Marist presence in the Solomon Islands
The first Marist Brothers came to the Solomon Islands from France in 1845. Brothers, Hyacinth, Gennade, Aristride and Optat, accompanied Bishop Jean Epalle and their 9 Society of Mary companions when they attempted to establish a mission.
The Marist missionaries’ early years in the Solomons were dangerous and dispiriting. After just five years, Brother Hyacinthe was dead, killed by the local people on San Christobal Island, and the other three had fallen ill and needed to be repatriated to Sydney. The Mission closed in 1852.
Eighty-six years later, at the invitation of Bishop Jean Marie Aubin S.M. three Australian Marist Brothers, John Roberts, Ephrem Stevens and James Thrift sailed from Sydney on 2 August 1938 to lead the school at Makina on Marau Sound.
Few years later, in response to an appeal by Brother Provincial for volunteers for the new Mission in Chabai ou Bougainville Island: Brothers Augustine Mannes, Donatus Fitzgerald and Ervan McDonough were chosen and left Sydney July 1941
War came to the Pacific in December 1941 and fighting spread to the Solomon Islands soon after. The Brothers on Marau were temporarily imprisoned by the Japanese but eventually evacuated to Australia. Their confreres on Bougainville were not so fortunate. Following the end of World War II, in 1946, the Brothers returned to the Solomon Islands and opened the school at Tenaru, which still exists today.
After years of consolidation, development at Tenaru and the profession of vows by local Brothers, the Marists opened schools at Vanga Point, a Rural Training Centre, and at Rokera on the Island of Malaita. The Brothers’ education ministry and community at Rokera closed in 1990. In 1989 the Brothers established an outreach community at Avuavu on the remote coast of Guadalcanal. It was short lived and closed in 1993. The Brothers withdrew from Vanga Point in 2020.
At present, there is one community of three Brothers in Honiara. One Brother is studying at the National University and two are involved in the St Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School, in Tenaru.
The Institute has also the Laumanas Formation Centre. It has been the centre of initial formation for the Melanesian Brothers since 1988. During the COVID crisis, it was also a temporary Novitiate. It is hoped that it will resume its original purpose in the near future, as well as provide opportunities for Lay Marist formation.