Paul Mary Pakenham — Biographical Notes

--- Page 1 --- passionist . Paul Mary Pakenham Rev. Joseph Smith , C.P. --- Page 2 --- 34133 (6144 ) 01/01/930 11/11/1966 . --- Page 3 --- passionist . Paul Mary Pakenham --- Page 4 --- 50 upper O'Connell Street M. H. GILL AND DON , LTD. , Dublin . 1930 passionist . Paul Mary Pakenham Rev. Joseph Smith , C.P. by --- Page 5 --- But his life has not remained wholly without record . his brief but notable career . They have long since Nor all this , there is nothing extraordinary or abnormal in Ireland and England ) , giving the main outlines of which the renunciation is made with such almost be heard at least it was till a few years ago-re- Ireland which has never slackened , and it may still people . It has , however , been thought that a fuller gone out of print ; but , apart from these , his story purpose . Instances are happily not rare even in of the Crucified , but rare indeed are the instances in various countries ( in Italy and Australia as well as made in the following pages . It is hoped that the counted , with the inevitable legendary additions , or heroic as in the case of Father Paul Mary Pakenham . Brief memoirs have appeared from time to time in laid a strong hold on the popular imagination in since its saintly subject was called to his reward . sung in rude ballads , around the firesides of the country and case and high worldly prospects for the service these materialistic days of the renunciation of wealth ruthless completeness or carried to a conclusion so seem strangely belated , so many years have passed time rendered it impossible . The attempt has been the memory of a great soul , may also serve a higher life should be attempted before the further lapse of and more authentic presentation of the facts of his story they set forth , besides helping to keep alive foreword . THE short biography here presented to the reader may printed and Bound in Ireland at the Press of the Publishers . --- Page 6 --- towards the composition of this little volume . zeal of the true Knight of God . telling on that account , and we trust that it may and of some persons of the outside world who had memoir left by Father Salvation , his master of novinces , of the notices of the life of Father Pakenham already the noble simplicity of his natural character . His and to the annals of the Congregation of the Passion . who are called , as all Christians are in varying degrees , of the saintly Passionist , and who retained very vivid exchanged the sword for the Cross , and to which he He has also had the advantage of knowing several foreword . religious who were contemporaries and companions serve as an inspiration and encouragement to those pelling magnitude in the sum of his works and sufferings : the simplicity of his spiritual life matched given to the public , as well as to the manuscript to take part in that warfare of the spirit in which he recollections of him . From the reminiscences of these known him much valuable assistance has been received example may not be the less welcome or the less in the complexion of his sanctity , nothing of com- devoted himself with the single-hearted and passionate vi . For his materials the writer has had access to most --- Page 7 --- It should be so - this is the highest life of man . ' passionist And the rationalist writer of them-albeit he was a The " Forgotten Worthies , with reference to whom fruits of a well-spent life : and surrounded by his with blessings . God forbid we should not call it with the subject of the present biographical sketch . follows this side the grave : which the grave gaps with bleeding feet and aching brow : the life of which In the old man nature has fulfilled her work : she the Cross is the symbol : a battle which no peace children and his children's children she rocks him beautiful . It is beautiful , but not the most beautiful . ping mellow autumn of a rich and glorious summer . early days-enters the Army softly away to the grave , to which he is followed There is another life , hard , rough , and thorny , trodden chapter I , to above words were written , had little in common loads him with her blessings : she fills him with the BRAUTIFUL is old age-beautiful as the slow-drop- to finish before the victory is won : and-strange th Paul Mary Pakenham page . 59 . viii . --- Page 8 --- of Ireland and similar institutions of Irish Protestant through the golden haze of romance , may well have Beauchamp . He was closely related to the great Duke pox , he felt it his duty to marry her . The marriage of Wellington , the hero of Waterloo , by the romantic , interval to have her beauty sadly married by small- finding that the lady had had the misfortune in the Charlotte Lygon , daughter of William , first Earl took place in 1806 , and the whole incident , seen India ; on his return , after the lapse of ten years , loveliest of Moore's Melodies . In his early days as man . It is a fact not generally known , but for which there is excellent authority . that this marriage fur- for the Netherlands in 1794 , and subsequently for though in the event not very happy , marriage of his side-de-camp in Dublin the future Duke had met inspired the beautiful lines first published in the aunt , Lady Katherine Pakenham , with that celebrated Square ) , Dublin , on the 21st September , 1821 . By apparently paid marked attention to her . He left nished the inspiration for one of the best known and Lady Katherine at Castle entertainments and had at Longford House , 10 Rutland Square ( now Parnell nourious irony of time and chance the house later following year : With such advantages of lineage and relationship United Kingdom . His mother was Georgiana Emma Would entwine itself verdantly still . served as the " premises of the Grand Orange Lodge Like fairy gifts fading away , Charles Reginald Pakenham was born into the world believe me if all those endearing young charms And around the dear ruin each of my heart Which I gaze on so fondly to-day , Let they lovediness fade as it will , early days-enters the Army 3 Were to fail by to-morrow and fleet in my arms , you wouldn't still be adored as this moment thou art , Let they lovediness fade as it will . --- Page 9 --- indelibly fixed " upon my memory . Poor Pakenham ! wards left the Congregation through ill-health , and animated face , his mortified yet affable manner , his light , spare form in the austere habit of the Passionists Wilfrid's Retreat , Staffordshire . His gentle but by my bedside in the long Gothic infirmary of St. to know many parts of his early career which are are not easily forgotten , and when one heard his words , How well I can remember his appearance as he sat him in after life . It has been stated in several printed so full of piety , of sense , and even of lively wit at who , while labouring as a secular priest in Australia , turning my attention to other things . Thus I came averse , " says this authority , " to speak of his former my pains and begun the weary sleepless hours by fellow-novices , Father Tenison Woods , ' who after- with a tedious illness , and he used to make me forget life . He would have made no exception in my case infirmation at a time when I chanced to be laid up notices of his life that he was subsequently entered wrote a short sketch of Father Pakenham's life for an as being at this time a shy , gentle boy , distinguished Australian Catholic magazine . " He was naturally but for one circumstance . He was for some months duty which were so conspicuously characteristic of rooms to have remained some years . He is described the heart as upon the recollection . ' already by that conscientiousness and devotion to times , he soon came to be as much impressed upon paratory school at Richmond in Surrey , where he at Winchester College , then , as now , one of the most received the first elements of education . Here he one in great part to the recollections of one of his While still very young Charles was sent to a pre- Conison Woods we shall incorporate in the present narrative . All that we have found trustworthy in the sketch by Father early days-enters the Army 5 --- Page 10 --- are given . On the other hand , he is quoted ( with Lieutenant in the regiment which he had joined , and coals . " Be this as it may , his residence at " courtly name is absent , though those of three of his brothers marked by rapid promotion , need only be briefly was obliged , as a matter of form , to make the voyage out to the West Indies , where he remained , however , outlined . On the 12th October , 1841 , he became only a few weeks . The rest of his military career , and cloistral Winchester could scarcely have been Captain Pakenham his aide-de-camp . This appoint- 1839 ) was gazetted as ensign to the 72nd Regiment . early in 1846 obtained a captaincy in the 69th Foot . what accuracy we cannot say ) as speaking humorously On the 20th October of the same year he was trans- of his experience as a " flag at Winchester : " I learnt His regiment was at that time in Barbadoes , and he Guards . His uncle . Major-General Lyon , who at usual course of studies , and four years later ( 14th June , tinction , as the college records show , through the quite fourteen years of age . He passed with dis- twenty years ago , and from this also Charles Reginald's Sandhurst , on the 14th July , 1835 , before he was yet long enough to have exercised any great influence ferred as captain to the 1st Battalion of Grenadier nothing there but how to clean boots and carry up were indifferently kept up to 1836 , an index of the of the college . To supplement these Registers , which this period was Inspector-General of Cavalry , appointed the army , and he entered the Royal Military College , the choice of his parents destined him for a career in upon his character . Personal inclination as well as Commons " of the college was prepared some name does not appear on the Registers of the students ever , have failed to substantiate this statement . His famous of the English public schools . Inquiries , how- 3 . Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist --- Page 11 --- not one of them save French appears to have been German . Italian and Spanish are prominent among the company of those whose motto is written in the who and ointments , and let not the flower of the time two easy familiarity indicated with several languages Book of Wisdom : " Let us fill ourselves with costly philosophers , from French and English writers , infidel flowers of this kind could hardly ever have been of England : but also from German and Italian poets and the languages in which these notes are written : and to say mystical , turn of thought , or that they imply indexed by him on one of the last pages , they fell other than his mother tongue . Latin and French , his choice of extracts show a serious and devout , not and orthodox , Goethe , Schiller , Herder , Dante , Tasso , And it is not merely that the course of his reading and pass by us . ' Let us crown ourselves with roses before they also represent years of labour in which he acquired student at second-hand . Yet when all came to be they be withered : let no meadow escape our riot ! " Silvio Pellico , Rousseau , Voltaire , Gibbon , Locke , and soldier and student many hours of patient and conscientious study , but many others-all quoted in the original and with definite and accurate references . For he was no under a very few headings such as these : Devotion . innocence . Vanity of Earth . Pusev. as well as elder lights of the Church of Good Works . Use of Time . Martification . duty . Contempt of the World . The youth who spent his scant leisure in gathering Truth . conversion . Vocation . virtue . Modesty . charity . --- Page 12 --- laughingly lamented the fate that doomed the young his comrades roughly completed the picture by drawing a rope round the neck of the figure and a drawing , which hit off to the life the unenviable had probably forgotten all about the matter , one of hardly be worth mentioning were it not for the glimpse left presentment , " fumed and stormed at the insult tion of the two artists probably dispensed either from break passed unpunished . The undersigned collarborn- more than any other . " The gayest fellow in the follow-officers and perhaps soothed their feelings by characteristics of its subject , caused much merriment . and in due course demanded an investigation . Needless When Pakenham's back was turned , however , and he personality seems to have impressed his companions caricature himself , who , easily recognising his " counter- regiment " was the phrase in which an old brother rude representation of a gallows underneath . The drawing a caricature of their unpopular superior with malefactor dangling in mid-air was the victim of the the fact that the light-hearted , joyous side of his next person to look upon this unseenly portrayal of a making the amende honorable . And the incident would himself , Captain Pakenham , who among his other officers of the regiment in which he served had shown himself something of a martinet , and naturally came accomplishments sketched excellently , amused his to say , nothing came of it , and the harmless boyish incident or other in which this gentleman distinguished in for a good deal of odium . After some unpleasant It gives of the more human side of a very saintly charcoal on the white wall of the mess-room . The officer summed him up many years afterwards , as he That it was in its way characteristic is clear from man . lighter side of his character . One of the superior soldier and student --- Page 13 --- address singularly graceful and winning . He was soldier , a chevalier sans perr et sans reproche ; haunted , such dignity and sweetness in his regular features like another Sir Galahad , amid the activities and the Perhaps from the exalted heights which he reached in talents were of a high order , and his manner and tall and slight , very fair , and of fresh complexion . Tenison Woods , " as a promising and rising young towards him . He had everything in his favour . His innocent appearance , while there was something of Large , clear , and most expressive blue eyes , with light character almost the bean-ideal of the true Christian pleasures of his military calling , by visions and pre- fourth or twenty-fifth year " looked upon , " says distorted into the wild dissipation with which he after years , the harmless gaieties that after all could holy Grail . How well , had he but known it , he could officer whose uncle , ' The Duke , was well inclined brown curly hair , gave his face a most youthful and sentiments of higher things , beckoned onwards , whether have engaged but a small portion of his life , became unjustly reproached himself . he little dreamed as yet , by the awful light of the have made the words attributed to that hero his that one could not help respecting him at the first Such was Captain Pakenham about his twenty- guardsman to isolation from the world in a monastery . years proclaims him to have been both in person and All that we can gather of his life in those early 12 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist glance . ' own : - A light before me swims , I hear a noise of hymns : When down the stormy crescent goes , Between dark stems the forest glows , --- Page 14 --- we not have forfeited him because there was com- Pakenham's on the subject of Newman's conversion : other fear , but heard that he was prayed for by name in so many churches and religious houses on the fusion that seized upon their followers in the crisis . has so often been said , the Church of England received Witness the words of Pusey writing to a friend of pray earnestly for this object that he may be won to the Passionists in England . By his conversion , as Continent . The fear was suggested to me : If they who had come to fulfil the dream of his life by founding that God will give them whom they pray for-we a blow under which it peeled and from which it has be an instrument of God's glory among them , while among us there is so much indifference and in part dislike , may it not be that their prayers may be heard , shock to many earnest and devoted souls in the English followed by that of Ward , Oakley , Faber , St. John to rally the shattered forces of Anglicanism . But Church . They turned for light and guidance in their those able and devoted men seemed to share the con- the light dawned upon him , and on 8th October , 1845 , ' The first rang came to me wears ago when I had no never since recovered . His reception was speedily At length , after his much wavering and hesitation they not think that their prayers which they have he was admitted into the one Fold , at Littlemore , by the Venerable Father Dominic of the Mother of God , offered so long , at times , I think , night and day , or dark distress to Pusey and Keble , who did their best forfeit whom we desire to retain . And now must from thy bosom and finds no home within " thy arms ? " The loss of such a leader as Newman was a serious in the wake of the Tractarians 15 or deep in devotion , the flower and thv promise . falls at the Holy Eucharist , have been heard , and may and many other men of mark . --- Page 15 --- of Newman and his entrance into the one true Fold . meet the evils with which they were beset , that nothing staunch Protestants of the Irish type which has little know his true value . It may be a comfort to us that evitably have felt with all the keenness natural to a infuse life into their Church , and for this he looked drawn into the circle of the High Church party , and loss we could have had . They who have won him to one man , and that man was Newman . I cannot they do . In my deepest sorrow at the anticipation the Tractarians at Oxford . He must , therefore , in- sympathy with any Catholicizing tendencies - his uncle had followed with sympathetic interest the doings of to religious matters . Though all his family were religious and sensitive spirit such as his the crushing of our loss , I was told of the saving of one of our most because there was no one to wield it . ' eminent historians , who owned that nothing could since this was so , it seemed as if a sharp sword were could meet them but some movement which should sequence , began to turn his thoughts more seriously say what ray of comfort this speech started into me . Our Church has not known how to employ him . And was at the time Dean of St. Patrick's , Dublin-Charles , in the Church of England in the later forties of last disguise the greatness of this loss . It is the heaviest blow dealt to the Church of England by the secession 16 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist century when Captain Pakenham , perhaps as a con- hung up in the scabbard or hung up in the sanctuary , who had lived most of his life in England , had been paratively little love and prayer ? We ought not to This , then , in meagre outline , was the state of things --- Page 16 --- where the silvery prose of beautiful language is like Lady Katherine Freke ) , and seeing among other probably influenced by the conversion of Newman and days was perhaps not so barren of influence . Charles his followers . He began to have serious doubts about came one day into the room of his sister ( afterwards and manifested an eagerness by reading and discussion often used to tell the story of how he came by it . his position as a member of the Church of England , young soldier , the promise at least was prophetic . notice in 1846 , and as we have already said , was Virgin , asked her the meaning of it . here : I will give it to you if you promise not to trinkets on her table a little silver medal of the Blessed admirer of Newman , and now began to read his works Who can say how much it contributed to his con- to find out the truth . He had always been an ardent Ireland he was a Catholic and a priest of the Con- gregation of the Passion . assiduously , particularly the " Parochial and Plain Sermons " - those mournful sighings for better things . Well , Charles , " she said , " a French lady left it to the word , " I will wear it to disprove what they Well then , " he said , at once suiting the action The change in his religious attitude made itself When Charles Reginald Pakenham next returned to Another incident which happened in those early met . If the discussion had little influence on the 18 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist did so he would be of a different mind when next they He wore that medal till the day of his death , and " Why not ? " he asked . Oh , they say that all who wear these medals version ? become Romanists . ' wear it . ' say . ' --- Page 17 --- intimacy soon sprang up . The young officer adopted Mr. Richards as his spiritual director , frequently went lices , under the guidance of Mr. Richards , his uneasiness that when he had finished it he made it his business about his spiritual position in the Church of England to confession to him , became by his advice a regular pruolloos of Anglicanism . And the more he studied In these he found many things which it puzzled both encouraged by the same spiritual guide , to the practice cussions he had with his friend brought him no to purchase the other ascetical works of St. Alphonsus . Margaret Chapel . But his religious exercises were not resident opened for him a way to the light . Mr. mlightenment . He was so captivated by the book communicant , and was constant in his attendance at permanent peace . At last what seemed a mere confined to church : he devoted himself with a sisbury , of mental prayer , choosing for that purpose passages advised him to read it for his further instruction and increased rather than diminished . The many dis- him and his guide to reconcile with the principles and in his day , between whom and Pakenham a close introduced to the clergyman who had just officiated . excellent way " of meditating on the Passion of Our Catholic ideas and accustom himself to Catholic prac- from a book which was always a favourite with him . Mr. Richards was the first to teach him the " more This was the Rev. Upton Richards , a well-known man The Spirit of St. Alphonsus Liquori " apparently Richards one day gave him a little book entitled and saw there , and , after the service , asked to be a collection of extracts from the Saint's works - and As Captain Pakenham began rapidly to assimilate The Imitation of Christ . " And it is even said that Captain Pakenham was much struck by what he heard Lord . admission into the one fold ? --- Page 18 --- Pakonham as it did that of many others . A mind so vent to Hastings and was received into the Catholic committee to dogmatic religion could hardly have of England , probably hastened the conversion of human wisdom by the gift of which , while earthly overwriting save the inheritance of Christ . that super- remained unmoved by that judgment and the con- of Elijah , and making himself a path through them this year that the light of truth fully broke upon him . Hovory it aroused . ' Be that as it may , it was in Union I could admire : before I acknowledged thy claims I could see that undaunted spirit which could resign and told him that he had decided to seek admission be held to be one of the doctrines of the Church He visited Mr. Richards , probably for the last time , found , yet be it given me to pass under thy protection mates have had ' single conquerors or legislators , a which is with thee . O too long sought and too late Charlomagne here , a Philippe Auguste there : in Rome more from the fold , but to find the Chair of the Chief Council