ace EE

REVEREND FATHERS

DOWD AND TOUPIN,

WITH

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF IRISH COMMUNITY OF MONTREAL.

BIOGRAPHIES OF PASTORS OF “ RECOLLET ” AND “ST. PATRICK’S,” ETC.

Iw SIV ™

EDITED BY

J. J. CURRAN, Q.C., M.P.

eer

atlontrent ; PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL ©& SON,

1887.

t A

INDEX.

Address of Hon. J. S. D, Thompson, Minister of Justice

s¢ 6 Mayor and Aldermen «© Congregation and Societies A double priestly Jubilee (John Lesperance) Biography—Right Rev. Bishop Phelan Rey, John Joseph Connolly «Patrick Dowd ‘¢ Joseph Toupin Celebration St. Patrick’s School Clergy of St. Patrick’s Past and Present Concert of St. Patrick’s choir Golden Jubilee Services Letters—Rev. Gavin Lang «Rev. W. S, Barnes List of Subscribers to Jubilee Fund New St. Patrick’s Parish Poems—Miss Anna T. Sadlier ee Miss B. Guerin es W. O. Farmer, Esq.

#s A Pinch of Snuff

Proceedings of Jubilee Celebration Committee, etc.

Religious Societies of St. Patrick’s

Reply of Rev. Father Dowd to Addresses

Rise and Progress of Irish Catholic Community Sermon by Right Rev. Bishop Waish

St. Patrick’s Church

“+ Girls’ School s Orphan Asylum fs £§ sb Bazaars

Thanks of Rev. Fathers Dowd and Toupin

Victims of Typhus Fever

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

TO THE JUBILEE CELEBRATION FUND OF REV. FATHER DOWD.

FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE DEBT ON ST, PATRICKS CHURCH. Assetts, Mrs ...ccccccecece $5 00 | Clifford, Daniel............ 20 Ahern; Anniccssccceuscsus 100 | Clifford, Denis............ 20 PPIs JON cc iauiias cere 3 00 | Callaghan, John, sen....... 20 Miherd, EMEeN 6. ccc cies cows 5 00 | Corbett, Patrick.... ...ee0. 10 UOC Co 2a i Dam IMEC Ty Io oo | Clifford, John..... sovcese 10 Melby: THOMAS. bss ck ee cens 4 00 | Cummings, Mrs. George..., 5 Brannan, J. B ...... cecece 50 00 | Callahan, Michael. ...... 5 MOTE FOUN sie c.ccadisscgud eve 40 00 | Chambers, John.......00.,. 5 Byrne, Miss R..... teeeeees 25 00} Carroll, Jane..........6... Io Bermingham, John.......... 20 00 Cullen, Margaret.......... 5 Burress, Widow.... .eseee. § of | Cafferty, Paul ......ccceeee 5 Barron, Denis.......e00... 5 00 | Carroll, Daniel............ 5 Brady, Widow...... ‘vices 4 00 | Conway, Widow Alice...... 25 PrAGIEY MIG cde vuvee Wins 2 00 | Callaghan, John, jun...... “a 5 Brennan, Thomas...... +... 5 00 | Collins, Thos. C........... 50 Buchanan, Thomas ........ 50 oo | Ca laghan, James........... 5 Brosnan, Bridget.......+00. 2 00 | Cuddihy, Widow Michael... 25 Breen; JOM... .05 ceeesecss 5 oo | Carroll, Margaret.......... 6 Burns, Michael ...... 2.088 5 20 | Connolly, Wm............ Io Behan, Thomas........+... 10 00 Connolly, Jas., jun......e0. 5 Brennan, Edward........., 2 00 | Collins, John..........ccc050 5 Bully, Mrs. Wm....e.e.006 Ico | Chanteloup, E .......666. 25 Burke, Mary... seeeee secs 200 | Carr, Emma........ cccece co) Byrne, Thomas.......00... 2 00 | Cvolahan, Sarah ........ . I Beaudry, Widow........... 1000 / Cassidy, Cath..... ecevceces I Booth, William............ 10.00 Connolly, Sarah........se0. I Barbeau, B. Ji. sises cceees 25 00 | Cluin, John.............. aie (9, Barbeau, Henry.......+6.. 10 00 Cross, Samuel......cee0006 5 Bantree, Harvey........... 5 00 | Conway, James............ 20 Brennan, Arthur.......+++. 20 00 Cunningham, Catherine..... 10 Cunningham, W. H........ 100 00 | Cunningham, Mary Ann.... 10 Carroll, Michael,......+¢¢0. 100 00 | Callahan, Mrs. Felix...... «+ Io Clitisty, Dicoses crscie cies 50 00 | Connolly, Jchn,...........- 5 Curran, J. f., M-P......... 50 00 Campbell, Cassie,....,.... 2 Crowe, John... seescevers 50 00 Collins, James ..........+8 40 Conaughton, James....seee, 25 00 | Coyle, P, Jisccces eevee ces 25

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Costello, Ellen.....cee.eee Cunnis, Mrs, John ......+. Cannon, Miss Ann....seee. Clarke, John ..scccsces cere Callaghan, Johanna., ....0. Cuddy, Michael......s.00 Curran, John.... sce eevee Creates): Wievias concsvees Clifford, Widow John...... Carroll, James......eee0 ee Carroll, Josenh...eseeeyees Collection May 19th. ....006 Callery, James.....e00-00s Conaughton, Margaret...... Carroll, Philip...... cesses Clayton, John...s.secessecs Callahan, Felix.....es.ee0e Coghlin, Bi Fin vsvecwwcksy Calgay, Mrs... scccececs Clifford, Mrs, Daniel....... Cass, Mrs. Widow.....e00. Cunningham, Thomas...... Dwane, John.....ccceseee Delahanty, Michael........ Doherty, Charles J.......06 Doran, William E,......., Dunlop, James......2..006 Daly, Thomas,........0008 Dunlop, Bi cecsiecveccecss Drury, Widow ...e00 .eceee Devins, R.J..cecccecevece UY os) iiadiccatcanae tees Duggan, Rev. John, Water-

bury, Conn, U.S.eee sees Doran, Wiiliam........00. Dredge, Annie........000. Dowd, Francis.......e.00 Dwyer, JOhNssiscieeccesee Doyle, Patrick (baker)...... Downs, Terence........... Drake, Richard....

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Dowling, William......... Drumn, Francis...eeecceee Dillon, Ned........see.00e Doherty, Hon. Justice...... Daly, Bridget...... sess.

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Dooner, Mrs, George.....+. Day AND secs uescvsseee Dunn, John ..cecesseseceee Durack, Widow Patrick.... PONG Tb vs ceee cheee oe Dillon, J. St. Greccccssoce Dillon, R. Lacy..... cecees Dillon, Frank ......eee0.- Donnelly, Theresa......... Donnelly, James......eseee Dunn, James... 000 cevece Dillon, Frederick.......... Dunning, Widow Jas...... Dowling, Michael.......... Downey, Mrs. Nora.......- Delaney, Mrs...6.seeseeee Elliott Edward. .....++ see Emerson, Bernard....++..0 Edwards, Joseph......e+e0 Egginton, Jos. A...se.ceeee Egan, Michael.....ccsseoee Egan, Patrick. .ccccseoese Elliott, Martin... ....eeee Enright, Widow John,..... Egan, Mary..cccssecsesecs Fogarty, Jeremiah......... Feron, Michael,...+seeeee. Foley, Jeremiah........00. Fallon, John........ scsece Furlong, Mrs. Anne........ Finnan, Bridget.. ....0+ 00. UrTend) Avececerwesveteve BriCNd A ccovaceonsecvee Feron, Widow Arthur...... Fox, John... cccoscsdsces Briend, As viemisedetevies Frictds: Avcssccceevbe chee Priend) Ais vcs ccnscnesevsice Fogarty, Timothy Frs...... Briéndy “Avec scessesevees PHENO CAS ci cuisce seins noes Hriendyc As. <65/0050 00 tenses Fitzgerald, Mary.... .sseee Briendy Asics caves saveee Prend) Avs tis cectvccecces Erlend, A cocc.scvceevterses

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Friend, Avcicec sees eeeete Io

Fogarty, Patrick.....sseeee6 2 Friends, Three. ...seeessees 3 Friend, A...ccccccce vecces 5 Friends, Three...see .ccese 3 PHIENI Ay ceces cee teenies 5 Fri€nds Atv vecececvecnee I

Foley, Ann and Winifred. ... 5 Friend, A...ccsccccssccces 00 Flood, Mary.cseseeecceees Feeney, Cath. csceccccecce PONG eidh ctr s ulkr bind eaeees PriGndyAscsrcceerecsese’s BHGNGAvccscvcstboceeecs BriendsAssicvecoecececes Friend, A (per Father Toupin,

name forgotten).......e66 Ferguson, Thos.....s.see0 BENG Avis else tecseeeee Fal:on, Martin.... secoseee Farrell, Widow John....... BREN GAs eae ssccocsa sees DLICNS Avesieeievectoetwess Fayer, Miss. ......0s:000 0. Flanagan, M. M. J..+es.eee Funchion, Mary.......0 eee PTIGHGyAe eer ue veesatee! ve BPIENA EA he edeaeeveene Fitzgerald, Thomas........ Finn, Timothy .........+4- BrICNGsAviiey cei esee veeee Farrell, Mrs. Wm...e.eeee Friend, A...ces secscescces Friend, Asses vecesscccctee BYIGHGy As sivcesisiaccte ce ves fi Briends: Avis e ce a-einlse.'s 6 00:4 BPIGNG cA yiciie sisitevetivee.e BriendAvwncesvceebeerciees PHGNG, VA deities ceseceece Fallon, Rev. P....seeevece PRE VAG crasssinet cece Friend, Avcssccoscceasecs PHONG Aacisiess esses cides Briand Ativicwevs cc ceases Farrell, William.........+. 50 Fitzpatrick, Jane... eosseees 5

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Friends, Tw0..sececesevece Fowler, Prof. J. A..s.cseee HHONG Acccsstsaebnveces Friend, Avicsccccecesccce Friend, Accscsssecesvcces Friend, Avccececcvcccccece Foley, Mrs. Jeremiah.....+ BPONG AN tice Cher casiewaee Friend, A.ccccacccccccccs BHiQuds VA iiseaesnenenees Flynn, Mrs. Lawrence...... Grant, George R........5. Griffin, Widow..... «sees Gorrie, Michael........... Gleeson, Bridget .....0-.006 Gaherty, John.......eeseee Grace, Patrick...... seseee Groome, P. M ..... veseeee Gorman, Michael.........-. Gilligan, John.......00 veee Gunning, Bernard.......... Green, Thomas. ....06 eeeee Gallagher, Widow Patrick... Grubert, Lawrence.......+-

George, W., (surname forgotten)

Geherty, Denis (Carillon)... Hingston, Dr. W. H....... Hodson, William H........ Hewitt, Thomas......eeee. Hamill, Patrick, jun....... Hamill, Patrick, sen..esee- PIGATM “ANN eeeversesreeese Hamilton, Widow John.... Hughes, Michael, sergt..... Hart, Martin.......... ee0e Hallinan, John.......0.00. Heaney, Widow........... Harris —.ccccssceccce voce Harris, Arthur.......0eee. Hart, Widow Martin....... Hackett, Widow James..... Harvey, Thomas....ee+ see Hughes, Louis....00 weoses Hayvern, John......escecee Hetherson, Mary......e0.

Hunt, John J.... cess see

2 00 20 00

2 oO 5 5 00 5 I 375

I

5 100 00 5 90 5 00 10 00 5 00 100 0O 25 00 Io ov 5 00 5 00 IO 00 25 00 Ic 00 4 86 5 00

Hart, O. and E ....sccce0e Hassett, Mrs. Thos.....++5 Holland, Mrs. Thos...... Heagarty, John....6, s+: eee Harrington, Mary........++ Hanton, Mary .e..eseeere Irwin, Edward. .oee.cceee 8 Irwin, Eddy D.........00 Irwin, Mary Eleanor,.... .. Irwin, Walter Patrick....0. LEW sg REV 6h k Kee ce ens Irwin, Frank Bartley...... Irwin, Ethel Clare.......- Ivery, Widow James. ....4 Jones, Widow...... ...000% Johnston, Anastasia,.,..... Jensen. John Liccccscucene Johnston, Mrs ..ccecseceees Kavanagh, Michael.,......, Kelly, Patrick. syeces canes Kavanagh, Walter......... Kennedy, Mrs, John........ Kennedy, Catherine........ Kennedy, Jinet.......0.. ¢ Kelly, Mary...... eae’ e.0 Kelly, Mary (another)....++ Kennedy, Jolin ....00 weveee Ker, Thomas....+...e.+.0. Kelly, William ....... 60. Kehoe, Patrick...... Kavanagh, Mary Kiernan, William. ......... Kitty, Mrs...eee- Kelly, Mrs...eee Kirby, Patrick ...... .00es Kinsella, James......06 «-« Kennedy, J. Gi... cece cece Kennedy, N...eccseceee ae Kennedy, Patrick....... Kane, Sarah...secssce cece Kiely Richard..........008 Kenehan, James....ee.se00: Favanagh, Henry ...c00 cece Kenny, Bridget........... Lanning, J. J...sssee coccce MOVES Tce p ene + cene re

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Lycos, Bridget ....++ «+ eee Logue, Jane seeeeeteeee Lynch, Michael ..... eee» Lawless, Marcella,....0, 60. Loye, Francis...seeesseese Lovit; MiSissccevecevenece Laverty, M. P.cccccsecsece Laverty, Mrs, Joseph. ....0 Laforce, Mrs. Widow....e.-

Murphy, Edward....6+.+++ 1000 00 Murphy, John B.....6.+00+ I000 00

Mullin, James E .cc.eeeees Milloy, J. J ccceeseevece ve Mullin, Widow John....... Menzies, Augustus.....0+.. Maloney, Michael..... .... Moore, Mary Ann,......+. Massett, Robert...... se eees Marshall, MissS..seee eeveee Murphy, James....00+ sees Martin, Patrick ....00.seee. Muldoon, Patrick Neil...... Moynaugh, Patrick......+.. Mullin, Daniel .........00 Moran, Edward ......000. Murphy, Patrick....... +006 Marshall, Miss Ann......0. Murren, Henry ....0....006 Mansfield, Richard. ....... Morley, Michael ........00 Mullin, Patrick...... eo cece Mulcair, Bros. ....e..seeees Murphy, Ann...ccesscsccee Morgan, Edward.......00. Maddock, Patrick......... Moore, Mrs...scccsessrnce Muilin, Thomas....+....s06 Maher, Bridget......+.006 Mathews, Patrick......eeee Malone, Ellen ........00 0% Morrissey, Thomas. ........ Murphy, Mrs. Ed. (St. Jos. St. Murphy, James.......seeee Murphy, Patrick Edw...... Malone, Ann....c.ececeres

Mullarkey, Michael........

ae a Se a ee ee a a reer Se 2. eee

Malone, Kate..seeesseveee Maher, Mrs. Terence, ....+« Main, James......6. «esses McGarvey, Cwen....0. see McCready, James.......+ McShane, (Hon.) James.... McEntyre, Daniel.........- McEntyre, John...ss.seveee McCrory, Posscceseeecesss McGoldrick, P.....seeeees McAndrew. M. J ..eees cece McAnally, R...eesseeeeees McCarthy, Callaghan....... McInerney, John...... s+ McDonald, Mary....ee vee McCarthy, Mrs..eeee seeece McDonald, i nily. caceesses McBrarty, John. ...see+seee McClanagan, D....ee.eeee McDermott, Widow. ....... McDonald, Daniel.... .... McKenna, Widow Thos.... McCready, ~ “tow Robt.... McNama McMahon .. .icW seeceveres McAran, James. ......+

McCarthy, James ... seceee McCarthy, Mrs. Elizabeth...

McLaughlin, Miss Ann..... McCormuck, Maggie. ...... McFee, Mrs...... «++ McCall, Philip........ see McMahon, Ellen........... McCulloch, Miss Mary.. ... McCall, Edward......+..0. McCann, Joseph...... +000 McMahon, Michael........ McCarthy, Wm ...... McDonald, Ann...., McDonnell, Mrs, John...... McCready, Michael........ McGreevy, Patrick......00+ McCabe, Patrick ......-..06 McDonald, Kate.......ee0- McDonald, Lizzie.. ....e0. McCaffrey, Mrs. Margaret...

1000 00 500 00 2c0 00

oo 100 0O oo fee)

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McGuire, Julian, . sees cevees

McHenry, Miss Isabella..... McQuilken, Mrs..evesseeee McKeown, Patrick........-

McNally, Bernard...... ae McKenna, Patrick (florist).. McCabe, Mary..cecececees McDonald, Elizabeth....... McDonald, Emily......... McDonald, Janet.... ...00 McDonough, John.....+..0 McCaffrey, Dennis. .... +006 McGuire, James ..ceesscees McManus, Mary Ann. ....0.6 McNulty, Elizabeth........ McCarthy, Rev. Father, ...- McDonald, Maggie......-.. McDonnell, Ann.......e08- McGuire, Wm.....0. sevece Macdonald, Dr. J. A. ..ee0e McCurragh, T<nbella........ McCormack, Widow Michael McPherson, A.coecessseeee McDonald, Margaret.....+. McCrory, Joseph....+. sees McPhail, E!u.deth....00 ee McGarr, } ichael.....+. sees McKenzie, John........06. Nugent, J. P..cceoes scence Nelligan, Patrick........6. Nugent, James..... tieegeus Nolan, Charles... se. seeeee Nolan, John...ces seuss 14 INTODS CMS is/ciecae te tailiend-e0 Nolan, Julia...ceeeseveee ss Newman, Mrs...ese-.eeee O’Brien, James ,..e+0 ..00. O’Hara, William J..... pare O’Connor, James) ewe eee O’Sullivan, Florence.,...... O’Shaughnessy, M......... O'Neil, Cath.......cseeeee O'Sullivan, Mrs. Margt..... O’Connell, Michael........ O'Loughlin, Martin J....... O’ Neil, Patrick

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O’Leary, John. ..csessecees ONG, Dey viéveciaceabe xi O’Reilly, Bernard......... O'Sullivan, Michael........ O’Brien, Mrs. T....ee-0ceee O’Brien, Patrick. .....0c0c.

O’Shaughnessy, James...... OND ceil wok eas bes Phelan Misia vee vesees Potts; JOhHis ss versa c ccue

Power, Bridget, widow...... Powers, Misses ....... Platt, — (Plateau St)......

Pendergast, Ann..........

Pendergast, Mary.......... Power, Widow Richard..... Price; Martin... sce cesses oc Parishioner, A......+. eeees Phelan Ds Ves vcacess ccs Quinn, Michael...... ...00. Quipps Je Be isicsasscass Quinn, Widow Mary........ Queloh, Bllen.......ccc0e os Qrinn, Widow James......

Ryan, Hon. Thomas........

WGI MiP ses aeeieiveces Reiplinger, John........... Reynolds) Py ii ccsveceae nce Rawley, Richard...... os. Redmond, Widow..........

Reilly, Jans vcivcsscvcvacs Reilly, William.......ccee5 Ryan, Mrs, Patrick........ Rowell) Migs cocci sccesecs Reilly, Thos. (Vallée St.)... Ryan, widow Michael.......

5

5 2

10

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Ryan,Hon.Thos.and Mrs.(2nd) 50

Ronayne, Edw. P.......... Routh, Widow...... .ccece Ryan, Elizabeth........... Rowan, Peter....ceesccese Ryan, Catherine. ........00. Rabaut, Chas, P. (Detroit)... Roerty, Julia...... 1. ce eeee Rutledge, Mary.......,cc0e0 Styles, Thomas,..ees.eeeee

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Shea, Jeremiah...... sees CUNO Dy eee belusseeveth SMINCtE, MES i sces ect neas CURT MIB iv ceiceasaeees Smith, Patrick. .......0ce06 DAdHer, Mrs. iu. veeave Sadlier, James A........00. Servant pith, A sss. es cess MEMDIC |. Piss i ccuur.veaea BORVANtS, UWOissce saves ces Sharkey, James............ Stapleton, Miss Mary...... Smith, Chas. Fici.ks seers Sheridan, Wm. Patrick...... Sharkey, Ellen...... 0.0... Scanlan, Mrs.......... toes Scullion, Edward.......... Stark PACs vicky cvves cs Sibbins, Mary Ann......00. Silby, William........ 000. Sharkey, Michael ......... Sheppard, Jonathan,....... Starr, Timothy.........e0. Starr, Mrs. Christina........ Symmons, Mrs.......ces.. Smith, Widow Bridget... .. Sparks, Misses........ eee. Scullion, H. M..scccsrcoee Servant girl, A....e. ceces Stewart, Wm.........005 F Servants, lWO...cccssecees Smith, James...........00. Stack, Edward........0... Shea, John S

Smith, James H.......... Slavin, Agnes............. Tansey, Bernard...........

‘liffin, Widow Thos......... Tierney, Henry.....s..00 0. Toomey, John. .. .. eee. Trumble, Mrs. Margaret.... Tansey, JAMES vce rerceaw va

Thompson, The Hon. Mr.

(Minister of Justice)...... POMS ANN bee car shekeeee Wright, P.... eeecs @eeevees

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Wright, Michael.........0+ 50 00 Waddell, Thomas H........ 20 00 Waddell, Henry.....9..... 10 00 Whelan, Widow Edw...... 5 00 NWOID, TUG neces es. cece 2 00 Warnock, M’ss Elien....... 2 00 Waddell, Mrs. T.H........ 10 00

Wall, Joseph. os. sovsee seve Wall, James (Donegana St.). Wilson, William,.......0.; Ward, William...........5 Ward, Henry J... .ccceecs Watt Bilenciveiccciccéses Walsh, Widow Michael......

