The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Viard, Right Rev. Dr.
Viard, Right Rev. Dr., sometime Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington, N.Z., was born in Lyons, France, on Oct. 11th, 1809, being ordained a priest about 1834. Having joined the Society of Mary in 1839, he was sent out as a missionary to the South Seas, remaining in New Caledonia for five years. He then, at the request of Bishop Pompallier, was transferred to New Zealand, where he was appointed Vicar-General and subsequently coadjutor to that prelate, the Pope in Feb. 1845 conferring on him the title of Bishop Coadjutor to the Vicar-Apostolic of Western Oceania. When the episcopal see of Wellington was created in June 1848, Dr. Viard was nominated Apostolical Administrator of that diocese, and Bishop on July 3rd, 1860. Not long after his return from a visit to Europe he was seized with illness, and died on July 2nd, 1872. He was buried in the Catholic cathedral at Wellington, the construction of which was commenced under his auspices.