decided that baptismal regeneration need not the waters of the food again and again with the mantle corono regions of truth , apart from doubt and the long many of uncertain years . Yet before I understood on the dry land . But now I see that the God of the short remains of this troubled life , to wander no alone the spiritual ruler has dealt for ages , smiting to the Church of Rome . The answer was characteristic . my youth ; who shouldn't have brought me up in the Shephord to be indeed the " Shadow of a great Rock The Glorham Judgment in 1850 by which the Privy Well , " said his spiritual director , " of course it is makes to try to stay in the Church if you have lost faith in her system . " And so they parted . In a weary land . ' A low days afterwards Captain Pakenham again admission into the one fold 23 --- Page 19 --- on the margin of one of his favourite books of spiritual how couldist thou face the tribunal of persecutors ? overt what she regarded as a dire calamity . The have needed that salutary reminder . The need was of the Church . His family were deeply pinned at the had not been remarkable for steadiness of life , was rending . If thou canst not brook the look of relatives , cold surprise and mistrust of those dearest to him mucky greater now that he had crossed the threshold one of mingled contempt and amazement . We have lomely and could not conceal her distress ; it is question- made the narrow way he trod lonelier and more diffi- Captain Pakenham was fond of calling to mind - we allitude of his eldest brother , Lord Longford , who able , Indeed , whether she ever saw him again . The will , his sensitive and affectionate nature may doubtless The call to higher things chapter V And it copied in his commonplace-book and pencilled Trump is a sentence of St. Jerome to Demetrius which had come into the family title and property early , and already soon how his favourite sister had striven to step he had taken . His mother in especially felt it in- During the latter days of his Anglican life , when the 25 --- Page 20 --- working light on the subject of his location or simply but the more lasting impression received alike by the with the general view of his spiritual advancement is exercises until the ensuing Holy-week . Whether he made by the deep , manly , and unaffected piety of him mind . On the Wednesday of Holy Week he sought entored on this retreat with the definite object of complied with , though he did not begin the religious Volawolds . The nearest Catholic church at the time unizement , begged to be admitted a novice , a lay house . Spring Hill , in Worcestershire . Together they Passionist house at Broadway , and at his invitation to make a lengthened stay at General Lygon's country lived a quick seduded life there in the shadow of the Only a short time elapsed before he became acquainted was that of the Passionists , in the village of Broadway , congregation and the religious community was that not known ; but certain it is that in the course of his retreat a very definite resolution took shape in his paid several visits to the community , gaining the retreat in the monastery . His request was immediately Union miles distant , and thither Pakenham went religious duties . The presence of the tall , handsome with Father Vincent Grotti , then Superior of the of villagers that attended the humble little church ; whom they soon began familiarly to call " The Captain . ' he took his place Sunday by Sunday among the handful Vincent and asked leave to make a few days' spiritual regularly to assist at Mass and discharge his other conversation . an interview with the superior and , to Father Vincent's alllections of all by the charm of his manner and thing of a sensation in this quiet , old-world spot as On Ash Wednesday , 1851 , he waited on Father young guardsman , so recent a convert , created some- The call to higher things shortly after his reception into the Church . went down --- Page 21 --- he was advised to study carefully , while at the same bodily comforts and break through all his previous been accustomed made him , in Father Vincent's the last he should think of joining ; the austerity of habits of life , he answered namely that it was not judgment , a very unsuitable subject for the religious that among the Passionists he must bid farewell to fire of his zeal . To good Father Vincent's warning be proved by a more strict and prolonged trial . " All his constitution and the sort of life to which he had once with a very decided refusal . The delicacy of still fearing that his bodily strength might be unequal Vincent urged him to turn his thoughts to other institutes the Congregation of the Passion was one of life . He was reminded , moreover , that of all religious to bearing the yoke of the Passionist rule . Father presented to him in somewhat lurid and exaggerated the further initial difficulty that the rule of St. Paul colours apparently , would be for such as he an almost the life and the strictness of the rule , which were re- comforts he was seeking , since he had abundance of these difficulties seemed to the fervent postulant purely could similarly consecrate his life to the service of God . But his determination to become a Passionist imaginary ; at the best , they but served as fuel to the resisted every argument to the contrary that the into the Congregation of the Passion . He met at of the Cross enjoined that " one of noble family should superior's ingenuity could suggest . Accordingly he was presented with a copy of the Rules and Con- institutes less austere , mentioning several in which he unbearable burden . And in his case there would be them at home . Seeing him bent on entering the religious state , and stitutions of the Congregation of the Passion , which brother-he did not dream of becoming a priest- 28 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist --- Page 22 --- who love you , and for a mere foolish fancy which you in the consolidated funds and yielding an annuity of He was already mad . Some tried entreaty with him ; exterior of the man viewed his proceedings with alarm : he would bring disgrace on his family : he would kill himself : he would die in a lunatic asylum : of their age and experience he had been accustomed quixotism , and said that he would soon regret his the iron will that lay beneath the calm and placid onsused in charitable work which had a special attack- took the matter lightly , laughed as at a bit of whimsical to look for counsel in the past , now took him in hand others , quiet reasoning . Friends to whom by reason come ETO he afterwards transferred to the Provincial cannot expect your family to acknowledge you , if you hasty resolution . The many who fully recognized and admonished him on the rashness and folly of his Non for him . A comparatively small sum invested enters the Passionist Novitiate 31 of women ( then struggling with their early difficulties ) higher things . Some few who knew him less intimately persist in such conduct even your inferiors will despite mifying life in the world , " they said , " why not con- undertaking . " You have always led a regular and bonuding himself of all worldly things his friends school for the Catholic children of Broadway . doing good , if you will only use them : why throw all made no secret of the meaning of it : told them with away and busy yourself in a living tomb ? You all the old charm of manner of the call he had felt to you . You are inflicting the most cruel pain on all In charity , the bulk of it going to a religious institute looked on with something like consternation . He lime to do so ? You have vast opportunities for of the Passionists for the maintenance of a village other effects . The money thus realized he distributed While he was engaged in this process of summarily --- Page 23 --- would close on his boy , in a last pathetic effort to and sucked his heart with anguish all the long solitary journey from London to Spring Hill . Nature seemed message from the court of God began to be as the at length to prevail over grace in the weary struggle , Indeed unable to conform to the rules of the Order ? up his position and foregoing his prospects , perhaps of a kindred nature beset him like so many evil spirits , night , and was he wrong , after all ? What if he were drouded to meet-these and myriad other thoughts unuso to the dear and generous uncle whom he now donrest relatives , the heart-break he would be sure to father to Charles , and who , indeed , loved him with and the vocation which he had welcomed as a high unwood him the contest suffering . Were his friends return to the world ? He had been so happy in the What it his strength broke down under the strict con- mutterings of some unholy spell to which he could to chase after a possibly unattainable ideal ? Then ventual discipline ? Had he been wise in throwing ENTERS THE PASSIONIST NOVITIATE 33 who pain and humiliation he was inflicting on his most of the few days that remained before the doors been better to content himself , humbly following the all the tenderness of a devoted parent , had recovered now returned to his mind in their collective force and only to cut a ludicrous and sorry figure on his enforced from the almost dazed condition into which the shock now-found grace of Catholicism ; would it not have his notice individually during the foregoing few days , not close his ears . of the grey monastery below on the village outskirts . beaton track with the common faithful , rather than him . He took heart of grace again and made the Ligyon , who , as we have said , acted the part of a of his nephew's first announcement seemed to cast But his sternest trial was yet to come . ' General --- Page 24 --- before he begged his nephew on bonded knee to allow That was their parting . lulilly of further expostulation , not , indeed , it is said , him't to weigh with him before taking the final step . It was the last cast , and it failed . No more was said , addressed to him : " If thou will be perfect go sell compassion for the lonely old age of one who so loved who words of Christ : " He that loveth father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me " ; and he an they all ended , with the old man's snapping out your present folly . ' will , that , much as he loved his uncle , he had to regard like their many previous ones to nothing , and ending , and for the short time that remained both tried as General Lygon came , in the end , to recognise the Broudway . At the monastery gates Pakenham dis- moved duty to respond to what he believed a divine come short , sharp expression of disapproval . And so the warisome discussion went on , leading had felt that the invitation of Christ was personally only by a groom . They headed their horses for what thou hast and give to the poor , and come and mounted and sent back his horse in care of the groom , with an affectionate note bidding farewell to his uncle . To this Charles had but one reply , that he felt it a best they might to master their sorrow . enters the Passionist Novitiate 35 Pakenham rode out of the park gates , accompanied Then , one Saturday afternoon , early in May , Captain But surely , " the General demonstrated , " the follow life . ' The struggle , however , was now nearly over ; even in a ditch . ' aviour could not have meant that for such as ' you ! ' four in Italy and Greece . Well , go now and give up your . You often said you would like to make a long Mark my words , boy , " he would say , ' you'll die --- Page 25 --- chapter VI . postulant " on his arrival at the novitiate house as for all his splendid courage and his fidelity to grace , is " not of him that Wilhelm nor of him that runneth , yet to endure . You may judge what he must have and seemed like one benefit of consciousness . But all ness sake , Charles , " she had said , " get married as soon spiritual and emotional conflicts through which he mood to sing his " Nunc Dimittis " to the world . He one of his sisters shortly after his reception into the master of novices , in some notes left concerning his first days as a novice sainly charge , describes the condition of " the poor had recently passed . " He was scarcely able to speak as you can or you'll end by becoming a monk . ' But , was still to learn the lesson that vocation , as conversion , as a Passionist . The prophetic menace uttered by Thus unceremoniously began Captain Pakenham's life ine of almost complete prostration by reason of the out of God that sheweth mercy " ( Rom. in. 16 ) . His 37 . his was little in comparison with the pain he had is first experience of the religious life found him in no Murch now seemed sufficiently justified . " For good- --- Page 26 --- officer's life . Nor did his high estate give any ground on which exemption might be looked for : rather the now was , should be admitted to receive the habit of roprehended , particularly in the refactory , " to " eat sometimes upon the floor , " I and the like , now entered his opinion the postulant was called into the chapter- to Broadway , and the priests of the community ) was Let one of noble family be proved by a more strict kitchen , sweep the house , and give other proofs of the Congregation . When the Fathers had each given contrary . " Let no regard be had of any person , ' Christian humility and patience " ... to be ' publicly chapter ( consisting of the Provincial , then on a visit duly considered everything and the more he knew of the rule directs . " whatever may be his condition . of which he replied satisfactorily , adding that he " had into the common round of the erstwhile brilliant young posed by the rule of the Congregation on its postulants after the ten days' retreat prescribed by rule , which convoked to consider whether Brother Charles , as he to be in favour of his receiving the habit . Accordingly , of daily mental work interspersed with prayer , im- room and asked the usual pointed questions : to all and prolonged trial . " After several days spent ballot was then taken and all the suffrages were found the institute the more he was charming with it . " A in these exercises , his sincerity and pity having been noon to emerge successfully from the ordeal , the local and novices . To " wash the dishes , serve in the first days as a novice Meanwhile he was subjected to the ordinary routine There was I found by One Who had Himself With gentle force soliciting the darts , been hurt by th' archers . In His Side He bore And in His Hands and Feet the cruel Scars . He drew them forth , and heald and bade me live . 1 Rule , Chapter VI . --- Page 27 --- and obscurity , unknown and unregarded by the world his happy lot , and that he would gladly follow his renunciation of the central figure in it . " On the novices were brought to Dr. Manning's room a few by his superiors , ordered it otherwise . " When the Brother Charles , we are told , in words of great en- days later to bid him good-bye , in the kindly words he spoke to them he addressed himself particularly to his love of the humbler state and the completes the black habit of the Passionists by Father Vincent service in the sacred ministry . But so ardent was ment gave hopes of his being able to render excellent affected by the scene , and by the devoted self- example had not the Divine Will , manifested to him orable in the life of Father Pakenham , was another with which the fervent novice made the obligation of manual labour , while his superior education and judg- who was at that time making the spiritual exercises to the Congregation he begged in his humility to be Grotti on the morning of Thursday , 22nd May , 1851 . sacrifice , so deep his desire to live and die in poverty himself to God . He told me he envied very much eminent convert , who seems to have been deeply tion , being present , was much moved by the devotion (in our house at Broadway ) preparatory to his ordina- when Captain Pakenham first applied for admission couragement , which were ever afterwards remembered moment's hesitation in denying him this request . His Salvian , the master of novinces , " the Rev. Dr. Manning , Among those who witnessed that ceremony , so mem- by him with gratitude . occasion of his clothing , " again to quote Father delicate constitution would have unfitted him for hard 40 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist received as a lay brother . The superiors had not a As already mentioned in the course of this narrative , he made with exemplary fervour . he was invested in --- Page 28 --- saluted him somewhat jaundily with " How d've do , was well acquainted was leaving the monastery after him and then Lady Campden , both of whom would have entered into friendly chat with him , smilingly cared little whether people thought him odd or obedience . Once , too , when a priest with whom he the present Marquis of Exeter , his brother-in-law . making a retreat , and , changing to meet him in the Campden's visit , when Charles happening to meet first corridor , bade him good-bye , Charles shook him warmly There were also many other visitors whose names I have forgotten . The General ( Lygon ) sent presents gave them to understand that his lips were sealed by conservatory , which was hard by , but of course the by the hand , but maintained absolute silence . He out of number to his nephew : but Charles would never till released from it for the time being by his superiors . wearing their religious dress as usual , a gentleman look at them , but desired them all to be placed at invitation was declined . The groom actually wept as he rode away , for he was an old and faithful servant , scrupulous in his observance ; no human consideration above the conduct of Brother Charles was always the these . One day as the novice's were walking out , The master of novinces mentions the instance of Viscount same : he observed the novitiate rule of silence rigidly but Brother Charles talked on as cheerfully as ever . monk . He came to ask us to go into the General's would induce him to violate his rule , even in the Not all his meetings , however , were as pleasant as . Lord Campden came to see him once , and I think passed " who had known Charles in other days , and smallest detail . the disposal of the community . ' strangely impressed as he listened to the bare-footed first days as a novice . On occasion of the chance encounters referred to --- Page 29 --- God . She must not be discouraged or abandon her to be an Italian copy of ' The Imitation of Christ ' : that the passages thus marked all treated of self-denial warmly greeting each other they retired into the house . underlined with lead pencil . On examination I found visit , which throws an interesting side-light on the from his pocket a little volume , gave it to me . He I do not know what the uncle's feelings must have been in seeing his nephew for the first time clad in the long spiritual life and character of Charles : " Before we to pass the time . Charles said he had one , and taking in the embraces of his kind old friend . After this and found them pencilled similarly to ' The Imitation , ' and of carrying the cross with humility and resignation . reached the house , he perceived his uncle coming to then left , and after a few moments I saw him locked I perceived that in many places it was very much leathern girdle , and sandalled feet : I know I could expressing a wish that I had some book to enable me appeared and , warm adieux being exchanged on both After half-an-hour the uncle and nephew re- sides , they parted . rough tunic of the Passionist , with broad felt hat , him to the house . I gladly promised to wait for him , meet him , and fearing last I should receive any slight not , myself , refrain from reflecting on the total trans- especially the sixth chapter of ' The Spiritual Combat ' : have caused him the deepest pain , he delicately antici- formation of the young man . pated my wishes by not pressing me to go up with spiritual books Charles had brought to the novitiate course accompanied him ) gives a short note of the or be occasioned the least embarrassment , which would Left to myself I opened the book and found it first days as a novice . Some weeks afterwards I was looking through the e.1. " The soul must not fail to place her confidence in --- Page 30 --- to their own views . " the enemy . ' 46 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist favourite and constant pocket companions were Italian herself to new fervour and redouble her efforts against editions , as he knew that some Protestants endeavoured to improve and accommodate those beautiful works spiritual works : on the contrary , she ought to excite and ' The Imitation of Christ ' which were Charles's I must mention that ' The Spiritual Combat ' his daily rapid growth in holiness and in the spirit filled with the hundred little details of work and prayer that here at least the world was very far away indeed . on the quiet landscape still glimmering under the soft as he knelt for a last word of thanksgiving to God as some heaven-sent dream : and , as the novice retired camp-bed truly , with its pallet and pillow of coarse the peace of his beautiful soul . " How little I have and touch , but sufficient for the short repose of five chapter VIII . and innocent recreation , fitted by lightly and pleasantly and to another day in this campaign of the spirit . and mystic light of departing day , he must have felt given up for so much ! " was his thought each evening putting on the armour of God straw and its poor covering , was rough indeed to eye The first months of Brother Charles's novitiate passed without further noteworthy incident , marked only by to his cell after the evening prayer and glanced out of his new-found vacation . The long summer days , before composing himself to rest . The narrow bed , a The quietude and beauty of his surroundings mirrored sours before the midnight bell summoned him to nations 47 --- Page 31 --- sense : fresh arguments were adduced to shake his were at least partially justified . His uncle . General but the patient's general health was much impaired with fresh hopes of his return to the world and torment came was a most affecting one . Seeing his nephew , the eyes he did not consider of very great consequence , invited to visit him . The scene when the old man him by a renewal of their assaults on his vacation . superiors and so procure his dismissal . His anxieties Perhaps they would even bring pressure to bear on his gregation , or that , failing this , his relatives hearing of his illness and gaining access to him , would be inspired and some functional disorder of the heart threatened from Cheltenham , who , on examining Charles , made In the long . lonely watches of his tedious illness he a somewhat alarming report . The inflammation of had been haunted by the thought that his break-down putting on the armour of God 49 Lygon , was informed of his serious condition , and whom he held dearer than a son , reduced to such a serious results . A change of air was imperative as state of weakness and prostitution , he was unable to speak , and silently shed tears . Charles did his best soon as the invalid could be safely removed . would result in his being dismissed from the Con- illness which determined the superiors to seek further and the moment which he so greatly dreaded soon came . Renewed appeals were addressed to his common But he made little impression on his devoted relative . at it , but the religious who were present could not help seeing how greatly he suffered . Possibly it was medical advice . They called in an