OBITUARY

New Zealand Tablet, 23 January 1913, Page 43

OBITUARY

SISTER M. MARCELLE, WELLINGTON. ? (From an occasional correspondent.) IOn the morning of Tuesday, January 14, after months of patient suffering, Sister M. Marcelle, of the Home of Compassion, Island Bay, passed peacefully to her reward, fortified by all the rites and consolations of our holy religion. The deceased Sister was in the thirty-sixth year of her age, and eighteenth of her religious profession. This sad event is all the more notable inasmuch as it is the first death of any professed members of the Order during the twenty-eight years of its existence. Sister M. Marcelle (Mary Small) joined the Sisters of Compassion when the Order was practically in its infancy. She passed through the novitiate at Jerusalem, on the Wanganui River, where she labored for some years before being transferred to the Home for Incurables, Buckle street, Wellington. At the latter place she spent eight years of noble service, devoted heart and soul to the relief of God's poor and afflicted ones. When the Home of Compassion at Island Bay was opened some five years ago, and constituted the novitiate of the Order, Sister Marcelle was again transferred. On account of her eminent virtue she had already been chosen Mistress of Novices, which important post she filled with zeal and edification during the past eight years. ~ On Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock a Requiem Mass was celebrated at the Home of Compassion by Rev. Father A. T. Herring, S.M., in the presence of a number of clergy, relatives, and friends. Early in the afternoon the remains were conveyed to St. Anne's Church, Wellington South, the -u/hole community, together with the orphan <tnd incurable children, following through the convent grounds. The service at the church was conducted by Father Herring, and the funeral procession started for Karori shortly after 2 o'clock. As the cortege passed the Home for Incurables, Buckle street, a touching scene was witnessed. By special request of the patients, amongst whom the deceased and saintly Sister had labored for so many years, the hearse halted some time to allow them to pay a last tribute to one who, by her whole-hearted selfsacrifice, never-failing kindness, and generous charity had so much endeared herself to all. The scene at the graveside, where the Rev A. Venning, S.M., chaplain to the Home, officiated, was a most impressive one. A. number of the Sisters of Compassion acted as pallbearers throughout. There were many willing hands among the Hibernians present, but the Sisters reserved to themselves the privilege of doing this last favor for her who had always been to them a gentle and amiable companion, a bright ray of comfort in hours of sorrow, and by her holy example, a burning and shining light. The obsequies were attended by the following clergy Very Rev. Dean O'Shea, S.M., V.G., Very Rev. Dean Lane (Hutt), Rev. Fathers Creagh and Tuohey, C.SS.R., Rev. Fathers O'Reilly, Kimbell, A. Herring, Barra, J. Herring, and Venning, S.M. To Rev. Mother Joseph Aubert and the Sisters of Compassion, especially to her sister in religion, Sister M. Jean, of Buckle Street Home, as also to the bereaved mother and relatives our heartfelt sympathy goes out in their hour of trial. Numerous messages were received from clergy and friends in all parts of the Dominion, testifying to the high esteem in which the deceased Sister was held by all those whose privilege it was to know her. May she rest in peace.