long span of existence as the world counts it, but may not we who knew him claim for him that other and better maturity of age which is reckoned according to the inspired writer not by the number of years or grey hairs, but by a spotless life? Yes, in his very earliest years he was remarkable for a spirit of simple and tender piety. From youth onwards he walked in the way of God's commandments, and never turned aside from the right path, one principle guiding him-which to my mind was a leading principle of his life-devotion to duty and careful preparation beforehand for whatever duty God called him to do. I judged this from personal observation when he was still a boy in the seminary under my own care. The same is told of him throughout the years he spent in the Irish College, Paris, where, during a brilliant course of studies, he laid deep down the foundations of that theological knowledge, that intimate acquaintance with every branch of ecclesiastical learning which equipped him so splendidly for the efficient discharge of every sacred duty of the priesthood. And you know yourselves he was the very impersonation of unflagging devotion to his priestly work from the day he came amongst you with the oil of ordination fresh on his consecrated hands up to the very hour when a sickness unto death struck him down.

"There was nothing in recent years that concerned your interests in which he had not a conspicuous share. Beneath his quiet exterior there lay a force of character, a strength of purpose, based on his high conception of what his office as a priest and his duty to God demanded; and for all his grave and reserved manner he had within him as affectionate and as tender a heart as ever throbbed in human bosom. He was indeed the common father and friend of all his people. Whatever jealousies, whatever discordant interests divided you, all were equally dear to him, and if he made any distinction at all it was rather in the case of the poor and the suffering, to whom his heart ever turned in pity and for whom his hand was ever open as the day with a bounteous charity, limited only by his means. The members of the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul can testify what encouragement and support he gave them at their weekly meetings, and he has left behind him a practical proof of his appreciation of the work they do for the relief of God's poor. He was indefatigable in his supervision of the schools, and most anxious for the ad

vancement of the young in secular, but, above all, in religious knowledge. The arduous undertaking, still in progress, of improving our Cathedral was to him a labour of real love in which he never spared himself when there was work to be done or difficulties to be surmounted. He often revelled in dreams of a coming time when he should have full scope in our new sanctuary for carrying out that glorious ceremonial of the Church, of which he was such a consummate master, and in which his heart delighted. It is indeed sad to think that only a few weeks ago we stood here together, and there was then no reason, humanly speaking, why his hopes should not be realized. But now not his but other eyes shall behold the completion of the work which owes so much to his zeal. His discourses from the pulpit, always practical and full of solid instruction, were delivered with an earnestness and unction that showed he had first brought home to himself by prayer and meditation the truths he taught to others. Most assiduous in the confessional, he will be long and deeply regretted by that large number of penitents who entrusted themselves to his prudent guidance and revered him as their spiritual father. But perhaps most of all, the Confraternity he established, and whose members had such a special place in his affections, will sadly miss that familiar presence which, every Friday evening, presided at their devotions, and both by word and example taught them to love, as he himself did, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"But in truth, brethren, we shall all miss him, each of us in our own way-Bishop and priests, old and young, rich and poor. Possibly in his characteristic humility he was not conscious of the hold he had got on the hearts and affections of the pople who in love and sorrow have gathered here in such numbers around his bier to-day. But it is not we alone who lament his loss. Most kindly regrets have been expressed by those who are not of our or of his faith, but who in private intercourse or in public relations had come to know him and respect him for what he was-a kindly, capable, prudent priest, ever ready to join in any movement for the welfare of the people of the town without distinction of class or creed. But there are others here to-day, his own kith and kin, who loved the dead priest with a passionate fondness and on whom he lavished in return all a brother's deep and steadfast affection. To them I tender our united and respectful

sympathy. They had one great consolation in seeing him and in being with him at the last, and it must be a soothing balm to their sorrowing hearts to find on a sad day like this that the people amongst whom he laboured, and who loved him during life with an affection second only to their own, do not, and will not, forget him in death.

