REV. FATHER ADRIEN ROUQUETTE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 24, 7 October 1887, Page 13

REV. FATHER ADRIEN ROUQUETTE.

(From the New Orleans Picayune.) Father Ryan was called the poet priest. Father Rouquette was a poet priest. Not alone because he also wrote sweet poetry. His whole life was a poem, his thoughts were ever of the beauties of nature or the glory of God ; bis heart was constantly overflowing with human kindness and human sympathy ; bis happiest days were in spiritual self-communion in the wilderness, and his favourite mission was seeking out the Choctaws still living in the St. Tammany forests, and sharing with them the great faith m which he found the mainspring of his life purpose and the promise of eternal happiness. His daath was a fit ending to the poem, breathing prayer, and love, and divine trust, a gentle sinking to rest, with a smile the farewell to earth and the greeting to the grander sphere. The Abbe Adrien Rouquette was one of the best known and most widely beloved of the priests of Louisiana. He was born seventy -four years ago in this city. His education was begun here, con tinned in the college of Naates, France, and completed at a college in Philadelphia . Young Rouquette was handsome and gifted, and entered with zest into the gay life which was the mode in that. New Orleans of oW, The superior mind he possessed had enabled him to acquire a great

deal of knowledge with ease. He graduated in law and in meiicine and was skilled in arts and sciences. A graceful bearing, a fine command of language,* flexible anl pleasing voice, a p >etic temperament, a natural eloquence, made him an ideal orator. His friend 9 loosed upon him a« a man who would be remembered among the first when the history of Louisiana sboulJ be written. His early manhood strengthened the promise. Suddenly, although perhaps the resolve may have been the blessed decision of months of thought, he announced that he would enter the priesthood. It was to Mgr. Blanc, then Archbishop of Now Orleans, that be confided his desire, and it was the good Archbishop who welcomed him as a coworker. The ordination took place some forty years ago, and since then he has ministered faithfully with never a thought of self. Hia quarters were the poorest furnished, his clothing of the plainest fabric, his fare of the simplest kind, and his rare character shone all the brighter for his humble setting. Father Bouquette was alike to rich and poor, working for their welfare with equal zeal, and anxious for divine grace for all. la boyhood days he was wont to watch the Choctaws, who then lived in New Orleans in large numbers. He Tiiited their camps on the French market and in the rear of the city and became acquainted with their manners, acquired some knowledge of their language, and looked on with fearful interest when they went rioting through the streets. When the city grew the Ohoctaw was gradually forced to retire into the forest strongholds, and when Father Rouquette took up the cross he bethought himself of his early friends, forsook by the land that bore them, and determined upon teaching them the comfort and consolation of Christ. He visited them, studied their language thoroughly, and won them by the sanctity of his example and the spirit of kindness which permeated the gospel as he taught it. The Indians retained their tribal government, but in all elie yielded to the priest, who came often among them and taught them the ennobling and civilising influence of faith. During his early missions among them he built a little chapel among the pines at the head of Bayou Lacombe, where, at regular intervals, they would gather round him. The chapel had already done its work when it was destroyed by fire. It was never rebuilt. The Indians made the whole woods their sanctuary and worshipped where Chatah-Ima stood, for so they called him. ChatahIma means like a Ohoctaw, and Father Rouquette was proud of the name. As he made them more like himself they thought him more like themselves. He was true to tbem,Jregardless of,'personal comfort, coming among them in wet seasons and in dry, in health and in sickness, finally sacrificing hia strength to his fidelity to the causa to which he devoted his life. When he would bide awhile in his cell at the archiepiscopal residence at the Ursuline Convent, it would only be to live a few happy days with his books and pen. He read fluently the modern and ancient languages and was a great lover of reading. Pere Rouquette was not only a wonderful student bnt a writer of rare excellence. Sume of his poems, reflecting his love of God and Dature, were gathered into a book, which he appropriately titled "Wild Flowers." " Les Savanes," another collection of poems ;" La Thebaide en Amerique," in verse ; " Attala," a prosa romance which acquired considerable reputation, and legends of " Indian Princes " were among his other works Ha wrote frequently for the secular press, and was at work on a Choctaw grammar wheu his intellect became clouded. One of his last prose articles was a fine tribute to Aichbishop Perche, who was a life-long friend of the distinguished priest. Hi signed all his writings with his favourite name of " ChatahIma." It was about a year ago that the exposure to which he subjected himself left him wasted in body and mind. He was taken to the Hotel Dieu, where the Sisters of Charity ministered to his every want and made his last days pleasant. Father Rouquette was a combination of child and saint in the year he lingered between life temporal and life eternal. He imagined himself in his old home at the convent, was unconscious of any change, and at the same time recognised those who came to see him ; would talk enthusiastically of his books and his missions, and grew eloquent when his thoughts were turned to poetry or religion. The love in which he was held was apparent during this period, for every day people whom he had guided and befriended came to be near him and return the sympathy with which he had ever been ready. His adopted children of the wilderness were frequent visitors and brought gifts of herbs and dainties. Yesterday some came again to find the boul departed, and they sat around the coffin in tearful grief. Father Rouquette was in appearance such a man as a painter would have imagined him to be. His features were finely moulded, every line was softened by benevolence, and large, bright eyes illumined his countenance with the sacred light of genius and holiness. His long locks, tinged with gray, fell about his shoulders. During bis active life his face was smooth shaven, but at the Hotel Dieu a long white beard grew and added to his venerable appearance. Three days ago his mind became clear again. The old intelligence lit up his face. His eyes beamed kindness. His step grew steady. The Sisters and his friends were overjoyed with the newborn hope of his recovery, But when he betook himself to bed and was too feeble to arise, they knew that God had blessed him with undi-nmed sight again so that ho could respond to the call of his Master as his life deserved. His end was peace, and when the watchers thought he slept the spirit had departed.

" Rough on Itch."—" Rough ot itch " cures skin humora ruptioQS, ringworm, tetter, salt rheum, frosted feet, chilblains, itch' ivy poison, barber's itch. ' The Central News is informed upon good authority that great pressure is being brought to bear by Government officials upon Sir John Pope Hennossy to induce him to abandon his libel action against the Times.