eminent physician to put a brave face on matters . making light of his this blunder no less than the long continuance of his much pain and inconvenience ; Charles only laughed illness and talking and laughing with gay nonchalance . His worst fears seemed now about to be realized . --- Page 32 --- the community , and especially to his young com- him for the touching mystery of Divine Love it com- memorates . When his request was granted , the joy munity life . He was especially anxious to be at home then we said the Rosary and retired to bed . " Brother although yet far from well , begged with great eager- devoted another half hour to spiritual reading . At the appointed time we recited Compline , after which simplicity andfulness : and his cup of happiness was in time to take part in the novena in preparation for ensconced in the holy and peaceful solitude of the of his heart was almost childlike in its ingenious we made together an hour's meditation . ' After supper hour . Then Brother Charles said Vespers , and we Christmas , a festival which was a great favourite with chair formed by himself and his information . putting on the armour of God 51 recitation of the Divine Office : but judging from this account the probability is that he recited all the we spent three-quarters of an hour in recreation and ness to be allowed to return to Broadway and com- Charles was , of course , in no sense bound to the were given to recreation , which time having expired , Cheltenham . ) . Afterwards , if the weather and brother we observed a rigorous silence for the space of one fasted , and he made spiritual reading for half an hour . monastery , Matins and Lauds being said privately as ( Mass could be attended only " on Sundays at and None , and after dinner three-quarters of an hour canonical hours daily during his absence from the full indeed when he found himself once more safely time in the garden . Before dinner he recited Sept distinguished from the hours recited in the quasi- Charles's health permitted , we walked for a short novitiate . But the joy was not all on his side : to After some weeks' stay at Cheltenham , Charles , Tierce , whilst I said my usual prayers : we then break- --- Page 33 --- that he would one day do great work for God and bearance must have been frequently put to the test : of his virtues together with his fine talents gave promise brethren indeed he was already regarded as a saint : might have felt as to the prudence of admitting him while the nobility of his character and the eminence to his religious profession . On any other score than that it relieved his superiors of any hesitation they souls as a priest of the Congregation of the Passion . that of health there was no room for doubt . By his gences usually accorded to the sick . Though always bered that his fellow-novices were all young , scarcely his favour . His superior was often obliged to com- life , it will readily be understood that living in their conclude this chapter . Of these none glowed with would induce him to avail himself of the little indul- brighter lustre than his charity . When it is remem- given their youth and energy to God's service and not him both in the novitiate and in after life may fitly midst continually he had often to make very large delicate , he abhorred having any distinction made in to be made it should be in favour of those who have mand him when ill to make use of the more nourishing improvement in his health was on the whole so marked A few words on the virtues which most distinguished diet provided for him . His own desire was in every respect and in all circumstances to conform to the he would sometimes say , " and if any distinction is half his age , and drawn from a far different sphere of common use of the community . " I am a Passionist , " putting on the armour of God 53 allowances . Their tastes and habits of mind were in As the time of his probation drew to its close , the to one like me who has come into the monastery quite little harmony with his , and his patience and for- tired of the world . ' told the tale he strove to conceal . Only obedience --- Page 34 --- avoid those topics which might bring such matters up making choice of anything for his own use , he always it is said , his compassion for the poor was so great that close the meanest things available , the poorest habit , in the world ; on the contrary , he seemed studios to putting on the armour of God 55 in conversation . When he had the opportunity of he was known to dispense in alms all the ready money willingly to allude to his former position and standing Poor in fact , he was poor in spirit also . It was his which characterized him while still in the world , when , himself with utmost literalness those words of Christ : burned in his heart , and which made him take to outcome , the overflowing of that love of God which he could refuse them nothing : and often when travelling acquired thing . ' It was simply of a piece with that to say his charity for his fellows was no new or suddenly everything tried to anticipate his patient's wishes . was so intense and so marked : for it was but the and come , follow Mr. ' deep spirit of humility . He was never once heard menial duties that fall to the lot of a nurse , and in he happened to have with him , thus exposing himself the smallest and most uninviting scraps of bread at Yet so unostentatiously and with such a grace and to grave inconvenience . No wonder indeed that his charity to his neighbour Sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor ... . arranged his room , made his bed , did all the most cheerfulness was all this done , that he gave the im- collation , things passed over or rejected by others as pression of one receiving rather than conferring a We need not tire the reader with instances . Suffice Hand in hand with this beautiful charity went a His love of holy poverty was equally noticeable . favour . useless or unworthy of notice . --- Page 35 --- outpouring of a heart that owed everything to her . indeed to hear him speak of her . It was the grateful which he had long believed rather perhaps from the to the Immaculate Heart of Mary , and Brother Charles formally questioned as to his resolution to consecrate , There was a novice there who had a great devotion beautiful Mother with a tender devotion . It was sweet his love did not want when , a Catholic and a religious , ardour of his wish that such a blessed thing could be with great humility used to ask him to teach him the following day . Need we say that the ardour of think of the Mother of Jesus but as the Mother of he possessed with the fullness of assured faith that most and practised faithfully throughout his religious a true son of Mary , " we are told , " and loved our for how often with religious people outside the fold than from any deep-seated conviction of its truth- Virgin . Devoted Passionist as he was , he could hardly Body that he used to fast from six o'clock on the eve his reverence for what he regarded as Our Lord's Sorrows standing by the Cross of her Son . " He was of the day he received Communion until a late hour life was that in honour of the Sorrows of the Blessed Mother of God . One of the devotions which he loved warfare to which he had dedicated his life . As the something of this " devotion , and would listen with himself in putting on the armour of God for that new mysteries was strange , surely , in so recent a convert intensity . Even in his Anglican days , so great was affectionate interest to all that was told him . " time for his profession drew on and he was again So the days of his novitiate passed while he busied does not the wish seem father to the thought ? And next to his devotion to Our Lord in these divine from Protestantism - his love and reverence for the putting on the armour of God 57 His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was of rare --- Page 36 --- his occasion . Accordingly , the 23rd May. 1852 , was energy and modest confidence that no doubt could himself to God , he replied with such firmness , such appointed as the date of his religious profession . 58 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist e entertained of the sincerity and thoroughness of so frequently made in spirit , the rapt intensity of his ( Luke xii . 50 ) . But far from being overcast with the first Calvary , his heart sang and made melody to Often he had anticipated that sacrifice during his had already merited the reward exceeding great . His proached when he was to make formally and publicly Religious profession and student life fervour was like that of one whose perfect renunciation how am I straitened until it be accomplished ' sacrifice . And the last ten days of his novitiato were crucifixion implied in the religious profession : " " I God for joy of the sacrifice he was so soon to offer . to its consumption : and now that the time ap- spent sedulously perfecting for his soul , in the silence the Cross that Charles looked forward to the mystic that entire surrender of himself to God " which " he had and prayer of retreat , the precious wedding-garment- have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized , and It was with a longing like his Divine Master's for chapter in any such mournful shadows as were insepar from profession was in truth to him a bridal rather than a the " fine linen , glittering and white " - in which it novitiate days by the eagerness with which he inspired 59 . --- Page 37 --- picturesque spot with its graceful cluster of buildings , Mother of God , it is said , once jokingly suggested effectual effort to found the " Congregation of the Will and protected on the north and east by the sheltering Cotton Hall , with several acres of land adjoining it , HERE Father Faber made his well-intentioned but in- known as Cotton Hall ) , Oakamoor , Staffordshire , which his companions in 1846 by the then Earl of Shrewsbury . woodlands in the deep-breasted valley of the Churnet . its ample lawns and spacious gardens , set among the of God . " which his friend . Venerable Dominic of the a pleasing though in parts somewhat fanciful sketch Pakenham again , " writes Father Tenison Woods , in of their life at St. Wilfrid's , " after he had made his arms of the Weaver Hills . " It was here that I saw had both of us read some philosophy before we entered should be called the " Congregation of the Will of then served as a house of studies for the Passionists . had been given as a residence to Father Faber and rows , when we commenced our studies together . We lying almost derelict for two years more , the property the Order , and therefore did not follow the usual course . Will of God amalgamated with the Oratory , and , after passed into the hands of the Passionists . It was a Faber . " In less than two years the Brothers of the Passionist : those of Poverty , Chastity , and Obedience , knowledge and love of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus with the fourth and distinctive row of the Congregation of the Passion , to promote among the faithful the in the hands of his superior , he pronounced in clear and fervent tones the four vows which made him a A week after his profession , on the 1st June , 1852 , Charles was sent to St. Wilfrid's Retreat ( formerly line of his face and form . ' There kneeling , his hands Our life in the house of study was something like that christ . Profession , and student life , 61 --- Page 38 --- prayers . On the evening of Charles's arrival from ailment I shall end by doing nothing at all for my very long at best , and if I take notice of every little more palatable , but he would do so only when his short of plausible reasons against yielding to their word of a superior was of course law , but when others and to take things a little more easily . he was never He was often pressed to take a little of what was with affectionate solicitude urged him to have a care appetite , ' he would urge , ' and if I give it the upper students a good deal of uneasiness . With him the time in the world . " In every detail of the religious gentle importunities . " What does it matter " I he this unless in watching his totering step or difficult observance , whether of the day or night , he was exact hand I shall get no peace . The only way to conquer the plainest and poorest of what was put before him . disregard of everything conducive to bodily ease and breathing ... . He used to eat very little , and only would say with a smile . " You know I cannot live and punctual to a degree . The only instance of the comfort , gave both his superiors and his fellow- semblance of a fault in this respect is one which but abstinence attracted attention . ' I have a " treacherous serves to set in clearer light his humility and love of mortification . It enhanced that the rector of St. Wilfrid's had more than once admonished the students to observe punctuality in ringing the bell for night the devil when he trys to bring back by gone days is because of his heart trouble , but no one could tell about it , his abhorrence of singularity , and his total His health , indeed , especially in view of his reference him . His work was generally above his strength . for he would try to do it no matter what it might cost to curb my appetite . ' the effect of any order or employment he gave him , Profession , and student life , 63 . --- Page 39 --- in the studies of his companions were very wonderful work with all the vigour and earnestness of an en- learning was rapid and brilliant . Not that he had no ments major inter acquales . Yet he was to all appear- inexperienced opponents . He laboured , in a word , and assiduity which were the wonder of his companions , under the disadvantage of being in mind and attain- it was above all because he regarded them as an disputations he had need of much patience and fact every moment at his free disposal was given to his in face of the enthusiasm and excitement of young and ances unconscious of this : he threw himself into his difficulties to encounter : his age and his previous thusiast . His industry was untiring and incessant : additional means to the great end . His progress in ties of scholastic philosophy . Then by the necessities of the case he was unequally yoked : his fellow-students through Goudin or Roselli could not have been attended with great interest for him . In the customary weekly were much his juniors in years , as they were probably Charles , as with the saints , every day was counted lost studies . So much indeed was this the case that his training rather tended to blunt his taste for the subtle- rapid progress was sometimes thought due rather to just as a shining light goeth forward and increaseth his inferiors in ability . Their slow and painful plodding unto perfect day " ( Prov. iv. 18 ) - and with Brother that did not bring him a step nearer to the perfection his intense application than to his quickness or ability . ordinated , and if he pursued his studies with an ardour at which he aimed . To this everything was sub- acteristic of his life as a student . " The path of the His facility , simplicity , and the real interest he took again the welcome testimony of Father Tenison Woods : Of his character and conduct as a student we have distinguished him in the novitiate were equally char- Profession , and student life , 65 --- Page 40 --- moment to rest upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus as relinquish every other intellectual pursuit for his opinion he qualified it by defering to the judgment studies , but in this I believe he was actuated by a since" desire to detach himself from everything but There was great perfection in this , which will only ful self-control which showed itself upon his face , but word , a winning smile , or some little act of kindness . what would make him fit for his duties as a priest . the temper or excitement of his younger companions , of the Father Lector . ' . We wondered to see him smiling face and go cheerfully through the lesson . of health it must have been very difficult for him to Owing to his steady perseverance he perhaps made He was always lively , cheering others on with a kind he always tried calmly to point out what was right to more progress than any of the others , and thus he the cherished pursuits of a lifetime for things com- be understood by those who have like him changed put the matter aside with some slight pleasantry . study at times , especially in winter when the monastery pletely new and for the glory of God . He was careful especially in matters of dispute . This required wonder- ... He had to suffer many little inconveniences from was looked up to in class : yet whenever he gave his was cold and damp and the cells without fires . Still matter how much he suffered , he could enter with a in all this not to let his studies interfere with his piety . those who differed from him , and if this did not avail , seemed ever before him . He told us once of a device and study . The thought of the presence of God to those who reflected on the great difference between he had for resting in his studies , and that was for a this and his former career . ' . In his delicate state It was astonishing to observe his recollection at class he was rarely unable to attend the class-room . No 66 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist --- Page 41 --- personal relations with his saintly fellow-student ceased . vonder and surprise at the appearance of the monk's would " only repeat over and over again - ' And are had derived from Rousseau's works , and the bad in- Brother Charles spoke of the former impressions he you really a nephew of the great duke ? Well , who would have thought you could have come to this ? ' where J. J. Rousseau lived when in England . One day you can grant without sin : for after all that may be habit prevented his attending to what was said . He is to give way to everyone , and never refuse what see I am a soldier of Jesus Christ now , and this is His him and spoke cheerfully to him . But the old man's as we were walking over the grounds at Wootton , fluence they would exercise over a young mind . ... and had served under the Duke of Wellington through- of Cheadle during this vacation , a poor old man in its thickly-wooded hills , Alton with its shady lanes , ' In an excursion we made to the beautiful church verse with Brother Charles . He was an old pensioner the town expressed the greatest desire to see and con- Alton Towers with the wonderfully picturesque alloys out the Peninsular War . Brother Charles went to see said about the spiritual life , charity is the bond of and roads around the grounds , and , finally , Wootton , Brother Charles was much amused , and said : ' You a beautiful Elizabethan mansion of the purest style , uniform . You must pray that I may be worthy of it . ' are most picturesque and varied . Oakamoor , with owing to ill-health , left the Congregation , and his virtues are often mistaken for faults . The best way perfection . ' In the beginning of 1853 Father Tenison Woods , Vice-master of Novices . or words to that effect , and walked back to his The walks in the neighbourhood of St. Wilfrid's companions ! --- Page 42 --- expressing it to any of his superiors . He prayed glory might be brought to pass . And his prayer was human and selfish in the thought , he refrained from instead , as in all his troubles , that what was for God's never left the novitiate : and by the beauty of his whose kindly patronage had laid him under such obligations ; but fearing that there might be something portion of the house occupied by the professed religious . example , inspiring as it was unostentatious , he un- could have anticipated . One morning as Charles was Thus he accompanied the novinces in their various exercises as though he were still one of them and had heard and granted in a much larger measure than he leaving for Broadway that day , sent for him and around him that seemed to lift those young beginners making his thanksgiving after Holy Communion the impaired health the benefit of a change of air and to at once to a higher plane of spirituality . They saw they could not help regarding as the very impersonation novitiate house . The intention was to give the student's beside them , walking and talking with them , one whom of the ideal at which they aimed . They were cap- consciously diffused a new and fascinating influence tivated , too , by that subtle mixture in him of the ordered him to be in readiness for the journey to the Provincial , who was then at St. Wilfrid's and intended which constituted his chief charm : which while it uncle . But the journey had a further and unforeseen afford him the opportunity of paying a visit to his natural and human elements with the supernatural consequence . made him so strict in all his duties , so earnest and Charles should live in the novitiate and not in the It was arranged that during his stay in Broadway Vice-master of Novices . absorbed at his religious exercises , so severe upon glady gone to cheer and console this dear old friend --- Page 43 --- to have made no difficulty about granting it . ' Some the idea of asking the Provincial to appoint him vice- the tuition of one of the Fathers of the community , provision was made for his continuing his studies under position he occupied , he exercised a sort of magnetic at the time , the master , admitting the influence which had the secret of calling forth love . and soul of the recreation hour . " Those young men everywhere he went throughout his life , and in every piety and learning and of extreme prudence , seems Brother Charles had over the young men , conceived attraction on all with whom he came in contact : he looked up to him as something above and beyond that Charles was scarcely a year professed and had the description so often applied to him as " the life Provincial , Father Eugene Martorelli , a man of great master . It was a very extraordinary request , seeing he considered it a sacred duty to lead the way to his young charges in the practice of virtue . Conse- them , they venerated him as they would generate a and Brother Charles at once entered on his duties as himself . left him that gay abandon by which he merited Pakenham , that with all his grave , austere holiness , saint , but , above all , they loved him . This was quently he redoubled his efforts to " walk worthy of With this new responsibility laid upon his shoulders not proceeded far in his ecclesiastical studies : but the perhaps one of the most wonderful things about Father 72. Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist the vacation in which he was called , " trying to show vice-master of novinces . ' always fulfilled among the Passionists and other Congregations of derics by a priest . The duties of the vice-master are chiefly As the office of vice-master of novinces was vacant disciplinary , like those of the prefect in a seminary . ' It may be explained , perhaps , for the general reader that though his charge is an important one , requiring prudence and tact , and 1934 British --- Page 44 --- his inability to attempt it , he put aside his own will in the matter and composed an excellent panegyric , people a panogyric of the boy-saint on his feast day , devotions in honour of Our Blessed Lady in the public gyrist in 1853 . Though it was with the greatest reluctance he undertook the task , humbly confessing Broadway , and Brother Charles was chosen as Dane- study . In Italy a student or novice delivers to the during the month of May this year Brother Charles special solemnity in their novitiates and houses of the 21st of June . This practice was transplanted to done which in our eyes seem strange . So it was that the handful of English-speaking priests , with those gation some years later found a home in Ireland : and few who heard him would have believed that it was which he delivered with such energy and power that breach than in the observance . " things were sometimes commentary . This he did with so much grace and followed sometimes by a sort of catechetical lecture or unction that it was thought advisable to give him with the English tongue , were in constant request for suitable subjects offered themselves till the Congre- Part of his success was no doubt due to the feeling of to read a short meditation or instruction from a book . church that is , to recite the customary prayers and was appointed on several occasions to conduct the few Italians who had gained some sort of acquaintance further opportunity of exercising " the ministry of the Passionists to observe the feast of St. Aloysius with Word . " It has always been the custom with the cession to foreign customs " more honoured in the were largely composed of Italians . Comparatively few his first effort in the difficult art of sacred oratory . ceptional circumstances and , we suppose , as a con- missions and retreats . As a consequence of these ex- In those days the Passionist communities in England 74 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist 75 . --- Page 45 --- an added grace . says Father Salvation , " the bare mention of his name men who made their novitiate in that year used to look back upon it very wistfully , counting his presence affection for him did not want with time , and old would bring tears to the eyes of many . " Their by the superiors and the novinces . " For a long time . " 76 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist into tears , and was unable to proceed further . Another was profound and lasting . One remarkable scene in the words describing the death scene on Calvary , was easily observable from the first day of his return . way of sanctity , and the influence of his conversation On Good Friday he was appointed to read at devotions doubled zest . With the ripened spiritual experience Lord's Passion . He did so with such union as drew students , Brother Charles , now free from other respon- derived from the additional year spent in the novitiate , tears from his audience ; and , though by no means of and example even on his fervent young companions world , the impression left by his occasional appearance of St. Wilfrid's long after he had gone to his reward . powerless any longer to control his feelings , he burst chapter XI . Back again at St. Wilfrid's , where his advent was a sibilities and with health somewhat restored , resumed Ordained priest and sent to Rome . he was , needless to say , more than a learner in the the regular classes and pursued his studies with re- an emotional temperament himself , when he came to oy to the community , and especially to his fellow urticular was remembered by the little congregation the public church the narrative of Our Blessed rough he came little in contact with the outside 5 . --- Page 46 --- professed Passionist , and little more than four years a Catholic , when he received the clerical tongue and Paul should proceed to Rome , where , apart from the benefit they hoped might accrue to his health , he could complete his ecclesiastical studies and obtain a of Brother Paul , with his previous training and his dustry which he brought to his work , and the high the same illustrious prelate who had admitted him or not , the ideal set before the students . However the four minor orders at the hands of Cardinal Wiseman , into the true fold , and who ever retained a very special exceptional abilities , it was not likely to be the occasion ingly they obtained the consent of the Father General customs of the Congregation of the Passion . accomplished theologians . Hence to be " made perfect supernatural motives which inspired him , would of of the Passionists that after his ordination Brother fuller knowledge and experience of the spirit and of any serious disadvantage . And the zeal and in- in a short space " in matters theological was , " wisely Ordained priest : sent to Rome 79 it may have worked out in other instances , in that place in the church of the Oratorian Fathers at as possible , accelerated . He was but three years a tinued weakness of health began to cause his superiors theological course in Brother Paul's case . His con- grave uneasiness , and they determined to try the and affectionate interest in him . The ceremony took themselves have afforded a sufficient counterbalance effect of a warmer climate on his constitution . Accord- but little more : missioners , not learned priests or sufficiency of knowledge , of course , to serve their turn , to more alarming defects of training . The date of his ordination was , therefore , as far field with the least possible delay , possessed of a felt to be . to have holy and earnest workmen in the There was an additional reason for curtailing the --- Page 47 --- on the feast of the Holy Rosary . 7th October , 1855 . to his soul to leave all things and follow Christ . before afterwards whilst pursuing his studies , he spent some ordination , he spent a whole week in preparing with Mass , which he offered in the little church at Broadway What feelings of joy and thankfulness and heavenly before which the inspiration had first been whispered ham , at St. Mary's College , Oscott , and a week later student : " During Father Paul's noviceship , and the greatest fervour for the celebration of his first saw the consumption of all his hopes in his elevation time , more or less , in all the Retreats of our Order in performed at Oscott College on the 29th September . hood may be inferred from the fact that when he to the dignity of the priesthood . Doctor Ullathorne returned " to his monastery , immediately after his and reverence with which he prepared for the priest- which in the closing days of a Holy Week only four the feast of St. Michael the Archangel , to whom Paul years before he had fought out in the solitude of his and charity and , I may say , for the possession of every peace must have filled his heart that day ! The altar was again the obtaining prelate , and the ceremony was ordained deacon by Dr. Ullathorne , Bishop of Birmingham tector of the Congregation of the Passion , and whose had a particular devotion as being the heavenly pro- happiness of knowing him . in each house loved and admired him for his humility England . Every member of the different communities Ordained priest : sent to Rome 81 name he bore as his religious surname . The devotion during these latter days of his student life those virtues , virtue calculated to adorn the life of a saint . " And stone with an ever-increasing brilliancy which made him the admiration and the model of all who had the On the 22nd September , 1855 . Brother Paul was thus succinctly summarizes his career as novice and --- Page 48 --- that he had given amongst the religious in England . the most beautiful example of virtue . A Consultor Father Paul during his sojourn in Italy . tells how General who was his companion writes thus : ' I knew HERE also he rose at night and did not dispense himself almost idolized by the community : indeed those following : " In Rome Father Paul continued to give Ordained priest : sent to Rome 83 from a single one of the austerities . He was soon his life published in Italy some years ago has the in Rome " he continued to give the same edification observance as closely as if he had been in robust health . Passionists I have heard from that were with him in a master in the ways of holiness . A brief sketch of He was most exact in the least rule , and followed the Father Paul Mary for about two years . He was a therefore always appeared recollected . In recreation Rome spoke in the most fervent terms of the way in subject of great edification to our students and to all the community . Though of very delicate constitution , and on the walks he spoke only of things edifying and on that score . He was unwilling that the infirmation should give him the more nourishing food prepared particular inquiry of those who came in contact with he abhorred any special treatment accorded to him for delicate religious . He was a man of God , and i Passionisti P. Paolo Maria di S. Michael Arcangelo . Roma , 1903 . in the spiritual life soon came to be looked up to as which he endeared himself to all . But his health who had died in the odour of sanctity , the young pupil places in Italy , and then realized the fond dream of devotional . In the regular observance he was most declined in Rome as elsewhere . He went to other founder of the Passionists and of many of his disciples Father Tenison Woods , who seems to have made ' Conversione vita del Capitano Carlo Reginaldo Pakenham tra exemplary . " --- Page 49 --- towards the end of June , 1856 , he was recalled by his of nature and of grace with which God had blessed the Passion in Ireland : but during the spring and active use and turn to the best account the rare gifts seemed to them providing designed to call into of the English province , was bestirring himself in good notives that inspired him was surely his love of Ireland with them amounted almost to a passion . He was him , and which he had cultivated to such high purpose . superiors to England . An occasion had arisen which vish of his heart to see a foundation of the Passionists There was as yet no house of the Congregation of never so happy as when working on the Irish Missions in Ireland . But he had another and higher motive : the Congregation was now fourteen years established summer of this year Father Vincent Grotti , the superior breadth of the land , it could count only nine priests or among the poor Irish exiles in the slums of the great earnest to supply the deficiency . One of the leading of the passion in Ireland . He had been but eight months resident in Rome when , of work and become known throughout the length and cities of England ; and for years it had been the dearest in England , and though it had covered a large field and the Irish : for , though an Italian , Father Vincent's ove of Ireland and her people from his first contact chapter XII . called from Rome to found the congregation 85 . --- Page 50 --- entrance as an Order into Ireland . It might seem possessed a subject fitted for the undertaking as he families of the aristocracy of the country , he would ventured , at least at this time , to attempt our first as if Providence had called him amongst us on purpose was , it is very probable that we should not have to be the leader of our first colony in this country . efforts to support it , and that consequently others who he died . It was in far more important respects that people and thus qualify him to do them good . As a Humanly speaking , and at first sight , the loss which prove a death-blow to this , our infant establishment - that we ourselves would be greatly discouraged in our the sympathies of the people among whom he was to There was everything . we may say , in him which he was so valuable to us . Had it not been that we him : " It might very probably appear to the minds would recommend him to the affections of the Irish to assist us , would begin to think the undertaking a much that would appeal to the imagination and attract them . Father Ignatius Spencer , addressing the Irish were so well disposed , as many have hitherto been , of some that the removal of Father Paul Mary would in this respect his death does not affect us here . He introduce an institute till then almost unknown to morrow of the young rector's death , chiefly