DEATH AND FUNERAL OF THE REV.FATHER

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 1, 24 April 1885, Page 11

DEATH AND FUNERAL OF THE REV.FATHER

Th* announcement made in St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin, on Sunday SUSS T * Pa ? er mt *e**K had died at Gore the day 'beforewai SSri- & es°he s° h «"pg»«*i> succession with evident marks ot J2 n *f. c deceased priest, indeed, had not served long on the Dnnedin mission, bnt during the short time that he worked among them, the extreme amiability of his disposition, bis sincere kindlines?, and bis particularly winning manner, had gained for him the warm Kfw X*.. ?T^ Ip of the Cat bolic community. Th«y knew, besides, that he had been a fervent, self-sacrificing and devoted priest, and on all accounts he possessed their affection and respect. It was announced also that on Monday evening the body would arrive in Dunedin, and that it would He in the church until the following fore noon, when, on the conclusion of the Solemn Office for the Dead and High Mass of Requiem, it would be taken for interment to the Catholic cemetery. On Monday evening, accordingly, a large number 2ki. *v* fe L° P 601 * 1 ! mefc a £ the roilwa y terminus, where his Lordship the Bishop and the Rev. Father Burke were waiting, and 2LJ T fK^* 1 °i S e In L e ? c , ar S ill train-in which also there bad VtohJ? T * ath tl™ .M. M ' KaT ' Newport, Lynch, M'Bnroe, and M'Grath, and a number of the parishioners of the Gore district-the coffin was borne from the mourning-draped carriage in which it had been conveyed to a hearse and followed by a lone procession to the church, which had been hung in black for the occasion,— the Dominican Nunß having prepared hangings with the following inscriptions in white letters : « Comummatum. ctt, requieseot in poos? and Mueremvnt met, mtteremminiei, saltern vot amiei nei ! "—and where fi. 51* «°°K«gatioa had already assembled. When the Office for the Dead had be«r sung, the body was exposed, clad in vestments, and clasping the chalice in its hands over its heart, during the night rtfcSi?r W ? *"$* ***** maintained by members of the sodality of the Children of Mary and the Society of the Bacred Heart, and numerous visitors coming to offer their prayers for the departed soul, and to show due respect to the remains. Masses were commenced in the church at an early hour on Tuesday morning, a second altar having been provided, and were continued until a short tome before the Solemn Office for the Dead and High Mass of *H»« were i**" 0 at 10 ».m.-wben the Bishop acted as celebrant, with the Rev. Fathers. Burke and M'Grath as deacon and aub-deaoon respectively, the Yen. Archdeacon Coleman as Master of Ceremonies, and the Rev. Father Walsh as Priest-assistant. The Gregorian music of the Office and Mass was most impressively sung by a choir of priests, with the Rev. Fathers M'Kay and O'Neil as cantors, and the Rev. Fathers Purton, 0.5.8., Lynch and Newport as leading members. The « Diet Ira •» and the «O, SaluUrU /» were, in particular, most affectingly rendered ; as was afterwards at the grave the Benedtcttts." At the conclusion of the Mass, the Bishop addressed a few words to the congregation. Father Fitegerald, he said, had been a young priest. He had not been ordained quite four years, and it was not three years since he went to take charge of the mission at Gore. His health had all along been delicate, but he had not spared himself and bad laboured zealously. It had always been his desire to build a church before he died, and he had been permitted to build two churches, as well as to provide a presbytery to accommodate the resident priest. It would not become him (the Bishop) to enlarge upon the merits of the dead priest-that he must leave to someboly else— bnt the works he left behind him showed his worth, and he had been a good and zealous prieat. The Office for the Dead was then continued, and when the final absolution had been given, the priests closed the coffin, and, reciting the " De ProfnndU" bore it to the door of the church, where they gave it into the bands of the parishioners from Gore, by whom it was carried to the hearse and, on arriving at the cemetery, from the hearse to the grave. The order of the funeral projjesjSton, which was of extreme length, the school children alone numbering between 700 and 800, and the attendance of adults probably reaching even a higher number, was as follows :—Boys of the Cbris<ian Brothers' schools, with their teachers ; girls of the Dominican Nuns' schools, under the guidance of pupil teachers >nd assistants; altar boys; the hearse; carriages containing the Bishop and clergy in their vestments ; parishioners of Gore ; Society of the Sacred Heart, with medals and crimson scarfs ; Society of the Children of Mary, in black with their blue ribbon ; women of the congregation; men of the congregation on foot; carriages and vehicles. A large crowd also accompanied the cortege without joining in the procession. The passage through the streets occupied a considerable time, and was the occasion of much interest to the general public, who for the time relinquished their various occupations to look on— the houses of business ot the Catholics being closed as the funeral went by. In the cemetery the crowd was inconveniently great, and many people found it impossible to get within hearing distance of the grave, where the ceremonies were carried out with all the affecting solemnity that had marked those performed in the church. The loss of Father Fitzgerald, the first priest who has died in Otago, to the diocese will be one felt for a long time to come, and, besides the natural gzief for his early death, especially that of those members of the clergy to whom he was known at Home, and whom he accompanied to the Colony, the Bishop and his priests, and all interested in the welfare of religion, must sincerely regret so efficient and true a pastor. In another place will be found the admirable testimony borne by a non-Catbolic writer to the life and labours of the dead pttetf.—lteguietcat tra pace.