Catholic World, Vol. 24, October, 1876, to March, 1877: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and ScienceVarious
Religion
Catholic World, Vol. 24, October, 1876, to March, 1877: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Many think the excitement and worry that he underwent on this occasion
had much to do with his death. A gentleman who had some private
business with the archbishop called at the glebe-house on the Tuesday
following the Sunday on which the rupture with the brothers had taken
place. Although it was ten o’clock in the morning, and the sun was
shining brightly outside, he found the curtains undrawn, the gas
burning, and the archbishop hard at work writing at a table littered
with paper. In the course of their conversation he mentioned
incidentally to his visitor that he had not been to bed for two
nights, nor changed his clothes for three days. Even after the
difficulty had been smoothed over, and matters seemed to be going on
as of old, it was noticed that the archbishop had lost his
cheerfulness and looked wearied and haggard. His duties were not
neglected, though sickness and sadness may have weighed him down. He
began a series of lectures on the doctrines of the church which
unhappily were never to be completed. On the third Sunday before his
death, in making an appeal to his parishioners for funds to finish the
cathedral, he enumerated the many other works he wished to undertake,
and stated that he trusted he had ten or fifteen years of life before
him wherein to accomplish these works. The meeting which he had called
for that afternoon was poorly attended, and the amount subscribed not
nearly what he expected. It was noticed that this troubled him; for he
loved to stand well with his people always, and he took this as a sign
that his popularity was on the wane.
On Saturday, the 22d of July, he complained of being unwell, but it
did not prevent him from speaking as usual at the three churches on
the morrow. He never allowed his own sufferings to interfere with what
he considered his duty. None of the many who heard him that day
surmised that the shadow of death was then on him, and that on the
following Sunday they would see the corpse of the speaker laid out on
the same altar. On Monday, still feeling unwell, he drove to his
residence at the Northwest Arm, thinking that a little rest and quiet
would restore him to his usual health. The next day, growing worse,
and no doubt feeling his end approaching, he told his attendants to
drive him to the glebe-house and to write to Rome. Next day the whole
community was startled to hear that the archbishop was stricken down
by congestion of the brain; that he was delirious; that he had been
given up by the doctors; and that his death was hourly expected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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