Wall, Henry.......+e+e66. 5 00 | Whelan, Widow Ann..,.... Wood, Arthur.....4+ese00.. § 00 | Walsh, Catherine......s.s+6 Walsh, James Jos.... sees 3 00 | Whelan, Widow John....... Warren, Robt. (Mayor St)... 20 00 Whelan, John P...,....... Wall, Thomas.........se08 5 00 | Wallace, John.....sesseoce Wall, Thos., jun...... veces 5 00 SOCIETIES, St. Patrick’s Society........ $100 00 Living Rosary... cesessses sf Choir........ 230 00 | Children of Catechism...... se School (girls), 300 00 | Cath, Young Men’s Society..

Ex-pupils, St. Patrick’s Sch. (gitls)....s.seeeeeeeceee 65 00

St. Patrick’s T, A. & B.Soc. 500 00

Ladies of Charity and friends. 1000 00

HOO CUD ciees ste ccs screws Children of Mary........06 Orphans, Relatives of....... Non-Catholic friends.......

5 00 50 oo 20 00

2 00 Io 00

5 00 20 00 I00 00

5 00

5 00 500 00

2 00

251 25 544 25 205 00 106 49 200 00

50 oc 387 00

INTRODUCTORY.

RISE AND PROGRESS

OF THE

IRISH CATHOLIC COMMUNITY

IN THE

CITY OF MONTREAL AND VICINITY.

PLL FIFI?

Gy te 19th day of May, 1887, will long be remembered by (;’ the citizens of Montreal, and more especially by the Irish Catholic worshippers at the shrine of Saint Patrick. It was truly a great day, great for the city because its celebration called forth Christian sentiments of brotherly love amongst all classes and creeds in the community, evoked by a feeling of admiration for a lifetime spent in the practice of heroic virtues ; great for those specially committed to the charge of the venerable Pastor whose Jubilee was being held because of the magnificent results it has already produced and those that are likely to flow from it in the early future.

A narrative of the many forms in which the gratitude of a people to a beloved pastor, and one of his most zealous asso- ciates, honoring together the 50th anniversary of the day on which they consecrated themselves to the service of the Most High, and were ordained His priests for ever, would form a neat little memento of so auspicious an event ; yet we may be permitted to make of that day an epoch, in another sense, and choose it as the point from which to glance at the history of the congregation engaged in its celebration. To-day the position of the Irish Catholic community of Montreal and its vicinity is one of influence, power and prestige. The assessment rolls are evidence of the interest they command to the extent of millions of dollars. Their hold on commerce and manufactures, their representation in the Judiciary, in .

U2

9

the Senate and Commons of the Dominion, in the Local Legis- lature, at the Aldermanic board, in the various offices of trust and emolument connected with public affairs and their place in the learned professions, by men of their race and creed, leave no room for cavil. Census returns are scarcely needed to establish numerical strength, when not only the throngs that worship at St. Patrick’s from early morn until noon at the successive masses, but the congregations of Saint Ann and Saint Anthony, Saint Gabriel and Saint Mary ma be viewed every Sunday, and are the living evidence of how the Irish Catholic population of this great and growing city have increased and multiplied and preserved the inestimable boon of the faith of their fathers. With all this in view, and other unmistakeable signs of moral and material progress, can it be realized that only afew years ago the Irish Catholics of Montreal were so mere a handful as not even to attract notice to their existence, and that it was only in 1817 a zealous priest of Saint Sulpice learned that a small colony of the sons and daughters of the Green Isle were to be met every Sunday, pouring forth their supplication to God at the shrine of His Immaculate Mother, Wotre Dame de Bonsecours. It was but natural they should have flocked there, their lively faith was intensified by their isolation in a strange land, and the sequel shows that they appealed not in vain for the pro- tection of Our Lady of Good Help. In 1817 the Rev, Father Richards of the S: S, discovered this little band of Irish Catholic worshippers, numbering not more than from 30 to 50 adults. They increased but slowly, since in a directory of the city published in 1819 we find not more than 30 names that could be identified as hailing from Ireland, and in 1820 their number was still so small that a prominent gentleman who visited the Bonsecours church in that year stated, “he “could have covered with a good sized parlor carpet all the “Trish Catholics worshipping there on Sundays,” The tide of immigration soon set in, and in 1830, the congregation had largely increased. At that time the old “ Recollet”

10

church on Notre Dame street was considerably enlarged, and in the following year was reopened for the use of the Irish Catholics of the centre and western portion of the city, those of the eastern section still remaining attached to Votre Dame de Bonsecours. From that time until the opening of St. Pat- rick’s the Recollet was the religious head-quarters of the Irish Catholics of Montreal. There the Rev. Father, afterwards Bishop, Phelan commenced his most remarkable career of usefulness as pastor of our people.

The indefatigable Father Richards still continued his labors in the interest of the section of the community to which he was so devotedly attached. In 1829 the church of Notre Dame, commonly known amongst the English speaking residents of Montreal to this day as the “ French Church,” was opened, There the Rev. Father gathered the Irish soldiers in the British Garrison then stationed here every Sunday morning at eight o’clock mass, and numbers of Irish Catholic civilians unable to attend morning service at the “ Recollet,” used to flock and assist at the holy sacrifice at the Virgin’s Altar when ashort but impressive sermon was invariably preached. The contingent from Ireland swelled to large proportions in 1831-32, and the “Recollet” became altogether inadequate to the wants of the people. Not only was the sacred edifice crammed to suffocation at High Mass, but across Notre Dame street and in Dollard lane, opposite to the line of St. James street, the devout worshippers actually knelt in the road way in rain or sunshine,

This rapid increase necessarily gave rise to a demand for further accommodation, and room had to be found for the Irish who could not attend Mass at the Recollet, and crowded the low masses in Notre Dame, Bonsecours and other churches. Rev. Father Patrick Phelan, who was ordained in 1825, continued his pastorate at the Recollet Church till his consecration as co-adjutor Bishop of Kingston in 1843. His successor was Rev. J. J. Connolly. The relief came at last. After several meetings of the Irish Catholics, in

ee: OS SE ee ee CLG

11

which urgent representations were made to the Seminary and Fabrique on the absolute necessity of a new churck, the Fabrique determined upon building one which should bear the title of their patron St. Patrick. In this consummation they were efficaciously assisted by the Abbe Quiblier, Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, who held the Irish in high esteem, with full appreciation of their services tc the cause of religion, in consequence of which he strongly supported their claims in the premises.

No time was lost; on the 20th May, 1543, the purchase of the land was made, comprising the area bounded by Lagauche- tiere, St. Alexander and Dorchester streets (including the sites of St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum and St, Bridget’s Home and Night Refuge, the property was bought of the Roche- blave family for £5,000 or $20,000, Shortly afterwards the ground was broken and blessed by the Bishop of Montreal and a cross was planted according to usage, Immediately the work of digging the foundation was begun, and on the 26th of September of the same year, the corner stones were blessed and laid. They were seven in number; they were blessed by the Bishop, Monseigneur Ig. Bourget, and laid by the following :—1st by the Bishop, 2nd by the Mayor, 3rd Speaker of House of Assembly, 4th by Chief Justice, sth by President Irish Temperance Association, 6th by President Ste Patrick’s Society, 7th by President Hibernian Benevolent Society.

The work was prosecuted with vigor, through the zealous efforts of the Fabrique, under the superintendence of Messrs, Compte & Marr, and all the materials employed were of the most desirable and substantial character. Finally, on the 17th March, 1847, the church was dedicated to the honor of St, Patrick, and the inauguration partook largely of the cere- monial generally observed on the festival of the patron Saint of Ireland. Early in the morning of that day, all the Irish Societ: s comprising the St. Patrick’s Society, the Hiber- nian Benevolent Society and the Irish Catholic Temperance

tha eu er pa

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12

Society, with the children of the Christian Brothers attached to the Recollet Church, and the whole body of the Irish Catholics of the city, joined in grand procession, accompanied by banners and bands at the Recollet Church, on Notre Dame street, and marched to the Place d’Armes, where they were joined by the Bishop of Montreal and a number of the clergy of Notre Dame and others, whom the societies con- ducted to the new church, ‘The attendance of clergy and laity was so large that the sacred edifice was packed to the doors. High Mass was celebrated by Right Rev. J. C. Prince, coadjutor of the Bishop of Montreal, assisted by a number of geatlemen of the Seminary. The eloquent sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. J. J. Connolly, director of the Irish Catholics of Montreal, to the text: ‘Build the house and it shall be acceptable to me, Ishall be glorified.” The further success of the demonstration may be gathered from the collection taken up at mass, amounting to £53 or $212, a large sum for those times. After the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, the procession was reformed and parad<d the street, according to the custom on St. Patrick’s Day.

Father Connolly continued to preside over the fortunes of the new church and parish until 1860, when he resigned and it became necessary to find his successor. Several years before, in 1846, very Rev. M. Quiblier, superior of the Se- minary, who always remained the staunch friend of the Irish Catholics, had visited Ireland expressly to recruit priests for them, and obtained permission from the then Primate of all Ireland, the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, for the transfer to Montreal of Revs, Fathers Dowd, O’Brien, McCullough and others, all of them distinguished for their piety, zeal and eloquence, while Fathers Dowd and O’Brien were further noted for their great administrative abilities. The choice of a new pastor was therefore an easy task, and Father Dowd, appointed by the Seminary, entered upon those duties which he has discharged uninterruptedly for the past 27 years.

The year 1847 was further painfully memorable for the

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13

Irish Catholics of Montreal in the outbreak and ravages of typhus fever. A few months after the opening of St. Patrick’s Church, a number of the clergy of St. Sulpice contracted the pestilence, while attending the poor Irish immigrants at the fever sheds, Point St. Ciiar'es, where the pastor, Father Con- nolly, had distinguished himself by his zeal and great labors among the infected, and several of these devoted men died the death of martyrs, among them being the venerable Father Richards and Father Morgan, a cousin of Father Dowd, who had preceded him to Canada by a few years, and several others, In consequence of this great mortality, the Seminary secured the aid of five Jesuit Fathers, just arrived inthe country, and for a few years these assisted in the min- istry of St. Patrick’s until the Seminary found means to do the work once more through its own members, The more recent history of the congregation is fresh in the minds of all who feel an interest therein. One of its pleasing features was the pilgrimage to Rome headed by the Rev. Father Dowd in 1877 when the good priest had the pleasure of laying at the feet of Pope Pius IX. the sum of $6,000 as the contribu- tion of his parishioners to His Holiness.

A brief sketch of tne new parish of St. Patrick’s under the late parochial distribution will be found in another part of this little volume. As already mentioned, the parishes of St. Ann and St. Anthony, St. Gabriel and St. Mary each have their large contingent of the Irish Catholic population of the City of Montreal, but all look up to the venerable pastor of St. Pat- rick’s as the father of the Irish Catholic people of this city and district. His career proves him to have been a Providential man, Coming at a critical moment in our people’s history, he has guided their steps and unceasingly watched and un- flinchingly contended for their interests. They were growing in number but lacking the institutions necessary to consolida- tion ; these his great powers of administration have provided. His like we may never see again, but the influence of his master mind will be felt long after the call shall have gone forth

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14

summoning him to the eternal reward of his ; rduous labors, The Irish Catholics of Montreal will uver look to St. Patrick’s as the great centre towards which all their general interests converge, Animated by the zeal and formed in the school of the venerable pastor, others will, in God’s own time, be found to carry out the broad and comprehensive policy he has so wisely devised ; but Heaven grant that the day may be far distant when our people shall be deprived of the inestimable benefits that are daily being conferred upon them by the powerful intellect and boundless sympathies of their ever loving and beloved Father Dowd,

PRIESTS WHO DIED DURING THE TYPHUS. . Rev. Father Morgan. Rev. Father Richard.

a “ Richards. ss “McInerney. Rev. Father Hudon, V.G,

Mayor Mills.

SISTERS,

M. Adeline Limoges (Novice), M. Rose Barbeau. M. Angelique Chevrefils. M. Alodie Bruyére (Postulant), Janet Collins (Novice). Charlotte Pominville,

M. Anne Nobles.

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ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH.

?T. PATRICK’S CHURCH is of the Gothic style of archi- tecture of the 14th and rsth centuries, Its extreme length is 233ft and extreme width, 1rosft. The foundation walls are roft thick and the height of the ceiling is 8s5ft. ‘The height of the steeple is 228ft. The Church has three han.,ome and very appropriate altars—the main and two in the lateral chapels, and stained glass windows which are a highly effective ecclesiastical ornament. These altars were erected in place of the temporary shrines used before, and at the same date, the gilding, painting and ornamentation of the Church was done, and the stained glass also put in, by means of the voluntary subscriptions of the congregation, at a cost of between $40,000 to $50,000.

The acoustic properties of St. Patrick’s are admirably adapted for preaching and music; and the organ, a gift of the congregation, has an excellent tone, while for size and volume it is well adapted to the requirements of the temple. There are two bells, having been chosen from four that formerly hung in the steeple of the old French Church or Notre Dame. The large one which was called Za Vieille Charlotte, is of French make, and it is said like old bells generally, made in France, to have silver in its composition, which would account for it singularly fine tone. Little is known about the smaller bell, but it must be added that a third is much required, having the tone a pitch between the two. It is to be hoped that some member or members of the congregation will appreciate the need of completing the set by presenting this third bell to the Church,

TOT te eR py ret ee excrete a epomnlie ime bea Spe we”

NEW ST. PATRICK’S PARISH.

FE small territory included within the following bounds was as- signed to St. Patrick’s, by the late Bishop Bourget, viz: bounded on the Zas¢t by Bleury Street from Craig to Sherbrooke a 4 Streets, on the orth by Sherbrooke from Bleury to Mountain ing e Streets, on the West by Mountain from Sherbrooke to St. Antoine and South by St. Antoine and Craig to the corner of Bleury Street.

16

The French Canadians within this territory were to be parishioners of St. Patrick’s ?

This state of things was not approved of by the Holy See—the system of national churches or by language was adopted as better suited to the mixed condition of the people. The English speaking Catholics, assigned by Bishop Bourget to St. Patrick’s, Notre Dame and St. James, were attached as parishioners to St. Patrick’s Church, and the territory of St. Patrick’s now extends from Mountain Street to Amherst Street, West and Kast and from Sherbronke Street to William Street, along William Street and down Giey _ Street to the River, along the River front to Amherst, up Ami .st to City Boundary and back by St. Lawrence and Sherbrooke to .Vour '‘nSt,

St. Patrick’ Church has been distinguished from the begu.ning for the number and character of its religious, charitable, social and literary institutions, all of which have an extensive membership and are productive of good in many ways. Among these bodies

are :— St. Patrick’s Total Abstinence Society.

The Scepular Society. The Catholic Young Men’s Society, The Living Rosary. The Leo Club, The Ladies of Charity, The Catechism Society.

Children of Mary,

The following are among the clergymen who officiated at diffe- rent times in St. Patrick’s Church since its opening in 1847 —

Rev. Father Richards, Rev, Father O’Farrell (Now Bishop) 6s ‘* Connolly. se se Brown, 66 «¢ ~~ O’Connell, Lt ‘¢ Bakewell, 66 ‘¢ Morgan, t s¢ 'Toupin. ¢e ‘© McCullough re sé M. Callaghan, “6 ¢¢ MacMahon ‘e ‘¢ J «Callaghan, s¢ ‘* Dowd, é¢ ‘¢ — Quinlivan, se «© O’Brien, se ‘« Singer. oe “Hogan, hi Leclaire,

The present staff of the Church is :—

Rev. P. Dowd, Director, Rev. M. Callaghan, “« M. Toupin,. ‘¢ J. Callaghan, ‘© J. McCallen, ‘© J. Quinlivan,

ST. PATRICK’S ORPHAN ASYLUM. HE terrible visitation of the typhus fever in 1847-48 was the immediate occasion of the establishment of an Orphan Asylum. A home became indispensable for the children whose parents fell

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17

victims, on th... arrival in Canada, to that fearful epidemic. The foundations of the Montreal St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum were laid in the fall of 1849, and the Institution was opened for the admission of children the 21st November, 1851. At a time when labor and materials were cheap, the building of the St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum cost nearly $20,000.00, This amount was promptly made up through subscriptions and collections, and a bequest of $4,000.00 left by the late Bartholomew O'Brien. In less than three months after the children first entered the Asylum all the building debt was paid.

The number of children admitted into the St. Patrick’s Asylum since the beginning to the end of 1886 was 2436.

The average number in the house, at the same time, was 170. The average yearly cost of supporting the Institution is $10,000.00 The children of the Orphan Asylum are well prepared by a good education for a useful life in society, the little girls are trained in the house by the good Sisters ; the boys attend the schools of the Chris- tian Brothers in the city. From the beginning the Asylum has been under the motherly care of the good Grey Nuns.

The Asylum is a civil Corporation, consisting of a Rev. Director and of ten Trustees,

One of the principal sources of revenue of the St. Patrick’s Or- phan Asylum has been the annual bazaar, under the auspices of the Ladies of St. Patrick’s Congregation. In the follow ng letter from the pen of Mr. Edward Murphy (one of the Directors of the Institution), published orginally in “ Le Bazaar ” of the Cathedral, the details of the history of the Orphan’s Bazaar are given and will be read with interest.

A REMARKABLE AND CREDITABLE RECORD.

HISTORY OF ST. PATRICK’S ORPHAN BAZAARS, FROM THEIR INCEPTION TILL 1885.

HE idea of a Bazaar, to be held each year for the support of the orphans of St. Patrick’s Asylum, originated with a society of Irish ladies, belonging principally to the St. Patrick’s congregation, in the year 1848. The first bazaar was held in October, 1849, in

the St. Lawrence Hall, then newly built but not quite finished or B

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TESTA SET

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18

occupied, which was k,. «, placed at the disposal of the Ladies of Charity by Mr. Corse, the owner, and a bazaar was held in the same month, with one exception, every year down to 1884. In 1885, it was not considered prudent to hold a bazaar on account of the great prevalence of smallpox. For that year the ladies pros vided for the wants of the orphans as best they could by collecting on their lists and holding their raffles in private. From 1849 to 1884, both years included, thirty-six (36) bazaars were held without interruption, and realized in the aggregate the very large sum of one hundred and thirty-five thousand and ninety-nine dollars and thirty-six cents (135,099.36.) This remarkable success is owing to the universal sympathy felt for the poor orphans, and which was shared in fully as much by Protestants as by Catholics. ‘These bazaars, like many other good works, sprang from small beginnings, the first (in 1849) realized £130 ($520), the second (in 1850) realized £275 (1060), from which it grew upto a maximum of $5000 and over, at which sum it remained for many years, making the magnificent sum of over $135,000 in thirty-six years as seen above.

The society of Irish ladies that conducted the bazaar from year to year changed its lady president only five times during the whole period of thirty-seven (37) years. The 2.mes of these worthy presi- dents deserve to be recorded. ‘The first was Mrs. Charles Wilson, Mdm. Valliére de St. Réal, Mrs. M. P. Ryan, Mrs. William Brennan, and the actual president, Mrs. Edward Murphy. In the case of all these ladies a gentle force had to be used to determine them to accept the honor of president. The fear lest the dear cause of charity should suffer in their refusal was common to all. Hence God blessed part, their labors, in which every member of the society took a willing and the work of charity continued to prosper in their united hands because the true spirit of charity lived in their hearts, and kept them all together as one and the same family.

It must in justice be observed that for very many of these years the wonderful success of the St. Patrick’s bazaars has been due, in no small measure, to the fostering care and heart warm encourage- ment of the venerable and beloved pastor of St. Patrick’s, Rev. Father Dowd.

We are pleased to learn that the Ladies of Charity of St. Patrick’s congregation, early in May last, unanimously resolved to postpone their annual bazaar for the orphans from October, the month it was

idies id in 1884. ount pro- cting 49 to thout im of - and ng to 1 was These ings, 850) 15000 g the bove.

year whole presi- ilson, nnan, of all ccept larity essed villing ands , them

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19

always held in, till November next, to allow the ladies of that parish full opportunity of working for St. Peter’s Cathedral bazaar. We are happy to see that a large number of those ladies are working for that grand object, and we hope that in consideration of their having postponed the Orphans’ Bazaar that they will be rewarded by the very general support of the benevolent to that most deserving charity. EDW. MURPHY. Montreal, zoth September, 1886.

ST. BRIDGET’S REFUGE.

af HE St. Bridget’s Refuge was opened for the admission of the poor in r 65. It has a three-fold object;—to support old men and women ; to give night-lodging to the destitute, witnout distinction of race or religion, and to protect female servants out of place. The cost of the building was $28,978.48, and of the first furniture outfit $4,186.37. The whole cost of building, and first outfit, was met by collections, excepta bequest by Mr. Marsteller, of $6000.00 and a donation by the Seminary of $4,000.00.

From 1865 to 1886 inclusive, there was the following relief, given by the Refuge, viz :— Night-lodgings with breakfast 203,461 thus divided :

Yo Catholes, icccccccevece vetoes vewecccs TUT,G8 To Protestants, vss sccsvessstes coveva voce 32/000 - 203,401

To Irish Catholics.....0. cceeeeee seveeees 154,160 To French Canadians...........008 seeees 30,169 PODMEUBMidevay deeb seesve ¥ ye bddwans 6 Lay NOr

WOPSCORN vis eit beceks Medes betes ures. 6 ALROS — 203,461

The average number of old infirm men and women in Refuge at same time 100,

The average number of servants placed out of Refuge yearly 300,

The average yearly cost of supporting Refuge $7,000 00.

The direction of the St Bridget’s Refuge has always been under the care of the Grey Nuns. The Refuge is incorporated civilly ; the corporation consists of a Rev. Director, a Rev. Vice-Director, and five Trustees.

20

ST. PATRICK’S GIRLS SCHOOL.

HE St. Patrick’s School, separated from St. Patrick’s Church by

St. Alexander street, was built by the Seminary at a cost of nearly $30,000,00 for the little girls of St. Patrick’s parish, and was i| first opened in 1872. It is conducted by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Its system of education is well digested, sound and practical, and bears good fruit every year in the superior training of the pupils who complete its course of studies. In forming the children, their future duties as house keepers are kept in view; hence knitting, plain sewing, mending, etc., are attended to as an essential part of their education.

