THE LATE REV MOTHER FRANCIS RAPHAEL DRANK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 10, 6 July 1894, Page 6

THE LATE REV MOTHER FRANCIS RAPHAEL DRANK.

The following is a report of the sermon preached by the Very Rev Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P , at the funeral as reported by the Catholic Times :—: —

The preacher selected for his text the words of the 72ad Pulm, verse 28 : " It is good for me to adhere to my Qjd, to put my hope in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy praisei iv the gates of the daughter of Sion." Angueta Thtodosia Drane, as she was called in the world, Mother Francs Raphael, ai she is knowa in religion, was born in 1823 at Bromley-near-Bow, in the east of London, When she was fourteen years old the familj removed to Babbicombe, in Devonshire, near the site of the future Convent of 8t Mary's Church. The Rev John May Coleridge, nephew of the poet, who was then Vicar of 8t Mary's Church, for the first time, put Christian dogma clearly before her mind. As Bhs was then a member ef the Anglican Church, God used his sermons, as she always ftlr, to sow in her sonl the first seeds of faith. Bbc applied herself with delight to master these new idea?, and studied books about the Church and the Sacramental system. But her mind was too logical, and her character too thoroughly sincere to be able to rest long in the fragmentary and illogical theory of Anglicanism. She quickly saw that, given th« truth of the Higb Church principles and teaching, muca more moat follow. She read Bumet's " History of the Beformation," and the " original documon's" be refers to first opened her eyes to the fallacy of the position. The necessity of Confession had come to her in 1839 before anyone had openly advocited it. But though these religions convictions were deep in her soul, her poetical genius and lovt of the beautiful held at that time predominant away, and kept what she might have then called '( the disturbing spectre " of the Roman

Church at bay. But not for long ; God bad her by the right band, and led her now by His will through a period of deep interior trial, during which she had a corresponderce with Keble, the author of the " Christian Year." In the June following (1850) she saw clearly the truth of Catholic Church, and was received at Taunton into the Fold. For the firßt time she felt perfect peace of aoul. " The intense peace of that return journey," she wrote, " I shall never forget ; it made itself sensible even to the body — it was not excitement, nor joy, nor high spirits, but peaoe. I could say nothing, think nothing but 1 am a Catholic I " Before her reception, as her father was much averse to High Church ways, or Pu9eyiaoa, a* it wa* then called, she wa* obliged to practise close secrecy, and this being utterly repugnant to her truthful nature, she wrote a pamphlet anomymously on " The Morality of Tractarianism," claiming a right to " be true ouraelves and to teach our children to be true ; " a work attributed by some to Newman, by others to Manning, no one guessing it was written by a young lady not much past twenty. In the autumn of 1851, she went to Borne, and spen l six months in the Eternal Citj, drinking in at the fountain head the pirit of the saints of the Churcb. Here she made a retreat under Pure Besson, who was then acting as Novice- Master at the Dominican Priory of St Sabina, on the very spot sanctified by the life and miracles of St Dominic, and thus she drew into her soul the spirit of his Order, wbich waß henceforth to colour her wbole life. On her return to England, hearing of the work ih.it Mother Margaret was founding in Clifton, she was led by God to give herself entirely to Him, and received the habit of 8t Dominic there, and made her profession in the newly-founded Convent of Stone in 1853. Thus did she begin, indeed , to be " all for Got," conscious of that great truth she has expressed so well in a couplet : He gives, in answer to Thy call, Too poor a gift, who gives not all. For some years after her profession she was employed in teaching, while she filled up many intervals of time by writing some of her numerous works, Besides her arduous literary labour?, she was Prioress of the large community of Stone from 1872 to 1881, and after the death of Mother Frulda Poole, governed the whole Congregation in England for twelve years, until her last illneßß. She thus justified the words of the late Bishop Dllathorne, who knew her so intimately and appreciated her talents so highly. '' She is one of those many-Bided characters," he used to say, " who can write a book, draw a picture, rule an Order, guide other souls to perfection, superintend a building, lay out grounds, or give wise advice, with equal facility and success." Her volume of poems, called " Songs in the Night," the expression of the deepest feelings of her own soul, drew o her the hearts of many who were entire strangers personally, and

