Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His LifeBaker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Religion
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His Life
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius), 1820-1865; Catholic Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 19th century
Clarke, two of the most eminent
physicians in town, were called in for consultation by Dr. Hewit,
the attending physician, and information of F. Baker's illness
was sent to his sister, who came immediately from Baltimore to
see him. On Saturday evening the typhus fever had spent its
violence, reason returned, and from this time F. Baker remained
in a weak but tranquil state until his departure. He had been
removed from his own room to the library, a large and airy
apartment, where every thing about him was arranged in a neat,
orderly, and cheerful manner, and he was attended and carefully
watched night and day by his physician, his brethren, and his
nurse. The violence of his fever had prostrated his strength so
completely, that he was unable to resist the severe attack of
pneumonia which accompanied it, and which medical skill and care
were unable to subdue. The feeble vital force which still
remained gradually subsided during the next three days, under the
progress of this disease, although his friends continued to hope
against all appearances for his recovery, and seemed almost to
take it for granted that God would surely hear their prayers and
spare his life. During all this time he was rational and
collected, recognising all his friends, but unable to speak more
than a few brief sentences that were connected and intelligible.
He desired his sister to remain with him, and she did so during a
great portion of the time. He expressed his perfect willingness
and readiness to die, and made an effort to repeat audibly some
prayers, but without success.
{199}
He manifested his desire for absolution by signs, and it was
given to him, together with the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, on
Sunday. On Tuesday, the Holy Viaticum, for which he had asked,
was given him, at about half-past ten in the morning. He received
it with perfect consciousness, and remained quiet, free from
pain, and without becoming perceptibly worse, until one. After
the fathers had gone down to dinner, he asked his nurse for his
cap, which was brought to him and placed in his hand. He then
asked for his habit, and said he would dress and go down to
dinner with the community. Soon after, a change was observed in
him by the watchful eye of the father who had been his bosom
friend during their common missionary career, and who had passed
so many hours of the day and night by his bedside during his
sickness with more than the devotion of a brother; and several of
his particular friends were sent for, that they might see him
once more before he died. The two fathers who were at home, his
physician, his only and beloved sister, a lady who had been his
chief aid in the care of the sanctuary, and another, who was one
of his converts, surrounded his bedside, where he lay, the
picture of placid repose and holy calm, quietly, gently, and
imperceptibly breathing his last, until four o'clock, when his
spirit passed away to God, without a struggle or a sign of agony,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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