Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-07-23
TRAGIC Scene IN
A HOBOKEN CHURCH
Rev. Stephen Kealy Was Stricken
at the Altar.
WORDS SEEM PROPHETIC
Psssionist Provincial Was Taken Ill
While Preaching 10 II ConGrcga-
tion-Was Apparently In the
Best of Health.

New York, July 1S-"Be ever ready
to give an account of your steward
ship. not knowing at what hour you
will be called to the eternal judgment
seat"
With that solemn admonltion, Very
Rev. Stephen Kealy, provincial OF the
Passlonists' order in the United States,
concluded his sermon Sunday morning
In West Hoboken Passionists' monas-
terry church. Fifteen minutes later he
lay cold In death.
Stricken at the altar with heart fail
ure, Father kealy barely survived un-
til he had been carried TO his cell in
the monastery. There while the
priests, brothers and students, In
whose ears his warning words were
still ringing, knelt and chanted the
prayers for the dead, the beloved
priest, who was the executive head OF
his order in America, passed away.
As life fed. Father Barry, another
member of the order, who had taken
the stricken priests place at the al
tar, chanted the concluding portions OF
the mass, which dismissed the big con-
gregatiOn, wondering at the substitu-
ton of the celebrant, bta Ignorant OF
the tragedy that had bcfallen the
church.
Father Kcaly seemed in the best OF
health when he entered the chancel
rail Sunday morning to celebrate the
six O'Clock mass. Through the early
portions OF the mass his voice rang
sweetly solemn through the church,
and when he mounted the pulpit there
was particular eloquence and force in
his sermon, which was preached on
the text:
Give en- account of your steward
ship"
The discourse was brief, and ended
with the strangely significant warning
which few minutes later was to hayo
so dramatic an illustration.
AS he walked to the altar, the
priests steps suddenly faltered, and
groan escaped his lips. He whispered
family to an altar boy, who hurriedly
summoned Father Bertrand Barry.
Il am ill., whispered the dying
priest on the arrival of Father Barry.
DO you administer communion
Father Barry assumed the Office,
and, dragging his feet heavily, Father
Kealy went to the sacristy. On the
threshold he collapsed. His vestments
were hurriedly removed to give him
air.
Take me away" he murmured.
81 am dying"
Carried 90 cen.
The priest was hurriedly carried to
his cell but an examination showed
that he was past all aid Then the
solemn procession of priests and stu
dents filed into the narrow cell and be-
gan the chant of the dying, and while
the music of the closing mass fioated
up from the church, Father Kealy,
having received the last rites of tho
church, passed quietly away.
When the death of Father Kealy was
made known to the congregation at the
later masses, the deepest grief was
manifested by the members OF his
flock. Practically all of his priesthood
had been spent in the community in
which he died, and it is expected that
his funeral will be made the occasion
of special mark of reverence on the
part of his congregation.
The funeral services will he held on
Wednesday in the monastery, with
Bishop O'Connor, of Newark, presd-
ing. At $3.50 a, m. the solemn Offices
for the dead will be said, and at ten
o'clock the solemn requiem mass will
be celebrated
Interment will be made in the vault
under the main altar of the church,
and Immediately beneath the spot
where Father Kealy was stricken. In
the meantime, the body will lie in state
In the church. Father Kealy was born
at Kyle, Ireland, in 1Si9. He came to
American while child, and in 1870 en-
tered the passionate monastery at
Pittsburg. In 1877 he was ordained a
priest by the late Archbishop Corrl.
gan, then bishop of Newark, the or
dination services being conducted in
the monastery at West Hoboken
where he died. Since then Father
Kealy had filled every Office of honor
in the Passionist order In America. He
had been the executive head of tho
order for five years.
The position of provincial is only for
three years. Father Keay, however,
was elected for a second term, upon the
expiration of his first. His successor
will be Rev. Father Felix Ward first
consutor to the provincial The rules
of the order provide that the first con-
cultor shall succeed provincial in
case of death without an election to
fill his unexpired term. The first cleo