Father Joseph well known and deeply revered by countless friends, is one of the most talented and distinguished Passionists who have ever graced the Congregation. When but a boy, his rare qualities and intellectual brilliancy were speedily recognised by his Superiors, and a great future foretold of him. He was still a very young man when he was appointed Vice-Rector of St. Saviour’s Retreat, Broadway, Worcs. Later there devolved upon him the duties of Professor of Philosophy and Theology to the Students preparing for the Priesthood in Mount Argus; and those who had the good fortune and the privilege to receive instruction Prom the storehouse of his masterly mind will ever remember him as the most brilliant and devoted of Lectors. For some years his health was not of the best. He had been too unsparing in his energies, and the strain had been excessive. Hence he was not asked to undertake any canonical office which would bear with it the trying responsibilities of religious government, until in 1920 he was elected Provincial of the Passionists in Australia – an honour which he, however, declined. For the past year he has held the responsible and heavy charge of Vice-Rector A Mount Argus, in which position he has been able to count upon the esteem and loyalty of every member of the large community. As a preacher and writer, Father Joseph has made a name that few may rival and all may envy. He has given missions in various parts of Great Britain and Ireland with a success no less than proverbial. His courses of lectures, delivered at Mount Argus and elsewhere, have ever proved an intellectual and religious treat. His literary works, mostly hagiographical, have been at once a boon, a delight and an education to those into whose hands they have fallen. To some it may be unknown that this magazine owes its birth and existence to Father Joseph: he was “the father of The Cross.” In May, 1910, he issued the first number, and it had hardly left the hands of the printers when its success was assured. He met with much opposition from various unsympathetic sources, but the work withstood and outlived its critics; and to-day, begotten as it is of such an able and worthy parent, it takes its place among the leading Irish Catholic periodicals. Father Joseph retired from his editorial labours some years ago, but, be it remembered, The Cross would now be non-existent but for his tireless and successful energies at its initiation and in its earlier days. Of Father Joseph’s other activities and achievements much might be said, but space allows but little more. His life up to now might have been far more brilliant and his name far more illustrious, but for his shy and retiring disposition. He has ever kept in the background, so to speak, unless when duty called or charity pressed, and then he was fearless to speak the truth and uphold the law.. His priestly functions have always been discharged in a manner befitting their sacred character. At all times the friend of the tried and needy, there are many indebted to him to-day for kindly deeds – deeds so unctuous of the Spirit of Christ. We cannot leave unmentioned his gigantic and wholehearted endeavours in the interests of the Irish language revival – a cause which some have ignorantly grouped among the failures of modern times. His undertaking this and other noble projects that others shirked and feared to attempt, show him to us a man of strong purpose and perseverance. In a word, Father Joseph is a great man, a true Passionist, a zealous priest. May his life be long, and his harvest fruitful to God and to the souls of His salvation! (From the Cross, Vol. XIV, 1923-24; pp.72f.) DEATH OF FOUNDER OF “THE CROSS”. REV. FR. JOSEPH (SMITH), C.P. With deep regret we chronicle the death of Rev. Father Joseph (Smith), C.P., which took place after a brief illness at St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, London, on Tuesday, June 23rd. A native of Loughgall, Co. Armagh, where be was born on August 17th 1872, John Francis Smith received his early education at the diocesan seminary at Cavan before entering St. Saviour’s Retreat, Broadway, Worcs., where he was professed as a Passionist on November 30th, 1891. Seven years later he was ordained priest by Most Rev. Dr. William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, at Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. As a young priest he was lector of philosophy and theology at St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, London before his appointment in 1902 as Vice-Rector of the Novitiate House at Broadway, Worcs. In 1905 he returned to Ireland to teach Sacred Scripture at St. Paul’s Retreat, Mount Argus, Dublin, where he remained for the next eighteen years. It was during this time that he became the founder and first editor of THE CROSS, the Passionist monthly magazine, which first appeared in May, 1910, and was author of many biographical works of Passionist Servants of God. He was also instrumental in founding a local branch of the Social Guild and, a fluent Irish speaker, he made an immense contribution of priestly enterprise and endeavour towards furthering the Gaelic language – a cause he cherished ardently to the end. In the field of missionary work, Father Joseph distinguished himself as an able and eloquent preacher in the many missions and retreats he conducted in Ireland and England and was invited to preach or speak at many notable ecclesiastical functions. His courses of Lent and Advent lectures at Mount Argus are still remembered as masterpieces of sacred eloquence by those who came, often great distances, to hear him. In 1923 he was transferred to St. Mary’s Retreat, Carmarthen, Wales where he later became Rector. Subsequently he filled the offices of Rector of St. Gabriel’s, Ormskirk, Lancs. (1932-38); Provincial Consultor (1938-44); Rector of St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, London (1944-47). The remaining years of his life were spent in London where he was the constant friend and confessor of Irish exiles and where he had the happiness of celebrating the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood in June of 1948. By his death the Passionist Congregation has lost one of its most eminently able and amiable priests and the faithful to whom he ministered for over half a century a devoted spiritual father. May he rest in peace! Amongst the large congregation of clergy and laity present at the funeral which took place at Highgate, London was Mr. F. H. Boland, Irish Ambassador, representing the Taoiseach, Mr. De Valera. (The Cross, Vol. XLIV, 1953-54; p.67.)