The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-08-15
An Illustration of How He Lived and Labored
on the Missions of North Carolina
F Forty Years Ago.
Difficulties Met and Overcome by the Young
Prelate in Days Directly Following
the Civil War.

the place, because the Protestant
fathers and mothers threatened to
close it's doors if they were not exclud.
ed. Perhaps it was we'll that old st.
Thomas where we're intoned the
Mass and Vespers, was built of brick,
viii stout plank doors, otherwise 1t
might not now be standing as silent
memorial of those once gathered with
in it.
AS the curtain of history is rolled
back, the man whose tragic death in
part led to the coming of Bishop Glib
bons to Carolina should not be for
gotten. The name of Father Murphy
is never mentioned here without re-
membrance of the dreaded plague
which for months held the town in its
grasp. Among the few who did not
flee, but remained to nurse the sick
aid to administer the last rites to the
dying of all beliefs was the brave
Irish priest, who at last was stricken
down among the victims of yellow fe-
yer. With the death ct Father. MUIR
phy the Catholics of Wilmington were
left without a counsellor = to guide
them. The church was indeed demor-
allied. and on Archbishop spalding
devolved the task of restoring order
out of chaos. The: situation needed a
man not merely of energy, but Of ex-
,ecutive ability and fact: He must be
versatile to meet the emergencies
There we're many willing priests, but
the question was one Of fitness Fin
ally the Archbishop decided upon q
young man who had been his secre-
tary and his chancellor, one with
whom he had been SO closely associat-
ed that he knew every trait of his
character.
But more than priestly power was
needed, and, by the authority of the
Pope, Father Gibbons became Bishop
Gibbons. This was part Of his mis-
sion, to build up the Church not only
iu town. but in country; to make
peace II possible between Catholic and
Protestant; to restore to those of his
belief their rights as citizens, Of
which they had been in part deprived.
Such was the field to which this
young priest was assigned after he had
been vested with the episcopal robes.
Those who gathered in old st. Thom-
as: at the first service he conducted
saw a youth with: figure spare to
frailness. but there was in his fa 20
the evidence of character and determi-
nation. He knew he was in charge of
a: people who. for the time were out
side Of the town society as much as II
they were, outcasts. Most of them
were ill., poverty: Some had lost their
all in the war. None could be called
wealthy. To them the future was one
OF hopelessness, for such was the cri.
sis in the affairs of the church that
the question had arisen if it should not
be disbanded and the cities. of North
Carolina left without a congregation
of the Catholic faitl1.
Then began the greatest struggle
yet to be recorded in the life of Jane,
Gibbon-a fight to save his church.
First. he must have priest to assist
him and to serve the people when he
was journeying over field and through
valley to reach the few scattered fox
IN the: country. Fortunate was it that
Il man after his own heart became as:
sociated with him-a man willing tc
make sacrifices and endure herdship
and discomfort in his zeal for his life
work. Mark Gross was also young in
years when, with his friend and Bish-
cp. he entered upon his duties in Car
DINA as rector Of ST Thomas. to re-
main there until 1890, continuing the
work laid out by i1fs superior Father
Gross entered into his iabors with such
heartiness that he soon won the es-
TEEN of the people, holding a place in