A VENERABLE PRIEST

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 32, 17 December 1897, Page 2

A VENERABLE PRIEST.

DEATH OF FATHER TIAVERMAXS. THE OLDEST PRIEST IX AMERICA. Tin, funeral of the hit- Venerable Father Peter Havermans (says the Viitmin ot July :U) last Monday at Troy, called together one of the largest {rathcrm^h oi people ever witnessed in that city on a like occasion. People of all classes and creeds had come irom manjA link's around 10 do honour to the memory of the aj^-d priest, wliostH lonjr yearn ot holy sen ice in Troy and weiniiy won lor him {jmeral e-tee v and tlioii'lore univeriMil sorrow was ooca^ioncd by his denier-. 'J'ln' ceremonies comietled with the funeral were bi^un on Sundiy. At ."> o\,loek m t.he aiternoun the remains were removed tioin ins l.Ue it-siiU'iice to tlieehuuli. The procession was led by lle\. Father Barrett, alter whom came the altar boys of the church and about twenty-five clergymen, s-injjing- the '• Miseiere." The sinning was led by Rev. P. B. Dempsey, of St. Monica's Church, Jobnsonviile.

When the remains were brought before the altar, the casket was uncovered, and the chalice was placed in the quiet hands. Appropriate services were then conducted by Very Rev. John J. Swift, Vicar-General of the diocese. Among those present were Christian Brothers and Sisters or the various communities of the city, and a delegation from Port G-riswold, G. A. R., which brought the national colours and a floral pillow. A wreath of palms was also contributed by the Mary Warren Guild, a 9 a memorial of the late Rev. Dr. J. Ireland Tuck-'r. The police, under Chief Condon, maintained good order, while the ushers, under charge of William Hutton, junr., made things pass smoothly. By 3 o'olosk an immense multitude bejjan to assemble in front of the church, and when, at .~;.3O the remains were laid in state, a procession began to pass by the casket, which continued until late in the evening. It is said that about 2U,000 persons viewed the remains. Early on Monday morning the crowds began to congregate at the church and at 9.30 o'clock, when the priests, about fifty in number, began chanting the office for the dead, the edifice was filled. VicarGeneral Swift conducted the services. Immediately following the office of the dead Pontifical Jirquinn Mass was celebrated by Right Rev. P. A. Ludden, of Syracuse, the deacons of honour were Very Rev. James McDermott, V.F. and M.R. of Glens Falls, and Very Rev. James E. Duffy, V.F. of Rensselaer ; Very Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Walsh, V.G., of St. John's, Plattsburg and Rev. Father Herfkens, of Newport, were attendants to Bishop Gabriels. The other officers of the Mass were : — Deacon of Mass, Rev. Michael Mulligan, of St. Mary' Church, Troy ; sub-deacon, Rev. Matthew Rhatigan, of St. Mary's Church, Troy ; master of ceremonies, Rev. C. J. Shea, Chancellor of the Albany diocese. The chanters were the Rev. J. J. O'Brien, of Sandy Hill and Rev. P. B. Dempsey, of Johnsonville. During the celebration of the Mass a choir of thirty male voices, assisted by a mixed quartette, rendered the following programme :—: — " Introit," "Kyrie," " Sequentia," "Sanctus," ''Agnus Dei," and •' Libra," Gregorian tones. For the offertory, " Pie Jesu " was sung. Miss Jennie Downey took the solo, and the quartette consisted of Miss Downey, Mrs. Clarence Smith John J. Hartigan and Professor M. T. Moran. THE EULOGY. Rev. John F. Lowery, LL.D., pastor of St. Agnes' Church, Cohoes, paid the following eloquent tribute to the memory of Father Havermans, taking for his text the words of the Psalmist, " The past shall be in everlasting remembrance": — The news that your venerable pastor was dead was like the coming of the Son of Man "from the east unto the west." He had lived so long and had discharged such vast trusts with such singularly great fidelity and wisdom that the whole country came to know of him as the oldest and most venerable priest in the United States : and the news of his death, like the lightning's flash, sped from one end of the country to the other. The comments of your local Press, so really able, brilliant and true, were printed in city and town and country, copied with avidity, and read with eagerness and sorrow by tens of thousands of your fellow-citizens. For the name and fame of this venerable, this remarkable man, were not confined to Troy, nor to the diocese of which he was so long a true and vener.ible priest and pastor, but were commensurate with the limits and boundaries of our beloved country and even beyond. It is with diffidence, indeed, that 1 ascend the pulpit to be his eulogist. Father lliiversimms ! Who could tell properly the story of his life .' Who could find fitting words to describe the greatness and the excellence of Ins, achievements ? Who could speak in adequate terms of his long life ot self sacrifice, of sacerdotal zeal, and of priestly labours / To do so one would need the tongue of his Master, '• who spake as man never spoke before." The diocese is bereaved ! Troy is plunged into a sea of sorrow! The people weep ! As one man this great city arises to be his pall bearer, and with representatives from her sister cities sorrowfully conveys his venerable and beloved remains to the tomb. Priests come from afar to look upon the manner of man who walked the streets of Troy, with priestly honor and priestly dignity, for more than half a century, whose fair name the bre.ith of scandal never touched. Venerable bishops, successors of the Apostles, who best knew his worth, emphasize by their presence the grief that fills all hearts, and the people with vh'om. his loving heart ever throbbed in sympathy, feel that a great and mighty man in Israel has fallen. The man, the day, the obsequies will be historic. There are old men here to-day, white with age, who knelt at their mother's knees to Father Havermans, and who weep as they recall the patriarch's blessing. For senators and major-generals were but his nltar-boys in the days gone by. His was the sublime privilege to bless from generation unto generation, to wait to see the seeds of his planting blossom like the olive and the palm. And while in the performance of duty he often faced death, in the deadliest spote, in plague and pestilence, he was destined to live, and live on, until men came to wonder at the marvellous endurance of the old priest, who seemed impervious to disease and unassailable by death ; whose meek and smiling countenance covered the heart of a lion, and ■whose fragile form was strong as oak or iron. Troy opens all her gates to-day to the crowds who grieve and mourn for the great priest. For, indeed, he was a great priest, who in his day pleased God and became a reconciliation. For bixty-seven years he stood at the altar of God. shadow of Abraham, Moses and Aaron, and like the high priest, '■ when he went up into the holy altar he the vesture of holiness, who in his life propped up the i^use and in his days fortified the temple. He stretched forth his hand, to make a libation, and offered the blood of the grape. Then, coming down, he lifted up his hands over all the congregation of the children of Israel, to give glory to God with his lips and to glory in His name." His tools did not make this workman great. but his skill, his piety, his labor. Like the great artist, who, when asked how be mixed his colours, replied, '• I mix them with my ' brains," so this great priest if asked by what means he accomplishe . uch great things, might answer that he mixed his works with hi r ° faith, which Christ called the faith of God. and was able to do al

