Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-07-21
TRAGIC SCENE IN
A HOB0KEN CHURCH
Rev. Stephen Kealy Was Stricken
at the Altar.
WORDS SEEM PROPHETIC
Passionist Provincial Was Taken III
While Preaching to n CongreEa-
tion-was Apparently in the
Best of Health.


tion-Was Apparently in the
Best of Health.
New York, July 18.-"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 admonition, Very
Rev. Stephen Kealy, provincial OF the
Passionists' 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 fall
ure, Father Kealy barely survived I'M
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 fled, 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, but ignorant OF
the tragedy that had befallen the
church.
Father Kealy 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 an account of your steward
ship"
The discourse was brief, and ended
with the strangely significant warning
which a few minutes later was to have
so dramatic an illustration.
AS he walked to the altar, the
priests steps suddenly faltered, and a
groan escaped his lips. He whispered
family to an altar boy, who hurriedly
summoned Father Bertrand Barry.
81 am ill.," whispered the dying
priest on the arrival of Father Barry.
do you administer communion"
Father Barry assumed the Office,
orJ Jro noip0 hic foot hoo yi1u Eothnr
Kealy went to the sacristy. On the
threshold he collapsed. His vestments
were hurriedly removed to give him
air.
"Take me away" he murmured
II am dying"
Carried to Cell.
The priest was hurriedly carried tt
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 floatet
up from the church, Father Kealy
having received the last rites of the
CuuiCu, puooCu AulCLly away
When the death of Father Kealy wa!
made known to the congregation at tn,
later masses, the deepest grief wa
manifested by the members of hi
flock. Practically all of his priesthood
had been spent in the community IL
which he died, and it is expected tina
his funeral will be made the occasion
of a special mark of reverence on tn,
part of his congregation.
The funeral services will he held 81
, Wednesday in the monastery, witt
Bishop O'Connor, of Newark, presid
ing. At $50 a. m. the solemn Office
for the dead will be said, and at tel
o'clock the solemn requiem mass vii
be celebrated.
, Interment will be made in the vaul
under the main altar of the church
and Immediately beneath the spo
where Father Kealy vas stricken. l
. the meantime, the body will lie in stat
: in the church. Father Kealy was Dor
at Kyle, Ireland, in 1S49. He came t
] American while a child, and in 1870 Ell
. tered the passionate monastery 9
Pittsburg. In 1877 he was ordained
priest by the late Archbishop Corr
gan, then bishop of Newark, the o
dination services being conducted i
c the monastery at West Hobokel
where he died. Since then Fathe
Kealy had filled every office of hone
in the Passionist order In America. H
k had been the executive head of til
J. order for five years.
The position Of provincial is only fl
IS three years. Father Kealy, howeve
was elected for a second term, upon tt
ID expiration Of his first. His success
will be Rev. Father Felix Ward, fir,
is c%onsultor to the provincial. The rul,
n of the order provide that the first CO
Ii cultor shall succeed a provincial
le case Of death without an election
fill his unexpired term. The first ele
j., ton will be held in July, 1905.
Of
TX REPORTED ASSASSINATION
IL -