The story of Suzanne Aubert

by Jessie Munro

Book by Munro, Jessie

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Gerry Forde]

Love this practical Christian woman, Suzanne Aubert who cut through all the cultural, religious and social restraints of early NZ to deliver help to the most desperate - illigitimate babes and their mums, the homeless sick and dying - a help that came from the biggest heart you could hope to encounter and delivered with all the practicality of any good mum, though she herself was a nun. The resistence of her own Catholic hierarchy only drew out the depths of her toughness and cunning. An inspiration to all women, and to Christians a challenge to break through PC restraints and reach out to those in need - no one will refuse if your heart is in the right place, and Suzanne Aubert is the champion of getting that right!

[Catherine]

Came for the amazing life story, stayed for the recipes.

[Kita Wendy]

Loved this biography of a wonderful female role model who spent much of her public life in my city, Wellington. I barely knew anything about her until a friend said that this year, 2026, is the centenary of her death.

It was so good to learn about Suzanne Aubert and I feel grateful I’ve read this excellent book. I cried in the last chapter when she died, aged 90, and the turnout in Wellington for her funeral sounded beautiful. What a woman she was! Everything about her was good. She represents Christianity at its best and makes me understand the good that it can do. (Not so the male church bureaucrats behind her, though.) I understand why many people think she was a saint and I feel like writing to the pope to ask that he finish off the process.

I found the book slow at the start but now I think that the need for the roundabout way that the Auckland stories were told was because of a lack of direct information about her. After she became more well-known (after she set up in Hiruharama) there would have been more information available, and her story became more engaging.

I found all the Catholic words, processes, and concepts confusing, eg diocese, congregation, order, mission, ordinary. It would have been nice to have a little explainer somewhere (although I admit I could just look that stuff up).

I don’t understand why Suzanne Aubert decided to move to Wellington from Whanganui, and what the plan was around the move. Was it maybe because they wanted to provide for only Māori at Jerusalem, and she wanted to provide for Pakeha too? Or was she told to move by someone in the church?

I loved all the pictures. Pictures are so good in a biography and these were great.

[Clive Cannons]

The writing drew me into Suzanne's world. I felt like I was there with her.