The Death of Mr. Michael Davitt

New Zealand Tablet, 26 July 1906, Page 12

The Death of Mr. Michael Davitt

mmmmm

An immense crowd had gathered in t/he neighborhood of St." Teresa's Gntfreh, at Clarendon street, some time previous to the arrival of the coffin. When . the hea*se, carrying the remains of the illustrious dead, reached the church, heads were reverently uncovered. Meanwhile all parts of the building were filling' rapidly. "The remains were received at the church door by the Rev. Father Coen, 0.D.C., Prior :' the Provincial the Very Rev. Father Holland, and members of the community, and the passages through the central aisles were held 1 by the membeis of the Arch-Confraternity of St. Teresa. On Friday morning the coffin containing the remains of Mr. Davitt were taken from the side chapel and placed on a catafalque in front of the High Altar. The St. Teresa Chapel, where the remains rested during the night, was draped in black. At ten o'clock Solemn Requiem High Mass was celebrated, and the Office of the Dead recited. The church was crowded with people of all classes. Many of those in the congregation were in tears, and the deepest emotion was shown by all those present. The funeral left the Carmelite Church, Clarendon street, on Satuday morning a t ten o'clock, for Broadstone terminus. A special train left Broadstone for Foxford, County Mayo, at eleven o'clock, stopping at Claremorris. The train reached Foxford at a quarter to four, almost to the exact minute timed for its arrival. A large concqurse of country people and vehicles of several kinds awaited outside the station. The Rev. P. Hunt, P.P., Straide, and a large number of clergymen were- present. Amidst a scene of touching impressiveness the coffin was conveyed from the train to the hearse. The funeral procession shortly afterwards started for Straide Graveyard, about five miles distant. The hearse was followed by carriages and other vehicles, countrymen on horseback, cyclists, and many walked the journey. The Davitt family burial place lies besiae a beautiful old ruined abbey, said to have been built many centuries ago. r l he graveyard itself is that to which Mr. Davitt once ma<le public reference as being one of those in which the bodies of those who died from hunger a nd disease in the dreadful famine days of the forties were interred in heaps and coffinless. A few hundred yards distant is the spot, mow marked by two ash trees, where stood the Davitt, homestead from which in 1852 Mr. Davitt's father and mother were evicted, Mr. Davitt at the time being about six -years of age. The following is the concluding portions of Mr. Davitt's will :— ' Should I die in Ireland, I would wish to be buried at Straide, County Mayo, without any funeral demonstration. If I die in America I must be buried in my mothers grave at Manayunk, near Philadelphia, and on no account brought back to Ireland. If in any other country (outside of Great Britain) to be buried in the nearest graveyard to where I die, with the simplest possiblq ceremony. Should I die in Great Britain, I must be buried at Straide, County Mayo. My diaries are not to be published as such, and in no instance without my wife's permission ; but en no account must anything harsh or censorious writ/ten in said diaries by me about any person, dead or alive, who has ever worked for Ireland, be printed, published, or used so as to give pain to any friend or relative. To all my friends I leave kind thoughts ; to my enemies the 'fullest possible forgiveness ; and to Ireland the undying prayer for the absolute freedom and independence which it was my life's ambition to try and obtain for her.' Letters and telegrams poured in on Mrs. Davitt and Master Michael Davitt, expressing sympathy with them in their, great bereaA ement. The Chief Secretary, Mr. James Bryce, wrote a letter to Master Michael Davitt, in the-v course of which he said :— ' Will -you -permit me to express to you and the other members of your family my sincere sympathy with you in the great loss you have just ™-j i * had known y aur father, for many years. Widely as I differed from him in opinion, I felt what no on-e who knew him personally could f a il to feel— a strong admiration for -his vigorous intellect, his firmness of purpose, his striking independence of character. tie loved his country with a - passionate love ; and there was nothing that he was not ready to do or to suffer for her sake. His country will long .bear him in memory as one of the most remarkable figures' she h a s produced in our time— a man strenuous and unselfish, full of earnestness and "of courage.'' . - Mr, Higgins, o f Napier, -cabled to Mrs. . Davitt :— Sincere condolence from self and Irish' people of Napier on your loss.' - - - Mr. John E. Redmond received the following cablegram •— « Wellington' United Irish League- requests you convey to Mrs. Davitt deep sympathy loss of her husband, who has rendered incalculable service to cause Nationality.— Kennedy, HealyJ