The intellectual training of the children is of a high order, and marked by thorough solidity. Superficial teaching or study is not i tolerated in the school. St. Patrick School is a blessing and an honor to St. Patrick’s parish, The attendance is about five hundred.

RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP PHELAN. FIRST PASTOR AT RECOLLET.

Gs ther Patrick Phelan was one of the most zealous priests con- nected with the Irish Catholic population of the city of Mont- real. For years he guided the people, and through the most turbulent period wisely directed their course. His name and memory will ever be dear to the descendants of the congregation he served so well. He was born in the Parish of Ballyragget, County Kilkenny,

Ireland, and baptised on the tst of February, 1795.

In a sketch of his life, published at Kingston in 1862,“ by the Cler- «ymen who served Bishop Phelan’slast mass ” (printed by Lightfoot), we learn that before leaving Ireland as a student and teacher he had acquired the Jove and esteem of all who knew him; we are informed that ‘‘on the day of his departure not less than five hun. ‘- dred persons of the Parish and vicinity assembled, through love “and respect, to convey him on his journey, and they accompanied ‘him as far as Castle Comer. Here, at the urgent request of Patrick “and his brother Daniel, they stopped and prepared to return, after ‘‘ bidding a sorrowful farewell to one whom they esteemed so much. ‘‘ His brother accompanied him to Dublin, whence Patrick deter- “ mined to set sail for America. It so happened that the first ship “ that was to nit to sea was bound for Boston, and he, without fur-

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con- Lonte lent ever well. pnny.

Cler- foot), er he e are hun, love anied atrick , after uch. deter- st ship it fur-

21

“ther delay, took passage in her. On his arrival in Boston, he ‘ placed himself under the guardianship of Cardinal Cheverus, who, ‘fat that time, was Bishop of Boston. The Rev. William Taylor, of “* Boston, who had charge of transmitting to Montreal a copy of “ Patrick’s exeat, informs us, in his letter of the 6th May, 1825, ‘that, on his arrival at Boston, he presented himself to Bishop ‘“‘ Cheverus, and was canonically adopted as a child of the Diocese ‘of Boston.”

‘“‘ Having remainded at Boston for three months, he was sent by *“‘ Bishop Cheverus to the Seminary of Montreal to pursue his eccle- “siastical studies. From his former conduct, we cannot but infer ‘that these studies were scrupulously attended to, and that the three ‘‘ years which were to prepare him immediately for the Holy Minis- “ try found him giving his undivided attention to the sublime subjects “ which were propounded to him. On the 26th day of September, “ 1825, in the thirty-first year of his age, he received the Holy ‘Order of Priesthood at the hands of Bishop Lartigue, first Bishop “of Montreal. He was the first Priest ordained in the late Cathe- “ dral of St. James, Montreal, two days after its consecration, and the ‘one thousand one hundred and sixty-first Priest whom Providence ‘designed to labor in the Holy Ministry in Canada. His wishes ‘““were now fulfilled, and that long desired moment arrived which “was to render him capable of effecting all the good which a heart “like his desired. His zeal, notwithstanding all the difficulties he “had to encounter in the course of his studies, did not in the least “abate but rather increased. It soon became manifest that the “young priest devoted himself so faithfully and successfully to his * calling, that he endeared himself to all who had a knowledge of “his labors. He did not fail to attract, before many weeks had “ elapsed, the attention of the Sulpician community ; and at the ear- nest solicitation of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Bishop Cheverus ‘allowed him to remain to administer to the wants of the Irish “Catholics, who were emigrating to Canada, and fixing their abode “at Montreal. According to Father Taylor, already mentioned, he “« merely departed to complete his studies in the Seminary of Mont- ‘¢ real, and had Bishop Cheverus’ expressed permission to aggregate “himself to the Sulpician community there. On the 21st day of “ November, of the same year of his ordination, he was received asa ‘“ member of St. Sulpice, and he remained attached to the commu-

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22

“nity, and serving the Irish congregation for nearly seventeen years, “until shortly before he was called to the Episcopacy. ”

Referring to the cholera which broke out with such violence in 1832 and 1834 the biographer says:

“Tt was on this painful occasion that he truly showed himself the ** Priest of God and the people ; and his undaunted courage, accom- “ panied by a zeal for the spiritual welfare of the sick and dying, made ** such a great impression on the minds of his congregation, that “they ever after had unlimited confidence in him. Again, during ‘the troubles of the abortive Insurrection of 1837-38, do we find ** Father Phelan the priest of order; and there are living witnesses ‘* to-day to testify to the great influence which he exercised over the “Catholic Irish in and around Montreal. Subsequently, during “the disturbance which arose among the Irish on the Lachine ‘¢ Canal, we learn what control he had over their minds, for on that “ occasion his sudden appearance amongst them, with a few words ‘‘ from his lips, sufficed to quell that wild commotion, when passion “had risen to its highest, whilst an armed force would then have “ proved but very ineffectual. ”

“In his endeavors to promote the happiness of his congregation, ‘‘he directed his attention towards the illicit liquor traffic, the bane ‘¢ of acommunity, and which renders the preacher’s efforts abortive ; “and he succeeded to an extent which no other could probably ‘have attained. His exertions in the cause of temperance are still “ proving fruitful, and will serve, perhaps, for many years to come, ‘to perpetuate his memory. When he found matters ripe to glean “the fruit, he established, in 1841, the St. Patrick’s Total Absti- “nence Society, which has worked so unostentatiously, and yet ‘‘has accomplished so much good.” The following year, 1842, a change took place, which bore heavily on the Irish congregation of St. Patrick. At the solicitation of Right Rev. Remigius Gattlin, Bishop of Kingston, Father Phelan went to Upper Canada, and became Parish Priest of Bytown (now Ottawa), after he had been raised to the dignity of Vicar General. His removal caused much sorrow amongst those to whose interest he had devoted so many years of his life and labors, and there were many who could hardly reconcile their minds to have him depart from amongst them. They, in their way of judging, considered it a loss, and a loss which they imagined to be irreparable ; yet God rewarded their respect and love for their

ars,

nce

the om- ade that ring find 5ses rthe ring hine that ords 3sion have

tion, bane tive; ably > still ome, slean \ bsti- 1 yet 42, a ation uttlin, , and been much years oncile ir way ied to r their

23

priest, by providing them with other saintly pastors of talent and energy. Previous to Father Phelan’s departure, the Irish troops, whom he served, wished to acknowledge the debt of gratitude they owed him, so they presented him with an ornamented silver snuff-box, to mark how they appreciated his services.

The Irish Catholics of Montreal presented Father Phelan with an address, reciting his many works of Christian charity, and concluding as follows :

‘“Wkithersoever you may be removed, our fervent prayers shall “ascend to the Most High for your temporal welfare and eternal “happiness; and we shall ever gratefully cherish the remembrance ‘of your piety, your fervor and your worth, with the most hallowed “feelings of our existence.

With hearts overflowing with gratitude, esteem, veneration, and ‘‘ anguish, Reverend and Dear Sir, we most reluctantly say to yor— ** Farewell,”

Peter Dunn, Connell Gallagher,

Thomas Neagle, Thomas McNaughton, Andrew Conlan, Daniel Mahony,

A. Doyle, John Cassidy,

D. Cotterell, Patrick Murphy,

Wm. Casey, M. McDonnell, James Warnock, Francis Clark,

P. Muldoon, Michael Purcil,

M. H. Darraugh, John Warnock,

James Gleeson, James Lahay,

J. P. Sexton, P. Brennan,

Henry O’Donaughue, Alex. McCambridge, John Curran, John McCann, Charles Curran, John Fitzpatrick, John Maan, P. Dromgoole,

Thos. Hewitt, Matthew Ryan,

John Mahony, Michael Kelly,

Daniel Murphy, John Kelly,

Edward Murphy, Michael Hyland,

John M. Tobin, Christopher McCormick, Francis Joseph Ryan, Peter Henratty.

For further particulars regarding Bishop Phelan, the reader is referred to the little work above mentioned, where a full account is given of his great services to church and state as Bishop of Kingston.

24 REV. J. J. CONNOLLY.

FIRST PASTOR OF ST. PATRICK’S.

P’his zealous priest was the first pastor of St. Patrick’s church. The following particulars of his career will be of interest. Rev. John Joseph Connolly was born in Ireland on the 8th of March, 1816, son of Michael Connolly and Mary Pendergast. He was educated at Montreal College, Seminary of St. Sulpice, where he was ordained priest on rst June, 1844. For some time he taught English at the College, then joined the Seminary ofSt. Sulpice, and became pastor of St. Patrick’s. His devotion and self-sacrifice during the ship fever were heroic. He established the “ nine days’ devotion ” preparatory to the celebrating of the feast of St. Patrick, a religious exercise stillin great favor at the St. Patrick’s Church. He continued to exercise the ministry at that Church until 1860, when he resigned his connection with the Seminary and went to Boston, Mass., where he continued his zealous labors as a priest until 1863, when he died, aged 47 years, on the 16th of September.

Prior to the departure cf Fatlier Connolly, a meeting was held at St. Patrick’s House, presided over by Edward Murphy, Esq., for the purpose of adopting an address to the reverend gentleman on his leaving the city for the scene of his future labors. A handsome sum was subscribed on the occasion, the spontaneous offering of the congregation. The rev. gentleman was deeply affected during the reading of the address, which was signed by Edward Murphy, as chairman, and Henry Kavanagh, as secretary, and to which he made the following reply :

GENTLEMEN :—

The address which you have just presented has affected me— affected me deeply. It makes allusion to scenes of a very distres- sing nature, and brings up many memories of the past. You will, I am sure, in the hurry of preparation for my immediate departure, excuse me from making a lengthened reply to your most flattering address. I cannot, however, permit the occasion to pass without assuring you that, however painful to the congregation may be the separation, it is not less painful to me, and that you judge correctly in supposing that nothing but a deep sense of duty could prevail on me to take a step productive of such pain to the congregation and myself, You say that I have labored long in your midst—even that

1e—- tres- ill, I ‘ure, ring hout the ctly il on and that

25

I have become prematurely grey in your service. You make allusion to the painful scenes of the yet too well remembered ’47, and remind me that Almighty God has blessed my ministry. True, God has spared me to labor for a length of time amongst you ; true, that some of my labors in ’47 were in the midst of disease and death, but in all trying circumstances the priest must be mindful of his duty ; he must feel the important embassy entrusted to his charge ; he must feel that he is the mediator between man and God, commis- sioned “ to bind and to loose;” that he must stand in the midst of danger, contagion and death to administer to the dying Christian his passport to the throne of God. Duty, strict duty, demands them from every anointed priest of God. If I passed through the trying ordeals of 47, ’49 and ’54, if I prepared for death and consigned to the silent grave for a period of six weeks or more some fifty adult persons per day, I was but doing what every priest would be bound to do under similar circumstances. I was discharging my sacred duty ; and if of all the clergymen who commenced at the beginning and labored to the end of that dire visitation, I was the only survivor; it makes me tremble, lest I alone should be found unworthy of the reward to which they were called in the midst of their labors.

In conclusion, I accept with feelings of deep emotion the address of Saint Patrick’s congregation, and the accompanying substantial and unsolicited testimonial of their affectionate attachment; and I beg to assure them that I feel deeply grateful for this unexpected proof of their kind feelings ; and though the call of duty removes me from their midst, it cannot remove from my heart the sweet remembrance of the past, and that as long as God shall spare me to celebrate the holy mysteries I shall not cease to offer my unwor. thy prayers for them on the altar of God.

(Signed) J. J. CONNOLLY, Priest.

FATHERS DOWD AND TOUPIN, THEIR GOLDEN FUBILEE. FIFTY YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH. 7hursday, the 19th of May, 1887, was a gala day at St. Patrick’s, Montreal. It willlong be remembered by all wiio yarticipated

in the celebration of the golden jubilee of Fathers Dowd and Toupin. The enthusiasm was unbounded. The parishioners combining to

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4 if I}

26

do honor to them, nothing was left undone to add to ‘he interest of the grand festivity. Nothing was missed that would add to the pleasure and happiness of the two worthy priests whom the con- gregation of St. Patrick’s and the citizens of Montreal thus honored. Fathers Dowd and Toupin fully realized the generosity of their people in this respect. They were radiant with smiles, and few would realize from their vigorous appearance that they had passed fifty years of laborious work in the strict discipline of the Catholic Church, Their happy, healthy faces denoted that in all human probability they had in their separate capacities many years of useful work yet to perform in this, their chosen field of labor.

At Grand Mass an immense congregation was in attendance. The sanctuary was brilliantly decorated with flags, banners and bannerets, bearing appropriate mottoes and insignia, while the small altars and statues were beautifully decked with flowers of various hues, and lit up with lamps of many colors. On the Gospel side of the altar a throne was erected for the Archbishop of Montreal, and the clergy who assisted at the Mass occupied raised seats on either side of the sanctuary.

At ten o’clock precisely the church was filled, and as the altar- boys, seminarians, deacons, priests and prelates filed into the sanc- tuary, the scene presented was one of indescribable beauty, At the Mass, Rev. Father Dowd officiated, assisted by Rev, Fathers Varr- ley as deacon, and Kiernan as sub deacon. His Grace Archbishop Fabre had as assistant priest Rev. Father Marechal. The deacon of honor was Rev. Father J. Murphy, of London Diocese, Ont., and Sub Deacon of Honor, Rev, J. O’Rourke, of Odgensburg, N.Y. The following prelates and clergy occupied seats in the sanctuary during Mass: His Grace Archbishop Lynch, of Toronto; His Grace Archbishop Taché, of St. Boniface, Man.; His Lordship Bishop Walsh, of London ; His Lordship Bishop Dowling, of Peter- boro; Rev. Dean Murphy, of London, Ont; Rev. Dean Ramsay, of England, and Vicar Ceneral Rooney, of Toronto, with Rev. Fathers Geoffrion, Royer, O. M. I.; Catulle, Conway, (Peterboro), Leclair, Godts, Verrau, Martin, Belanger, Brissette. Morin, McGary, Lonergan, McCarthy, Rouleau, Gaudin, Reed, Donnelly, O’Donnell, Bannon, (Chatham, N. B.), Duggan, Harty, (Hartford, Conn.), O’Sullivan (Burlington, Vt.), Laporte, Quesnel, Kiernan, O’Rourke (Port Henry, N. Y.), Gaudette, Deguire, Colin, Fahey, Rouxel, Barrette (Dakota), Corbett (St. Andrews, Ont.), and Lecompte, O. M. L., in addition to the clergy of the city of Montreal.

27

‘est The choir of St. Patrick’s was under the direction of Professor Fow- the ler, and never was its musical ability displayed to better advantage. on- A new Mass, by Nini, of which Professor Fowler has the original ed, manuscript, was sung for the first time in Canada by seventy-five ieir voices with a full orchestral accompaniment. At the Offertory the few orchestra played Wagner's bridal march with beautiful effect. The sed choruses were powerful and the solos were tastefully rendered by olic Messrs. J. Heenan, J. P. Hammill, J. Crompton, E. J. Casey and ) nan J. J. Rowan; Mr. William J. McCaffrey acted as leader, ; ; of THE SERMON

ice, ofthe day was preached by His Lordship Bishop Walsh, of London, and Ont. He selected as his text. nall ‘Let the priests who rule weli be esteemed worthy of double ‘ous honor ; especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” 1s, side Timothy, v. c., 17 v. eal, The Christian priesthood, dearly beloved brethren, is in the eyes

on of faith tne greatest institution on earth of the power and goodness

and mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through this

tar- priesthood the Son of God still continues to exercise here below the inc- office of Redeemer and Saviour. It is His own eternal Priesthood

the working upon earth through human instrumentality, for the sancti- arr- fication and salvation of immortal souls.

hop Our Lord is Himself the great High-Priest, and the Supreme

con Pastor of our souls. He was ordained by God the Father a priest ynt., for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. He once offered r.Y. in a bloody manner on Mount Calvary the sacrifice of His body

lary and blood, and that sacrifice fulfilled, summed up and completed

His all the bloody sacrifices of the old law. He was at once priest and ship victim. That sacrifice wiped out the handwriting of the decree tere that was against us, and purchased us with a great price. The vic-

say, tim was offered only on Calvary’s hill, but the blood of the victim Rev, inundated the world, bringing salvation to mankind, and in principle

ro), washed away the guilt of all the ages. But our Blessed Lord was

ary, ordained a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.

nell, He will therefore institute a sacrifice answering to that of Melchise- in.), dech, a sacrifice which having the appearances of bread and wine, a ire shall be the same as that of Calvary, that is, the sacrifice of his body ti xel, and blood, offered up in an unbloody manner under the outward iH pte, appearances of bread and wine, and this sacrifice he instituted when ti

28

at his last supper he changed the bread and wine into his body and blood, and thereby instituted that clean oblation of the new law which in prophetic language was to be offered up for all time from the rising to the setting sun. Now as our Saviour was not to remain on earth for all time, but was soon to ascend into that hea- ven which he merited for us all, he ordained a priesthood which would carry out for ever the work of salvation which he in principle had accomplished, but which was to be continued in actuality on earth as long as human souls were to be saved.

It is of faith that at His last supper our Blessed Redeemer insti- tuted the Christian priesthood when he authorized and empowered his apostles to do that which he had just done, namely, to offer up the holy sacrifice of His body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine. He then and there created the Christian priest- hood, after having instituted the sacrifice it was ordained to offer for the glory of God and the salvation of men.

Jesus Christ, then, created an order of men whom He raised to a participation in his own eternal priesthood. St. ‘I‘homas says that ordination impresses a character, and that this character is a spiri- tual and indelible sign or seal by which the soul is marked for the exercise of the acts of the divine worship and for the teaching of the same to others,

And further, that priests partake of the priesthord of our divine Lord, the priesthood of Jesus Christ being the one only perpetual iW and universal priesthood ; all priests consecrated under the new law are made one with him, and share in His own priesthood. ‘They are therefore empowered to offer up, on the altar, the tremendous sacrifice of the new law. They take bread and wine into their con- secrated hands, and by the Almighty power of God, delegated to them, they change that bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. At their bidding, Jesus Christ descends from his throne in heaven and becomes incarnate in their hands.

The sun stood still in the heavens at the command of Joshua ; but at the word of the priest, He who created the sun, and set it bur- ning in the heavens, comes down from His divine throne to be offered up, an oblation of infinite value to His Eternal Father !

On the altar the priest stands as another Christ, and offers up to heaven the Son of God, immolated for the sins of His: people. He thereby gives God infinite honor and glory. He deprecates and appeases his wrath, renders him propitious to sinners, and obtains pardon for the greatest sins, and unnumbered graces and blessings

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29

for souls. He is charged with the custody and guardianship of the body and blood of Christ. He keeps the key of the tabernacle. He carries our Lord whithersoever he wills. He, like St Joseph, is the guardian of our Lordon earth. He distributes this bread of life at the altar, to the rich and to the poor, the fervent and the tepid, sometimes, perhaps, to the unworthy. He bears him to the dying Christian, through crowded streets, through lonely and remote by-ways, through darkness and storm, into the cabins of the poor, as well as the homes of the affluent and wealthy. And what a guar- dianship is this! What a treasure is confided to the custody ofthe priest! Itis the greatest trust that God could give to man; the most intimate and the closest relationship that could exist between the Creator and His creature, save that of the hypostatic union bet- ween God and man in Christ, or that of the divine maternity. Is it any wonder that the faithful can single out a priest, even though disguised, from among thousands, for they see on his face the reflex of the habitual presence of Jesus Christ and of his intimate compa- nionship with him even as Moses bore upon his brow the reflected light of God from his converse with Him on the mountain,

The Christian priesthood is the instrument by which Christ con- tinues the ministry of reconciliation and salvation upon the earth, by which he exercises the power of forgiving sins and the ministry of preaching and teaching, and of administering sacraments and all the details of sacerdotal duties.

Man, as an intelligent creature, has duties to fulfil toward God, has responsibilities to His eternal law. He owes to God the homage of his reason, the obedience of his will, the love of his heart.

Jesus Christ came to teach him his duties in © ese relations, Our divine Saviour came on earth, not only to redeem and save us by His sufferings and death, He came also to be our teacher and our guide, to reveal to mankind the truths of salvation and to unfold to their wondering gaze things hidden in the mind of God from all eternity. His mission was to unfold to man the whole plan of sal- vation what he should know and believe and do in order to be saved. He, therefore, spoke as no man had ever before spoken, and re- vealed to us the great saving truths of the Catholic religion that have ever since illuminated the whole firmament of time. The priest is the official guardian and teacher of these saving revelations of Christ. Our Blessed Saviour gave this sublime commission when immediately before His ascension He said to His Apostles: “ All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going, therefore,

i ' | |

RINSE evemnao eaten

30

teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world.” Mat. 28, 18. The people are bound under the pain of eternal loss to listen to and accept the teaching of the priesthood, for Christ says :

‘“Go preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” Mark xvi.,15, 16. And again: “ He that will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as the heathen and the pub- lican.” Matt xviii, 17.

The priest is Clirist’s ambassador and official representative to man ‘Hethat heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me, and he that despiseth me dv spiseth him that sent me.’’ Luke x, 16. The sacred word which the priest announces is not his own. It is the word of God, the word that enlighteneth every man who wishes for that light which is the light of the world. It is the salt and savor of the earth: the word that has changed the face of the earth and created a new civilization, that has enlightened the intellect, strengthened the will, and purified and etherealized the affections of the heart. The word that has come down through all the ages, pointing out to man his duty and responsibility to God, telling him of the vanity and emptiness of earthly things, reminding him of his immortal destiny and announcing to him the Evangel of divine mercy. This ‘s the divine saving word which the Catholic priest is commissioned to proclaim in its purity and integrity to mankind. Members of sects may teach and preach, but they have no authority or mission from God to do so. They are not accredited ambassadors. They are but impostors, self-sent, or commissioned by those not having authority. They are like the false prophets of whom God complained when He said: “ I have not sent them, yet they run, I have not spoken to them, yet they prop. esy.” Jeremiah xxiii, 21. ‘‘ How shall they believe Him,” asks the Apostle, “of whom they have not heard? And howshall they hear without a prea- cher, and how shall they preach unless they be sent?” Romans x, 14. Christ, himself was sent: ‘As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.” John xx, 22. The ministers of the one true Church, the Church Catholic, and they alone, have the divine commission and authoity to preach God’s holy word.

