The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
sedatives which had been used to produce sleep lost their soothing
effect. He received holy communion daily up to and including the 24th
of that month. The next day his attendants were able to put him into
bed, which had not been done since June; he had passed day and night
in his chair, propped up with pillows. He now lay quite still, gazing
at a large crucifix, and moving his eyes from one to another of the
five wounds. When told that his death was near, he only repeated his
favorite exclamation, "God be praised!" On the morning of the 26th,
Father Rowe told him that he was going to say Mass for him. He showed
by his face that he understood what was said; and just as the Mass
must have ended, he turned his head a little and opened his eyes with
a touching expression, half of sweetness and half of surprise. So his
spirit passed away, as if in the act of realizing the picture which
he had drawn in _All for Jesus_: "Only serve Jesus out of love, and
while your eyes are yet unclosed what an unspeakable surprise will
you have had at the judgment-seat of your dearest Love, while the
songs of heaven are breaking on your ears and the glory of God is
dawning on your eyes, to fade away no more for ever!"
We have already alluded in the first part of this article to Father
Faber's elegance of appearance and manner, and from a portrait
prefixed to the biography it seems that he retained his advantages of
person to a late period of his life. He was remarkable for his habits
of order and neatness, and once, when a father remarked upon the
tidiness of his room, he replied, "The napkin in the sepulchre was
found _folded_ at the resurrection." As might be imagined from the
narrative of his life, he was always distinguished for gentleness;
and Father Bowden remarks that he never was severe in the manner of
correcting the faults of his spiritual subjects, except possibly in
matters connected with the ceremonial of divine worship. Any defect
of demeanor during service, or inattention to the requirements of the
rubric, he rebuked with marked severity. In the church he would have
every thing of the best, whether it could be seen by the congregation
or not. When the new high altar of marble was put up in the Oratory,
he was much dissatisfied because the back was not finished like the
front, and he found fault with the altar rails for the same reason,
complaining that "the side next our Lord" was not ornamented. He was
very fond of children, and his correspondence contains some striking
evidences of his tenderness to them. We have already spoken of his
love of humor--a sense which seems naturally to accompany the poetic
instinct. His room was at all hours the frequent resort of his
brethren who looked upon it as a renewal of St. Philip's "School of
Christian Mirth." Father Bowden quotes the language of an old friend,
who wrote at the time of Father Faber's death of "the indescribable
charm of his private intercourse, of that wonderful brilliancy of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account