SOLEMN REQUIEM

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 137, 14 June 1927, Page 10

SOLEMN REQUIEM

A MERITORIOUS LIFE

LATE ARCHDEACON DEVOY

The funeral of the-Vou-Archdeacon . Devoy, S.M., took place this morning at Karori Cemetery. A huge, overflowing congregation gathered nt, the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, where, solemn .Pontifical' Requiem Mass was celebrated by Archbishop O'Shea Monsignor M'Kennu. officiating as assistant priest, with;-the Rev. Dean Holley as deacon; Father Kelly as subdeacon, and l)r. Casey, master of ceremonies. The musical part of the service was carried-qut by St. Patrick's Choir,' under the conductorship of the Rev. Father Ryan; with the Rev. Father Kimball:presiding at the organ. Among those present were Archbishop Redwood, Bishop ; Brodie (of Christ-' church), representatives of the various religious orders, of the several Roman Catholic schools, and of the Hibernian Society", members of the last-named acting as pall-bearers. An eloquent and feeling funeral oration was delivered by .-'His Grace Archbishop Redwood, who stated that from his babyhood. ; in Qjueen.'s County, Ireland, to his death at a ripe old age in New Zealand, the lato Archdeacon had spent a !\oly and most meritorious life. Becoming a Marist Priest in 1877, after a period of professorship in the Marist College, he caino out to New Zealand, where for a -poriod of nearly fifty, years ho had spent himself in the service of the Master. He was a-model as a Marist and as a priest, and they could say of him, "His works do follow him." He had sot a lioble example, declared «His Grace, to'< both the laity and the priesthood, and he. exhorted all of them to follow in. his steps. St. Patrick's Collego had boen founded as the result of the devotion of the late Archdeacon Devoy, and a cOnfrore in canvassing the diocese raising the then large sum of £10,000, and ho had.been for a. considerable period rector and procurator of that! most successful institution. His had been a most distinguished and useful career; but where lie most honoured God and served his church and his people was in the very large number of Masses he had celebrated. During his nearly fifty years ns a priest in New Zealand he had celebrated some 18,000 Masses. The Catholic laity and priesthood alike would long remember his holiness and his dovotion to duty, and the Archbishop expressed a fervent hope that thoy would all strive to follow the splendid example ho had set. There was a lengthy funeral procession, and as,,thc cortege moved off large crowds lined.tho streets, all men standing with uncovered heads as it passed. There was also a groat gathering at, the graveside at the Karori Cemetery.