But the priest is not only the herald and ambassador of Christ ;

31

he is also the minister «f reconciliation, the dispenser of the sacred mysteries—the sacraments of our Saviour. Jesus Christ instituted in His Church the seven sacraments as so many channels through which the merits and graces of his sufferings and death were to flow, in life-giving streams for the salvation and sanctification of his people.

The Catholic priest is the accredited and authorized minister of these sacraments. He baptizes the infant, and makes it a child of God, heir of heaven and a member of the mystical body of Christ. which is His Church. In Confirmation, the Bishop, who has the plenitude of the priesthood, enrols the young Christian as a soldier of the cross, and imparts to him the grace and strength and courage to profess the truth openly, never to deny i: by word or work, and to suffer and die for it if requ::ed. But one of the greatest and most awful powers, because it is God-like, which Christ conferred on the priesthood, is that of forgiving sins. This power is so essen- tially divine, so specially an attribute of the God-head, that when Christ said to the paralytic, ‘‘Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven,” the multitude present, believing him to be a mere man, exclaimed ; ‘This man blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God alcne ?” And in fact, when our Lord was about to confer this power, he made use of words and employed a ceremony which plainly indicated that He was about to perform a special and altogether singular exercise of omnipotence, infinite goodness and mercy, for He said to His Apostles, “As the Father hath sent me, I send you.” He then breathed upon them and said: ‘‘ Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, them and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” john, xx. 23.

St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this power conferred on the priest exclaims: “To the priest is given a power which God would not give either to the angels or archangels, for to these it was not said: ‘ Whatsoeverx jou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.’ Earthly princes,” he continues, ‘‘ have indeed the power of binding, but it is only for the body; but the binding of the priest reaches even to the soul, and ascends to the heavens ; insomuch as what the priests do below, God ratifies above, and the master coniirms the sentence of the servants.”

The poor sinner weighed down with the burden of his sins, and the consciousness of his guilt, goes to the priest, and he, clothed

32

with this God-power of forgiving sin, pronounces on him the sen- tence of absolution, and he that had been dead is come to life again. The lost is found; the prisoner is set free, and the prodigal is wel- comed home again to the embraces of his Father.

Oh! what tears have been dried up by the merciful exercise of this power! What broken hearts have been healed, what troubled consciences have been quieted and set at peace and what blessed and immortal hopes have been enkindled in minds shrouded in the d rkness of despair! What death-beds have been robbed of their terrors, and made peaceful, blessed, hopeful and happy.

The Catholic priest is then, the minister and representative of Jesus Christ amongst men. In the language of the Fathers, he is another Jesus Christ, Sacerdos alter Christus, Vike his divine Master, he goes about doing good, reclaiming the sinner, reconcil- ing neighbors, bringing peace into families torn by dissension, ins- tructing the ignorant, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, helping the poor, protecting the widow and the orphan; in a word, gi »g glory to God in the highest, and bringing peace and happi- ness to men of good-will. The Catholic priest begins to care for man at the cradle, follows him with his ministry through all the phases and vicissitudes of life. and does not abandon him even when the last sod is put upon his grave. He follows him into the eternal world by his blessed ministrations, praying and offering sacrifice for his departed soul.

Faith, the sacraments, the sacrifice of the Mass, all the means o salvation left us by our merciful Redeemer depend, in the ordinary Providence of God, on the ministry of the priest, and cannot be given us without him, He is the central figure of the kingdom of grace established by Christ, the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, that is to protect us against all enemies, and guide us to the promised land.

There is no body of men known to history that have rendered mankind such great and inappreciable services as the Catholic priesthood. They redeemed the world from barbarism and conferred upon it the blessings of Christian civilization. They freed the slave and opened the doors of the dungeon to persons unjustly detained. They redeemed millions of captives from Mahometan prisons. In every centre of population they erected and supported hospitals for the sick and suffering, and homes for the poor and helpless. They invented a language for deaf mutes, and thus opened

red

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the stly ptan ted and ned

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up God’s glorious creation with all its beauties, wonders and mean- ings, and all the fountains of knowledge and the saving truths of religion to minds hitherto imprisoned behind the adamantine walls of unbroken silence and deafness, and shrouded in more than Egyptian dark..ess. The great universities of the world that flamed out like beacons ona dark and stormy sea, they founded and endowed. Parish schools for children were established by them. ‘To the working classes they taught trades, as well as agriculture. They taught the rich the duty of helping the poor, and they defended and upheld human rights and liberties against the tyrant and oppressor.

The arts and sciences were brought to perfection by them. Printing,

sculpture, music, architecture, eloquence and peetry were, by them,

Christianized, perfected and immortalized. They have been the

greatest benefactors of mankind, the most virtuous, the most enlight-

ened, the most disinterested, the most useful body of men that

ever lived. To say that some of them fell from their high estate

and lofty ideas, and were stained with sin and vice, is to admit that

they were human, and liable to the influences of human passions and

the seductions of the flesh ; but the fallen were the few; and the

great body, having on the panoply of God, led lives of purity, jus-

tice, and holiness, and by their great learning and splendid virtues

have made a track of light across the waste of centuries.

O, my brethren, let us respect, reverence and love the Catholic priesthood. Let us be obedient to their teaching, and submissive to their sacred authority. Let us inculcate on our children the duty of respect and veneration towards them. Let us be indulgent and charitable towards their failings, real or imaginary, for though they are human, faults in them will look grave, which in other men would be considered venial and of no account. Let us protect and defend them against the talk of vindictiveness and the shafts of calumny. Let us uphold them in their sublime but most difficult mission, by our means, co-operation and influence. Let us avail ourselves of their administrations and seek at their hands the divine graces and helps confided to them, so that having followed their guidance and made use of the means of salvation which it is theirs to administer and enunciate we may one day reach and enjoy that happiness for which we have been created and redeemed by our most loving and most merciful God, to whom be honor, praise and glory for ever and ever.

And, dearest brethren, if I have thought it pertinent to the occa- Cc

{i

if ; iy i: i y

34

sion that calls us together to dwell on the dignity and divine charac- ter of the Catholic priesthood, of its sublime duties and of the incalculable benefits and immeasurable services it has conferred on mankind, it is because we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of two vener- able, devoted and holy priests who in fact and in pubiic estimation have during the long period of fifty years lived up to the ideal of the Christian Priesthood ; who have been priests according to the heart of Christ ; whose life has been a faithful pattern for the imitation of their flock ; who, like their Divine Master, went about doing good ; who were as another Christ amongst their people, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering friendless old age, protecting the orphan, winning the | carts of children to Christ, forming by Christian education the youth of both sexes on the eternal principles of Catholic ruth and morality, breaking the Bread ot Life to hungry souls, preaching the Gospel of Christ to rich and poor alike, assisting like angels of hope and comfort at the death bed, and by holy prayer and sacraments preparing the immortal soul for the happiness and joys of Heaven. For 39 long years Father Dowd has been doing the work of Christ in your midst in this city. He landed here in 1848 to take his part if required with the noble band of martyrs of charity who sacrified their lives in bringing the consolations and graces of reli- gion to the dying Irish immigrants. Ah! who that witnessed them can ever forget the heart-rending scenes that then took ace in the fever sheds in the suburbs of this city ; like a terrible nightmare they haunt the memory for life. Those were indeed days that tried men’s souls—those were the days that tried the charity and zeal of the priests and religious of this city as fire tries the gold. Hundreds, nay thousands, of our countrymen, driven from their native land by wicked laws and a dreadfui famine, arrived on our hospitable shores ; but the famine fever, like an ange! of destruction, pursued them and smote them with pestilence and death. The fever sheds were veritable Gethsemanes where hearts and souls were sorrowful unto death; where hundreds of men and women were writhing in their awful agonies. Father Dowd and other heroic priests entered that Gethsemane like cornforting angels to bring peace and hope to the agonizing and to prepare their souls for immortal joys. Some of those priests passed from their Gethsemane to their Calvary, where they laid down their lives in sacrifice for their fellow men, but Father Dowd was spared for other days and other duties and services. His priestly virtues, his great talents and his sound judgment were so

35

conspicious as to attract the attention and to win the confidence and esteem not alone of the faithful but even of the Episcopate of Eas- tern and Western Canada, and in 1853 the Bishops =nanimously petitioned the Holy See to appoint him Coadjutor Bishop of Toronto, The Bulls of his appointment arrived, but he resolutely declined the proffered honor and dignity, preferring to labor to the last amongst his faithful people. For twenty-seven long years he has labored as pastor amongst you, and God alone knows all the labors and sacrifices he has undergone for the promotion of the temporal and spiritual welfare of his flock. In season and out of season, in the cold of winter and summer’s heat, in the midst of anxieties and trials, in absolute disinterestedness and in purity of purpose and loftiness of aim, has he invariably toiledto the duties of a true and faithful shepherd. St. Patrick’s school, St. Bridget’s refuge, St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum, are some of the monuments of his holy zeal. And in this connection may it not be said of him that “his bones when he has run his course and sleeps in blessings will have a tomb of orphans’ tears wept on them.”

Father Toupin has been for about twenty years laboring amongst the Irish Catholics of this great city. Seventeen years of his priestly life had been previously speit in the work of Christian education in Montreal College. It is impossible to estimate the merit of his work in this capacity. ‘* What is greater,” asks St. John Chrysos- tom, “than to train the mind and to form the character and mould the morals of youth! More excellent certainly than the greatest painter, than the most finished sculptor and than all others of this sort, do I esteem him who knows how to form the minds of youth and to mould them into shapes of beauty.” How true are these words of the great saint and orator, For, when the greatest painting that ever lived by the breath of genius shall be covered with the mildew of neglect or destroyed by all-consuming time, and when the statues of an Apelles or a Michael Angelo shall have melted from marble into dust; the immortal mind, quickened into intellectual life by the wand of genius and moulded to virtue and holiness by the pious and holy priest, will live on forever a thing of immortal beauty and imperishable joy, a blessing to earth and a sister to the angels of heaven. You know better than I can tell you the qualities that characterize and enrich Father Toupin as a man and a priest. His heart is as tender as a child’s. He is kind and charitable almost te excess, never refusing to render a service, no matter at

PETS AS ils eatin emma an a en i nn reset oer

36

what inconvenience or sacrifice to himself. His hand is ever open to relieve distress. In his community he is a model, in his public ministry he is the holy and devoted priest, with him duty is supreme —salus animarum suprema dex—night and day he has been ever ready at the call of duty,—with him labor is a necessity and the greatest fatigues in the service of his Divine Master are sweeter and more welcome than refreshing springs to the traveller in the desert. St. Augustine’s motto is true of him “ Quando amatur non laboratur aut si laboratur labor amatur.’ And so closely has he identified himself with his [Irish people, with their traditions, feelings and hopes that he is literally “ more Irish than the Irish themselves.”

May these two devoted and holy priests be spared to labor yet for many years amongst you, to give God honor and glory, to succcur and to save immortal souls, to enrich the Church by their virtues and their merits and to exhibit in their honored lives the sublime dignity, the exalted holiness and the Christ-like charity and self- sacrifice that are the grand characteristics and the inalienable properties of the royal priesthood of the Catholic Church,

THE BANQUET.

The Mass was then continued and immediately after it was concluded, the Archbishops, Bishops and a number of Clergy, including the Rev. Fathers Dowd and Toupin and the visitors, proceeded to the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Notre Dame, where a Grand Banquet was held. There was a large number of Priests present and the Rev. gentlemen, Fathers Dowd and Toupin, were heartily congratulated on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of their ordination. His Grace Archbishop Taché, of St. Boniface, who was, owing to a slight illness, unable to attend the ceremony at St. Patrick’s was present at the dinner. The party then returned to St. Patrick’s at 3 o’clock, and at 3.30 entered the Church, which was crowded with the faithful of the parish and others, among whom were noticed some of the most prominent citizens.

THE AFTERNOON MEETING,

ep 'T the Morning Service the Rev. Father Quinlivan, who acted

A> master ofceremonies, announced that, in the afternoon at half past three, a meeting would be held in the Church at which Fathers Dowd in Toupin would receive the twelve congratulatory addresses to be presented tothem. ‘The Blessed Sacrament was removed from the Church and a platform was erected near the centre of the aisle, from which the addresses were delivered, It was conse

SE an

3

quently more a secular than a religious service. Long before the hour appointed every seat in the Church was occupied ; and among the congregation were noticed several leading Protestant citizens. The Hon. J. S. D. Thompson, minister of justice, accompanied by Mr, J. J. Curran, Q.C., M.P., and Mr. Edward Murphy, entered the Church about 3 o'clock, and were conducted to the seats of honor, immediately behind the platform. In front sat the Rev. Father Dowd and Rev. Father Toupin. Among those in the special chairs were Ald. Wilson, acting mayor, Ald. Grenier, Ald. Donovan, Ald. White, Ald. Laurent, Ald. Dubuc, Dr. Hingston, Rabbi Marks, Rabbi de Sola, Ald. P. Kennedy, Ald. Cunningham, Mr. Paradis, chief of police, Mr. Glackmeyer, city clerk, Mr. Owen McGarvey, Mr. Dennis Barry, president St. Patrick’s Society, Mr. S. Davis and anumber of other gentlemen. Prof. Fowler piayed a selection of airs on the organ, among which “St. Patrick’s Day” and ‘ Vive la Canadienne” were conspicuous, out of compliment to the nationality of the two clergymen who celebrated their golden jubilee. It is needless to say that the entire congregation of St. Patrick’s Church was present. Father Quinlivan announced that decorum in the Church required that there should be no applause, and the order was religiously obeyed although occasionally, when the virtues of the two worthy fathers were extolled, there was a temptation for a demonstrative expression of love and veneration. The scene was not the less impressive because of its solemnity. Every seat in the Church was occupied, and there was uncomfortable standing room for the hundreds who thronged the aisles and passages. The honorary ushers of the occasion, Messrs. B. Tansey, Jas. J. Costigan, John Callaghan, P. Doyle, A. Brogan, J. H. Kelly, Jas. Tierney and Ed. Ryan, were active in finding seats for strangers.

At 3.30 Father Dowd and Father Toupin entered the Church from the Sacristy, followed by fifty clergymen. The Archbishops of Montreal and Toronto, and Bishops Walsh and Dowling bringing up the rear of the procession. The congregation rose from their seats as a token of respect when the two venerable gentlemen appeared,

Father Quinlivan then called on the

HON J, S. D. THOMPSON,

Minister of Justice, representing the Dominion Government, to pay his tribute of respect.

The Minister of Justice in his address said: By the kind arrange-

HH 38

address the first words of congratulation to the venerable priests Hi in whose honor this assemblage has taken place. As one connected tit with the administration of public affairs in this country, I esteem it } a very great honor and a very great privilege to be able to congra- } tulate Father Dowd and Father Toupin upon this glorious anniver- } i sary. I feel it an honor to be permitted thus to congratulate them, | | |

If

Hi ment which has been made this afternoon, it is my privilege to |

'

ti because in doing so I am doing honor to those whom Almighty God i has already highly honored. They are here among you to-day endowed with the choicest gifts and the choicest blessings that heaven can bestow on them, and above all the two worthy Fathers have Hy been granted the privilege to live to a time of life when they can

i see the reward of the fruition of many years of toil among the people Ni of this great city. It is not to be wondered at that the people of i WH Montreal have joined with the greatest unanimity in this celebration ; Hi

i it is not to be wondered at that the people of this great parish of St. ii Patrick’s rejoice to the core of their hearts at the occurrence of this jubilee. Since the ministry of those venerable priests commenced among you a generation has grown from childhood to manhood and Hi womanhood. You have not only in all the vicissitudes of life expe- | rienced their kindly charity and their wise counsels, but it has been your good fortune to have seen and to have admired with others outside of Montreal those institutions which their charity and their tg zeal have founded in the community. My duty this afternoon is 1a not merely to pay a personal tribute of humble respect to the two great priests whom we have met to honor. As one connected with ; the public affairs of the country, I am forcibly reminded that I am Hd bound to do honor not only to the great priest, but to the great patriot as well. You in Montreal have been more familiarly ac- quainted with Father Dowd as a priest. Permit me to say, as one coming from a distant part of Canada, that we have known Father Dowd as a priest whose patriotism was too large for any one parish and too wide for any city. We have known him as a patriot, who, while holding the warmest love for his fatherland and the warmest love for the country in which he has spent so many long years, has never been afraid to speak his opinion on any public occasion demanding such expression—never afraid to speak the truth, and to speak it in trumpet ‘tones which sounded from one end of the country to the other. I am, therefore, not only paying my tribute of respect to the illustrious priests this afternoon, but to the great patriots as well. On behalf of those from whom I have come, on

en) eee ee

: i i : i ; i '

39

behalf of the people of a distant portion of this Dominion, I have to say that it is our earnest hope that those venerable priests may be spared for many years of useful labor and successful work among you. It is my duty also to say here, as I expressed to Father Dowd this morning, and as I have been permitted to speak as one connected with the Federal Government, that I am charged with the message from the first Minister of the Dominion, that had his duties in Parliament permitted him he would have had great pleasure in coming here to honor his old friend—Father Dowd. I make those offerings of respect and congratulation, not as a politician, not as a man belonging to a party, but as a Catholic, and as a citizen to

those deserving of all honor from those who love their religion and their country,

THE MUNICIPAL ADDRESSES, TO REV. FATHER DOWD.

Ald. Witson, acting mayor, read the following address on behalf of the City Council :—

REVEREND Sir,—It is with feelings of the utmost pleasure that we approach you to-day as bearers of a resolution unanimously passed by the Aldermen of Montreal, in council assembled, congratulating you on the fiftieth anniversary of your ordination to the priesthood, and in hearty appreciation of your long and faithful services to the cause of religion and morality. As the highest and most beneficent qualities of citizenship are involved in a pastorate such as yours, the City Council, speaking in the name of the Citizens of Montreal, without distinction of race, creed or class, could not let this opportunity elapse without paying a deserved tribute to the admirable manner in which you discharged these functions and the good that has flowed therefrom.

In the hope that you may long enjoy continuous health and strength to prosecute the ennobling work in which you are still engaged,

We remain, Rey, Sir, Yours, etc., J. J. C. ABBOTT, Mayor, ALD. WHITE, ALD. STEVENSON, ALD DONOVAN, ALD. GRENIER, ; (As Committee), CHAS. GLACKMEYER, City Clerk.

40

Mr. GLACKMEYER, City Clerk, read a similar address in French to Father Toupin which will be found on other page.

The following telegram was also read from the Mayor :—

Orrawa, May 18, 1887.

Senate determines to sit Friday and Council will consequently sit to-morrow, With the greatest regret, therefore, I am obliged to forego the pleasure of presenting testimonial to the Rev. Fathers Dowdand Toupin. Pray present my felicitati- 2 to them and express my extreme disappointment at being unable to attend.

J. J.C. ABBOTT. THE CONGREGATION’S ADDRES |.

Mr. EpwarD Murpnay read the following address from the con- gregation :—

Rev. AND DEAR FatHer Dowp,—A half century ago you solemnly devoted yourself to the service of God, and were ordained a priest of His Holy Church,

The congregation of St. Patrick’s Church of Montreal, for whom you have labored incessantly during four-fifths of that long period, approach you to-day with deep veneration and affection to offer you their sincere congratulation on your attainment of the fiftieth anni- versary of your priesthood, and the accomplishment of fifty years of good, wise and noble deeds for the glory of God and the benefit of your people.

Forty years ago you entered the venerable and learned order of St. Sulpice—an order which has rendered such incalculable services to the cause of religion in Canada, and has given to the Irish of Mont- real such devoted pastors as Fathers Richards, Phelan, Morgan, Connolly, O’Brien, Bently and Bakewell, and others who have died in their service, and an order to which they are still indebted for those who now labor so zealously in their behalf.

The daily and nightly performance of your duties as a priest, to which you devoted yourself with all the generous self denial of your holy order, making light of fatigue and hardship, cheerfully bearing trials, disregarding danger from contagion or exposure and com- bating obstacles in the way, have secured to you the confidence, esteem and affection of your people.

The visible monuments of your labors are numerous :—

The Orphan children of Irish parentage first received (in 1849) your parental care, and the St. Patrick’s Orphan asylum, from a

41

modest beginning, gradually assumed its present proportions, and its continued support has been the object of your constant solicitude.

The old and infirm were the next to receive your fostering care, and the inmates of St. Bridget’s Home have daily invoked the bless- ing of God upon their kind and thoughtful protector.

The homeless by night were not left by you to wander and un- cared for; and St. Bridget’s Refuge for destitute poor has, for the past twenty-three years, opened its portals and afforded shelter and food to persons of all creeds and nationalities.

It was long felt that schools more in harmony with the wants of the people should be provided, and the St. Patrick’s School for Girls, established by you, has fully met that requirement.

While providing ample accommodation for others, you neglected, too long neglected—your own comfort and that of your co-laborers, The parochial residence was ‘totally inadequate to house you comfortably. At length you have been compelled to give attention to yourselves. The Presbytery, now being built, will afford you better—although still modest—accommodation.

When it was judged necessary to divide the old parish of Notre Dame into several, you, Reverend and dear Sir, ever watchful over the intere.ts of your flock, obtained conditions which have smoothed the difficulties pertaining to that division.

Twice during your ministrations at St. Patrick’s you have given unusual evidence not only of humility but of deep attachment to your people.

Your unaffected piety, ripe learning, mature judgment, great administrative ability and untiring zeal and devotion, long ago, marked you as qualified for the arduous and responsible function of Bishop ; but the Coadjutorship of Torontu, to which His Holiness named you, had to be otherwise filled.

At a later period, designated for the bishopric of the diocese of Kingston, you again declined the dignity which would involve sepa- ration from your people.

