There are current events that an archivist knows instantly create archival records. The opening last week of St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College in Drury is one of those events. This school will be run in the Jesuit tradition. I have already signalled that the agreement signed between the Bishop and the Jesuits will need to find its way to the archives together with photos of the signing.
A photo from the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Diocese of Auckland, St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College and Jesuit Education Australasia.
While the College is the first school in the Jesuit tradition for the Auckland Diocese, the Diocese has previously had a Jesuit bishop. In 1879 Bishop Steins was appointed to Auckland.
While Bishop Steins reign was brief, just two years, his key achievement was to bring the Benedictines to New Zealand leading to the establishment of St Benedict’s church in Newton. The archive has a copy of the original Italian-language agreement Steins made with the Benedictines in Italy 30 August 1879.
The Steins collection holds one of our unusual photos - that of Steins’ deathbed photo recording his death on 7 September 1881 in Sydney.
While this is not a familiar practice for New Zealand ‘mourning portraits’ have a long tradition. You can find out more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_portraits
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