"The dirge has been chanted, the atoning Sacrifice has been offered for his soul's purgation, if he so need it. In a few moments the last absolution will be recited over him as he lies before the altar, where day by day he stood clothed in his priestly robes for the celebration of the Divine Mysteries. Then he will be borne away from the church where he laboured so long for God, and we shall follow him reverently to his place of rest. But this will not be all. Through the loving care of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart Holy Mass will be offered for many a day to come for his soul's repose, and prayers on his behalf will ascend to heaven from the lips of the many who will not allow him, or the lessons of his life, to fade from their memories or their hearts. With all earnestness I pray God's rest and peace to his soul. Amen."

Is it not well that these words and these memories should not pass away at once? Thanks be to God, in every corner of the Church such lives are going on and such deaths are happening, day after day, without even the slight memorial that has fallen to the lot of this Newry layman and this Newry priest.

ANNIVERSARY

WHEN cold and grey gleam Autumn skies,
And Autumn woods are brown and bare,
The sorrow that is always there
Wakes in my heart, and cries, and cries.

At night, it will not let me sleep,

At dawn it darkens all my days,
It walks beside me in the ways,
Lone ways that grow so hard and steep.

Lone

ways that grow so dull and drear,
While memories crowd in apace-
A living form, a lovèd face-
I listening stand, as though to hear

A light footfall upon the stair,

A voice come singing down the lane-
Dear joys that will not come again,

Now Autumn woods are brown and bare.

NORA TYNAN O'MAHONY.

DOLLY

SOME people find the earth, they say,

A dull place altogether;

Its skies are usually grey

And very bad its weather:
The summer-time is far too hot,
That might be so delightful,
The winter every fault has got,
And spring is rather spiteful,

But never mind, when all is said-
The worst of fact or fable-
I find much cheerful green and red
As well as what is sable:
Indeed the world's a pleasant place
And not a whit distressing;

So let me say a hearty grace

And thank God for His blessing.

And first of all the many joys
Which see me glad of living,

For little girls and little boys

I'll make a warm thanksgiving ;
And high among my little friends
With Aggie and with Molly,
I'll praise the shaper of our ends

For having sent me Dolly.

J. W. A.

A

THE NEW GENERAL OF THE JESUITS

FRANCIS XAVIER WERNE

LTHOUGH the duration of the reign of a Jesuit-General

reaches the rather high average of fourteen years, this Magazine has lived long enough to see four successors of St. Ignatius of Loyola. When our first number appeared in July, 1873, Father Peter Beckx had already for twenty years presided over the Society of Jesus. He lived on to be a nonagenarian, dying in 1887, after having been General of the Society for a longer term than any other except the famous Claudius Aquaviva, and wanting only three or four months of his "splendid run" of thirty-four years. of thirty-four years. A short account of Father Beckx is given in our fifteenth volume, page 235 (April, 1887).

His successor, Antony Anderledy, had a much shorter term of duty, dying in January, 1892 (IRISH MONTHLY, vol. xx, p. 108). The next General, Father Luis Martin, spent Christmas Day of that year (1892) with his Irish sons at St. Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin, as is duly recorded in our twentyfirst volume at page 107, which ends with these two sentences : "Never has he heard, and never will he hear, the Adeste Fideles sung in the midst of a more devout congregation than that which thronged St. Francis Xavier's, when at the Altar of St. Alloysius the Father Superior of the church, at St. Joseph's Altar the Provincial of Ireland, and at the High Altar the General of the Society of Jesus began the celebration of their three Christmas Masses at the moment of six o'clock on last Christmas morning. Never, above all, will he minister at the altar rails to a larger or more edifying crowd of fervent communicants till he comes back to Erin to receive another cead mile failte." But he never came back. In the last two or three years of his life he endured a very painful martyrdom very courageously; but his passion came to an end April 18, 1906. God grant that he has received a cead mile failte to Heaven!

The election of his successor excited a good deal of interest,