things in Him who comforted Him. He was a priest, a citizen, a scholar and a patriot 1 First of all he was a priest, and like the priests of old, like Moses and Aaron and Samuel and Gideon, he loved to build altars to his God. The churches he erected in your city attest his zeal for the priory and beauty of G-od's house. He was an upright citizen, true to every civic duty, and equal in stature to every civic crisis. He was prominently identified with every progressive movement that has placed Troy in the front rank of cities. He was a scholar of profound and varied erudition and scientific knowledge, and here in Troy he learned the French language that he might break the Bread of Life to his French-Canadian fellowcitizens, who were as sheep without a shepherd, and he made the basement of this church, which he erected, the place of worship for French, and in it planted the seed which has grown and fructified into the large French-Canadian congregation of Troy, which he also did for the Italians of the city. He was a profound theologian and a great linguist. And he was a patriot indeed. I quote from the Troy Times : '• His ideas of State and Church were illustrated by that flag of the Union which from the steeple of St. V ary's Church, from the beginning to close of the war, waved the stars and stripes of loyalty and the red, white and blue of patriotism in the sight of all the people." The history of his life has often been told. Born in the Province of Norlh Brabant, Holland, March 27, 1806, he died in the ninety-second year of his age. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and under the tutorship of his reverend and priestly uncle, and afterwards finished his studies in Turnhout, and in the city of Hoeneg. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Von de Velde of Ghent, in that city, on June 6, 1830, and came to Amerisa in the October following, when there were but twelve Catholic priests in the United States. He was first located in Norfolk, Va., and afterwards laboured twelve years in St. Mary's county, Maryland, and was induced by the great Archbishop Hughes to come to Troy in 1841, as pastor of St. Peter's, which church he left of his own volition to build the new St. Mary's, and here be remained until his death. He was pastor of this noble congregation during an uninterrupted period of 51 years ! But the history of his life is best written by his deeds ! His life was spent in noblest doing ! Here in this city of his love, the churches he erected stand at the street corners, inviting as if with open arras the weary and the heavily laden to prayer, offering the luxury of prayer. The academy he founded and fostered ranks highest amongst the institutions of learning in all this Empire State, as the regents can testify. The first hospital west of the metropolis was founded by this great, dear priest here in Troy. Those ministering angels of mercy, the Sisters of Charity, were first introduced here by him. His the honour and his the glory of dispelling ignorance, of alleviating misery and wretchedness, of caring for the cripple and the orphan I He might have well exclaimed with Holy Job, " The ear that heard me, blessed me ; and the eye that saw, gave witness to me, because I delivered the poor man that cried out and the fatherless that had no helper. The Messing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow. I was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame. I was the father of the poor, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned." Such was Father Havermans ! His gospel was the gospel of Christ, and his whole life seemed to say, " I say unto yon, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you that you m.iy 1)0 the children of your Father who is in heaven." Like Jesus Christ, he submitted the poor in his own place, haying '• What you do to the least of My brethren, yoit do to me." His charity was boundless and catholic, and knew no creed, no clime, no colour I Ah ! what citizen of Troy can stand unmoved at his bier to-day ? It was by such acts as his that the church has nourished, that all the members of Christ are really formed into one mystical body, that it emulates the unity and charity of the ble^od in heaven, that it is already joined to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us, like him, ueir brethren, hide our alms in Jthe bosom of poverty, and sanctify our good deeds, and our acts of mercy, by doing them for Christ's sweet sake. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." And by this spirit of charity we shall forever know, and ever remember, the noble, heroic, dead, great priest, whose obsequies we celebrate to-day. Is not the history of his life befet written id his deeds ? There is no evil that he did to live after him, the good shall not be interred with his bones. The schools, the asylums, the hospitals, the churches he erected, the religious Orders he brought here, shall remain, and shall bless his memory and proclaim his valour and his worth for ages yet to come, and his anniversaries shall be eulogies ! He is past all eulogy. His name is written on the heart of Troy more indelibly than that of Calais on an English Queen's. He needs no statue oil marble, none of bronze I There is a lustre to his name which lias inspired chivalrie youth and fretful age ! In the stress of duty he fought battles, marvellous but bloodless, built houses of God. carved living statues, and conquered over plague, pestilence and death, his wai the destiny to stand out great in peaceful, moral and religious life I Like his own brave countrymen who have rescued their fatherland, inch by inch, from the ocean, he built up, inch by inch, through his indomitable industry and consuming zeal his own monuments of jjlory ! And when red riot ran wild in mobs through the streets of Troy, and men, forgetting they were human, were acting like savage beasts, the heroic Havermans stemmed the tide of their tremendous fury, and baring his breast to the rowdies' rifle and their threatening steel he saved Troy ! What monument shall you build to his memory ? He needs none, I say. His best monument is the love of his fellow citizens of Troy, who weep at his bier to-day, and who, while memory endures, shall not cease to bless his name. May he reot in peace I Post Willard. G.A.R . in command of Commander L. E. Griffith, and Post Griswold, G.A.K., in command of Senior Vice Commander E. A. Bunce occupied front seats. With Post Willard were members of Posts Tibbits and McConihe. Rev. Dr. George Baldwin, a

