Death of the Archbishop of Glasgow.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 21, 22 May 1902, Page 15

Death of the Archbishop of Glasgow.

As briefly announced "in our last issue the Moßt Rev. Dr. Eyret LL.D., Archbishop of Glasgow, died on March 27 after an illness extending over some weeks. By hie death the Catholic Church has lost one of its most eminent and erudite prelates, and the Western diocese of Scotland a Metropolitan who for over 30 years had been the apostolic architect and devoted director of its destinies. The deceased prelate was descended from an ancient and aristocratic Catholic family belonging to Derbyshire, and was born at Askham, Bryan Hall, Yorkshire, on the 17th November, 1817. He was the eldest surviving Bon of the late John Lewiw Count Eyre, who in turn was the fifth son of Vincent Eyre, of Highfield and Newbold, Derby. His earlier years were passed in his ancestral hall, and there the rudiments of learning were imparted to him. In the spring of 1826, being then little over nine years of age, he was sent to the famous oollege of Dshaw, County Durham, and of the long line of illustrious Churchmen which that famous seat of learning has given to the faith, Archbishop Eyre ranks as one of the most distinguished. When he finished at Ushaw he proceeded to Rome to complete his theological studies, and was ordained priest in 1842. In the following year he returned to England, and was appointed to Newcastle. In 1847 whilst attending to his clerical duties among the poor he contracted fever and for a time his life was despaired of. After laboring for some years in country parishes he was appointed in 18fi9 as Administrator Apostolic of the Western District of Scotland, and 10 years later was made Metropolitan of the See of Glasgow, Leo XIII. having then restored the Scottish Hierarchy, which had no representative since the death of James Beatoun, Archbishop of Glasgow, in 1603. Under Archbishop Eyre the western diocese prospered by leaps and bounds. The late Archbishop was the first of the Scottish prelates to revive the Cathedral Chapters of Scotland. In 1892 he replaced the old ecclesiastical seminary of Partickhill with the new magnificent college at Kilpatrick, which he erected with money from his own private means, at a cost of £25,000. More recently he made a gift to the archdiocese of a large training college at Dowan Hill for young ladies who intended to devote their lives to the work of Catholic education. St. Charles's Church at Kelvinside was built by the Archbißhop with his own private means. As a pious and scholarly writer on sacred and historical subjects the Archbishop achieved considerable distinction. As to the Archbishop's work (says the Catholic Times') it may be said thst in the annals of the world's Catholicity the archdiocese of Glasgow stands unsurpassed for organisation. The clergy and the laity of the west owe it all, under the providence of God to their late beloved Metropolitan whose guiding genius for 33 years ruled and directed the affairs of the archdiocese.

The body was removed on Easter Sunday from the residence of the late prelate to St. Andrew's Cathedral, where it lay in state till the funeral on Monday After the Solemn Requiem Mass in the cathedral a panegyric was preached by Bishop Macfarlane, Dunkeld, who said that when Archbishop Eyre came to Glasgow in 1869 there were 74 priests ; now there were 234, with 82 miss-'ona. In his first year there were 8519 baptisms ; in 1900 there were 13,414, and the Catholic population had increased by 100,000, As he proceeded to pay a high personal tribute to the worth of the late Archbishop, Bishop Macfarlane became greatly affected, and passed on to remark that to-day Archbishop Eyre was not being laid to rest in the home of his ancestors, but in the midst of his people. The funeral cortege'was one of the largest ever seen in Glasgow, 130 carriages taking part in the solemn procession to Dalbeth. The body will remain in its present resting place until the church and vault have been erected at the seminary at Bearsden, to which the remains of the deceased Archbishop will be transferred.