STEINS, WALTER (1810-81) was born at Amsterdam, Holland, and educated there, at St Acheul, Amiens, and at Fribourg (Switzerland). He entered the Dutch province of the Society of Jesus (1832), pronounced the vows of his profession (1849) and obtained permission to proceed to Borneo. He went instead to Bombay, where he worked with zeal and earnestness to 1861, when he was consecrated bishop. He founded the college of St Francis de Sales. In 1867 he was translated to the archbishopric of Calcutta. There he built another college, which was affiliated to the university, established the order of the Daughters of the Cross, the St Vincent's home refuge and many schools and orphanages. He began also the Bengali mission and missions to the Sonthals and other eastern tribes.

While visiting a remote Indian village he fell and injured himself so severely that he was advised to go to Europe (1878), and he spent some time recuperating at Conflans, the novitiate of the nuns of the Sacred Heart in Paris. There Steins so far recovered as to wish to return to duty, and in 1879 he was appointed Bishop of Auckland. He arrived on 3 Dec 1879 and was 15 months in the country. He died on 7 Sep 1881 at Sydney. Steins was a distinguished theologian and linguist; broadminded and tolerant. He was prominent at the Oecumenical Council of 1870.

Sydney Morning Herald, 8 Sep 1881; N.Z. Herald, 12 Sep 1881; Auckland Star, 8 Sep 1881; Zealandia, 16 Sep 1937 (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 167

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