The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-05-09

testimonial of their love for a entertained
pastor and brother,
Father Imsand had hardly recoyeraa
from this pleasant surprise when sWee,
girl-not yet in her teens-little Katia
Driscoll, advanced towards him. and ;s
clear, distinct words, conveyed to him @a IN 10
expression of love and gratitude which th ho
pupils of the Parish School of st. .Josan Tue
Church cherish for their benefactor az
their ardent wishes for his prompt recova.'l
and speedy return. This humble and a;sy
cere tribute from such young and ppioIau
hearts, still more deeply touched the onas
Father, who, however, finally found yorSs
equally tender aud equally touching 10 Ta,
spund to both the "Children of Maryn and
the young wards whose charge he has Az
long cherished and which he 80 Reluctantly
resigns, even for short time; bne as he
was again about to retire, Father RYAN
again checked him, and, in an inspired
strain, gave free passage to the outpourinrs
of his heart, clothed in simple, chaste, b1t
earnest and impassioned language; he told
of the life of abnegation of the worthy
priest of St. Joseph of his untiring zeal 10
sides at whose head he knelt in PRAYER
with the poor sufferers from whom plague.
pestilence and centagion had driven ali Dnt
the priest and the doctor he pointed to The
stately walls of the surrounding hospitals
aad ID8rmary, whose every arch, whose
every stone, if they had q voice, could tell
Of the nightly vigils spent amidst the dying
inmates by that devoted and unassuming
servant of God, whose mipistrations had
sOothed dying agony, alleviated bodily tor
ture, becalmed the storms of guilty con-
science, and in words of love and forgive
ness opened the gates of Heaven to the soul
of the repentant sinner; he said that the
mission Of that good priest was not amongst
the exalted, but amongst the iowly-that
his field of action was not the mansion of
the rich, bat the howell Of the poor that bis
steps never grew weary from the most dis
tant calls, and that at every hour-under
the burning rays of a summer day or the
chilly blasts of winter night, the old
priest never rested in his holy labor.
His eloquenee was not that of q popular
preacher, whose figures of rhetoric dazzle
more then they persuade. but it was the
eloquence of the heart filed with the divine
owe of Christ, the eloquence which appeals
not to the imagination, but to conscience,
and that God, as if to give 8 wider range to
the influence of such elo9uehce, had gifted
Father Imsand, like the Apostles, with the
gift of tongues.
While giving this glowing picture of the
man he had " captured" Father Ryan did
not pretend to ignore that while hopeful Of
the prompt recovery and return of Father
Imsand, his life. as we'll as the life of each
of us-waS in the hand of God, and that it
was possible that this was, in tact, the last
time when he would bless his cherished
congregation /; but, should this happen, he
felt certain that 1T would require but
short stay in the hades of purgstory to
wash out the sins of his beloved brother
and prepare him for his Celestial Home.
Father Ryan then presented to Father I'm
sand a some what larger envelop than the
first one, con tanning, he stated, the modest
offerings of all the Catholics of Mobile and
of many of their Protestant brothers who
IL 90 fn n
the criterion of true Christian virtue this
Offering was not large, but il measured with
the feelings which inspired tit was in
the eyes Of God like the widows mite,
| equal to the richest treasures of earth.
Father lmsand's first attempt to reply
was at fret choked by the feelings which
filed his heart, and his first words, pro-
nounced ina tremulous voice, were scarcely
audible; however, he rallied, and thanked
in brief but deeply felt language his people,
his brother priests, and the citizens of Mo-
bile, from whom for eighteen years he had
Truly, his heart failed when he thought Of
parting from those he has 30 long and so
deeply loved but his was the life of a SOL
dier-a soldier of the cross-who ia bound
to answer the call of duty, the call of honor
as once the gallant Mobile boys answered
the call of duty. the call of honor, and
by the free sacrifice of their precious
blood, made more fertile the fertile valley!
of Virginia, and dyed in deeper purple the
tlood-red soil of Kentucky. Amongs
them, he was proud to say, were many trut
Catholics, and they proved, at the cost Of
their lives, how false were the charges that
religious duty ever interfered with duty tC
native or adopted Fatherland.
When the good priest, exhausted by hi
effort, had resumed his seat, Father Ryan
in bis soft, gentle voice, asked him to be
stow his parting blessing on him and al
those present; the blessing, received b!
them on Bonded knees, concluded the sim
pie and touching episode we have attempted
to sketch. us.P.
CHOICE GROCERIES The residents in tb
neghbOrhoOd of st. Alphonsus Church are be con
Rratuated upon the removal of Mr.. II. n. OMeallie