DEATH OF THE SUPERIOR-GENERAL, OF THE ORDER OF THE SACTE CŒUR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 53, 2 May 1874, Page 11

DEATH OF THE SUPERIOR-GENERAL, OF THE ORDER OF THE SACTE CŒUR.

The Rev. Mother Mary Josephine G^eU, second Superior General of the above Order, died at Pari^, at the Mother iiousj of the. Socieiy, m J\inuarj, agi>d fii'U-si* Her dim ss was ol coinpa -atively biief duration, for it only b f.. m on St Stephen's Day while pivnarmg for the reception of the Cjrdin d Archbishop of L'uris, wji>j 3ud 2la\j3 at the Sacred iloirt for the oongu'g.iti >n of the Children ot Mary, on ther Feast of St. John. From the moment her in'ii^po-ilnu, the seriousness of which she hera-'lf at once recogni-ed, hecpue known, the mo'* I exce^ne syinn ithy and anxiety wen: ma. ,i('--te I irom luurl) all parts of the »\orid. iveompanicd by at-Mivnnees of fervent prayer fo,- thy prolong ition of a. hut to pucious, but wino.i lJuuu Providerco had decreed hud inn l'.s u-tful and cdiivin^ cjur^e. Tue Jiulv I. "at her hitn«ell evidtMic ■1 1 i I -3 soiii iti.ile by fiequeni, m ~>x^a, and special benedictions. The pi-se ice at, her bjd^i c of the LVu.i--io and the Cardinal Archbishop fin trier testified to tiie rog ird in v> hich she was held by the Churcli ; while the profoun 1 sumow of t!i-j c^-ntnuinty over which bhe pr3sided, Lea in witness lo (he posse^sij'i of qualities of di-p psition commensurnta wi h those g. - <a' nt. v !ii'L-tiul powerj of capacity of •administration which caused her to b>.' :i ij.ijiinoush chosen iv -ces^or lo the; foundie-<s of the Order, M-uhune Barras, whose " cau^e of UeatifioaUon " is now proceeding at Hume. The Order was intituled in 1800, between w 'nJi dale and ttiat ol her death, in lSb'u, Madam saw no le-s than ninety-four house:' c ; ibli.-h.'d. From the latter joar to the present, thirteen new h'ou 3 wOl c cstabnsuij i, making a total of 117 with a throe quarters of a em'ury, a^d that ccnturv tho 19th! Madaaie Goetz had the gnel to >\ii,ii B 3 her reLy-

Si on driven oat of five convents of the German Empire, for what is now considered the crime of fidelity to their Church and devotion to its Head. As might be expected, her end was a becoming consummation of a most exemplary career. Self-possessed, but wholly regardlex? of self, and recoiling above all things from praise for imputed merit, her sufferings in no way clouded the clearness of a singulary, clear judgment, or disturbed the severity of an equal temperament ; wlueh, joined to a truly feminine tenderness of manner and alacrity of decision under difliculties had so marked her fitness for the onerous post she filled lor eight years, more conspicuous during the trying times that lately afllicted the Order. One outside the immediate spheie of her personal influence, would scarcely credit the sense of ju'oc-c thai pervaded the whole atmosphere of the Mother House in Pans, in 1 1)0 midst of events whose mere narrative appalled the world it couple, of 3 cars back. Her firmness, gentleness vigilance, patience, .mil promptitude, under every variety of perplexity, responsibility and <l,mg. r, never forsook her for an instant. 'JLhroughoufc that terrible criMs bho acted as only one could have acted, whoao dominant motive w.-is duty to God, and hoi- sole reliance that he would »ive her fortitude and discretion for its adequate discharge, n Inch he did in most ample measure. For her tiuly Christian heroism on that occasion, she herself being seemingly unconscious of any commendation, and for her noble simplicity and innumerable virtues on all occasions, her meuion will be long hallowed m the prayers of the faithlul.