The Irish standard., 1906-09-01
A BRAVE PRIEST IN NEW YORK
Interesting Interview With Father Da
mems Companion and Comforter.

three months Father Damien's only
shelter.
! Father Conrardy is in this country
in the interest of new leper mission
to be started in Canton, China, a city
with ten thousand helpless, unhelped
victims of the most miserable diseases.
You are going yourself among these
people again?" he was asked.
Myself, yes, he replied. 1 have the
authority of my Bishop, recommended
tions of assistance from the Protestant
missionaries, and my experience with
Father Damien.
| But il you get the disease?
| All. if get the disease, he answered
Gas if he We're simply saying, Oh. if l
catch cold,) l get it that's all. We
know nothing about the origin Of lep-
rosy: we know little about how it is
communicated. l did not get infected
| in Mo!okai."
Father Conrardy has IL long white
beard. clear brown eyes, and wears sill
ver-bowed spectacles. His skin is
! clear and taut, as if from careful car
bolic cleansing.
Il had no fear in AIolokai and was
there eight years, one year with Faith
Damien and seven years after. The
lepers indeed. were afraid of me, fear
ed to touch: but 1 lived with them,
| nursed them and nothing happened.
| Father Conrardy was born III Ore
gon. His talk is straight, direct, with
, idioms which comes from long use of a
foreign language.
had heard of Father Damien |
wrote to him to ask if l could help,
and he replied. l have his letter.
Here I cry to you, it says. (almost the
last letter he ever wrote to anybody )
I cry to you from the bottom of my
heart to come to my assistance. So I
went. That was in 1887. Father Da-
mien had been touched with the dis
ease. There were sores on his fingers.
If | lose my hands, he said what
can do? / shalt have no use l shall
not be able to celebrate Mass-I will
not be able to administer the sacr:,-
I ments.''
I'VE worked together. Worked. l
mean, as man and man together.
building cottages, chapcls and hospital
n h,,il l,;,,
self: he built six clapels. AS Steven
son said, he was q peasant, sturdy,
capable. energetic and always doing.
He dressed sores, attended to the i'll
II the worst eases. gave them in detail
the most disagreeablc aids, and he
joined in making their diversions"
Stevenson stayed eight days and
seven nights. and insisted on going
among the worst cases, seeing, as he
latterly wrote. butt ends of human
beings lying about. almost unrecogniZ-
able. but breathing-an ordeal from
which the nerves of Il mans spirit even
as his eye quails--a pitiful place to
visit and a hell to dwell ill.,"
Father Conrardy spoke of the daily
life in Molokai:
I'VE were busy teaching and build
ing. Some food came in packages
from Hawaii, good deal after the
government began to assist, but the
lepcrS were taught to raise vegetables.
We had to keep them occupied to make
the time pass for them. Out of the
thousands there were about twenty
whites. one was an lrishman. James
Mcmillan"
Father Damien. who had been de-
scribed as cXcitablc, obstinate, rude
and unjust. Father Conrarly found to
be /, man who acknowledged errors
like a gentleman, was impatient of de-
tail, but showed tirelcss, great loving
faitlfulneSs to the sore and HELPLESS
Three weeks before he died, said
Father Conrarty. he said to me- look
ing at his hands. Father I shall die
tonight. Not tonight, l said. Try to
live. Perhaps God would rather have
you live. Try to live for these people.
We buried him under the tree which
had been his habitation the first three
months of his voluntary exile Yes:
we put stone to mark his grave. 1t
says:
There is no higher way to prove love
for our neighbors than to give up your
life for them."
When Stevenson visited the island,
Rev. Father Conrardy was disabled
with Asiatic cholera. They carried
me to the boat in the leper hearse."
Out in Canton. Father Conrardy
went on. quickly. the condition of lep-
ers is fifty times worse than in Molo-
kai. There are 10000 of them in the
province of Canton-10.0OO in the city.
want to help 300 of them. Three
of them have preference for