The deceased prelate was charitable, hospitable, and pious. Having few
priests in his diocese, he himself took charge of a mission; and besides
attending to all his episcopal functions, he also discharged the duties
of a parish priest. He took a deep interest in the promotion of
education. He established in his own district schools in which the young
might be instructed, not only in secular knowledge, but also in their
moral and religious duties, and encouraged as much as possible their
establishment throughout the whole extent of his diocese. Aided by the
co-operation of the charitable and by the munificent donation of a
gentleman, now living, he was enabled to establish in Charlottetown a
convent of ladies of the _Congregation de Notre Dame_,—which institution
is now in a flourishing condition, affording to numerous young ladies,
belonging to Charlottetown and other parts of the island, the
inestimable blessing of a superior education. But the educational
establishment in which the bishop appeared to take the principal
interest was Saint Dunstan’s College. This institution, which is an
ornament to the island, the lamented bishop opened early in 1855. The
care with which he watched over its progress and provided for its wants,
until the time of his death, was truly paternal. Long before he
departed, he had the satisfaction of seeing the institution established
on a firm basis and in a prosperous condition.
In the year 1856 the bishop contracted a cough, and declining health
soon became perceptible. He, however, continued to discharge his duties
as pastor of Saint Augustine’s Church, Rustico, until the autumn of
1857, when, by medical advice, he discontinued the most laborious
portion of them. Finding that his disease—chronic bronchitis—was
becoming more deeply seated, he went to New York in the summer of 1858,
and consulted the most eminent physicians of that city, but to little or
no purpose. His health continuing to decline, he set his house in order,
and awaited the time of his dissolution with the utmost resignation.
About two months before his death he removed from Rustico, and took up
his residence in Saint Dunstan’s College, saying that he wished to die
within its walls. On the twenty-second of December he became visibly
worse, and on the twenty-sixth he received the last sacraments. He
continued to linger till the thirtieth, when he calmly expired, in the
sixty-second year of his age.
The lieutenant-governor was instructed by the home government that, in
the event of the absence of harmony between the legislative council and
the assembly, he should increase the number of councillors, and thus
facilitate the movements of the machine. Five additional members were
accordingly added to the council. During the session, several acts were
passed relating to education, including one which provided for the
establishment of the Prince of Wales College.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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