To stimulate the ardor and zeal of your flock, you organized a ,ilgrimage to the centre of Catholicity, and to Lourdes, to which the eyes of the devoui have for many years been turned.

It was accomplished, but not without misadventure ; and the thoughts of those remaining behind were strained in your direction when the intelligence of possible disaster reached Canada. The citizens as a whole, and your own congregation especially, oifered

42

up prayers for your safe return, and when news of your safety came later, the joy expressed was general.

Who among your people has not had, on questions of difficulty, the advantage of your advice, and who has not recognized —though, perhaps, not at the moment—that the advice was in accordance with the unchangeable principles of right and justice.

Your wise counsel and guidance on questions for the general good have entitled you to public gratitude, and the Citizens of Montreal, by the mouth of their civic representatives, have embodied it in their address,

The maintenance of the institutions you have founded has, in great measure, ceased to give anxiety ; the Church, however, in which you have so long officiated, and to which your congregation are so strongly attached, has been recently transferred to them— from tenants they have become proprietors—and the amount of the obligation incurred is large, and can only be met gradually. But your past wisdom, energy and devotion are a guarantee of future accomplishment, aided by that hearty co-operation on the part of the congregation which you have a right to expect.

Beloved Pastor, desirous of »xpressing in tangible form the respect, veneration and affection which they entertain for you, your congre- gation beg your acceptance of the accompanying purse, suscribed for the purpose of lessening the debt which you have assumed on the Church, trvsting to use your own words, that ‘God will open new sources of revenue by inspiring many to remember the Church of their dear apostle when making their last will and preparing for eternity” ; and they fervently hope that the Almighty may be pleased to prolong your life for the interest of religion and for the good of society.

On behalf of St. Patrick’s congregation.

(Signed,) EDWARD MURPHY, Chairman. W. J. OHARA, Secretary.

A HANDSOME OFFERING.

Mr. Murphy then presented to the Rev. Father Dowd a cheque for $17,206.21 as an offering from the congregation to pay off the debt on the Chur a. TO FATHER TOUPIN. Dr. Hincston then read the address of the congregazion to Father Toupin. Dr, Hingston explained that it was intended to read the

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43

address in French, but at the request of the rev. gentleman him- self he would read it in English.

TO THE REV, FATHER TOUPIN. ERMIT the Congregation of St. Patrick’s to express to you their joy at your attaining the fiftieth year of Priesthood, and at the same time, their deep gratitude at your having devoted so large a portion of that period to their service.

It is now upwards of thirty-three years since you commenced your ministration amongst them; and the links of affection which those years of devotion on your part have thrown around them are irrefragable, and willingly bind them to you by the strongest and most enduring ties,

The sphere of your labors has, in some respects, been different from that of the Chief Pastor, whose Jubilee we celebrate to-day with yourown, Yet your mission suffers nought by comparison, Like the Curé d’Ars, your functions have been those of the quiet, gentle, modest, retiring Priest, devoting himself with ever undisturbed affa- bility, and with ever unalloyed kindliness of heart to the spiritual wants of the sick, and with a zeal which is rarely paralleled, and which it would be impossible to surpass.

Your work at St. Patrick’s involved, almost of necessity, the par- tial sacrifice of your own beautiful language, in which you were admittedly a master. The members of the Congregation have always felt, and many times expressed, their appreciation of that generosity on your part.

Placed by fortune beyond the possibility of want or the necessity of labor, you have devoted all—all to the relief of the necessities of the poor and distressed—and, with such absence of ostentation that no one beyond the recipient, and often not even the recipient, could suspect whence came the generous relief.

But if you have been generous with your wealth you have been prodigal of what is more than wealth—ease, comfort, necessary rest. At all hours of the day you were ever at duty, or the possi- bility of duty. From baptismal font, receiving the new born into the Christian fold ; to the sick, encouraging the sufferer, or smoothing the pillow of death.

Your alacrity, especially in responding to the night summons, has led to a suspicion in the minds of many, that, like a true soldier when in battle, you were ever ready, booted and helmeted for the

PGRN lme ae TEL wmnem fe bmaty metneeee cm na at ee

44

march. How many here can bear testimony that the night bell was answered by Father Toupin in person, who, cap in haud, and with a mysterious velvet bag under his arm, was prepared to accom- pany the messenger whithersoever he would. Yet, notwithstanding the freqient disturbance of sleep, no sign of impatience, no evidence of irritation or annoyance was ever noticeable ; no word of reproof, for being calle? too early or too needlessly late was heard. The summons to the confessional at hours the most inconvenient was invariably quickly obeyed; and so long as penitent remained iv its vicinity, so long were you ready to listen, to admonish, to encour- age, or to reprove.

Accept, Soggarth Aroon, their love for the love you have borne them ; accept their gratitude for your labors in their behalf; and accept their fervet prayers for the prolongation of a life which has been devoted exclusively to the service of God and to the spiritual wants of His people.

TO REVEREND FATHER DOWD REVERED AND HoncRED FATHER,

/) ONTHS ago, playful fancy, ever ready to tell tales of the

future, began to paint us a picture. Earnestly we watched

its progress, eagerly waited for the last stroke. when suddenly a bri).

liant glow bathed it in a flood of lightness. Your presence, Reverenil

Father, as cast this roseate hue, and to-day our fancy’s picture is complete.

Need we ask your kind forbearance while to your respect and esteem, we join our deep gratitude and filial love, to give honor to whom honor is due.

Yes, dearly beloved Father, on this joyous day, that marks with golden radiance fifty years of labor, devotedness and self-sacrifice, we the least of your flock hasten to twine a chapelet of love and reverence, Delicious dreamlike harmony has wafted our thanks in entrancing strains ; each tiny rose bud has blushed our gratitude, each floweret has breathed forth sweet fragrance in veneration of the noble life offered at religious shrine. And yet what modesty ! what humility ! Who may sing the praise of a holy priest ? Angels, methinks, must stand abashed as are recorded in the book of life the souls saved by his prayers. His sacred hand holds the keys of God’s priceless treasures. He unlocks the portals and bids the tender babe enter Christ’s fold. He raises his hand, and at his sign

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the dispairing sinner, crushed by the weight of guilt, is lifted up and led on to God. A word whispered by a priest and in his hand is his Creator. God’s holy temple, which owes its beauty to his charity and zeal, points to the home where are recompensed labor and devo- tion in God’s cause. Such are the functions and work of an ordinary priest. But has not your labur far surpassed all this? The three houses which surround the Church and are at present in such a flour- ishing condition, do they not owe their origin, advancement and success to your zealous and untiring efforts. The oldest of these, which we inhabit, and which has given shelter to so many thousands of children for the past (37) thirty-seven years is a standing proof of your noble, generous and tender sentiments for the cause of poor suffering humanity. Yes, you have indeed proved a father to the orphan, a staff to the aged and a powerful support to Christian edu- cation.

These, O Reverend Father! are monuments which will perpetuate your name in the realms of our Heavenly King, not such as prove their worth by earthly measurement. Oh! no, the paltry bauble ambition struggles to snatch from fame is worthless to you, who seek your reward in God alone.

Our fervent prayer is that the remaining years of your precious life may flow sweetly and peacefully ; may Angel hands remove the stones that overlie life’s pathway ; may the thornless roses ever bloom, and may that Master whom you have served so loyally bestow upon you the reward ». the faithful servant, What glory awaits you! What a haven of rest will be yours within the yolds of the Sacred Heart where nu more storms will threaten that bark you guide so well, but where anchored safely you will celebrate an eter- nal Jubilee.

St. Parrick’s ORPHAN ASYLUM,

TO THE REVEREND FATHER DOWD),

ON THE OCCASION OF HIS GOLDEN JUBILER,

REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER Dowb,

”O the many and eloquent tongues that lave everywhere been proclaiming your Golden Jubilee, the poor old people of St. Bridget’s Home beg leave to join their humble voices, and tell you how proud we all feel on this grand occasion, which has been the means of bringing to light your stirling worth and your well

enna seen

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46

deserved popularity among all classes and creeds of the City of Montreal. We may be the last to tell you so, but rest assured, Reverend Father, that we are not the least sincere in our expres- sions of love and admiration for one who has been everything to us, when houseless and friendless we were left alone in the cold Streets of this large city to meet the sad fate that must have been ours, had it not been for the unbounded charity of your kind Irish heart.

Apart from your numerous and brilliant flock, the inmates of this noble Institution have ever considered themselves as belonging to your own private family. Others may glory in the fact of having you as a Spiritual father, but to us alone has been given, in spite of our misfortune, the privilege of belonging to you, body and soul. When naked you have clothed us, when hungry you fed us, when homeless your fatherly hand raised this blessed roof over our heads. What more could you do?

Yes, beloved Father, let us assure you on this solemn day, that your Orphan’s Asylum, your St. Bridget’s Home and Refuge shall form the three brightest gems in the crown which has been longago prepared for you in heaven.

Such is the earnest wish and such shall ever be the daily prayer of

THE Poor OLD PEopLE oF St. BripGet’s Home.

AU REVEREND JOSEPH TOUPIN, SS. DE L’EGLISE ST. PATRICE,

REVEREND MONSIEUR,

EST avec les sentiments d’un plaisir bien réel que nous venons aujourd’hui auprés de vous comme porteurs d’une résolution unanimement adoptée par les échevins de la Cité de Montréal en Conseil, vous offrant leur félicitations a l'occasion du cinquantiéme annive’ ‘aire de votre ordination comme prétre, et le.r vive appre- ciations de vos services si longs et si fidéles dans la sainte cause de la Religion et de la Morale,

Les qualités les plus rares et les plus bienveillantes du citoyen se trouvant combinées dans I’exercise d’un ministére tel que le votre, le Conseil de la Cité se faisant l’organe de tous les citoyens de Montréal, sans distinction de race, de croyance ou de position, ne pouvait pas laisser passer cette occasion sans rendre un tribut bien mérité a la maniére admirable dont vous avez rempli vos importantes functions,

et a tout le bien qui en est découlé.

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Avec l'espoir que bien longtemps encore, vous continuerez de jouir d’une santé robuste, et des forces qu'il vous faut dans la pour- suite des travaux qui font partie du ministére que vous exercez.

Nous sommes, Révérend Monsieur, Vos tout dévoués, J. J. C. ABBOTT, Mayor, J. GRENIER, RICHARD WHITE, P. DONOVAN, A. A. STEVENSON, Comité. CHS. GLACKMEYER,

Greffiier de la Cité, Montréal, le r9 Mai 1887.

ST. PATRICK’S SOCIETY.

Mr. Dennis Barry then read the following address to Father Dowd from St. Patrick’s Society :—

REVEREND AND DEAR FatTHER Dowp,—The St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal, of which you are the respected and beloved chaplain, desire to approach you on this, the fiftieth anniversary of your ordination to the priesthood, to join its voice with that of the other members of your flock in joyous felicitations on this happy occasion. The membership of St. Patrick’s Society, embracing, as it does, Irish Catholics from all parts of the city and district of Montreal, entitles it to express the sentiments of all, including those who, though now priests, were fostering parents of that which Irishmen in this city and district feel justly so proud. You, as Parish Priest, have naturally been always in the van, and for the fruits of your ministry we have only to look around and see.

Dear Father, we beg you will accept the society’s mite towards the general offering which is being made to you, knowing that your fatherly heart will understand the feelings of the members are not measured by the smallness of the amount; but that the many demands on the funds in the sacred cause of charity preclude them from making it commensurate with their desire and your worth.

In conclusion, the St. Patrick’s Society prays that Almighty God may spare you for many years yet to watch over the intcrests of your congregation, and to witness the full fruition of your desires and

i i

SMSO ASAE ES PIA cI

MAB, 2 Ry) Be ER ep thy, abo 2 ‘suet aoe) e re. a i

48

aspirations for the well being and success of the many institutions which you founded for the education of youth and for the protection of the infirm, the orphan and the homeless,

On behalf of the St. Patrick’s Society. D. BARRY, President.

S. CROSS, Secretary. THE ST. PATRICK’S SOCIETY TO THE REV. FATHER TOUPIN.

REy. AND DEAR FATHER Toupin,—The St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal desires to join with the many who offer their congra- tulations to you this day on having attained the fiftieth anniversary of your wedding to Holy Mother Church and the service of the Sanctuary.

It would be superfluous to descant on the many sacrifices you have made in those long years of your ministry. They are known, and will be fondly remembered, by those to whom you have devoted your life ; for gratitude is the characteristic of the Irish heart, and the Soggarth Aroon is, if possible, more dear to them from the fact that he, in your person, has sundered the ties of kindred and race to labor for them in their hour of need.

To those greetings the Society adds a prayer: That those whom God has placed in your care may, for many years yet, have the benefit of that charity for them which is a part of your existence, your reward for which can only be fully known on that day when all secrets shall be revealed.

On behalf of the St. Patrick’s Society, D. BARRY, President.

S. CROSS, Secretary. The St. Patrick’s Society presented a cheque for $100.

THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

Mr. Patrick Doyle read the following address from St. Patrick’s T. A. & B. Society:—

REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER Dowp,—Amidst the general rejoic- ings on the occasion of your golden jubilee as a priest of the Church, permit your affectionate and grateful children of St, Patrick’s Total Abstinence and Benefit Society to approach you with our feeble words of thanks and our humble testimonial of appreciation, Nearly forty of the fifty years of your priesthood have been devoted to the St. Patrick’s congregation ; yet whilst laboring for the benefit of all, and thus enhancing so eminently the glory of the distinguished

49

order of St. Sulpice, to which you have the privilege of belonging, you have found time to devote to the interest of the temperance cause in special connection with our society, of which you were once the revered and beloved president.

Your solicitude has ever been evinced in our behalf by the judi- cious selection you have invariably made of worthy and devoted clergymen for the position of our chief offic ., but in a marked degree you have given an impetus to our efficiency and a wider scope to our usefulness by a wise and comprehensive revision of our constitution and by-laws, enabling us to do good, not only as a temperance but as a benefit association, and placing both our branches on a firm and durable basis.

Out of your zeal and fc -sight originated the constitution of the Irish Catholic ‘Temperance Convention, embracing tie various tota] abstinence organizations of the Irish parishes of Montreal and its vicinity, the extent and value of whose labors may be seen in the daily increasing strength of the principles we profess, whose adoption will ensure results so beneficial, morally and materially, to our people.

Under your paternal guidance, Divine Providence has deigned to bless our efforts, whilst comfort, as well as peace and harmony, have been made to reign in many a home through the adherence of our meinbers to the rules of our association, We, as a body, without impairing our financial resources, are enabled to-day to request your acceptance of a small token of our grateful appreciation, in addition to the other gifts that are now being pressed upon you, and which, with that self sacrifice that has characterized your long, arduous and beneficient pastorate, you intend to apply, not to your own wants, but to the liquidacion of the debt now weighing so heavily on this edifice, bearing the name of the apostle of Ireland—the glorious St. Patrick—where we hope our children,and their childrens’ children may continue to worship, living, we trust, in the practice of the virtues of which your life has been so exalted an example.

God, in His goodness, has spared you, Reverend Sir, to see this happy day; not so long ago the hearts of your children were wrung in anguish when they witnessed you prostrated on a bed of sickness which threatened a lasting separation on this earth.

Now, thanks to Divine Providence, we behold you once more

restored to health and vigor, and our earnest and constant prayer D

50

will be that you may long be spared, not only to our society, but to

the congregation of St. Patrick’s, the church of God and the advance- ment of the interests of our country.

Signed on behalf of the society, EDWARD MURPHY, President. P. DOYLE, Vice-President, JAS J. COSTIGAN, Secretary,

The Temperance Society also presented a check to Father Dowd for $500.00.

OTHER ADDRESSES.

Father Quinlivan read the following address on behalf of the Ladies of Charity, signed by Mrs. Edward Murphy and Miss Emily H. Murphy. A check for $1,000 was handed in. Mrs. Murphy also presented two beautiful bouquets to the Rev. Father.

THE LADIES OF CHARITY.

Address of the Ladies of Charity of St. Patrick’s Congregation, and

their friends, to the Rev. Father Dowd, on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee Celebration :—

REVEREND AND BeLovep FatHER Dowp,—The Ladies of Charity

of St. Patrick’s Congregation, in their own name, and in the name of their friends, join your numerous children in congratulating you on this blessed and joyous occasion, the Sacerdotal Jubilee of your ordination, a glorious epoch, reached only by a privileged few.

The holy inspiration of providing a happy asylum for our little orphans, a comfortable home for our aged and infirm, has grown under your fatherly care and guidance beyond human expectations ; like the grain of mustard seed spoken of in the Gospel, ‘‘ they have indeed multiplied a hundred fold.” The bazaars (38 in number), the principal support of these institutions, held yearly (with only one interruption) have had wonderful success, which is due, in no small measure, to the fostering care and heartwarm encouragement of our venerable and dear pastor. These bazaars, like many other good works, sprang from small beginnings ; we find in the records of the society that the first one took place in 1849, when the modest sum of $520 was realized,—the nett proceeds of the last, that of 1886, amounted to $4,740—forming up to the present the aggregate of $139,840.

May God grant you many long years to continue your good works, to watch over these institutions and to guide your loving flock.

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The many fervent wishes breathed for you to-day, dear pastor, ascending, like incense, to the throne of the Most High, form, as it were, a chain, the links of which are composed of the prayers, the grateful tears and sighs of the widows and orphans and many others in affliction whom you have comforted and strengthened by kind words and wise counsels.

The sweet words, “Soggarth Aroon,” have ever been dear to the Trish heart, but never with more reason than when we look back, through the long vista of years, and think of the life of self-sacrifice and untiring zeal manifested towards us by you, our devoted Parish Priest. In conclusion, allow us to to thank you for the fatherly in- terest you have always taken in the works of the Ladies of Charity, and accept this offering towards your last great undertaking, the liquidation of the debt of St. Patrick’s Church,

MARIA G. MURPHY, President, EMILY MURPHY, Secretary. Montreal, May roth, 1887.

Father James Callaghan read the address from the Confraternity of the Living Rosary.

CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY ROSARY.

We, the members of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary of the blessed Virgin, rejoice on this day. It recalls to our minds the epoch of the introduction of this salviary devotion into our English-speaking Catholic congregation mcre than forty years ago through your pious instrumentality. For that length of time you have watched over the interests of our Sedality with a fervor which the fatigue of your ministry or the multiplicity of your enters prises of charity could neither relax nor diminish, You were our first director and you have always held out tou a protecting hand. The thousands of familiar instructions which you delivered with such paternal unction had a telling effect, and many a broken hearted sinner returned to the sweet embraces of God’s friendship through the fervent and eloquent appeals which you addressed to Our Lady of the Rosary. When within the last few years Pope Leo the Thir- teenth called upon His children to storm Heaven with the powerful weapon of the “ Hail Mary,” in the recitation of the Beads, your energetic and decisive co-operation admitted of no bounds, Your

xhortations ceased only when all your flock, young and old, rich

52

and poor, lettered and unlettered, joined their voices in one common and general invocation to Mary Immaculate. The month of October, each year, is one of intense consolation in our parish. ‘The thirty~ one days are spent within the precincts of our church in honoring, by special evening exercises, the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary. Often times we have been encouraged, in giving our small monthly fees, to hear you say, with a smile of delight, that our little contri- butions though individually insignificant in appearance, have collec- tively bequeathed in great part to the St. Patrick s Church the vest- ments and sacred vessels used in the celebration of the most august sacrifice of the Mass.

Frequently you have spoken to us about the importance of being faithful to the devotion and meetings of the Sodality to which we belong.

Nothing inspires you with a more sensible and palpable love of the rosary than the progress which the Holy Catholic Church is making in the scale of human aggrandizement. Some would fain attribute the increasing preponderance of Leo the XIII. toa kind of ungovernable fatality, or to the natural course of events, without any special concurrence of supernatural agencies ; but your piety, founded upon your affection for Our Lady of the Rosary and upon the marvellous results obtained in the days of St. Dominic and in other trying times of the Church’s history, discovers in the pleasing and agreeable form of prayer of the Rosary the secret explanation of this strange phenomenon.

Thanks, then, reverend and dear Father, for your kindness in our regard, and receive, if you please, this token of our appreciation of your eminent qualities.

SoDALITY OF THE Rosary,

Father Martin Callaghan read the address from the Children of Mary.

THE CHILDREN OF MARY.

REV. AND DEAR FATHER:—At last it has arrived, the long- expected and long-wished-forday. We, the children of Mary, gather around your venerable person and hasten to lay at your feet the homage of our sincerest congratulations and the threefold tribute of our reverence, gratitude and devoted affections.

Since the establishment of our association, twenty-three years ago, you, our Reverend Father and deeply cherished friena, have ever

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been our guiding star, guarding and safely directing our frail bark on the perilous sea of life. The viscissitudes incidental to time have severed and scattered our members far and near. Many have been harvested into the celestial granary and are, let us hope, enjoying the reward of their good works ; others have yielded to the attrac- tions of divine grace and anchored in the harbor of the religious state, where peace and security reign with undisputed sway. Anx- iously did we anticipate this day, and most earnestly did we sup- plicate the Throne of Mercy when, during your pilgrimage to the Chair of Peter, and during your protracted illness, the phantom of doubt kept us hovering between hope and fear. But our prayers pierced the clouds, and the ever faithful Sogarth, whose locks have been silvered, and whose steps have grown feeble whilst toiling in the vineyard of Our Lord seems to regain something of his former strength and buoyancy of spirits, as he lends an ear to the festive lays which his loving children are rehearsing on all sides upon this day of days, which it is granted only to the privileged few to behold. Ah, yes, favored children of St. Patrick! well may you sing your joyous song. Make these walls reverberate with strains of your most enchanting melodies, Let the tones of the organ break in the most soul-stirring appeals; still in our midst is our father, our pastor and our friend. Half a century ago, on a bright and glorious May morning, when nature was arrayed in its loveliest garb and all creation seemed aglow with beauty, he vowed an everlasting farewell to the world with all its prospects, with all its riches, pleasures and honors, and in his dear native land, in the island sanctified by the prayers and tears of St. Patrick, he pledged himself solemnly to follow closely in the footsteps of the Divine Master. Did he regret his engagemer's? No, never; annually he renews his clerical promises at the fc f the altar on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, and with what rapturous delight must not the angels of heaven have listened as they heard him repeat once more, in this his golden jubilee festival. *‘ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; it is Thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.” But why seek in language to find utterance for the sentiments which overflow our hearts ? Must we deprive silence of its golden eloquence? But one word more—one fervent prayer. Reverend and dearly beloved Father: You have a great and all-absorbing wish at heart ; may you be spared to see this realized, and then, O Blessed Mother of God,

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thou whose devout client he has ever been, into whose care and tender solicitude he has so often commended his dear and grateful children, from thy starry throne gaze upon him, guide his footsteps, till, safe in the haven of eternal rest, thou shall deck his brow with the laurels of victory.

