Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1909-10-28
Proceedings of the Congrega
ton of st. AnthOny's Churcl
and the Adoption of Resolutions
on the Death OF
DIR. Edward f. X. McSweeny
ST. ANTHONY'S, NEAR
EMMITSBURG, MD.

EDITOR OF THE CLARION:
Mr. Editor:-In transmitting to you fo'
publication the proceedings of the meet
ing of members of the congregation OF
this church, held yesterday to adopt Res
olutions commemorative of the late Rev.
DR.. Edward F. X. McSweeny, it is be-
ieved that few words regarding the
lamented Priest and his regard for Thur
mont and it's people will not be untimely
DR.. McSweeny, year or so ago, at lee
ture delivered in Thurmont, took occasion
to express his appreciation of the hlgl
state Of improvement of the town and
above all his esteem for the people wht
led the clean life which is characteristic
of the homes of those who are faithful t.
the precepts of temperance. Many OF
your readers will remember that just
year ago this month, at the banquet OF
the w., F. & G. Ry. Co. to celebrate it,
entrance into Thurmont, DR.. McSweeny
made similar remarks in his reply to the
toast which he was invited to answer
He was man of great breadth of view
and liberality. Some years ago when the
barn of neighbor who was non-cath-
Ole, was destroyed by fire, the good and
noble hearted priest of God did not fail,
in making the announcements at the Mass,
to show by expressions of christian con
Germ and charity his sympathy for the
loss incurred
At the meeting held yesterday, Ernest
Lagarde was made chairman, Danl F.
Roddy, secretary. On taking the chair
Mr.. Lagarde said in part:
Fellow members of the congregation of
St. Anthony: Thanking you for the honor
you do me by making me your chairman
feel that owe the privilege less to any
special merit than to the fact that for
upwards of quarter of century | en-
joyed the friendship of the lovable man
at whose death we have met here to ex-
press our sorrow. | ask you, how
ever, to bear with me if in the poor trib-
ute pay to his worth, there are things
might say of him listening to the dict
ates of my heart, but | cannot trust my
| feelings as that heart is overlooking with
tenderest memories. Let me say at once
that our beloved pastor, Rev. Geo. H.
Tragesser, has called us together for the
purpose of appointing committee to
draft resolutions expressive of our sor-
row at the death of Rev. DR.. Edward
Francis Xavier McSweeny whom we all
loved.
The passing away of so true and typical
model of the priest and the citizen de-
mands an announcement which will show
not only how genuine is our regard for
him, but also how sincere we are in the
expression of it.
To nearly all of you he was well known
as, during his long service in this neigh
borhood, he ministered to your spiritual
wants not only when the congregation
was attached to the College church, but
until very recently he showed that his
interest in the spiritual welfare of the
Parish was as earnest as in the early
days. To all he showed the fatherly care
which binds the Pastor so closely to his
Pensioners,
There has been no home in this COM
munity that was not made the better by
the blessing of his presence; he visited
all alike with the same spirit which
prompted him to comfort, counsel and
uplift. He was not more the friend of
the rich than of the struggling poor; he
extended his priestly care to both races,
the white and the black, and, if he show
ed a livelier sympathy for the freedman,
he did so because his charity prompted
him to be compassionate with the suf-
fering and the lowly. and again, he con-
sidered all men as the children of a com
mon Father.
His priestly heart never allowed him
to make distinctions among the parish
toner's. | remember an incident when
two members of this community were
soliciting a Government Office and that
approached him to get his support for my
candidate, he answered: "The Priest is
like the father of the family, he should
show no favoritisrn between his children.
will support neither, let their friends
attend to the choice"
He took particular interest in the edu-
cation of the young; he was a jealous
guardian of the delegated right of the
parent to the priest for the education of
the child AS, in the beginning, we had
no parochial school, so long as the State
schools did not antag onize Catholic edu-
cation, he lent his appreciation to the
good work of the Public School teacher
Right here let me tell you of circum-
stance in his life which made deep i'm
preston on my mind. He had presented
to the little brick School House" in the
corner of the woods yonder, flag; he
wished to teach the children the lesson of
devotion to their country; | shall never
forget the picture he presented on the
occasion AS he stood holding the staff,
the wind blew the folds of the flag about
his body, and as he spoke there was
supernal expression in his face and the
thought came to me as gazed, there he
stands like the Divine Master with the
little ones gathered around him and the
serenity of his looks is heightened by the
beauty of the flag which symbolzes the
colors of the skies and which seems to
have borrowed something that speaks
of the Beauty of the Place where the