Roman Catholic Missions to Oceania, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 May 1845, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12879227:
The Union des Provinces announces the departure from Lyons for England of M. Epale, bishop of Sion and vicar apostolical of Western Oceania. The prelate took with him eight missionaries and several brothers of the Christian doctrine to assist him in his evangelical labours. He will first proceed to Sydney, in New Holland, and thence repair to his diocese, which comprises New Guinea, the land of Papua, which is inhabited by a ferocious population, in whose country no Europeans have yet made establishments; the Carolinas, the Archipelago of Salemon, and all the islands situate under the equator. M. Epale assisted, during several years, M. Pompallier in converting the natives of New Zealand. Times.

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Departures, Weekly Register of Politics, Facts and General Literature, Sydney, 25 October 1845, p 204, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228135114:
Same day, for the South Sea Islands, the schooner Marian Watson, Richards, master. Passengers, Right Reverend Bishop Epalle, Reverend Messieurs Chauran, Fremont, Houtrousiem, Paget, Verguet, Thomassin, and Jaquit; also, the Lay Brethren, Germade, Hyacinth, Aristides, Bertrand, Charler, and Prosper.

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Death of the Right Rev. Dr. Epalle, Morning Chronicle, Sydney, 25 April 1846, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31747881:

By the arrival of the Marian Watson, on Thursday, from the islands of San Christoval and New Caledonia, we have received the melancholy intelligence of the death, by the hands of the savages, of the truly amiable and beloved Dr. Epalle, Vicar Apostolic of North Western Oceanica.

This event has cast a saddening gloom over the Catholics of Sydney, a gloom in which many of their Protestant friends also participate; as the mild, amiable, and gentlemanly deportment of the good Bishop, who resided amongst us for four months previous to his departure for the scene of his mission, endeared him to all who had the pleasure of forming an acquaintance with him.

It was hoped that the labours of this gentle and truly apostolic prelate would have produced much fruit in the islands of the Southern Seas, and that he would, in the hands of heaven, have been the instrument of bringing innumerable souls, who now sit in the darkness of the shadow of death, to a full knowledge of God's holy truths, as revealed by his only Son, and ever maintained and propagated by his one, only, and Catholic Church. He was a man well fitted for such a mission, for, though only in the prime of his life, he had long laboured, and with success, amongst the unenlightened heathens of the Southern hemisphere, having been for many years Vicar General to the New Zealand mission. Schooled as it were at the feet of such a master as the amiable and indefatigable Bishop Pompallier, the Right Rev. Dr. Epalle appeared to be in every respect a man well fitted to enter upon, and succeed in, a mission such as the one to which he had been so wisely appointed. Heaven, however, in the decrees of its inscrutable wisdom, has differently ordained; at the very outset of his labours, the holy Bishop has sealed with his blood, his testimony to the Faith, and to his ardent desire to propagate amongst the heathen the truths of the eternal gospel; thus adding another to the glorious band of martyrs, who from the first establishment of the Church even to our times, have so nobly illustrated her faith, and triumphed by their death over the powers of darkness; for it is no less true now than it was in the time of Tertullian, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church;" and we confidently anticipate that the blood of this good prelate will not have fallen upon barren ground, but that it will "bring forth fruit a hundred fold."

From the known cruelty of disposition of the savages amongst whom Bishop Epalle and his fellow labourers were destined to exercise their apostolic ministry, it was expected that news would be received that some of these messengers of good tidings had been slain by the hands of those, for whose eternal welfare they had left country, home, friends, and all that was dear to them; and for which each and all of them were fully prepared.

The sad intelligence we are now called upon to record, has painfully realized those fearful forebodings.

We may here, not inappropriately, introduce some remarks made by his Grace the Archbishop, at the meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, held on the 7th September last, at which meeting, the Bishops Pompallier, and Epalle were both present. His Grace, after having spoken upon the state of the missions in the southern seas, made use of the following remarkable words, which, as the event has proved, may almost be regarded as prophetic:--

"The holy men by whom he was surrounded, would go forth to the adjacent islands, to New Guinea, the New Hebrides, and New Ireland; they were prepared to go and to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, for the faith. As in the storming of a city there was always a forlorn hope, composed of the bravest men to scale the walls and enter the breaches, so these valiant soldiers of Christ cared but little if they fell, so that they could beat down the strongholds of Satan; and though it might not be given to them to pour the waters of baptism, the walls of the citadel having been destroyed, other soldiers would follow in the glorious work until it was accomplished, and the lost children of Jesus Christ were brought into his fold. The reflection naturally forced itself upon their minds, perhaps, before twelve months had passed away, the bodies of these pious missionaries might be prostrate on the earth, their brains dashed out by the club of the savage, who had misinterpreted the end for which they had come amongst them; but their souls would be happy with their God."

Such was the language of his Grace the Archbishop, and how truly has it been verified, even to the very letter, in the lamented death of Bishop Epalle. The former part of these remarks will also be verified, "other soldiers will follow in the glorious work until it has been accomplished."