Master McKenna then read the address from the Children of the Catechism. At the conclusion of the address the most interesting scene of the jubilee was witnessed. A number of little girls, beau- tifully dressed, approached Father Dowd and presented him with $500 in gold. Each child held a silver plate on which were the gold pieces,

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CHILDREN OF THE CATECHISM.

g I ; REVEREND FATHER,—I have come to represent and to speak in | i the name of all the boys and girls who attend the Sunday Cate- chism of this parish, It would indeed look strange if we let this i occasion pass by unnoticed—if we were to be left in the shade and doomed to remain silent. We readily acknowledge that we are not perfection, and may prcve at times a trifle troublesome, but still we claim to be your children, and should avail ourselves of this opp«r- at tunity publicly to express the manifold sentiments with which we ii have been always animated in your regard, and which we realize i more vividly upon this thrice blessed day. Once you saw the days Hai through which we are passing. Education was vested with charms which you could not resist and did not fail to appreciate. Thanks . to the most favorable of home influences, religion experienced no ai difficulty in stamping upon your youthful mind and heart an impress ie luminous, distinct, profound and indelible. You grew in the know- Hi ledge of supernatural truth, and rapidly advanced in every Christian id virtue. Your standard became the Divine will. You have always cherished and followed it. God called you to the super-eminent } dignity of the priesthood. You respended to His call, and already il} fifty years have elapsed since, crossing the threshold of the lia Sanctuary, you dedicated to His service all your faculties, energies and resources. With the inspired Psalmist did you exclaim in all the fervor of a heaven-born enthusiasm: ‘How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. I have chosen to be an object in the house of my God. For better is one day in Thy courts above thousands.” We congratulate you upon all the glory which, through your instrumentality, has accrued to the Most High; upon all the

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inestimable graces with which you have enriched the various flocks committed to your charge; upon all the beautifully diversified forms which your piety has assumed; upon all the humility, charity and zeal which you have accomplished; upon your sterling worth, unimpeachable integrity, and unswerving allegiance to principle ; upon the almost unrivalled reputation which you have won for yourself by excelling in all that is true, just, hovorable, noble and magnanimous. For more than a decade of years you were engaged in catechizing the little ones of our parish. You knew how to descend to their level, and esteemed yourself regularly happy in their midst. You solidly instructed them ir the tenets of our holy faith, trained them in the practical love of duty, and inspired them with veneration for the Sacraments. You dug deep and wide the foundations upon which the superstructure of happiness, both temporal and eternal, should rest. We owe you a special debt of gratitude. You furnish us with striking evidences of the interest which you take in our cathechetical instruction, You may justly pride in the magnificent results obtained through the doctrinal system of St. Charles Borromee, which you introduced into the city, and frequently do you advocate our cause in the pulpit. You provide us with a band of teachers eminently qualified by their intellectual culture and disinterested zeal for the important task which they voluntarily impose upon themselves. You spare nothing to encourage us, and annually you preside at the cistribution Of our premiums. We promise not to be ungrateful for the many precious favors which we have received at your hands. In what- ever circumstances we may be placed, we will comply with all our obligations as Christians and Catholics, We will always cling to the teachings of our infallible Church, and to the traditions of the dear old land where you spent the earlier portion of your life, and where the spirit of St. Patrick still prevails in all its beauty, strength and splendor. We have been plying a variety of ingenious indus- tries, and succeeded in gathering the sum of no less than half a thousand dollars. We are delighted to have it in our power to make you a golden offering, and the only thing we feel like regretting is that alchemists have not yet discovered the philosopher’s stone, which we would greatly like to havea little while in our hands, so as to cancel the whole of the debt weighing upou our dear old St, Patrick’s Church. Please accept our gift from children who represent all the different sections of our Catechism.

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CatuHottc Younc Men’s Socrery.

Rev. AND DEAR FatTHER,—In the midst of this vast concourse of happy hearts, none ought to rejoice more than the members of the Catholic Young Men’s Society of Montreal. The very pleasing duty of gratitude, apart from the higher and more exalted sense of justice and equity, has awakened in us a thrill of grateful emotion. You are indeed, Reverend Father, the founder of our Association. We owe our social existence to your creative genius. Twenty years ago the pious zeal which you had on all previous occasions displayed in the performance of good works suggested to your mind a new field of useful labor. ‘The institution and organization of our society, and its consolidation upon the basis of wise and prudent constitu- tions, are the precious relics of your intellectual industry in our behalf. Year after year your love and affection for the male Catholic youth of our young and prosperous city grew more and more intense, and ke, : on inventing new and attractive forms of innocent amusement and recreation so indispensable, particularly at our period oflife. Your long tried experience and deep observation of character had signalled out to your keen and watchful eye the dangerous and delusive snares held out to an inexperienced youth. Accordingly

you have embodied in our rules the very essence of the important lessons which the glorious past had taught you. Your far-seeing providence saw, likewise, the avenues of material prosperity pen out in brilliant colors before the gaze of Catholic youth. Without a moment of delay, you established on a firm and solid footing those literary conferences that have contributed so powerfully to bring into boid prominence tke many sterling qualities which, till then, had remained dormant and silent in the solitude of their beings. If, to-cxy, so many young men of Catholic parents fill positions of trust and responsibility in our midst, they owe their elevation and promotion to your indefatigable efforts in procuring them the means of progressing in everything advantageous and profitable. To encourage the members in the carrying out of their thoroughly religious mission, you accepted the directorship, which you held for years and which you transmitted afterwards to a succession of priests of your excellent order, who, by their learning and piety, have continued and are now continuing to follow up to the work so nobly and so generously inaugurated by your marvelous activity. Your admirable spirit of self-sacrifice has been largely shared by

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the army of presidents and other officers and members, whose countiess numbers are now scattered over the broad continent of America, and whose true and genuine principles acquired in youth are still their beacon light in the vicissitudes of life and a forcible argument of persuasiveness for their foliow-citizens,

To foster and develop the empire of religion amongst us, you approached the Chair of Peter and humbly craved the spiritual intervention of the immon:i Pius IX, That august Pontiff hearkened to your pressing entreaties, and lavished with an unsparing hand his induigences upon our association, whose principles and tendencies you advocated with all the earnestness of an apostle of youth.

In a word, you have neglected no resources whereby you might realize the words of the illustrious Leo XIII, in his eminent ency- clical letter, dated the 2oth April, 1884. He writes: ‘That the objects of our desires may be the more easily obtained, we once more urgently commend to your fidelity and watchfulness the care of youth, as t' + hope of human society. ‘To its formation give your greatest care ”

Receive, therefore, Rev. and dear Father, the expression of our sincere gratitude, and please accept as a tribute of our unalterable d otedness this small gift wnich we joyfully present to our exceedingly kind benefactor and loving father.

CatHoLtic YounG MEn’s Society oF MONTREAL,

THE LEO CLUB’S ADDRESS.

We, the last-born of your spiritual children, have come forward on this solemn occasion to reiterate the profound sentiments of loyalty and affection so universally and so spontaneously voiced by the senior associations.

We lawfully pride in being called your Benjamin, and we flatter ourselves with the throught that we do enjoy an unusually larg: share in the big heart of our affectionate parent,

Your love for us, dear Father, does not fall upon a barren and sterile ground. No. It has brought into play the echo of sweet gratitude. ‘‘ Excelsior” is our motto, whether we are praised or censured. If, at times, the playfulness of our age has betrayed us into some little freaks of what we thought a peculiarly funny nature, your justly merited reprimand always came in time to season the exuberance of our joy.

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We appreciate your corrections, always given with gentleness and firmness. ‘To say the least, they have made us none the worse. We even presume to say that we are on the advance line.

We do not forget the lessons of wisdom which you have ever inculcated to us. You have taught us particularly to love our holy religion. We have followed your inspirations. We have selected for our chieftain and leader the immortal Leo the Thirteenth. Under his guidance and direction we are sure to be on the right side, and were we to become like him we would be far from being pitied.

Our rich and gorgeous banner is a standing memorial of our attachment to the successor of Peter.

To knit together the various elements which enter into the com- position of our Leo Club, we glory in being the bodyguard of the sacred Tabernacle where resides in glorified though hidden splendor the Holy of Holies. Each successive month since our organization in 1884 has witnessed in our parochial church a heavenly sight. We have vied with one another in our zeal to approach the Holy Com- munion. Union, strength and mutual happiness have been the recompense of our close union with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Our young minds have not been left in the shade. Our mission here below is to shine by the brightness of our intellects as by the purity and innocence of our lives. Our literary academy has always given you intense pleasure.

Perhaps, dear Father, we are talking too much about ourselves and not enough about our kind Father, whom we cannot speak enough about.

You will therefore pardon us, but bear in mind, dear Father, that when the heart is overflowing with joy, as on this day, there is a necessity of speaking even at the cost of being a little tiresome.

Please accept, dear Father, our little offering, and believe us,

Ever yours, LEeo CLus. ADDRESS OF ST. PATRICK’S CHOIR.

Rev. AND RESPECTED FATHER,—The members of the choir of St. Patrick’s church beg to express their gratitude at being permitted the opportunity of tendering to you and to your very worthy coadjutor, the Rev. Father Toupin, their sentiments of the most profound veneration and esteem upon this joyful occasion. It has always been

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our ambition to contribute in our humble way to the impressive rendering of the Divine service in the church, and if our efforts in this regard have been in any degree successful we may confidently attribute it to the unceasing interest you have always manifested in our progress, and the kind and generous encouragement you have ever seen fit to bestow upon us. Ina similar manner we have to acknowledge many kind favors at the hands of Rev. Father Toupin, and we earnestly pray that an all-wise Providence may graciously extend your days to continue the great and noble work of charity and education which you have so successfully inaugurated and pro- moted since your connection with the parish of St. Patrick.

Asa slight tribute of our gratefulness, and as the result of our efforts on behalf of the celebration of your Jubilee, we beg your acceptance of the accompanying, being the proceeds of the enter- tainment given in the Queen’s Halli on last Tuesday evening, and which was rendered doubly enjoyable by the presence of yourself and of Rev, Father Toupin.

Very respectfully, THE Members oF St. PATRICK’s CrsoIR,

Mr. Riardon, on behalf of St. Mary’s Congregation, also 12ad an address. FROM THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITY.

ir. M, P, Ryan then read the following address :— Rev. AND DEAR FaTHER Down,

A most gratifying part in the happy proceedings of this joyous and memorable occasion has been assigned to me to offer you, and your estimable and indefatigable colleague, Father Toupin, on behalf of a large number of your fellow-citizens, clergy and laity, who are not members of your communion, their cordial congratulations on your attainment of your Sacerdotal jubilee.

So rare and signal a favor of Divine Providence conferred upon the congregation of St. Patrick’s Church, as the celebration, at the same time, in the same parish, of the fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of two priests whose life-long services in this community have given such general edification, has been rejoiced in by all your fellow-citizens without distinction of race or creed.

In prcof of this general feeling, I have the great honor of present* ing to you this tangil'z testimonial, the spontaneous and voluntary expression of the respec’ and esteem of those citizens who so grate-

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fully appreciate your long, distinguished and successful labors in the cause of religion, charity, unity and peace.

M. P. Ryan, Zreasurer.

The address was accompanied by a cheque for $600.

Rev. Father Toupin then ascended the pulpit, and expressed his thanks to those who had so highly honored him, and remarked that many of the eulogies bestowed upon him were entirely undeserved. He would leave the task of thanking the various societies to his more eloquent co-worker, Father Dowd.

REVEREND FATHER DOWD’S THANKS.

The Reverend Pastor of St. Patrick’s Church then delivered his reply. Addressing Hon. Mr. Thompson, he said:

HonoRABLE Sir,—I need not say that the presence of the Minis- ter of Justice, bringing assurances of good will from the Federal Government, is, on this occasion, an honor I appreciate in the highest degree. The puny efforts I may have made, from time to time, to protect and to promoté harmony amongst our varied popu- lation, did not, certainly, merit such distinguished approbation. Permit me, however, to say it—this public approval of even my humble efforts in the interests of peace does you honor. It shows that your Government is based upon the principles of peace, and, consequently, upon the principle of impartial justice to all, without which there cannot be possible either peace or harmony amongst the people of this country. Do not believe, honorable sir, that your Government is in the least my debtor. What I did was done in the interests of society, and from a conviction of duty alone. My conduct would not be different under any other Government. I know nothing of party divisions, nor of party struggles. I am, in fact, a blan_ in politics. But I earnestly desire, and even pray, that the interests of our dear young Dominion may be always entrusted to the care and guidance of men of ability and good will. My illness of last year brought me under heavy personal obligations. Your honored chief was constant in his enquiries. You, honorable sir, and others of your colleagues, came to my sick room. ‘To duly appreciate this kindness one must be seriously sick, as I was. This duty of comforting the sick is too sacred for politics to meddle with it. It is a duty of pure friendship, and of thoughtful and disinter- ested charity.

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Accept my heartfelt and lasting thanks for your honored chief, for yourself, and for your honorable colleagues. May God bless you and give you long life to labor for the good of your country.

TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

The honor of this presentation was not expected by me. I could not hope that a body so representative and so important as the Corporation of Montreal would notice our little family feast in so extremely kind and complimentary a manner. My not deserving this distinction does not, I assure you, make me less grateful. One thing gives me real pleasure ; in your indulgent appreciation of the little good I may have done for Montreal in my position, I have a guarantee of the forgiveness by my fellow-citizens of my many short-comings. I will add with sincerity that I value this compli- ment the more because it comes from men | particularly esteem. The late flood, a time of public suffering, has shown them to be, not only cool and calculating men of business, but has proved them to be worthy of their position, men of charity, of tenderness of heart, and of self-sacrifice, Mr, Mayor and gentlemen, I thank you for your friendly wishes. Be assured of my gratitude, and of my affectionate remembrance of your great kindness. Father Toupin cordially adopts these sentiments as his own.

TO THE CONGREGATION,

GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE, REPESENTING ST. PATRICK’S CONGREGATION. GENTLEMEN:

7 Tis not in my power to find suitable words to »xpress my

thanks for the great kindness of your beautiful address, Warm friendship diminishes the faults of a friend, just in proportion as it magnifies the least good he does. This is exactly what your friendship has been doing for me. All my faults have disappeared, and the little good I have done has grown into such proportions that I must look at it twice before I can recognize it as my own. Fifty years ago such kindness would likely have been dangerous to me. ‘The “old boy” would no doubt whisper into my ear something like this:—If you were not somebody, if, in fact, you were not a great man, these friends, so serious and so enlightened, could not say such things of you. Fifty years ago this would have been a real danger; to-day, if I know myself, it is not so, Behind, and not far

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behind, the opinion which your affection and your kindness form of my actions, I see the judgment of another tribunal. Before long, I cannot say how soon, I shall have to stand before that tribunal, and answer to an all-seeing, and all-knowing God, for the thoughts, words and deeds of my fifty years of priesthood. You, my dear friends, will not be there to excuse me. I shall be there all alone with my works, by which I must stand or fall for eternity. Poor silly vanity has not much standing room here. You speak of the institutions of charity and of education that have come into existence during my time in St. Patrick’s. Yes, institutions that now prosper, under the blessing of God, have been founded, and are doing good work in the cause of the poor and of religion. The St. Patrick’s Asylum, our orphan’s home ; the St. Bridget’s refuge, the home of our old and helpless poor, and the night shelter of the homeless stranger; and St. Patrick’s school, the pet nursery of our little girls ;--these stand around St. Patrick’s Church as so many outposts to complete and to guard the work of religion, Yes, my dear friends, you may indeed thank God for selecting you as instruments to do His work, and for giving you a docile spirit to obey the impulse of that charity with which He filled your hearts. It is through you that God is a father to our fatherless little orphans; it is through you His loving providence provides for all the wants of our old, and feeble, and helpless poor. Will not God bless you for thus using a generous portion of the means He gave in doing His own work? I do with all my heart congratulate you, for in thus doing your duty you secure a great reward for yourself, and you leave a bright example to those who will come after you. But you seem to think that [ have had a principal part in the good that has been done. This, my dear friends, isa mistake. Give me a cool shade from which I may look on; and do you take the burden and the heats of the day; then Our positions will be about correct. When there was question of our different enterprises I had of necessity to lead and to suggest ; this was a necessity of my position as your pastor. But is it not a pleasant thing to lead when a multitude of willing hands follow you? When, in fact, you are followed by many willing to take you up upon their own shoulders, and to carry you on faster when you commence to lag? This was my happy position as your pastor. I led you by just one little pace in advance of the multitude that pressed on from behind. Were I to delay or become indolent I would have to bear the shame of your zeal and energy, and besides I would have my

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heels tripped up without mercy. The suggestions I had to make were always received in a good spirit, and when examined and matured by your practical wisdom and experience they were always promptly carried out. You stopped at no sacrifice of time or money to complete the work once begun, and to secure for it a prosperous future. You now commence to enjoy the fruits of your sacrifices. God has evidently blessed the institutions you raised to His honor, and for the relief of His suffering members. They are in full work, owing no debt, and consequently are no longer objects of over-anxious solicitude, But what am I to say of your offering of to-day, intended to diminish the debt of St, Patrick’s Church? When the project of taking hold of this enormous debt ($124,000) was first sprung upon St. Patrick’s congregation, I was staggered and I lost all my courage. I at once asked my Superior to place this unexpected charge in younger hands. I felt that the responsibility of such a debt would soon crush me into the grave. My Superior would not listen to me, so I had to remain in harness, and to do my work the best I could.

It is with a certain amount of confusion that I now make this confession. Long as I lived in your midst, and worked with you, I did not thoroughly know you—there were depths in your charity which I had never sounded. It required my old age, my very feebleness, and the decline of my faculties, to bring out fully the resources of your charity, of your love for your holy religion, and of your goodness of heart. The hundredfold and life everlasting shall certainly be yours, for you make God Himself your debtor. What you give out of your substance to His house God will accept as given to Himself, and He will reward you accordingly. You allude to my services on the occasion of the division of the old Parish of Notre Dame. As this matter can now be approached without any undue feeling of any kind, I will state the simple truth. I gave such advice as I believed to be in harmony with the laws of our holy church. This I did as a simple duty, being your pastor. You followed my advice in the spirit of true Catholics. The Holy Father spoke, all obeyed, and ever since we are happy and content. As you have put on this ground I ask you to do an act of justice, late though it be. You sent two delegates to Rome to explain your case to the immortal and loving Pius IX. Their action had, probably, a determining influence on our question, The delegates undertook the labor and the hardships of that long journey at their own sole expense, and yet they never received a word of public thanks, I

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venture to thank them to-day in your name. One of them is dead, poor D’Arcy McGee, we will pray for his soul. The other is yet spared to us, so I shall name him—the Hon. Thomas Ryan, On an occasion like the present I may be pardoned if I go back a little in the history of our people in Montreal. A few facts on the testimony of an official, if not an eye-witness, may be usefully put on record. When I came to Montreal in 1848, the Irish Catholic population numbered about 12,000 souls, and amongst them there were only a few proprietors, say half a dozen, more orless. Now we may put down the number of our people at 30,000, and the proprie- tors by hundreds. When in 1849 I undertook to build the St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum, I gathered contributions from the Irish Catholics of the whole city, who gave me cheerfully according to their means ; only three gave me $20 each. Now, in order to reduce the debt of St. Patrick’s church, five heads of families living in St. Patrick’s parish contributed $5,000o—$1,o00 each. Let us go back a little further. When in 1848 I arrived in Montreal, I met an Irish Catholic, who, when a boy, attended the first Sunday services of the Irish Catholics, conducted by a priest of the Seminary, the Ven. Father Richards. This man attended mass and religious instruction in the dear old Bonsecours church in 1817, The congregation was small, though it contained all the Irish Catholics residing in the city. A few years earlier it was not known that there were any Irish Catholics in Montreal. Most probably the fact of their existence became known to Father Richards by his being called to attend a dying Irish Catholic. The kind father enquired of the messenger if there were other Irish Catholics in Montreal? On being answered in the affirmative, he said: Send word to them all to meet me in the Bonsecours church, at a time he named. When, at the appointed time, the good father came to the church he found there exactly thirty persons. He conducted them into the sacristy, where he gave them advice and instruction; and sent them home with a promise that they should have, from that time forward, a regular religious service. Commencing with a familiar instruction given in a sacristy to thirty individuals, the religious service of the Irish Catholics has never since been interrupted, and to-day is performed in five churches of the city, with solemnity, to 30,000 individuals, The little grain of mustard seed is grown into a large tree. The thirty unknown exiles in a strange land have multiplied into a population of 30,000 citizens, having their own place in society ;

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provided with churches for their religious wants, with happy homes for their children, and with prosperous institutions for the care of their orphans and helpless poor. Do you not discover in all this the watchful Providence and the loving care of God in our regard ? They who have gone before us were not ungrateful; their good conduct proved their gratitude—so shall ours.

The solemnity of this occasion reminds me of a serious duty, I have to ask your pardon for all my shortcomings during the thirty- nine years I have labored amongst you. Your great charity would fain cover them all; but, my friends, it is this great charity of yours which makes me see them more distinctly and feel them more keenly, Did you love me less, I would, perhaps, grieve less for the faults IT have committed against you. I can say it with truth, that I always sought your good, but how often, whilst administering fraternal correction, as duty required, was the tender sweetness of charity wanting ; so that, in trying to remove perhaps a lesser evil, i caused a greater one by inflicting pain and suffering, So many proofs of your kind confidence satisfy me that you will forgive me ; but even that will not satisfy me fully—ask of God to forgive me also.