she often said of it, " It is the onlj book of mine I know for oertala hat done good to others, beciose they have told me so." In fact many personally unknown to her wrote letters thanking her for the help tboae versei bad been to them in their own mental trials. They are, in fact, true poetry, thoughts of beauty clothed in beautiful words, " emeraldg in a woik of gold, and yet with a lucidity of expression that doubly increases their value. Vat these literary gems would never have seen the luht, some were in fact actually consigned to tht waste basket, unless Dr Dllathorne had expressed his desire that they should be published. In 1893 his Holiness Pope Leo XIII. sent his special blessing to her and all her children, congratulating with her on the books she had written, and she appreciated this mark of the Holy Father's approbation intensely and showed a touching gratitude for the seal thus set upon her work, but aha said: "I feel as if the Pope had turned the page and written, Finis" It proved to be in fact the end of her literary life. In her mind God had combined gifts not often found together with such equal balance. To a firm grasp of thought and energy aud lucidity of expression, which proved a mind masculine in its powers, was joined the strong intuitions aod feminine tenderness of a cultivated woman. Though her soul re«ponded at once to every breath of poetry, yet Bhe well knew how to hold imagination in check and to submit it to reason. And though devoted to literature, it was all for God, and she never allowed herself to be so absorbed by it as to neglect practical business, la fact she bad a rtal love for business and gave full attention to itß details ; Bhe liked practical work and practical people, and tbu« she made imagination her useful servant, but never allowed it to be her mistress. With all this there was the constant play of childlike humour which could find amusement in the simplest thingi, and endeared her to the hearts of all. Now lam sure she would tell me I have said too much as to the natural gifts God bestowed upon her and on her literary work. In 1893 a severe illness overlook her. She bowed at once to the will of God, and without one regret, and even without apparent effort, she pat abide every literary preoccupation, and turning herself wholly to the spiritual work of her heart, she " cleaved to God " with a fervour and sweetness which carried her through severe and protracted suffering, and a helplessness most trying to her energetic nature. On November 29, 1893, in a letter to a spiritual friend about her state, while begging for prayers that she might be patient to the end, she wrote, " I have learnt experimentally during the last month that we need Bpecial graces to suffer. Courage and endurance are worth so much tinder. Nothing but God's grace supporting us can help us to bear sharp pain. I am sure that it is good, and very good, for me to have this pain, and I trust it will squetzg out some bits of pride and sensuality, and teach

me to know my own nothingness more ond more. For the rest, 1 abandon myself into His hands, that He may do with me according to His good pleasure, so Ion? as he will but help me to lova Him perfectly before I die." Her illness was protracted and most acutely painful, and the quiet heroism with which she endured it proved how truly Bhe adhered to God and placad her hope in him alone. A remarkable coincidence could not but strike her spiritual daughters, yt Catherine of Siena died on the morning of the Sunday before the Ascension, being that year (1380) the Feast of St Peter, martyr, of the Order of St Dominic ; and her loving client, Mother Francis Raphael, died on the morning of the same Sunday, which fell this year aUo on the 29th of April. May we not hope with confidence that this was a sign that God sent her patroness to conduct her soul into his presence? Yet we can never know whe'her the awful purity of God does not see some speck or flaw in that soul which to us seems bo holy. To enter heaven, the love of G>d must reign snpreme in the soul ; self-love must be entirely destroyed. And therefore we must remember, and the Church warns us not to forget, to pray that, purified by the Precious Blood of our Lord, in whom Bhe put her trust, she may be received into His glory. The lesson of her life for us is to devote ourselves to God alone, to employ all our talents, all our time, for him, that thus "He may hold us by the right hand, lead us on by His will," and at last receive us as we hope and pray He has received her, •' into His eternal glory."