THE REV. JOHN M'ELROY, S.J.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 237, 16 November 1877, Page 17

THE REV. JOHN M'ELROY, S.J.

(From the X.T. Freeman's Journal.)

Rev. John McElroy. H.J., the oldest priest in the United States, since the death of the late Very Ilcv. Bernard Kicm.in, V.G., died at t!ie Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Frederick, Md., on Wednesday, September 12. aged 95 years. He was born at Enniskillcn, Ulster, Ireland, May 14, 1782, and came to this country in 1803. In due time he entered Georgetown College, where he made his ecclesiastical studies, and on October 10, 180(5, he entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained by the Most Rev. Leonard Neale, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, on May 21, 1817, being the 32nd priest ordained in the United States. The Ilcv. Roger Baxter, S.J., was ordained at the same time.

Father McElroy rendered great service to religion by his indefatigable labours in Frederick, Maryland, where he built St. John's Church and founded the Novitiate of his Society. His devotion to the work of bi^ Divine Master gained for him the respect and affection not only of Catholics but also ot Protestants. Mr. Schaeffcr, a Protestant editor of Frederick City, in referring in his journal to Father McElroy's work, in 1829. paid : '• Strange paradox ! Catholic France expels the Jesuits, deprives them of the education of youth, and the Protestants of Frederick contribute, each with his fifty' dollars, to the erection of a collc.ee there." (Crctincau Joly, vi. 374.)

When in 1834 a riot broke out on the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the authorities were obliged to call out tbc military to suppress it, the rioters having collected together some five or six thousand men. The military, called upon suddenly, seemed at a loss to know how to restore pence and disperse the rioters, and the people of that portion of Maryland became gicatly alarmed. Father McElroy was then iv Frederick, ami on learning the state of

things, after commending himself .and his undertaking to God, he begged of the men, for the sake of their families, and of religion, to return to their work and not stain their hands in the blood of their fellow-men. What the presence of troops was powerless to do, the simple words of an earnest priest effected. The rioters heeded his words and peace was restored. • ; When the Mexican war broke out Fatber McElroy joined this heroic and martyred Father Anthony Key, S.J., as Chaplain in the United States Army. Whilst Father Roy went into the interior, Father McElroy remained in charge of the garrisons left in the first conquered cities, and there was untiring in his ministrations to soldiers and to all who needed sermons. After the close of the Mexican war, Father McElroy returned to the States and was sent bj r his Superiors to Boston. Here he gave his attention to the erection of churches and schools. But we will let him speak for himself. In May, 1876, Father McElroy, in answer to some information asked of him about his life, said : " I was born in the Province of Ulster, tbc most northern province of Ireland, in the County Fermanagh in 1782, and am at present the oldest Catholic priest in the United States and have been for five years the oldest Jesuit in the world. A catalogue is kept of the births, deaths and period of ministration of all the Jesuits throughout the world, and hence I am able to make the statement with accuracy. At the time of my birth Catholic emancipation had made no headway in Ireland, and hence I received simply a common education, such as was given to Catholics at that time. I left Ireland for America in 1803, when twenty-one years old. O'Connell had just made his debut in the character of an emancipator, and had given thus far but little promise of that extraordinary vigor and power of controlling popular sentiment for which he afterward became so famous. . I landed first in Baltimore and went from there to Georgetown. Jefferson was President of the United States when I landed. I have met him several times and often had occasion to admire his republican simplicity. When I took the stage in Baltimore to come to Washington it was an old, rickety, open wagon with leather curtains flopping in the wind and no springs to it. As we came down Capitol Hijl and saw the cattle browsiug about Pennsylvania avenue I asked when would we get to Washington and was surprised to learn that we were there .already. The President's house was the only place worth looking at in the city, There was an old post-office where the Patent Office is now, and a colony of Irish had squatted on the hill, who couldn't speak a word of English.

(To be Continued.)