What I have said is addressed alike to all the St. Patrick’s congre- gation, yet I must admit that certain portions of it, certain societies, having made special efforts for the success of the feast, deserve separate mention. We will first take up the St. Patrick’s Society. Its privileges place it first amongst our societies ; its duty imposes the necessity of giving good example when the interests of St. Patrick’s are in question. I beg to thank the St. Patrick’s Society for its extremely kind mention of the small services I may have rendered the congregation, and I congratulate it on its generous assumption of the responsibilities of its honorable position, We will take the St. Patrick’s Temperance Society next. They will please accept my hearty thanks for their over-kind and heartful address, richly supplemented by their generous offerings. I owed them much already for the services they are always willing to render. My debt is now largely increased ; so that I believe I shall die without paying them. May God bless them, and make them always examples of virtue inSt Patrick’s parish. The ladies of St. Patrick’s congregation put into the treasury of the church a large amount. ‘To the sums already given by their husbands, these good ladies add the money intended for their own use, and this they again increase by their labor and by

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every artifice of charity. Their good works are done for God in secret: I shall not profane them by holding them up to human praise. The Confraternity of the Living Rosary join cheerfully in the united effort to reduce the debt of the church. Already remarked for their punctual attendance at their regular devotions, the members of the Living Rosary become to-day examples of generous devotedness by their abundant offering to the house of God. May God bless and reward them. The children of Mary are never behind in any good work, ‘They are always generous, always open-handed and kind. To give back freely to God a portion of what they received from Him is to them really a work of love. They are convinced that it is for their advantage to keep God always their debtor. The zealous Director of the Catechism is evidently bringing up his dear children in the way they should go. Their first lesson in charity has been nobly given to-day in favor of dear St, Patrick's. To help the common fund, candies, fruits, tops and balls are allforgotten. The cents are banked, and made to produce large interests by means of concerts and other industries, and all to reduce the debt of St. Pa trick’s. ‘To-day the children of the Catechism may well be proposed as an example to be imitated by persons who learned their Catechism long, long ago, but who have perhaps forgotten a little of its prac- tical teachings. God will bless those dear children, and will bless their parents for their sake. How am I to thank the St. Patrick’s Choir for the rich aid they have procured for St. Patrick’s Church, This aid is indeed valuable, because of its amount, and because of the labor, study, and talent expended to procure it. Others have given their money, the St. Patrick’s Choir have given their money also ; but with it they gave the sweat of their brow, and the pro- longed anxiety of their minds. God will bless them. If they sought a merely temporal reward they would find it in their great success, and the increased reputation of the choir. The Catholic Young Men’s Society, too, have given proof of their good will. These ex- cellent young men, in addition to the example they give of the prac- tice of other Christian virtues, and of a laudable desire for their intellectual culture and improvement, give to-day a beautiful example of charity to the young men of their age. May God help them to persevere in the paths of virtue.

The Leo Club must not be forgotten. They, too, have put their hand to the good work. I love the Leo boys—full of fun, of noise,

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and of piety. They say that the Leo boys are wild ; that may be so, but in the meantime I am sure they are quite in earnest about their duty. They will play tricks when they can, but they will not neglect their prayers nor their monthly confession. Full of heart, full of daring courage, they are also full of Irish faith. Allin all they are the very materials I would select for the future of St. Patrick's parish. Besides my own immediate flock, other dear friends have shown their goodness. In my poverty I can make but one return, and I make it to all, I earnestly beg of God to bless them and their families, and to reward them according to the richness of His own bounty, ‘There is scarcely a yard in the city I did not visit, at one time or another, in the exercise of my ministry. My visits are no longer the same, but my heart is not changed ; it has a place for all the people as before. Hence I shall not name St. Ann’s nor St. Mary’s, nor St. Gabriel's, nor the other more recent divisions. I shall name none in particular; I have but one heart, and they are all there. In this happy concert of peace I would wish to avoid even the appearance of making a distinction. I have to do so, how- ever, as a matter of justice. It is not now for the first time that Pro- testants have proved to me that there is a common ground of holy charity, upon which all Christians can meet and shake hands, and be kind to one another. During many long years when we were poor, and our little orphans were numerous, more than half the proceeds of the yearly bazaar for their support came from the open- handed charity of our Protestant friends. Need I allude to the warm- hearted sympathy that was received from the same quarter on the occasion of our pilgrimage to Rome? Can I forget these things? And remembering them, can I allow this solemn occasion to pass without recording a grateful mention of them, and without expressing my most cordial and sincere thanks. You remind me that I have been a peacemaker, I admit it; throughout my life I have done my best to inculcate the ways of peace. For this I deserve no thanks. As a priest I am of necessity a minister of peace. Besides, the experience of my long life has shown me that the fruits of peace are sweet and full of happiness, whilst the fruits of discord and con- tention are bitter and conduct to misery and to death. I desire to see peace reign in every place, but I desire specially to see it reign supreme in our dear old City of Montreal, where I have labored the greater part of my life, and where, ere long, I hope to repose in peace. Once more I thank you all in the fulness of my heart. May God

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bless you for your charitable indulgence to His poor old priest and may He reward you a hundred-fold for your great goodness and liberality. I can say no more.

The proceedings in the church then ended.

Solemn benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was given in the evening.

Concert oF St. Patrick’s CuHoir.

The Queen’s Hall was packed to its utmost capacity, with an audience composed of all classes and creeds, the occasion being the inauguration of the series of entertainments wh‘ch are to mark the golden weddings of Rev. Fathers Dowd and Toupin. the esteemed priests of St. Patrick’s Church. Shortly before 8 o’clock the two venerable clergymen, accompanied by the rey. gentlemen of St. Patrick’s, entered the Hall and took their seats in the private box, which had been specially reserved for them. The programme, which had been specially prepared, opened with the Grand March from “ ‘Tannhauser,” by the orchestra, which was well received. The members of St. Patrick’s choir followed with a chorus from the ‘Lily of Killarney,” which displayed careful preparation ; in fact, all the numbers in which they participated showed the different parts to be very evenly balanced, and reflected great credit upon the choir master, under whose direction the entertainment had been organized. ‘Ihe chorus, ‘‘ Birds of Spring,” was particularly pleas- ing, as in addition to the full choir and orchestra, some twenty-five young lady amateurs took part, giving to this number an effect which cannot be reached by male voices alone. Mrs. Page- ‘hrower’s solo, ‘‘ Deh Vieni Non Tardar,” was rendered in that Jady’s well known artistic style. Miss Alice Crompton, in her selec- tion from “Il Barbieri,” showed to excellent advantage her pos- session of a cultured voice, and a degree of taste and expression, which was the subject of universal admiration. In response to a rapturous recall, Miss Crompton gave ‘‘Killarney” in a manner which fairly carried away the house. Miss Alice Seymour, being prevented by her severe cold from giving her number, Mr. Robert Lloyd kindly filled her place, and sang ‘The Harp that Once Through Tara’s Halls” with such effect, that he, too, had to respond to an encore. Miss Jessie Grant’s piano solo, ‘ Belisario,” elicited warm applause. The Toreador song from ‘‘Carmen” was

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excellently rendered by Mr. John P. Hamill, who possesses a fine baritone voice. Mr. Ralph Bolton's rendition of ‘ Kathleen Mavourneen ” was one of the gems of the evening, as was also his “ Believe Me, if all those Endearing Young Charms,” with which he responded to a recall. A tenor solo from Mr. J. Heenan from “Aida,” and a quartette, “‘The Youth’s Warning,” by Mrs. Page-Thrower, Miss Alice Crompton, Mr. Ralph Bolton and Mr. E. F. Casey ; a march from“ Lohengrin” by the orchestra, and the chorus ‘‘God Save Our Native Land” by the choir, completed the musical portion of the programme, which was under the skillful baton of Prof. J. A. Fowler, organist of St. Patrick’s choi, who is entitled to great credit for the excellent manner in which the affxir was carried out,

The programme was diversified by an address trom Mr. W. J. O’Hara, in the course of which he said:—The choir of St. Patrick’s have conferred upon me the privilege of announcing on their behalf the object of this musical festival, of conveying to you their cordial welcome, and expressing their gratification at the generous way in which you have responded to their invitation to initiate this evening the festivities in honor of the golden jubilee of our venerable and beloved pastor, Father Dowd, and his devoted and estimable and, shall I say, indefatigable coadjutor, Father Toupin. It is not for us, ladies and gentlemen, to anticipate the words of cordial congra- tulation, of grateful acknowledgment, of eloquent, affectionate and truthful encomium, which will, doubtless, emanate from the overflowing hearts of a numerous people on next Thursday afternoon ; nor need I refer here to the tangible form in which their respect, gratitude and affection will shape themselves, beyond wishing that the form may be of the largest and most plethoric size, and withal graceful, symmetrical, and harmonius. It is a great pleasure for the choir to find themselves in such complete accord, not only with the congregation of St. Patrick’s, but with the citizens of Montreal generally, and the whole Canadian people, who have shown their delight to honor these great and good men who have so well served the noble and holy cause of religion, charity and peace. Much as I would wish to do so, I must refrain from expatiating upon the visible and enduring monuments of Father Dowd’s long and eminent services for the love of God and his people—his priestly devotion ; his care of the poor; the provisions he made for the orphan, the aged and infirm, the hungry and homeless, the

Aen CE ST

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destitute and houseless by night; his efforts to provide proper education for girls ; his constant anxiety for the comfort and welfare of others, and his neglect of himself ; the protecting arm he always had uplifted to wisely and firmly guard his flock from every evil ; his sacrifices of episcopal dignities out of humbleness of spirit, and a desire to remain with the people of his first spiritual love, among whom he saw his mission—his provident and energetic efforts to maintain the institutions he founded; the pilgrimage he made to Rome and Lourdes to promote the spiritual zeal of his people ; the danger encountered, the anxiety felt by all, the fervent prayers for his safety, and the general joy at his return—all these things are so well worthy of dutiful recognition and remembrance that they will, doubtless, enlist the silver tongue of eloquence on Thursday next. The poem in honor of Father Dowd, written for the occasion by Miss Anna T. Sadlier the gifted daughter of his life-long friend, the distinguished Irish-Canadian lady literateur, Mrs. Sadlier, will now be recited by Mr. P. McCaffrey.

Mr. McCaffrey then ascended the nostrum, and in a style which gave evidence of talent and cultivation, recited the following beau- tiful poem :—

FIFTY YEARS IN THE MASTER’S VINEYARD.

How béautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and that preacheth peace ; of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation —

Isaias lii., 7. ’T was morning and ’twas May, the air was sweet

With bloom, upon an Irish shore, its green Proclaimed the Resurrection, fragrant buds Spake of a beauty that no eye hath seen.

When at the altar step, a youthful form,

With upraised face, with heart and soul a-glow, Craving the sacerdotal grace, the while

He heard the whisper falling soft and low :— Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace.

A priest forever! and the youth goes forth,

Goes to the vineyards as the morning breaks

Over the hills—to © lift the watchman’s voice, ” ‘To preach salvation, ” manhood’s prime o’ertakes Him toiling in the field, with words of peace, Planting the works of mercy, reaping souls, Bearing true witnesses in the name of Christ ; While loud and long the echo upwards rolls :— Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace,

7

Time marks its way in silver on his head,

His step grows feebler and his voice less strong.— And sounding near him is the mighty song,

A people’s honor and a city’s praise ;

His footsteps still unswervingly pursue

The path of faithful ministry, he hears—

For, singing it pass on the fruitful years :—

The hymn that charmed the youth of levy ago,— Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace.

And monuments arise upon his way,—

A temple hung with memories more rare

Than Eastern marbles, or than gems of price,— Whence aged men have passed away with prayer,— Where youthful ones have grown to mellow age Where boys have swiftly reached to men’s estate, — Each generation sounding as it goes

The anthem of his praise, O blessed fate !

Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace.

Those homes wherein the old go down life’s slope

In prayerful calm,—wherein the orphans bless

This more than father’s care and tenderness, —

Where homeless ones find shelter in the night.

These words cry out ’mid countless silent deeds,

’Mid schools, ’mid charities, his praise who stood

With gaze upon the everlasting hills, —

Still swells the song * for him that shows forth good :” Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace,

The church’s humble son, most fearlessly

He cries while pointing out the shiny way,

“ The light which Patrick lit at Peter’s torch Alone can guide us to eternal day.”

He loves the grand traditions of his race,

For Faith has lent them its divinest grace ; But—patriot of Heaven-—he hears above

All earthly sounds, the canticle of love— Blessed upon the mountains are the feet

Of him that brings good tidings, preaches peace.

* * * * * * * .

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"Tis May again —the voice of spring is heard

Far from green Erin’s shore in Ville Marie,—

The fifty years’ rich crown of honor won,

The visions of the youth surpassed, O see !

His jubilee—true priest of God !

‘yhe people press—take up the golden hymn,

Which, wher new years have won him added crowns, Shall greet him from the choirs of cherubim ;—

‘* Blessed upon the mouaiajas are the feet

Ofhim that brings good ticings, preaches peace!”

CELEBRATION AT ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL.

“NE of the most interesting features in connection with the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Revs. Fathers Dowd and Toupin, and one which will long be remembered by those who had the pleasure of being present, was the entertainment given by the pupils of St. Patrick’s School, on Wednesday afternoon, the 18th of May. The hall was tastefully decorated with evergreens and banners bearing appropriate mottoes. As Fathers Dowd and Toupin entered, accompanied by their Lordships Bishop Walsh, of London ; Bishop Dowling, of Peterboro ; Rev. Fathers Conway (of Peterboro), Duggan, Harty (Hartford, Conn.), Quinlivan, James Callaghan, Bro. Arnold, and a number of lay gentlemen, ten of the young ladies executed an instrumental duet, entitled ‘Golden Strains,” on five grand pianos, with a violin accompaniment, the latter being furnished by Rev. Martin Callaghan. As the !ast notes died away, one of the junior pupils stepped forward and presented a floral tribute to the distinguished prelates, who had honored their festival with their presence. Then followed the “ Jubilee Commemo- rative Poem” (composed for the occasion by Mr. W. O. Farmer), and which was read in an admirable manner by Miss Frances Donahoe. The Angel Visitants, Patricia, Josepha, and Maria, then claimed the attention of the audience, and quite charmed their hearers. ‘Ine fairies with their Gifts and Song here made their appearance, having danced across the seas to do honor to the Golden Wedd'ng of their beloved Father; they brought with them a bouquet of wild flowers gathered from around his childhood’s home, and also 2 blackthorn from the banks of the river Dee, which they presented, and were duly appreciated by Father Dowd. The next on the programme was “Le Tresor de nos Coeurs,”” by fifteen of the smaller children. This was followed by 2 "reach address read by

ne a ——————

pesnuesvessesnetspeleasssssss rast snus enero emapenomnsen

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Miss Mary Monette, and a presentation to Father Toupin. The “‘Good old Days,” recalled by former pupils, was heartily acknow- ledged by the Rev. Fathers. They were represented by the Misses R. and M. McNally, Lillian Morgan and Katie McCall. The following address was read by Miss Rose McNally, in a style which betrayed no ordinary degree of elocutionary skill:

THE PINCH OF SNUFF IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

The programme is almost over of music, of song, of play ;

The notes of solo and chorus have floated fore’er away,

We've listened, but all in vain for a sound or a word of praise

Awarded to our dear school-time. Oh, they were the good old days! So, feeling that we’ve been slighted, a gentle protest I bring,

And crave but a moment’s hearing, while of those old days I sing. ’Twas then that we worked and studied, at pluy, too, we had our share ; A smile frora our loving pastor would banish our every care.

These cares more heavy at times, if, scanty the sheaf we'd reap

‘« Philosopher” we were called, and the word had a meaning deep.

So deep that we never dared to boast of our title new,

That title’s extinct .\'m told) or now held by a very few.

But oh, there were joyful days that we know we shall long recall ;

Days marked by a special record for great as well as for small,

Our marks had been all perfection, therefore we were good enough

To get from our dear Father no less than a pinch of snuff.

Oh precious that pinch to us! A diploma of merit rare

Could hardly be higher prized, brought home with more tender care, ’Twas tied in the kerchief’s corner, or placed between leaves of book, While other less fortunate ones upon it would sadly look.

So, for sake cf the good old days, we have brought you a pinch of snuff. Of the joy it so oft has caused us, we never could say enough.

And we are sure no medical friend your taking it will prevent,

’Tis your old time ‘* witches” and *¢ fairies” that it to you have sent. And with it we have brought a gift, from the friends of those good old days, Of the days we recall so often with sweetest of unsung lays—

As you've earned the right to rest there’s a talisman in this chair,

Just as soon as you're seated in it will vanish all anxious care,

The pinch of snuff was contained in a very pretty floral box, and assumed the form of $100 in gold. Miss May Curran read to Father Dowd an address which concluded with a wish that all present would be privileged to celebrate his Diamond Wedding. Every countenance reflected the sincerity and earnestness of the wish. The address as accompanied with ihe presentation of a magnificent gold Chalice, entwined in fl_wers, and containing $300 from the present pupils of the school.

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60° RONAN IE ILO LOGO

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In replying, the Rev. Father said that he had often spoken to them on different things; sometimes on their studies, on their sewing, knitting, and domestic economy in general, as he was quite experienced in those various branches, but to-day he had to treat a subject which he thought was a very indifferent one, hitaself. When he was a young priest, just beginning his ministry, fifty years was a long time to look forward to, but now that it had passed it seemed to have slipped through his fingers, and he had done very little during that time. He asked the children to pray for him that his future years might be spent in doing good among the people with whom he had spent such a long period of his life. He then thanked them for the generosity they had shown in trying to aid him to pay off the debt of the church. He could prove his gratitude only in praying for them that they would always continue true to their faith, and worthy children of their holy patron. In conclusion Father Dowd bestowed his blessing upon all present, which example was followed by their Lordships.

Then followed the reading of the following jubilee commemora- tive poem by Miss Frances Donohue.

This poem was written by W. O. Farmer, and speaks for itself.

JUBILEE COniMEMORATIVE POEM,

Since time began hath mankind, right or wrong, Been prouc to lionize in tale and song,

The transient triumphs of ambitious men,—

To laud your heroes of the sword or pen—

Your Nelsons aad Napoleons, men whose names, Great tho’ they be, proclaim but wordly aims! Your men of state of Bismark’s subtle school— By fair or foul means, men’who’d ruin or rule,

But if such men as these must challenge praise, In blood and pillage, men who pass their days,— How much more worthy they of our applause, Who seek to be the heroes of a cause,

Such as on Calvary’s Mount forever broke Pagendom’s pow'r and Satan’s sinful joke !

A cause that hath regenerated man,

His faults redeemed and all but crushed the ban That Adam’s ‘* fall”? bequeath’d to all his race, When forth from Eden driven in disgrace !

ae PRT

5 ee ee ee eee ED ee

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ah

(6)

Such, cherish’d Father, is the cause that thou Hast from thy earliest years espoused till now ! A vet’ran in its sacred service grown—

A champion, thou ’midst all its champions known, For halfa century hast thou baffled sin, Confounded vice and virtue taught to win— From pitfalls leading manhood’s steps aside. At once our earthly and our ghostly guide ! “Peace and good will” thy glory ’tis to preach To all thy flock—to close up every breach That in their ranks from time to time is made By scandal’s evil tongue or passion’s aid,

Nor are the “ little ones” o’erlooked by thee, As all assembled here to-day may see,

Thou hast provided means the best to suit

‘To teach the young ideas how to shoot,”— Abodes of learning cared by teachers blest With all those parts that best adorn the breast !

But, though a Christian in the strictest sense— Tho’ sturdiest in the old, old Faith’s defense, Ne’er hast thou, surely, been a bigot deemed, All sects esteeming, by all sects esteemed ! Whilst in thy breast hath glowed a patriot’s zeal, Subdued but strong for mother country’s weal! And why, pray, doubt but that stillin thy day Our aspirations for old Ireland may Accomplished be, and Home Rule’s flag be seen Floating in triumph over College Green !

Thrice welcome, then, thrice welcome cry we all This happy day—one long, long to recall !

This gala day, our first, best golden feast— Thy fiftieth anniversary a priest !

Long may thy days be spared—thy years prolonged, To right the Church’s wrongs, so often wronged ! By precept and example still to show

The duty that to God and man we owe!

And thou, true scion! ofa gallant land—

Of la belle France! whose brave sons, hand in hand,

With Erin’s oft have marched in days gone bye. At duty’s call prepared to do or die—

‘¢ God and the right ” united still to shield Where dangers threatened most by flood or field ; We greet thee too! to thee, too, we extend

Our loving sympathy, thou weli-tried friend !

i SRT TRA Sb ett ei Saas Ba

set as i Sl il cc ‘ “3 J sista a —_ x : 4 -

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With our lov’d Pastor hast thou toiled for years Partaker of his joys and hopes and fears !

In thee faith and good works at once combine To make the perfect Christian and divine, Whilst in the veins of none blood warmer runs Than that which courses thine for Erin’s sons ! God-speed thee, then ! and may thy future be One long uninterrupted Jubilee !

’

The remainder of the programme was as follows :

Cantata, “We strike the Harp with Glee.” Polylogue, “f The Golden Day.”

Part rst. Introductory.

Part 2nd. “ Angel Visitants,” The Fairies with their Gifts and Song. Instrumental solo, “ Whispers from Erin.” Violin and Pianos, ‘“ The Golden Day.”

Part 3rd. “A Rosary of Years” Vocal Quintette, “A Prayer for Our Father.” Polylogue, “ Le Tresor de nos Coeurs. ”

Instrumental music, “ Les Noces d’Or.” The “ Good Old Days,” recalled by former pupils. Grand chorus, “ And doth not a meet- ing like this make amends.”

