Catholic Mission, Wallis Island.

The Catholic Mission was established on Wallis Island in 1837 by Father (later) Bishop Pierre Bataillon and Brother Joseph-Xavier Luzy, members of the Society of Mary.

Father Jean-Marie Bazin was superior of the mission from 1874-1896. He then returned to France where he died in 1947.

Father Joseph Henquel was a missionary in Samoa from 1879 to 1896, then transferred to Wallis Island where he remained until his death in 1924. He was a man of wide interests, being a student of botany, zoology, linguistics and local history. He developed an enthusiasm for genealogical research in France compiling the genealogies of French noble families.

Together with the island of Futuna, Wallis became a French protectorate in 1887, a French colony in 1913, and an overseas territory of France in 1959. The first French Resident, Marius-Antoine Chauvot, arrived in June 1888. Such officials were responsible to the French Governors and, later, High Commissioners of New Caledonia.

Bishop Alexandre Poncet, a priest of the Society of Mary, arrived on Wallis Island in 1925. On his elevation to bishop in March 1936, he became the first Vicar Apostolic of Wallis and Futuna. He retired in 1962.