Mother Agnes

Recognition of a Lifetime of Spendid Work in Fiji

CELEBRATIONS in honour of the Golden Jubilee of the Reverend Mother Agnes, OBE, were held at the Central Leper Hospital, Mokogai, Fiji, on January 15. Visitors who attended to honour Mother Agnes were the Very Reverend Father J. M. Oreve, SM, Pro- Vicar; the Rev. Fathers Froehle and B.

Wobkin, SM; the Director of Medical Services, the Hon. Dr. V. W. T. McGusty, CMG; Reverend Mother Irma and Sister Rita, of St. Joseph’s Convent, Suva; and Mr. W. E. Donovan. The Medical Super intendent at Makogai, Dr. C. J. Austin, MBE, and Mrs. Austin, accompanied by Dr. and Mrs. Hemming, were present at the ceremonies also.

The Reverend Mother Agnes was born in France in 1870 and after entering the church in 1893 she came to the Marist Mission in Fiji. She spent 24 years at the Wairiki Mission, on Taveuni, and was then transferred to the Leper Hospital at Makogai, where she has been the Superior for 25 years.

That the work of the hospital has been extended with such success is largely due to the efforts and devotion of this re markable and self-sacrificing woman. At the time of the hospital’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, His Majesty the King con ferred the Order of the British Empire upon her, in recognition of the work done by the Missionary Sisters of Mary at Makogai.

The celebrations began on the evening of January 14, and continued until the evening of January 15. They were a fit ting tribute to a woman who has devoted her whole life to the service of others, and an expression of the esteem and devotion in which she is held by the Sis ters and patients of the hospital.