Final, instrumental music.

BIOGRAPHY. THE REV. PATRICK DOWD, PASTOR OF ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH OF MONTREAI

ATHER DOWD, as his parishioners love to call him, was born

in the County Louth, Ireland, in 1813, of respectable parents in good circumstances; at an early age he evinced an ardent desire to devote himself to the church, he made his classical course at Newry. He went to Paris in 1832, when he made his theological studies in the Irish College in that city ; his course was a brilliant one. In 1837, May 2oth, he was ordained Priest by Monseigneur Quelen, Archbishop of Paris; after his ordination, he returned to Ireland where he lived about ten years, six with the Archbishop of Armagh, and was President of the Diocesan Seminary of that town for one year,

In 1847 he resolved on joining the order of St. Sulpice, ani went to Paris for that purpose, after spending a year in their novéciate he was admitted a member of that illustrious body. He came to

ee ee a ee

CORN RENEE et SE SIAN

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Montreal, 21st June, 1848, and officiated at St. Patrick’s Church, when Father Connolly left St. Patrick’s, in 1860, over 27 years ago, Father Dowd was appointed, by the Superior, Director of the congregation, a position which he has retained ever since.

Shortly after his arrival he saw the necessity of an asylum for Irish orphans here, and early in 1849 established one, and the same year commenced the building of the present St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum, which was opened in November, 1851.

In 1865 he established St. Bridget’s Home for the old and infirm, and the Night Refuge for the destitute. In 1866—- he erected the present commodious building on Lagauchetiére street for the Home and Refuge.

One can hardly estimate the vastamount of suffering relieved, and of the good done by these charities.

In 1872 heestablishee St. Patrick’s School on St. Alexander street, opposite the Church,—the building is large and commodious, this school is for girls, and is conducted by the Rev. Ladies of the Congregation of Notre Dame, whose reputation as educators is known all over America. Over 500 pupils attend this school. This splendid institution is another monument of Father Dowd’s untiring zeal to forward the interests of his people.

Aided by the Ladies of St. Patrick’s Congregation, he organized the Annual Bazars for the support of the Orphan Asylum,—these Bazars have been from the first remarkably successful; the first was held in October, 1849; they have been continued yearly till this date,—the last held was the 35th Consecutive Bazaar, and we have pleasure in recording that Protestants as well as Catholics assisted in this good work.

Besides the above Father Dowd has done much to ornament and beautify the interior of St. Patrick’s Church, which next to Notre Dame is the most richly decorated in this city.

In 1866, when the dismemberment of the ancient parish of Notre Dame was proclaimed Father Dowd’s quick and vigilant eye saw that the congregations of St. Patrick’s, and the other Irish churches of this city, would suffer seriously thereby, and he promptly peti- tioned the Holy See that the Irish Catholics of Montreal should be left in the undisturbed possession of their old privileges; his petition was received and substantially granted, and their position confirmed and defined to their satisfaction.

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In 1877 he organized the great Irish Catholic Pilgrimage to Lourdes and Rome. We can all recollect the prayerful anxiety that was felt, when the vessel carrying the pilgrims and their beloved ; Pastor was not heard of for several agonizing weeks. Prayers were { offered in all the churches without distinction of creed, a pleasing i proof that we Montrealers are not so bigoted or intolerant as some i would make us appear. )

i When God in great mercy was pleased to restore them to their homes and friends, Father Dowd met with an enthusiastic reception, and was presented with a life-size portrait of himself for the Presby-

i tery of St. Patrick’s, where it now hangs. iia Father Dowd has, on several occasions, been offered the highest i i dignities in the church, but has always declined them,—twice at

least having refused the mitre, namely :—the Sees of Toronto, and

Kingston, Dec. 17, 1852, was named Bishop of Canée in partibus,

and Coadjutor of Toronto—declined, preferring to remain with his

dear St. Patrick’s congregation, to whom he has devoted his life,

feeling, as he has always felt, that he could do more good here than a he couid do elsewhere even though he wore the mitre.

We shall make a few concluding remarks on the leading charac- teristics for which the Revd. Father Dowd is so noted.

His large and comprehensive views have preserved him from falling into defects common to petty minds. His great intellect never deals with minor difficulties, but grapples only with questions of major importance. He has exhibited in his long career great oh talent and enterprise in the conception and execution of the various i good works referred to above, which stamps his as a master mind. Joined to remarkably deep and pro‘ound thoughts is his powerfully persuasive eloquence, whose golden chords have been tuned with exquisite harmony to the highest subjects of religion, not only to St. Patrick’s pulpit, butalso in Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa and other places in this country and in Ireland, where his brilliant and impres- sive sermons were greatly admired. His depth of argumentation and : his sublimity of expression give way at moments to the charm of : gay and innocent conversation. It is chiefly in the exercise of hospitality that the largeness of his Irish heart becomes apparent, His residence is the home of the Irish Ecclesiastic, whether priest or prelate, and while sharing his abundant but frugal repast, his welcome guests have frequently remarked that, “the best sauces served at table were his fatherly smiles and his pleasing anecdotes.” The

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members of the Irish Canadian pilgrimage referred to bear witness to the intense pleasure which his company affords. Most pleasing and fascinating in social circles, he is firm and unbending in the discharge of his pastoral duties, without any exception of persons, and without consulting his own personal interests. He directs his flock with a safe hand, warns his parishioners of any impending dangers, he calms the fears of the agitated mind, consoles the sick, assists the poor, and encourages and comforts pious and fervent souls. Endeared to all, respected and revered by all, his counsels are sought after by large numbers of his fellow citizens, for his knowledge extends through every department of Divine and human science. We may say in truth that the spirit of piety and zeal prevail wherever his advice is taken and practised.

It is impossible in this brief sketch to do full justice to the Rev. Pastor of St. Patrick's ; indeed, to write his memoir in full, since he came to this city in 1848, would be to write the history of the Irish Catholics of Montreal for the last 36 years, so intimately has he been associated with every good and charitable work. We are glad to say, though Father Dowd has reached his 74th year, he still preserves all the features of intellectual youth and enjoys excellent health. We conclude by wishing him continued health and strength to guide and direct the large flock confided to his care.

REV. FATHER JOSEPH TOUPIN,

Rey. Father Joseph Toupin belongs to one of the oldest and most respected French-Canadian families in the province, and was born in Montreal on the 23rd of November, 1814. He was baptized by the Rev. Abbé Bédard in the old Notre Dame Church, aud pursued his classical studies at the old Montreal College then on College street. Among his professors were the Abbé Séry, whose memory Father Toupin still cherishes, the Rev. Father Larkin, and the Abbé Roque. The Superiors of the Seminary, who directed him for over fifty years, were the Rev. Abbés Quiblier, Billaudelle, Granet, Bayle, and the present Superior, Abbé Colin.

After a brilliant college course, Father Toupin entered religious orders, receiving the Tonsure and minor orders in 1834 from the hands of Mgr. Lartigue, the first Bishop of Montreal, In 1837 he was successively made sub-deacon and deacon, and finally on the 23rd December, 1837, he was ordained priest. He lost his father in 1834, in the second cholera, and his mother lived until 1857, with

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another son, the Rev. Alfred Toupin, who was until the time of his death, in 1877, curé of Riviére des Prairies. His only sister married Mr, Lachapelle, and is the mother of the present Doctor Lachapelle.

‘ather Toupin commenced his ministerial career as professor in the Montreal College, where he taught classics for fifteen years with such success, that up to the present day his name is mentioned in the institution as that of a model professor. Subsequently he was appointed missionary to the Indians at Oka, and after serving there for several years he was called to the city, and has ever since been intimately connected with the several Irish Catholic congregations. He was for many years curé of old St. Bridget’s Church, and also of St. Ann’s, and was later on attached to St. Patrick’s Church, a position which he still holds.

3rotherly love caused Father Toupin temporarily to abandon his

hiv work among the Irish people when he went to perform the minis- We terial duties for his infirm brother, then parish priest at Riviére des hak Prairies. Immediately after his brother’s death, Father Toupin | returned to this city with renewed zeal and ardor. l It would be difficult to find a more worthy clergyman than the subject of this briefsketch. Humble and unassuming, Father ‘Toupin has passed his whole life in earnest ministerial work, a slave to duty, and absolutely devoted to those entrusted to his care, Although actively engaged in parochial work, there is hardly a Catholic institution in the whole city which has not been the object of his solicitude, and which he has not helped in some manner. He has been spirituil adviser to several religious communities, who all profess the greatest respect and devotion to him. In his own order, Father Toupin is considered as a model of regularity, and the members of his congregation never found his zeal at fault, being always ready for sick calls, either by day or by night. All these qualities are enhanced by the genial character of this honorable priest, who is always seen with a kind smile on his face, however arduous his duties and great his fatigue may be. It is no wonder that the Irish Catholics of Montreal have a kind of adoration for this devoted priest, who has devoted his life to their welfare,

The following amongst other tributes to the Rev. Fathers Dowd and Toupin appeared in the press of the city.

ae a I TE Ti el

A PR PERE EIT ERTIES

j i i

mor

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A DousLe Prigstly JUBILEE.

There are certain events in the life of every community which seem instinctively to enlist the sympathies of all classes, irrespective of race or creed. Of these is the public tribute about to be paid to the Rev. Messrs. Dowd and Toupin, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of their ordination to the priesthood. The Church of St. Patrick is the focal point around which the interest centres, but that interest impinges from a wide circumference including every province of the Dominion, and abroad range of the United States, wherever Montreal Irish boys have gone forth to face the world, but still remembering the old shrine where they first learned the lessons of life.

The gentlemen of the Seminary, not being members of a religious order, according to strict ecclesiastical nomenclature, but of a congregation, have adopted the title of abbé The Irish people, however, have not taken to this style, preferring the appellation of “ Father,” universally employed in the mother land. As applied to Father Dowd, the term is particularly distinctive, meaning exactly what it says. For fifty years he has been a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, and for forty years, during which he has resided consecutively in Montreal, his whole talent, time, energy and health have been devoted to one single object—the good of the people to whom his ministrations were devoted. The details of the career of Father Dowd need not be given here—as they will be rehearsed separately during the celebration—and it will be sufficient to point out the main features of the Jubilee. On Tuesday next, the 17th May, a musical festival will be held in the Queen’s hall, under the able direction of St. Patrick’s choir, with the distinguished co-operation of such artists as Mrs. Page-'Thrower, Mrs. Seymour, Miss Crompton and others. It is intended to make this a charac- teristic entertainment, and it is to be expected that literature, in the shape of oratory and verse, will have a due part therein.

On Thursday, the rgth inst., the religious ceremony will take place in St, Patrick’s church, when appropriate addresses will be read to the two venerable pastors, and a substantial testimonial will be presented to Father Dowd. In this practical age, it is usual to make offerings of this kind take the shape of valuables, and such will be the case on the present occasion. What will render it particularly handsome and significant is the fact that many of the contributors are of a

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different origin and belief. This circumstance deserves to be specially signalized, and is sure to attract attention abroad. Ina community like ours, composed of such diverse elements, the spirit of fellowship, good-will and forbearance is a necessity of existence. As we must live together and have common interests, it is necessary that we should know each other, appreciate each other, and when occasion offers, help each other. Circumstances have of late tended to lessen this temper of mutual conciliation,but Father Dowd’s golden jubilee will have the result of uniting us once more. Many Protestant gentlemen have declared their intention of assuming a part in the celebration for this very object, taking advantage of their high personal esteem and respect for the worthy recipient, who himself has been a leading worker to that end during his long pastorate. Father Dowd has always belonged to the good old school of Christian charity, the exponent of honest first principles, and the advocate of every movement looking to the advancement of all classes,

This unanimity of sentiment is the more pleasing that there have been two precedents for the same within the past few years. When Canon Carmichael left us for Hamilton—happily to return as we all hoped and predicted—the Irish Catholics of Montreal came forward spontaneously with a presentation, which the Reverend Dean, Irish-like, at once converted into a cabinet and bookcase to store his Irish library and curiosities, A little later, on the departure of the Rev. Gavin Lang, for Scotland, a similar scene was enacted, and almost the last visit of the Reverend pastor was to Father Dowd.

Another aspect of the Jubilee will be the participation of the French-Canadian people. Not only does Father Dowd belong to a congregation which is of French origin and of which he is a highly honored member, being on the board of the council of the Seminary, but his faithful coadjutor, Rev. M. Toupin, will hold his anniversary at the same time, and share in all the tributes paid to his life-long colleague and friend. Father Toupin belongs to an old and distin- guished French family of the Island of Montreal, and having at an early period been placed in contact with the congregation of St. Patrick’s, he linked his fortunes with theirs when seemingly better advantages were open to him among his own people. His has been, through all these years, the mission of the modest, unassuming vicar or assistant; but those who know him best can bear testimony to the devotion which has attended all his labors, through the

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various functions of priestly life, from the baptismal font of the infant, the first communion of the adolescent, the marriage benedic- tion of the young couple, the attendance—day and night—by the sick bed, and the final prayer and requiem at the open grave on Cote des Neiges. It is right of itself, and well for ourselves, that we men of the world should turn aside a moment and show that we can appreciate such qualities and such services. ‘The true clergy- man is the highest ideal of manhood, the best guide of the family, and the main prop of that social fabric which must be founded on religious principles. By honoring such men we honor ourselves, and teach our children the ennobling virtue of gratitude. JoHN LESPERANCE.

Montreal Gazette.

A GLOWING TRIBUTE TO FATHER DOWD FROM REV. GAVIN

LANG,

We have great pleasure in publishing the following warm and very complimentary letter of the Rev. Gavin Lang, late minister of St. Andrew’s Church of this city, to his friend Mr. Edward Murphy, congratulating the venerable pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Father Dowd, on the occasion of his golden jubilee, which will take place

on the roth inst. INVERNESS, Scotland, 29th April, 1887.

Dear Mr, Murpuy,—I see, in a recently received Montreal paper, the announcement of an impending celebration in honor and commemoration of the jubilee of the ministry of my old friend and neighbor, Father Dowd, of St. Patrick’s Church. In that an- nouncement, it is suggested that there should be an expression of sympathy on the occasion from brother clergymen of all creeds and persuasions. I earnestly hope that this suggestion will be acted upon by Protestants as well as Roman Catholics. Though no longer resident or laboring in Montreal, I feel a strong desire to offer my tribute of respect and best wishes for continued usefulness to the venerable priest, and I can think of no better way of conveying such, in order that they may be added to those of like character, than by asking you, one of his most prominent coadjutors, to do so in the manner and at the time you may think best.

Even the slightest reference to the name of good Father Dowd brings up many and various memories. I had occasion, more than once, to ask his advice upon public questions, and was always received with the most pleasing courtesy. I well remember the

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time of intense anxiety during the, as was supposed, perilous and disastrous voyage he made, now many years ago, en routeto Rome, and the relief we all—all Montreal and Canada—felt when the news came that the travellers in the ship had been spoken at sea and no worse fate had befallen them than the breaking of a shaft. Very thoughtfully Ze Star sent me a communication of the welcome tidings to St. Andrew’s Church during the service, and, it being handed up to the pulpit, we joined in giving thanks, then and there, to Almighty God for his merciful preservation of our fellow citizens, Nor do I forget the season of suspense caused by an illness through which Father Dowd passed, and I have the most grateful recollection of the kind things he said when I left Montreal and returned to Scotland. Shortly before that, I had been anxious to hear one of the Redemptorist Fathers preach, and when I was looking about for a seat, he sent one of his officials to show me to one, which turned out to be that of my old friend, Dr. Hingston—a courtesy which was repeated at another service which I attended in St. Pratrick’s on St. Patrick’s Day.

You will have many gatherings around Father Dowd, at the Jubilee celebration to render, in person, their desires for his prolonged life and increasing happiness. I will be with and of them in heart and spirit. Even before then, will you give him my kindest regards and with the same to yourself,

Believe me, yours very faithfully,

GAVIN LANG, Late Minister of St, Andrew's Church (Church of Scotland), Montreal,

_ Epw. Murpuy, Esq., Montreal. City, May 18, 1887.

EpwarD Murpnay, Esq.,

My bDEar Sir,—I trust that it will not be intrusive on my part if I take the freedom of conveying to you, and, by your kindness, to the Rev. Fathers Dowd and Toupin, whose jubilee of priestly service will be so justly celebrated to-morrow, the assurance of my personal interest in so beautiful an occasion. I have not the honor of acquaintance with either of these reverend gentlemen ; never- theless, in view of the cordial relations which formerly existed between the Rev, Dr. Cordner and your honored Pastor, and also the gratefully remembered fact, that many years ago in a time of

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trouble, the Church of the Messiah found a generous friend in Father Dowd—who, I beg to add, is known to me as well as to all our citizens, for his noble character and work, I cannot resist the impulse to join by these words in the general tribute of the morrow.

Both Fathers Dowd and Toupin have rendeied eminent service to the cause of religion and the well-being of this City; and [, for my own part, am glad to share the common expression of respectful appreciation. I congratulate you all, that they have reached so honorable a period of clerical usefulness, and most sincerely hope that they may be long spared in health and happiness.

My personal esteem for yourself justifies me in addressing you in these familiar words, and in remaining,

Dear Sir, Very truly yours,

WM. S. BARNES. Minister of Church of the Messiah (Unitarian).

Of the many poems written and published in honor of Father Dowd’s Jubilee, the following by Miss B. Guerin, of this City, is of the best. It certainly deserves a place in this little volume which we gladly give it.

TO REVEREND FATHER DOWD.

Rejoice ! oh rejoice ! let our glad voices swelling

With mirth and with music resound on the air !

A sense of delight in each bosom is dwelling,

There are smiles on each lip as it murmurs a prayer—

A heartfelt thanksgiving to God is ascending,

Our joy is the purest that Heaven can send,

While age’s weak voice and youth’s clear notes are blending To honor our Pastor, our Father and Friend.

Five decades have passed since with hands consecrated He took up life’s chapiet, and told the first bead,

And still as he numbers them angels elated

Are tracing the record of each noble deed.

Did he see that May morn when he stood at the altar, This milestone of gold looming out from afar

Through the azure of years, with a flicker and falter, As dim and mysterious as evening’s white star !

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That May-day now seems to return, like a vision

Of home and heaven! He kneels to adore,

But the incense is laden with perfume elysian

Of hawthorn in bloom on his own native shore !

He offers to God his life’s vow all unbroken ;

His voice, as in youth, is as ardent and strong,

But while the heart-words with deep reverence are spoken, He hears once again the ‘ark’s tremulous song.

Then memory, aroused, awakes from her slumbers

And shows him the lake-jewelled Island again,

The tear-begemmed Island, and sings in soft numbers

A song of glad youth in an exquisite strain,

But Erin, your charms, though so sweet, did not bind him,

Like his own loved Saint Patrick he heard a low call, And rising, he left your fair green hills behind him, ’ Your sea-girdled shore, that bound home, friends and all !

Amongst us he dwelt, and the busy years flying

As noiseless as thistle-down borne on the air,

Wove a crown of love’s flowers immortal, undying, Which to-day on his brow shines above his white hair, A Patriarch Priest ! lo, he stands in the glory

Of life’s setting sun which illumines the west,

And lights with its radiance the whole of life’s story, A gorgeous decline to a day that was blest !

You have known him, oh hearts, that were wounded with sorrow ; His touch had the magic of exquisite balm.

Oh! sinners that feared every wakening to-morrow,

His voice has restored you heaven’s sunlight and calm,

Ye orphans that mourned fora father and mother,

In him you have found both ; and he labored and strove,

For the home that protects you ; he shared with no other

The right to befriend you, to guard you and love.

For love rir 3 up from his soul like a fountain,

And charity falls like the spray from his hands,

What he holds is all ours, and he claims no amount in, For poor as the poorest amongst us he stands,

The mitre above his great brow might have glistened ; The crozier been given him a proud flock to guide,

To the words of his wisdom the wise might have listened, But still with Christ’s little ones he would abide,

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Once only he left us— with steps deferential,

He bore to the feet of Christ’s vicar on earth,

The homage and love of our hearts reverential ;

Than proudest of treasures to him of more worth,

He gave him the calm and undying assurance

That though the whole world with sedition might ring, Though wild winds might rage with unswerving endurance, We cling to our faith and our heaven-crowned King,

Oh! boundless indeed was our hearts’ great emotion, When weary we waited through long weeks in vain,,

For a word or a sign from the wide-spreading ocear,

‘To say we should see our dear Father again,

The sun hid its light through these long hours of mourning, But hope’s gentle star through the gloom shed its rays, Till clouds having passed, the glad sunshine returning, Awakened our souls to an anthem of praise !

’Round Mary’s dear shrine, at each close of day kneeling, While music arose on the odorous air,

Our hearts with each throb of the organ were feeling

A dread, that found vent in a wild wordless prayer,

A great nameless fear through our bosoms was thrilling, Lest danger the pilgrim’s frail birk should o’erwhelm, Till from our Queen’s heart came a sweet message stilling Our anguish !—we knew she would watch at the helm.

Oh Father beloved ! thy heart must be swelling

With joy, to remember the things thou hast known—

The Church has twice spoken—its thunder tones telling

That Truth the unerring is ever its own.

Thou hast heard the sweet chant from ten thousand throats springing Which still day by day is resounded again,

Through all time ’twill be sung—through eternity ringing

Oh! Mary Immaculate is the refrain

Now on the calm sea of age thou art sailing,

And the silver chord tightens which draws thee to shore,

But the chain of our love is about’ thee unfailing,

We would hold thee from Heaven—for we need thee still more ! Yes, stay with us, Father, long years—till resembling

The Apostle who loved most and lay on His breast,

And taught His sweet precept—with aged lips trembling :

“© Oh ! love ye each other and so be ye b) “st !”

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Thy virtues we hold up to-day to the nation ;

Thy name through our land a glad echo has stirr’d ; It falls from all lips with a deep veneration,

By the next generation it still will be heard,

It will speak in each stone of St. Patrick’s forever, The temple that thou hast made for us a home—

A monument telling that nothing could sever

Thy love for thy children, for Erin and Rome'!