FATHER JAMES TAYLOR, S.M.

New Zealand Tablet, 14 August 1919, Page 21

FATHER JAMES TAYLOR, S.M.

AN APPRECIATION. The Society of Mary in. New Zealand has sustained a very severe loss by the death, on Monday, July 28, of Father James Taylor at Townsville, Queensland. A few weeks . back Father Taylor was attacked by influenza and never recovered from its effects. Father Taylor was a native of Wairoa, llawke's Bay, where during his boyhood he attracted the attention of the late Father Yardin, S.M., by his piety and brightness. The outcome was that Father Yardin soon had young James Taylor with him at the presbytery, Meeanee, where he introduced the boy to the mysteries of the Latin, Greek and French languages. So apt a pupil was the boy that when a couple of years later he entered St. Patrick's College, Wellington, he. at once took his place in the sub-matriculation class, and the following year matriculated, proving himself the while a brilliant scholar, a modest and affable companion, a first-rate all-round sport, a member of the school first fifteen, and a power in the Debating Society. Yet another year did he pass at St. Patrick's ere he entered old St. Mary's, Meeanee, to prosecute his studies for the religious state and for the priesthood. Here he was again under the fatherly guidance of the venerable Father Yardin, by this time retired from the parochial charge of Meeanee, and spending his later years in prayer and quiet in what was then one of Napier's show places, whither visitors were taken as a matter of course to see the trim gardens, the long, beautiful avenues of trees, the rows of well-tended grape vines, the wine vats and cellars, and of course to taste the wine. Here, under the late Dr. Pestre, Fathers John (Goutenoire) and Huault, and the present Superior of new St. Mary's, Green meadows, Dr. Kennedy, and Dr. O'Shea, the Coadjutor-Archbishop of Wellington, James Taylor cultivated those graces of heart and mind wherewith a bountiful Providence had richly endowed him. After about three years at Meeanee James Taylor was called by the first Superior of the Society to Europe, where he studied in various houses of the Society in France and Italy, notably at Santa Fcde, near Turin, where he made his religious profession. Later ho pro-" ceeded to St. Mary's, Paignton, England—a foundation of the Society made by tho late Bishop Grimes. Here he prepared for ordination and received the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the church of the Marist Fathers, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin. After this he was appointed to the teaching staff of St. Mary's College, Dundalk, and later again to All Hallows College, Salt Lake City, U.S.A. All this time -the call of his own New Zealand was drawing him back to his loved native land, and when the Ven. Archdeacon Devoy, in his office of Provincial, was returning from a sitting of a Chapter of the Society in Europe, he called at All Hallows, where Father Taylor formally made application to return to New Zealand. To his great joy he returned the following year, and was appointed to the teaching staff of his alma mater, St. Patrick's College. Here his solid qualities, his brilliant gifts as a teacher, and his strict sense of discipline earned

