The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-09-17

RavaI was to the early miners in Montana, and
more.
When Sunday came and he held public services
in a mining camp, there scarcely hall to be
found large enough to hold his congregation. Work
stopped on every claim and everybody went to hear
him preacl-not because they had any special dc
sire to go church. that they had any particular
need for religious consolatiOn-but 1T pleased ta-
Their Ravali to have them attend and pleased them
to please him. He not pulpit orator as that
phrase is understood. He had preached for so
manv years to the Indians that his discourse was
simplicity itself. But it a strong, brave, plain
spoken man delivering message which he deemed
of the greatest Importance to strong, brave PLAIN
spoken men. one and all of whom were his dearest
friends. Ii did not matter what your creed or faith
was, whether you had any creed or faith at all.
you could not listen to the good father talk for
half hour without feeling that you had learned
something that made you Il stronger and better
man; that. in short it good Tor you to have
been there And when he bowed his head III prayer
you Just simply knew that the Almighty inclined
a listening and attentive ear.
Witty and Kind Hearted.
He was man of fine physique tall. portly and
of commanding presence. He had broad fore
head, true Roman nose, and finely cut features
He had a most winning smile, and if he ever lost
his temper, or became inpatient. no matter what
cause there for 1t, ever knew 1t. lie
witty very quick at rcparte. and had q wonder
full fund of anecdote at his command. I'm whatever
company he found himself he was at home, the
most noticeable figure in it and the center of at
traction. As priest it was no doubt his duty now
and then to impose penance some OF his par
ishioners but how he could ever find it in his
heart OVERLOOKING as it did with the milk of human
Kindness, to impose penance sufficiently severe to
chasten the fault it intended to correct, was
something could not understand
Fell a Martyr to His Kindness.
He fell a martyr to his own kindness of heart.
He had nursed patient through a severe attack
of illness, and, forgetting that it getting late
in the afternoon of life for himself, he probably
overaxed his system. At all events, on his return
home he was seized with a severe illness himself
from which, though he seemed to rally at times. be
never wholly recovered and died in October 1884.
He lies buried at dear old st. Mary's," the scene
of so many years of his useful abors His friends
and not the Catholic Church, whose loyal SON and
trusted servant he always was, have erected over
his last resting place splendid monument which
in a feeble way commentaries his virtues. 1t was
built by subscription, only very small limited
amount being received from single subscriber
Contributions were received from every town, vii
lage and hamlet in the state of Montana; from al
most every state in the union and from many for
eign lands into which his oldtime friends-the
early miners of Montana-had wandered. 1t is the
loftiest and most massive monument which Mon
tana has vet erected to any of her honored dead;
and not content with this. it has bestowed on the
best county in the state the name of of the
best men that ever lived in any state.-I NJ Leo in
Winston's Weekly.