Matua, High Priest (taura tupua) of the…

May 1835 CE

Matua, High Priest (taura tupua) of the Polynesian island of Mangareva, the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia, is baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, together with his family, on May 11, 1835.

Matua has his long hair, sacred in the old pagan religion, cut short.

He is baptized with the name Marie-Etienne, written as Maria Tepano in the Mangarevan language, in honor of Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze, the Vicar Apostolic of Eastern Oceania.

King Maputeoa will be baptized later on August 25, 1836, at the Church of Saint-Joseph-de-Taku on Mangareva along with one hundred and sixty other people of the kingdom.

Matua is the son of Terehi-kura and Mapurure (also known as Te Mateoa), the King or ʻAkariki (paramount chief) of Mangareva, who was known to be alive in 1825 and said to have died in 1830 or 1832.

Because his elder brother Te Ikatohara had been killed by sharks in about 1824, his son and Matua's nephew Maputeoa became king after Mapurure's death.

Matua had served as regent during the minority of his nephew and enjoyed the full trust of his people and may have had intentions of usurping power.

As ʻakariki (paramount chief), the young king Maputeoa has complete authority over the kingdom, excepting his four uncles, who jointly own the land with the king.

The uncles' allegiance to the king is only formal.

French Pipcus missionaries, headed by Father Honoré Laval and Father François Caret from Chile of the order of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, had landed at Mangareva in August 1834, but were rebuffed by the king.

They had managed to land on a small island where the local chief gave them support to learn the Mangareva language and the islanders learned about Christianity.

Within one year of their arrival, the missionaries had converted the islanders at Taravai, Aukena and Akamaru to Christianity, established churches, and even made the islanders wear tunics.

Father Caret and Father Laval eventually convert Matua and he donates the marae (temples) to the missionaries to build churches.

Fearing the ulterior intentions of his uncle, Maputeoa began appearing in churches during mass.

Matua and Maputeoa had consented to the dismantling of the Te Keika marae, which was the largest of its kind on Rikitea, and in its place, St. Michael's Cathedral was built, which becomes the largest church in the South Pacific islands.

Both uncle and nephew reconcile with each other around this time after the deathbed baptism of an aunt of the king.