Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-23

Life. The calls of the sick never found
/ him unresponsive and he would con-
tend in time of pestilence with priests
associated with him for the privilege
and the danger OF attending the
stricken ones. He was ever prompt to
! comfort and console the homes that
death had made desolate. Like the
/ Good Shepherd, he would at times
leave the ninety and nine to seek the
sheep that was lost, and his keen sense
of responsibility made him quick to
apprehend danger; when he might
/ reasonably have rested he went forth
to the homes of his parish. whether of
the rich or of the poor, where a soul
was in danger to warn it, 10 encourage
it and to save it from destruction. 1
/ know whereof | speak, for as a boy l
accompanied him on his errandS of
! priestly devotion. OF the abundant
means that were given to him in his
long life he kept nothing, but quickly
/ gave them back TO God in the person
of the poor-to house the orphan, to
clothe the naked, to feed the hungry
and to instruct the ignorant. He died
as he had lived. and as every priest
should wish TO die. without money and
without means. The ear that heard
him blessed him and the eye that saw
him gave witness to him because he
had delivered the poor man that.Gried
out, and the fatherless that had no
helper; the blessing of him that was
ready TO perish came upon him and
he comforted the heart of the widow.
He was an eye TO the blind and a foot
to the lame; he was the father of the
poor (Job 19:2-16O
His Life an Encouragement
| And yet the world asks why Cath
olics love their priests. Father Shana-
| han, laboring in the country districts
and in the crowded thoroughfares of
! our great cities. was but one of the
| great army of good men whose lives
are actuated by the same motives and
whose days are full of similar deeds.
AS an humble priest Father Shanahan
never would have permitted his life 20
| be made known, and if to-day | tear
away the mantle with which he coy
! cred the greatness of his merits and
! heedlessly disregard an injunction that
| his cold lips would now utter, if they
| could, il is not for his glory, but TO
shed light on what is mysterious TO
men and to encourage younger gen.
GRAFTON of priests to fill out the meas
ure of their greatness with such works
as filled the life that has just closed.
why do Catholics love their priests?
| They love them because priest and
people are invincibly convinced of the
same Divine truths: they love their
priests because the spiritual inspiration
of good priests life is as clear as
the MONDAY sun: they love their priests
because they know that the faithful
priest will share with them every
! danger will give and does give to
! them the power of his mind, the affec-
ton Of his heart, the Vigor of his body,
and will sacrifice all, save his saliva
ton, for their souls welfare; and
that he sinks his own individuality and
his own interest in the temporal aud
eternal welfare of his people. This is
the reason why Catholics love their
/ priests; this is the explanation, and
there is none other. and there is no
mystery about it.
Duty of Priests of To-day
'"rhe priests of this generation have
succeeded TO a rich Inheritance of
affection and loyalty, an inheritance
/ more precious than worldly goods,
| broad domains or magnificent creations
of stone. The inheritance has been
! purchased for them by the labor of
! self-SacrifiCe of the great and good
men who have gone before them, and
/ II is the solemn and the sacred duty
/ of the priests of this day to preserve
! and enrich this inheritance and to
! hand 1t down to the generation that
! will come after them; they will pre-
| serve il and they will hand il down if
apostolic pioneers; they will preserve
it If they bring TO their tasks the same
! profound conviction and the same
sinSleness of purpose and tho same
| eorneStneSS of endeaVor: the will
hand it down if, casting aside sordid
motives and selfish purposes, they are
willing TO bury their own interest in
the welfare of their people and to give
the best that they have and all that
they have to the cause to which they
arc consecrated. AS long as the priests
of this land and of every land will
show forth these virtues in their lives
no power can break the tie that binds
priest and people, for love is strong
as death, many waters cannot quench
charity, neither can the floods drown it.
His Word For Children
"But ! should do scant justice to the
long priestly life of Father Shanahan
in Philadelphia if I failed to accen-
tuate the marvellous work that he ac-
complished for the education of our
Catholic children. Father Shanahan
loved the children; he loved them for
their innocence; and they who are men
and women now can recall how in
their opening years they would gather
round him, their little bodies swaying
him by their very multitude hither
and thither the while; with pleasure
hghting up his face he would call each
by name and give to each some little
token of his love and affection. But
he loved the children, too, because his
clear vision saw these children, the
men and women of to-day and of the
future. and he realized that in them