The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion. Both Samoa's early history and its more recent history are strongly connected to the histories of Tonga and Fiji, nearby islands with which Samoa has long had genealogical links as well as shared cultural traditions.
Apia is the capital of Samoa, and its only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.
The Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, officially in Latin Diœcesis Honoluluensis, is an ecclesiastical territory or particular church of the Catholic Church in the United States. The diocese comprises the entire state of Hawaiʻi and the unincorporated Hawaiian Islands.
The Catholic Church in Thailand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal is a commemorative medal instituted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953.
The Society of Mary (Marists), commonly known as simply the Marist Fathers, is an international Roman Catholic religious congregation, founded by Father Jean-Claude Colin and a group of other seminarians in Lyon, France, in 1816. The society's name derives from the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the members attempt to imitate in their spirituality and daily work.
The Northern Solomons were the more northerly group of islands in the Solomon Islands archipelago over which Germany declared a protectorate in 1885. Initially the German Solomon Islands Protectorate included in the south-east Choiseul, Santa Isabel and the Shortlands with highly northern, vast, mainly water Ontong Java Atoll that in 1900 were conferred to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Greatest of the region, Bougainville, continued under German administration until World War I when it fell to Australia, and after the war, it formally passed to Australian jurisdiction under a League of Nations mandate.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa–Apia consists of the Independent State of Samoa.
The Most Reverend George Hamilton Pearce, SM, DD was the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Apia, Samoa, and the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva, Fiji.
Msgr. Giovanni Battista Dieter, S.M., D.D., Vicar Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago, was born in Kleinhausen (Germany) on 30 September 1903. He professed the evangelical counsels on 17 April 1929 for the Society of Mary (Marists). He was subsequently ordained to the presbyterate for the Marists on 29 June 1933. He was consecrated to the episcopate as Titular Bishop of Ierafi and Vicar Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago on 19 May 1954. He died in Auckland, New Zealand on 29 June 1955.
Pio Taofinuʻu, S.M. was a Roman Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Samoa-Apia. Born in the village of Falealupo on the island of Savai'i in Samoa, he was the first Polynesian bishop and cardinal. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in the Consistory of 5 March 1973, of the Title of St. Onofrio. His father was Taofinuʻu Solomona and his mother, Mau.
Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier was the first Roman Catholic bishop in New Zealand and, with priests and brothers of the Marist order, he organised the Roman Catholic Church throughout the country. He was born in Lyon, France. He arrived in New Zealand in 1838 as Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, but made New Zealand the centre of his operations. In 1848 he became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland. He returned to France in 1868 and died in Puteaux, near Paris, on 21 December 1871, aged 69. His exhumed remains were returned to New Zealand in 2001 and they were re-interred under the altar at St Mary's, Motuti, in 2002.
Sir Carl August Berendsen was a New Zealand civil servant and diplomat. After being in the Education and Labour Departments he joined the Prime Minister's Department in 1926, becoming its head in 1935. He was the creator of the Department of External Affairs, and collaborated with Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser. He was Secretary for External Affairs 1928–32, Head of the Prime Minister's Department 1932–43, and Secretary of the War Cabinet 1939–43. He attended all Imperial Conferences 1926–43, and assemblies of the League of Nations and later the United Nations.
The Vicariate Apostolic of Central Oceania was a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction in the Southern Pacific.
St Patrick's College is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school in New Zealand.
Philippe Joseph Viard was a French priest and the first Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Wellington, New Zealand.
The Catholic Church in Samoa is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, initiated by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in the Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. Catholic missionaries arrived in Samoa in 1845 and today Catholics account for around 20% of the overall population. Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga was ordained as head of the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia in 2003.
Su'a Peter Schuster is a Samoan former rugby union player. He played as a flyhalf. He was the Samoa Rugby Union chairman between 2007 and 2012.
Gustav Frederick Dertag Betham, also known by the Samoan name Fereti Misipita, was a Western Samoan politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1971 and as Minister of Finance from 1961 to 1970. In 1971 he was appointed Secretary General of the South Pacific Commission, a role he held for four years.
Jacob Helg was a Western Samoan politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1954.
