Rev Claude-André Baty SM
Title:
Rev
First Name:
Claude-André
Middle Names:
Preferred Name:
Surname:
Baty
Order:
SM
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Saint-Jean-sur-Reyssouze, Ain
Country of Birth:
France
Date of Ordination:
Place of Ordination:
Country of Ordination:
France
Ordination Diocese:
Seminary:
Appointments Table
Diocese | Place | Role | Start Day | Start Month | Start Year | End Day | End Month | End Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auckland | Hokianga | 1839 | 1841 | Marist Studies; Linane Vol 1 | |||||
| Auckland | Mahia/Urewera | Missionary | 30 | Sep | 1841 | 10 | Jul | 1842 | Marist Studies |
| Auckland | Kororareka | Mission Printer | 24 | Aug | 1842 | Dec | 1849 | Marist Studies; Linane Vol 1 | |
| Wellington | Wellington | Dec | 1849 | 1850 | Marist Studies | ||||
| Sydney | Sydney | 1850 | 1851 | Marist Studies; Linane Vol 1 |
Biographical Notes
Catholic Church. Pioneer Priests. Labours in Early Days. A Notable Band, Evening Post, Wellington, 24 February 1938, p 20, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380224.2.174:
The Rev. Father Claude Baty, S.M., was born in France in 1811. He arrived at Russell in 1839. He was the first Maori missionary in the northern part of Hawke's Bay.
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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, p 22:
Baty, Claude Andre, Very Rev., SM, French
Among the First Marists professed 1836
b. Saint Jean, Belley Dioc. 1811; ord. 19.12.1835; professed 24.9.1836; arr.N.Z. 1839; served at Kororareka, Hokianga, Matamata, Hawke Bay, Kororareka 1842-50 where he was Mission Superior. He arrived at Villa Maria, Hunters
Hill, in ill-health. Shortly after he went to the Ile of Pins, New Caledonia where he died on 5.8.1851.The age was 39.
(See Footprints, Vol. 1, No. 4)
Ref.: Marist Year Book New Zealand & Australia 1927.
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Fr. Michael Fitzgerald, SM and Fr. François Grossin, SM, Alive in Memory: A Biographic Necrology of Oceania Marist Province 1836-2011, 4th edition, Suva, 2011, pp 168, 293:
Fr Claude Baty d. 1851
Oceania Pioneer - Second Voyage
Sydney - New Caledonia
He was born in Ain, France in 1811. He was one of the first 20 Marists who took part in the first taking of vows in 1836. In 1838, aged 27, he took charge of the second voyage of Marists to Oceania, going by way of Cape Hom and Tahiti. He called at Wallis and Futuna, spending some time with Peter Chanel, before proceeding to New Zealand. For the next ten years he helped in the establishment of the Church in New Zealand. In 1850 Fr. Colin appointed him as superior at Villa Maria in Sydney. However, he had contracted tuberculosis and made a trip to the Isles of Pines in New Caledonia, seeking a better climate. He died there shortly after arrival. He was 40 years of age.
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Claude-André Baty, Marist Studies, https://mariststudies.org/docs/Claude-Andr%C3%A9_Baty (accessed 8 July 2025):
Fr Claude-André Baty, aged 27 (on arrival in New Zealand in Group II [of Marists] on 14 Jun 1839).
He went first to Hokianga to begin learning Maori with Servant. In late July 1841 he left the Bay of Islands on the Sancta Maria with Pompallier and others. On 30 September Pompallier left him at Mahia to assess its suitability as a new mission station. With Pompallier diverted to Wallis, Baty was not uplifted and he travelled through the Urewera for some months, crossing paths with William Colenso. He left Mahia on 10 July 1842 to arrive in Kororareka on 24 August to take charge of mission printing in the nearly completed printery. In December 1849 Viard sent him to Wellington to prepare for the Marists to shift there on Pompallier's return from Europe. He was already showing early signs of consumption in late 1850 when he was called to Sydney to take charge of the mission Procure there. After several months he went to New Caledonia for his health. He died on 5 August 1851 on the Ile de Pins, aged 39, and is buried there.