A Pilgrimage to the Pacific

On a recent trip to Samoa, OLNP Archivist Carlos Lopez travelled to Moamoa, a site visited by Eileen O’Connor and Fr Timothy Edward McGrath more than a century earlier during their 1914 voyage aboard the SS Tofua. 

Located on the outskirts of Apia, in the foothills of Mount Vaea, Moamoa was at the time of Eileen’s visit the Bishops residence, and home to an agricultural school run by the Marist Brothers, as well as a catechist training school.

Today, visitors are greeted by a sense of peace and stillness. At the entrance lies a small cemetery containing the graves of early missionaries, including Bishop Pierre Broyer (pictured with Eileen). Further on stands St Anthony of Padua Church, a beautiful structure completed in 1927, surrounded by classrooms and accommodation that now form part of the current theological college. 

Apart from a single contact sheet containing four photographic negatives of their visit to Moamoa, the Archives holds very little material relating to this journey.  Carlos’ visit therefore offered a rare and tangible connection to Eileen’s 1914 journey; in the quiet of the mission grounds, the limited archival record is given new depth through the experience of place.