Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-09-20

~
! fortunate or unfortunate, who become
6 fathers - without first being husbands; in
a word, he is or was Priest OF the Roman
Catholic Church. A few years ago he
became dissatified with some OF the dog
mas of that Church, and in consequence
thereof pursued q course thattdeprlVed MN
of the odor of orthodoxy, If not OF sanctlIy'
he had previously enjoyed. subsequently,
as a sensational preacher and an eloquent
one. he has occupied conspicuous place
in the eyes of the travelling and newspaper
world.
Rut the latest performance Of NJ. Hya-
cinthe has, perhaps, attracted the greatest
attention. There is, however, no scandal
in it, at least, to the secular Protestant
world. OF course there is a woman In the
case. And when we tell our readers that
she was widow, an Ohio widow, they
will not be surprised at anything the elo-
quent divine may have done. To make
long story short, M. Hyacinthe has married
the widow. Of course he has renowned
his VOW of perpetual celibacy, vow that
from his eighteenth to his forty-fifth year,
he has kept with fidelity for which he
formally "gives glory to Heaven
And vet the divine Hyacinthe is not
happy He trembles lest some sordid,
unsympathetic soul may think that the
bright eyes and rounded form of one
American daughter had more to do with
the change in his theological sentiments
than the dry arguments of thousand Ro-
man Fathers. We know not how this may
| be, nor do we care. In neither event are we
prepared to blame the reverend father very
much. Like the rest of us he is flesh and
blood then, too, he is Frenchman, and
his name is Hyacinthe. TO us it seems
the holy father only followed the instinct
of his nature brought to a high state OF
cultivation, when he became double Hya-
cinthe.
In fact Pere Hyacinthe was obliged to
marry. Nor is he the first man that has
been troubled about this thing Of marrying;
nor for that matter, if we may be pardoned
for the bull, is the reverend father the
first woman that has given anxious days
and sleepless nights to the matrimonial
| question. Indeed it is said that when a
man gets marrying on the brain bis case IS
| incurable The disease is one that res
poets neither age nor sex nor previous con-
dition. If, however, there he any one
| nation more addicted to it than any
other, it is the nation to which the elO-
quent preacher belongs; so that when We
remember that the fair charmer was
widow, young and beautiful, and so pru
| dent and discreet withal as to keep alive
policy of insurance on the life Of her first
husband even though living separate from
him, the fragrant Hyacinthe may well be
pardoned for preferring her charms to
those of celibacy.
But our lovely Hyacinthe did not marry
the widow solely for love. He is an eccle-
siastc as we'll as a man and mus. there
! fore act from duty as we'll as the dictates of
warm flesh aud blood. Fortunate man
| As soon as it became duty to con-
sole the widow it was an easy thing
for the single Pere to become double Hy-
| acinthe and we doubt not that in due
| time the clusters around the parent stem
will be many and beautiful and bril-
| liant.
| Phlegmatic men may, however, be par
doned for doubling whether love, rather
than duty, does not possess the soul of
bridegroom who devoutly thanks kind
Providence for ''throwing into his path i'll
the darkest hour of his life, the sublime
Devotion OF a bright, plump widow ! In
spite OF all his assertions, We are inclined
to think that the Joy of the man rather
than the sense ofduty of the priest, is now
stirring the depths of the Holy Fathers
soul. Even in America we doubt not that
men have married from a sense OF duty
to themselves, especially. But we do not
propose to write dissertation on matri-
mony. 1t is the same old story, with
slight variations. '"
But the Holy Father is now all right in
the sweet consciousness of having done his
| duty to his country, to himself, to his
neghbor and to the widow, and it is said
there is no feeling more grateful or more
soothing, or more satisfying, than the con-
seriousness of duty well done.
The widow, too, We doubt not,
is happy at last. We infer that
hitherto the lines have not fallen to her in
pleasant places. Born in Ohio, reared
protestant, she became catholic, married,
and separated fIom her husband. With
two pledges of his affection, a daughter
and policy of life insurance, she then
lived for years in Europe, seeking unsuc-
cesstully to add to her resources by acting
as a newspaper correspondent. Her hus-
band died, the policy was paid, and she
returned to the faith of her fathers and
renounced catholicism. During some of
these terrible days she and the gushing
Hyacinthe met and the result thus far is that
she has become once more a catholic and
he once more layman, at least enough SO
to cause her to put aside. her widows weeds
and him to doff his cassock. And they two
have become one.
The reverend father is now rushing Wig
orously into print to prove the propriety of
the important step he has just taken. We
think none the less of him for marrying or
for not marrying. In either case, in the
classic slang of the day, he pays his money
and he may take his choice. We scarcely
think, however, that it is quite i'll good
taste for an eXultant bridegroom to be
taking the whole world into his confidence
in the ecstacy of his young honeymoon.