him the respect, of his-people. , But his stay here was not for long. L Like so many of his confreres his ideal of; priestly: work and .that for which he had entered the Society of Mary .was, parochial work /amongst, his own kith and kin, and when > a .curacy in the, parish of Timaru was offered him he eagerly accepted it. Here again his stay ..was - comparatively brief, for he was soon transferred, to Greymouth, where for some eight years he was curate under the late Dean Carew. It was during these years that his abilities as a preacher developed and deepened. Always a deep, one might say an intense, student,, his sermons, while always ;- brief, bore. the mark . of unaffected piety, deep learning, extraordinary condensation of thought coupled with a power and clarity cf . exposition that made his appeal in the pulpit so unusual and so effective for good. No one could listen to his sermons and instructions and not be compelled to proclaim him as a man of God and' one endowed with qualities of heart and mind far above the average. It was these very qualities that caused his Superior, after he had spent a short time as P.P. of Leeston, to call him to join the small band of Marist Missionaries, of which band he was appointed Superior on the retirement of Rev. Father O'Connell. Up and down New Zealand and.in various parts of New South Wales and Queensland, Father Taylor went in his capacity of missionary; and in the wider field opened to him his piety, eloquence, and learning found larger scope for the work God had so singularly fitted him to do. His retreats to priests and communities of nuns bore a character of depth and solidarity, of earnestness and piety, and of searching and original illustration that made those to whom they were preached. eagerly desire Father Taylor's speedy return. The extreme condensation of thought and the quite unusual reticence of expression, coupled with telling illustration aud often startling introspection, made his ordinary instructions unforgettable. In his own private life Father Taylor was a man of firm integrity and sterling character ; though naturally a shy and retiring man, his charming frankness and sincerity of manner won strangers and the timid at once. A mark cf beauty as of grace—the children were never afraid or shy of him, and if to some he seemed- at times stern or unbending, it was only in questions of principle upon which he was unbending and uncompromising. His was a life of wonderful regularity. At 5 every morning he rose and prepared himself for his Mass and day by an hour's prayer. His love and care for the rubrics of the Mass deeply edified his brethren in the priesthood. When on parochial duties he passed the morning in study. Nor was he a man of many books. Only the best was his motto. The Scriptures and Theology, the Liturgy and Church History, and the great poets of Italy, France, and England were his constant study, He never wasted time, and was the most charitable of men. His early death, for he was but 44, is a. great loss to the priesthood of his native New Zealand, and to the Society of Mary. But he leaves behind him a reputation for untarnished virtue, for great priestly zeal, for a. searching and burning eloquence, and a memory in the hearts and prayers of thousands of New Zealanders, people and priests and religious, that will not soon fade. May he rest in peace. THE SOLEMN REQUIEM. On Thursday, August 7, at the parochial church, Temuka, a Solemn Pontificial Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul of the late Father James Taylor. The celebrant was his Lordship the Right Rev. Dr. Brodie : assistant priest, Dean Tubman ; assistants at the throne, Deans O'Domie'l and Bowers: deacon, Father Galerne ; subdeacon, Father Long; master of ceremonies, Father Murphy. The Mass was sung by the clergy, many of whom came from a great distance to pay their tribute of respect to the memory of Father Taylor. In the choir were: Fathers Price, Peoples, Moloney, Kerley, O'Leary, Goggin, O'Sullivan, Bartley, Morris, . Burger, Roche, Stewart, and Kelly. Before giving .the blessing at the cata-

falque his Lordship addressed the _ crowded congregation in a moving discourse, recalling the saintly memory of lather Taylor, and inviting . prayers for his soul. His Lordship spoke briefly of Father Taylor’s zeal and priestly spirit, when after his ordination he "was sent to Gieymouth and Leeston, where to this day his work: for souls is spoken of by the people for whom, he labored'.. superiors saw that he had the true missionary spirit and when the time was - ripe they appointed him to the staff of the Marist Missionary Fathers, of which; about five years ago he became superior. The priests; in whose parishes he gave missions, the people who* heard him who listened to his sermons and who had. his wise and kindly help in the tribunal of penance know with what apostolic zeal and fidelity Father Taylor fulfilled his high calling during the years spent as; a missioner. Referring to "the good work don© by the; early pioneer priests who preached the Gospel in New Zealand, his Lordship said that no more consoling and striking proof of their success could be had than the fact that as the result of their labors priests like Father' Taylor had already been ordained in this new land.. The priests would not forget Father Taylor. An obligation was on them to say three Masses each for the repose of the soul of each of their dead colleagues in the diocese. The faithful people of Temuka, where Father ay lor used to come homo for a brief rest, would not forget him. Besides that marvellous union between priests and people which fills the enemies of the Church, with impotent rage, which finds expression in vile vituperation of a kind brought under his notice in the; district lately, Father Taylor had a more special claim on the people of Temuka where he had his home. His Lordship offered his deep sympathy to the Provincial and the Marist Fathers in their loss, and reminded the congregation that the greatest consolation in such a loss was the memory of the zeal, and the apostolic life of Father Taylor.R.l.P.