Baptist minister and Martin I. Townsend were prominent among the congregation. William Hutton jr., was the chief usher on the occasion with the following assistants : Postmaster M. F. Sheary, Mr. H. Hartigan, John P. Doyle, Fred Mahony, Edward Stanton, Charles McCusker, "William A. Coffey, John Toohey, James A. O'Donnell, Augustus Gorman, Martin Connors, Charles MoManus, M. J. Healy, William H. Brennan, Edward Kelly, jr., A. G. Cunningham, Cornelius Dorsey, Thomas McCarthy, Thomas Pitts, T. H. Martin, Charles Brannen, James Fleming, Samuel E. Hutton, James V. Hogan, William M. Keenan, M. E. Molloy, Dr. William J. Fleming and T. P. Dowling. The edifice was filled and many stood on the sidewalks, being unable to get inside the church. The presence of about one hundred priests, including two bishops, added to the solemnity of the occasion. The church was decorated with purple and black, huge streamers of which hung from the balconies, and fell in folds in front of the altar. Around the latter were entwined the national colours, and near by were the flags of Post Willard and Post Gris■wold. The congregation contained a number of the clergy of other denominations, city and county officials and prominent citizens. At the close of the Pontifical Mass the clergy had luncheon at La Salle institute. During thi.s interval another opportunity was given of viewing the remains and many irom the surrounding cities and towns arrived in time to look upon the siintly and venerable face before consigned to Mother earth. The funeral procession lelt the church at 1. 3<> o'clock in the afternoon and was an imposing spectacle. The various societies and organizations formed a quarter of an hour earlier and the commandants reported to Captain John P. Trearor, who was assisted by the following aides : William Haynes, Thomas J. McCarthy, C. M. Dorsey, Thomas J. Pitts and Martin L. Whelan. Thomas H. Kealon personally superintended the arrangements under the direction of Father Barrett, and it was through their untiring efforts that the entire affair was successfully carried out. The services at the grave in St. Mary's cemetery wet c of the simplest nature. Vicar-General Swift and assisting priests sang the Benedictus and the vicar-general read the last absolution. The tide of his blest life hath ebbod. Upon a brighter shore, Where chancel-lights of purest gleam Shall guide him evermore — Where rosaries of fadeless stars. Shall e'er entwine his hand — As angels chant their decades sweet, In yonder happy land ! As o'er his dear old saintly face. Death's spectral shadow crept. How many lips above him prayed, How many eyes there wept ! Yet. chime, sweet bells he used to love Resound no solemn toll ! For only strains of joy should blend When Heaven wins a soul.