The mission, though it has commenced with the death of its head, is not, and will not be abandoned. It is for the present stationed on the island of San Christoval, one of the same group, and God in his own good time, will make it productive; in the mean time, let us not be as men "sorrowing without hope;" but pray "the Lord of the harvest, that he will send more labourers into the vineyard." The following is the account of the Bishop's death, as furnished by Captain Richards, the commander of the Marian Watson:--

"Schooner Marian Watson, at Astrolabe Harbour, Isle of St. George, December, 1845. In lat. 8 31' South, long. 159 41' 46" East.

"Tuesday, 14th Dec.--At 7 30 a.m. as. Bishop Epalle, Messrs. Fremont and Chauraine, with a lay brother, left the ship in the whaleboat in charge of the second mate and four hands for the purpose, as they had been two days previous on the Island of Ysable, to see if they could find a place adapted for a settlement or station. About 10.30 the boat returned to the ship with three severely wounded, having been attacked by the natives. On getting the Bishop on deck, and his wounds examined by Mr. Guior, we found there were no hopes of his recovery, having received four large cuts on the head, and all clean through the skull, so as to expose the brain. Mr. Fremont, with two wounds, and the second mate with one, which had the appearance of being done with a tomahawk. The account of this melancholy affair I got from Mr. Chauraine, the Bishop's secretary. On landing they saw some natives, and all armed, one of them, who appeared to be a chief, came to the boat, and wanted the Bishop's ring--the second mate and our seamen also landed and walked up the beach; the natives coming still out of the bush towards the boat; this chief asked for a tomahawk, which the second mate gave, as he did not like his appearance. By this time several natives had got about the boat, and taking particular notice of the fire-arms. It appears no one paid any attention to the natives being all dressed or painted as natives generally are when they are for war--and the first alarm was the Bishop crying out, and a yell from the natives running out of the bush. The second blow the Bishop fell, at which time 3 or 4 natives were round him. Mr. Fremont and the second mate made for the water, and the report of a pistol from the boat saved them from sharing the same fate. Mr. Chauraine most ably fought his way through this mob of savages with stones only, and got to the boat, when he seized a cutlass and fearlessly risked his own life to go to the assistance of his Lordship, whom they were dragging along the beach, tearing his clothes off, when at the second report of a musket and pistol, they all ran off into the bush. It appears that these natives are well acquainted with fire arms, as, on the signal being given, they tried to heave up the boat, and others wetted the arms with salt water. The Bishop departed this life at four p.m., on Friday, the 19th December, but never took notice or spoke after being taken into the boat. On Saturday the 20th December, at 5 a.m. we all left the ship, and buried the body about 6 a.m. The grave is close to a place marked on the French charts, Debarcader--the outer point of Astralabe harbour, and the highest peak near Cape Prieto, on the Island of Ysable. On one of the small stones along the grave is the mark x where lies the remains of John Baptiste Epalle, Bishop of Sion, Vicar Apostolic of Melanesie and Micronisie.

"It is very evident that had the party on shore firearms on their persons, this melancholy event would not have happened, as the natives must have known the use of them by the report of one pistol making them take off, as well as their cunningness to try to wet the arms. Since our arrival at the place we have had many canoes alongside, and several natives on board, all from the Island of Ysable, who were anxious to trade, bringing yams, tarrou, &c.; but the party that attacked the boat we believe to belong inland. The natives told us, or made us understand, they were no good; but it is so common among the islands for one tribe to run down another that there was no notice taken of it."

Since the above was written, we have received a letter, which will be found in another column, from a correspondent who signs himself "W.S.W." recommending the Catholics of Sydney, to enter into a subscription for erecting a monument to the memory of Dr. Epalle, a suggestion in which we most heartily concur, and which we hope to see carried out, in such a manner as will reflect credit upon the Catholics of the Colony, and honour on the memory of the good man whose death it would commemorate. We should also be glad to see a tablet erected to his memory in our metropolitan church.

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A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, edited by G.H. Scholefield, Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand, 1940, vol. 1, p 133:
Epalle, Jean-Baptiste (1811-45), a French priest of the Society of Mary at Lyons, came to New Zealand in June 1839 in the schooner Reine de Paix. To acquire the Maori language he was appointed to Kororareka and the surrounding district. Early in 1840 a mission was established under him at Whangaroa.

In 1843 Bishop Pompallier appointed him pro-vicar to proceed to Rome. While he was in France in the following year the Holy See decided to establish a vicariate of Melanesia and Micronesia and the superior of the Society of Mary nominated Epalle, who pleaded against being selected for the post. Consecrated at Rome, he sailed from London early in 1845 with 13 missionaries. They landed at Isabella island, in the Solomons early in Dec, and Bishop Epalle was murdered by natives four days later (19 Dec 1845).

Catholic Cycl.; Larousse; Pompallier; Marist Year Book, 1927, 172 (p).

A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, online version, sub voce Epalle, is licensed by Luke Howison, under CC BY-NC 3.0 NZ.