SM, Coadjutor-Archbishop since 1913.