Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 2, February 1886Various
History
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 2, February 1886
Various
Periodicals
I felt as though I were listening to St. Alfonso, so irresistably did
this remind me of him. I was no longer among the crisp snows of New
Hampshire, that had crackled beneath my feet that morning. Fancy had
transported me to the genial clime of Naples. I stood by the bed-ridden
Bishop of St. Agatha, in the old Redemptorist's Convent at Pagani, and
listened to the touching dialogue between Mauro, the royal architect,
and the saint: "And the churches in the city of Naples, are they much
frequented?"--"Oh, yes, Monsignor, and you cannot imagine the good that
results from this. All classes, especially the working people, crowd
them, and we have saints even among the coachmen." At these words the
saint rose from his recumbent position, and cried out in tones of joy
and triumph: "Saintly coachmen at Naples! Gloria Patri." He could not
sleep for joy at this intelligence, but during the night would
frequently call for his attendant: "You heard what Don Mauro said?
Saints among the coachmen at Naples! What do you think of that?"
Associated in our mind with the great St. Alfonso, we keep this holy
priest, whom Bishop Bradley so justly styled, "The pioneer of Catholic
education in New England." His flock universally regarded him as a
saint, and a great saint. And, in all humility, and in perfect
submission to the decrees of Holy Church, the writer is able to say, of
her own knowledge and observation, that this humble, hard-working,
mortified Irish priest, William MacDonald, practised in a high, a very
high, degree, every virtue which we venerate in the saints of God. I
never met a holier soul. I could not imagine him guilty of the smallest,
wilful fault. I feel more inclined to pray to him than for him; it seems
incredible that he should have anything to expiate in purgatory. May his
successors walk in his footsteps, and his children never forget the
lessons he taught them more by example than by word. May our friendship,
a great grace to me, be renewed _in requie aeterna et in luce perpetua_.
Amen.
_Dublin Irish Monthly._
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 6: The Irish Catholic names, Sullivan and Carroll, are stamped
on two of the ten counties of New Hamshire, in memory of Revolutionary
heroes.]
The Avaricious Man can not enjoy riches, but is tormented by anxiety or
sickness. Others are worn out by the jealousy or envy which consume
them. Others, again, wrapped in their pride, are being continually
galled by the supposed indignities offered to them, and there is no
sharper crown of thorns than that worn by the proud man. There is one
sin which seems to be rampant in our day, and that is scepticism, or
doubting God and revelation; and this also brings its own punishment in
the present. On the other hand, to those who are tempted, suffering, or
afflicted, Jesus Christ promised, "Be thou faithful unto death and I
will give thee the crown of life."
Gerald Griffin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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