The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-07-01
Continued from page ~
REVEREND CLAUDE GEMS.


he has been everywhere held was told
at the funeral services in the Cathe-
dral. The list of mass-intentions con-
fided to him in his latter years had
been found; those mass-intentions had
come from the several places, where
at one time or another he had Ia
boured, from people who had not seen
him for twenty or thirty years or
more, but who had never forgotten his
piety and his sweetness of character.
Another instance we must recite. In
one of the missions in which he had
served, discord later broke out, some
what through the mismanagement OF
affairs by his successor. The success
sor was told by the Ordinary to with
draw from the mission. Thereon
there was further discord. The an
nouncement came that new pastor
would arrive on certain day. An
excited crowd awaited him at the sta
ton to forbid him descend from the
train, to say that no change of priests
was to be allowed. Suddenly the in
coming pastor was spied out; it was
Father GEMS whom the Ordinary had
prudently chosen to serve second
term among his former friends; a cry
of joy was heard on all sides; those
who had come to protest and upbraid
were the loudest in their exultant
welcome
Father Gems was loved; how could
it be otherwise? The secret Of the
love he won, always and everywhere,
lay in his unse1fish devotion to his
people. He loved the people; he
served them with limitless zeal; ever
with warmest affection, never with
murmur or reproach; ever with
promptness and punctuality, never
with hesitancy or token of fatigue. The
most slender sign given that he was
| needed, Father GEMS was on the way
whether to the church to dispense
sacrament, or to remote, and i'm
poverished dwelling to comfort the
sick, or arouse to duty the recalcit-
rant sinner. He never had an enemy,
much because he never gave offense.
Never was the word said, or the act
done, that could arouse opposition.
Now and then, at distance opposi-
ton might have been premeditated,
even planned and resolved upon; near
by, it at once melted into friendliness
and submission. Irresistible was the
sunshine of his smile; irresistible the
warmth of his welcoming hand.
He owed much to his kindness of
nature lie bon Claude" he was called
in his Seminary days; lie BON
Claude" he remained his whole term
of life. But to nature, grace was SUI
peradded. The good, pious priest he
aimed always to be, and he always
was. There was no affectation in his
piety; of affectation his simple, true
soul was incapable. But his was the
solid, unwavering, ceaselessly-nour-
ished piety that God exacts from His
ministers. The habits of piety formed
in the Seminary, the acts and exer.
cises there inculcated and practiced,
were never forgotten or omitted
Piety was the very life of his soul
there ever fresh in its inspirations,
ever limpid in it's illusions, ever cap.
tivating in it's tenderness and diffu-
sive of itself amid it's surroundings
as goodness of all kind ever is and
necessarily must be. He was truly
pious; those who fell under his spell
were pious-the outward effect of his
piety becoming the sure proof of its
interior reality.
The Jealous Successful Pastor.
i Father GEMS was not the learned
scholar, or the famed orator-things
that serve their purpose, but are fal
from being the main factors in the
work OF the good and successful
priest. This, however, must not be
taken to mean that he was not intel
lectually well-equipped for his minis
terial duties. He was naturally bright
of mind, quick of intuition, and cor
rect Of judgment. His library room
was stocked with well-chosen books
and, when leisure could be snatched
from his multitudinous exterior activi
ties, he read and was delighted to
read His sermons were always care
fully prepared, and were listened CO
: with deserved attention. He was an
exceptionally prudent and efficient In
structor and director OF souls. For
/. many years in the latter part of his
!. life, he was the confessor of several
houses OF Sisters, and there he IL re
membered with utmost appreciation
and gratitude.
Good Father Genis-if i'm him faults
4 of character could at all have been
! discovered, they were those OF the
slightest and most f0rgivable kind
always the mere excuses Of golden
virtues.