THE LATE FATHER PATRICK (AYLWARD), C.P. Notwithstanding our knowledge of Christ’s warning–” At what hour you think not, the Son of Man will come”–the news of the unexpected death always brings a shock. Such, indeed, was our experience when, on the morning of April 2nd, the sad tidings reached our monasteries that Father Patrick was dead. Although his constitution was never robust, his condition of health never caused alarm until the last week of his life. On March 29th he was obliged to undergo an operation for an internal complaint. The operation was, in itself, successful; but the patient was evidently unable to sustain its after-effects, and death followed four days later. There is a tragic significance in the fact that he was to have been the preacher on Good Friday night, whose text was the last Word of Our Lord on the Cross– ‘ Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” But ere that night came, he himself had commended his soul to God! Father Patrick (in the world James Aylward) was born at Callan, Co. Kilkenny, in 1893. He entered the Passionist Novitiate at Enniskillen in 1913. Having made his religious profession a year later, he commenced his ecclesiastical studies, which were pursued at Mount Argus, Dublin, and at Sutton, Lancs. It was during that period that the writer of this memoir first became acquainted with him, for together we prepared for the Priesthood. All who knew him discerned in him a personality and solid character which already stamped him as one destined to do great work in the Master’s Vineyard. Possessed, as he was, of the natural virtues of kindness, amiability and a deep sympathy, these qualities were enhanced by the supernatural gifts with which his soul was also enriched, and which were increased by his devotion to duty and by a very personal realisation of Christ in the Eucharist. In religion he was known as “Patrick of the Blessed Sacrament,” and this devotion was for him the storehouse whence be drew the spiritual strength necessary for the labours awaiting him in the Sacred Ministry. He was ordained a priest on February 28th, 1920, at St. Anne’s Retreat, Sutton, Lancs., where he spent the subsequent year. He was then transferred for a few months to St. Saviour’s, Broadway, Worcs., whence he went to St. Mungo’s Retreat, Glasgow, where he remained for some six years. It is impossible to treat adequately of his work in Glasgow. His labours were wrought quietly–for he shunned the limelight–yet such work as his could not remain altogether hidden. It is known to and remembered by the parishioners of St. Mungo’s, who learned by a happy experience the constancy of his zeal and solicitude for their spiritual and temporal welfare. The homes in the district under his care can speak with affectionate memories of his help, advice and sympathy in times of suffering and sorrow. All found in him a prudent counsellor in difficulties; the sick found their burdens lightened by his comforting ministrations; the dying could ever reckon on his untiring attention, even to the end. As a preacher, too, Father Patrick was well known and revered in Glasgow and elsewhere; but it was as a confessor that he excelled. His crowded confessional was a constant tribute to his proficiency in guiding the destiny of souls; for it was in the Tribunal of Penance that his gift of sympathy found its fullest scope. In November, 1926, he left St. Mungo’s, and, subsequent to the division of the former Anglo- Hibernian Province, he was recalled to Ireland. The last five months of his lifewere spent at Holy Cross Retreat, Ardoyne, Belfast, where he laboured with his usual untiring zeal. His special work there was the directorship of the Women’s Branch of the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Passion, at which his devotedness to the spiritual welfare of the members was keenly appreciated by all. By Father Patrick’s death, the Passionist Congregation has lost one of its most worthy members. But a spirit such as his cannot die; it lives on as an example and an encouragement to us, his brethren in religion, who have been called by God to “preach Christ and Him Crucified,” that we may be true to our vocation in fostering Christ’s love in the souls of the just, and in teaching sinners to ” look upon Him Whom they have pierced.” (The above is from the Cross of April, 1928, written by Wilfrid Brodie. The loose page is item 1-3-4-1, serial number 1278 in the Archives.) Father Patrick (Aylward) C,.P. – Holy Week was rendered especially sad for us this year by the early and unexpected death of Father Patrick (Aylwarel). Of no very robust constitution our deceased religious had suffered much from abdominal trouble for years and finally was convinced that an operation was necessary. This he underwent in St.John’s Nursing Home, Belfast, on Friday the 30th March. The operation was successful, but afterwards complications set in; the patient became weaker,and a serious collapse was soon apparent. On Saturday and Palm Sunday his condition grew more and more hopeless. He was spiritually attended to by fellow-religious,and with full knowledge that the end was at hand, and with the resignation of a fervent religious-priest,he passed away peacefully at a quarter to seven on lvlonday morning, April the 2nd. Father Thomas,Vicar, Holy Cross,was present at the end. Born in the green,open country,at Callan,Co.Kilkenny, in 1893, Father Patrick inherited many admirable traits of character so often associated with such an environment He retained even to the end that unworldly simplicity,straightforwardness and guileless impulsiveness so often enjoyed in an especial way by those born and reared amidst the things God Himself has made. To this beautiful natural character the grace of a religious and priestly vocation “gave the increase” admirably. His simple unworldly nature never blurred the vision of the things of God in his spiritual life as priest and religious. He was, to those who knew him best, one who cultivated seriously the interior life. He never lost sight of it as his profession as a priest and religious. Likewise his impulsive,dynamic nature, elevated and energised by divine grace expressed itself forcibly in activity for his own personal sanctification, and in unabated zeal for the sanctification of others. Seculars clearly recognised and felt that indefinable unction which sprang from his interior priestly life. In the confessional people were drawn by a wealth of patience and sympathy and understanding; in his preaching and in every act of the sacred ministry they recognised in him the genuine,informal earnestness of the man of God. Of his eight years priestly ministry it may be truly said that he accomplished much in a short time. The obsequies took place on Wednesday , April the 4th, in the presence of a large number of our religious,and the secular clergy of the diocese of Down and Connor. Most Rev. Dr. McRory presided, his assistants being V.Rev. Fr. Bernard C.P. (Rector, St. Mungo’s, Glasgow), and the V. Rev. Fr. Kevin, C.P. (Rector, Holy Cross, Belfast). The Solemn Requiem Mass was sung by the V. Rev. Fr. Sebastian, C.P., Provincial, the Rev. Prs. Frederick and Pius being deacon and subaeacon respectively. The Cantors were the Rev. Frs. Marcellus and Paul Cyril,C.P. The funeral took place in our cemetery at Holy Cross Retreat shortly after the Mass. May his soul and all the souls of our departed brethren rest in peace. (The above is the Obituary Notice by Fr. Kevin McKeown, Rector, sent to all houses, and is item 1-3-4-2, serial number 1166, in the Archives.)