with the This loss might easily be calculated and repaired , and people in the columns of a daily newspaper on the prove fatal to the infant foundation , speaks thus of hopeless one and change their minds about it . we have met is almost beyond calculation and might came to Ireland poor , like the rest of us ; and poor object of dissipating the notion that his loss would well discourage us . I do not speak of pecuniary loss . sufficiently clear to the reader of these pages - he had Founds the Passionists in Ireland 87 . worthy member of one of the first and most respected --- Page 51 --- bitterly prejudiced against England . But I think a sort of personal grief . In a letter written in the I fall in , notwithstanding that , with all the notions of in the most marked way all the national feeling and Father Paul Mary , strange to say , betrayed on occasion expression to his feelings : ... As to the Passionists , prejudice of the most patriotic and democratic of views of his saintly fellow-Passionist and felt them as Germany , had any idea of serving England . I believe early days of the foundation at Dublin he thus gives Spencer , whose whole priestly life was one fiery anus - his great virtue and holiness which others have : and . ( to Dublin ) , which was all done during my absence in I think , moreover , that the best Catholics in Ireland Irishmen . How and when a change as remarkable in that should have exaggerated his hereditary bias , tolate for the conversion of England , knew the extreme it is now impossible to say with certainty . Possibly its own way as his conversion to the faith came about I do not think those who managed our coming here me the least hope of his being interested in England . it was the result of a close study of Irish history : for spent all his life in England exposed to every influence who was born in Dublin , and was through and through country's history at his finger-ends . " Father Ignatics of Ireland was quite remarkable : " He had his are to be found among those who have been the most life told the writer that his knowledge of the history one who knew him intimately throughout his religious the prime instigator of the move was Father Paul Mary , He , to the last , had all the anti-English feelings , which an Irishman in his affections , though trained in England . national aspirations , and though from a child he had prevail so much through Ireland , and never would give family of the " ascendancy " in Ireland , no member of which had ever been other than hostile to the Founds the Passionists in Ireland 89 . --- Page 52 --- edited by Father Ignatius Spencer , we read : " He ought in the first place to provide for their own eternal Sacraments . Many were obliged to kneel outside in stitutions . Then they should devote themselves with the open air on such occasions , and the fathers them- salvation in the manner prescribed by these Con- was little likely to forget the opening words of the rule able for the promotion of God's glory and their own diligence to offices of charity towards their neighbour , become a centre of spiritual life in Dublin , so that the necessity of providing a suitable chapel became im- which direct with some emphasis that " the religious confessions in the house . Blessed Paul's had already to the circumstances of time and place , may be avail - never be absent from their mind and heart . " So his selves soon felt the grave inconvenience of hearing after the opening of the Retreat . The work was com- Grotti on 17th September , scarcely more than a month thronged it daily to assist at Mass and to receive the doing with prudence and assiduity whatever , according soul and of the souls of those immediately entrusted edifice at home had not been neglected . Father Paul the foundation stone being laid by Father Vincent perative almost immediately . Accordingly a simple Retreat soon became too small for the numbers who blessed for the service of Almighty God on 19th chief anxiety was for the sanctification of his own pleted in three months , and the building was solemnly December under the invocation of St. Patrick and spiritual advancement : which two objects should Blessed Paul of the Cross . began . The little temporary chapel fitted up in the Founds the Passionists in Ireland 91 to his care : no external work was suffered to interfere with this primary duty . In a short sketch of his life , structure connected with the house was commenced , Meanwhile the work of building up the spiritual --- Page 53 --- quality of the golden mean . and perhaps from the doctor . And one of the heaviest was water . This rigid rule was afterwards slightly plainest , and everything with the appearance of a superfinity should be dispensed with . In pursuance mortifications which Father Paul had to bear was , on like degree with the very poor of the country in which they would go around the small shops of Patrick Street he lives . Hence food should be of the poorest and Mary's religious life was his love of poverty . If he of this idea he was accustomed at first to do the high , coming as near as possible to the style of early poverty should feel the pinch of it in something of a marketing himself accompanied by a lay-brother : relaxed in deference to suggestions from the Provincial , taken without sugar , and for the rest . the only beverage had " his way , our houses should be but one storey and its slum-like vicinity and buy scraps of meat and the doctor prescribed for him was soup or beef-tea . was banned as a luxury ; puddings , permitted on rare days , disappeared ; the morning cup of coffee was Pius Devine in his graphic war . " of Father Paul his own confession , that when he fell ill the first thing poor dealt and purchasing only what was within reach of the very poor . The fare at table was at the best Founds the Passionists in Ireland 93 . cured him of this somewhat impractical rigorism and One of his theories was that a religious vowed to meagre : soup an economy in religious communities ripened his judgment to a true appreciation of the cloghans . In food , in furniture , in the few comforts This passion for poverty ran all through his life . Irish architecture which had just emerged from the doubtless , as those who knew him best declared , have other accessories for the table-dealing just as the allowed , he was most sparing . ' The mellowing effect of time and experience would One of the most striking features , " says Father --- Page 54 --- by his community than was Father Paul Mary ness of their feelings which had marked his whole to be expected , but with a touching affection which office , there has rarely been a superior more beloved wants and weaknesses of others , and the considerate vigilant and uncompromising in his care that the rule pellent or forbidding about the personal austerity or of its authorities . If his ideals seemed a trifle strained , Pakenham . The gentleness and amiability which had heard religious who were members of that first com- always distinguished him , the charity towards the of the Congregation thrive and flourish in all its pristine the discipline , rigorous though it was , of Father Paul gave eloquent though unconscious testimony to the and the pace he set somewhat exacting , it was mani should be fully and faithfully observed , he cheerfully munity at Mount Argus speak of the young rector no nothing door or harsh in his disposition . If he was his dealings with his subjects . The writer has often SIRICT as was his regime during his brief tenure of festly because of his burning desire to have the spirit love they bore him . ' There was , indeed , nothing re- merely in terms of the deepest veneration , which was led the way , bearing more than his share of the burden religious life , were equally conspicuous now in all work in Ireland . vigour in its new home . His religious could not but 95 . --- Page 55 --- succession of immederate bursts of laughter . Suddenly , produced a lasting effect , but left no sting behind . reproof was remembered , and the very tones in which of giving it with a dignity and impressiveness which moved by some harmless joke , woke the echoes by a in the midst of his ninth , he became aware of the tall , Once , during the time of silence , a good religious , years , with the freshness of a happening of yesterday . with greater zest than Father Paul Mary himself , and attenuated figure of the superior standing near , and a correction seemed called for , he had a peculiar art made was as permanent as it was salutary , and the had recovered from his surprise . But the impression the fervour of Father Paul : but there is little doubt it was spoken , when told us after more than sixty heard in calm level accents that betrayed no trace of community as a whole reflected the fervour of their by his religious in exhortation or rebuke . But when superior . " So , beyond the general admonitions pre- emotion - " Brother - , I am extremely angry with their attainment . Very possibly St. Paul of the Cross , No one , however , could enjoy a pleasantry in season scribed by rule . Father Paul's voice was seldom heard might have more than once found it necessary to curb he spoke of the earlier Passionist . " He is a great stantly before their eyes , it is small wonder that the who had occasion once to reprove his holy companion , Father Paul walked quietly away before the offender which they would not willingly have made to further that of him he would also have used the words which Father Fulgentius , for overmuch zeal as superior , With such a high exemplar of the religious life con- you ! " That was all : not a muscle of the face moved , nor did any sign of anger ruffle its usual serenity , and sympathize with his aims , and there was no sacrifice 96 . Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist saint . ' --- Page 56 --- in the parish church during the month which the panions Father Vincent Grotti and two others . This thousand persons are said to have approached Holy So day and night he worked , garnering the grain of wants , whether of soul or body , gave him a peculiar which all who knew him anticipated an abundant slow to acknowledge . His work at Mount Argus was . from all quarters , the work falling to the lot of mis- Among all that sought him , the poor were his especially appointment with much joy . In those early days , Rathmines on 9th November , 1856 . He had as com- God from fields that were indeed white to harvest . when such functions were a rarity and attracted people favourites , and the tender care he had for all their Communion ( in those days of infrequent Communion ) was to be his introduction to a missionary career , from spiritual harvest . Needless to say he received the a desire to make it as profitable to souls as might be . title to their love and veneration which they were not work done may be formed from the fact that twenty in truth , a perpetual mission , which sorely taxed a by the Passionist Fathers in the Catholic church at of Dublin : the confessionals were thronged until far sioners was incomparably heavier and more exacting exception : it drew the faithful in crowds from all parts into the night , and some notion of the extent of the stay in Italy was expended now without stint and was appointed to take part in a formal mission opened his time on earth would be short , and to be filled with without thought of self . He seemed to realise that than at present . The mission at Rathmines was no strength of body which he had attained during his 98 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist and austerity of life . In the midst of his labours at home , however , he constitution already worn down by years of ill health that locked to Blessed Paul's . The comparative --- Page 57 --- ( at Mount Argus ) . He was looked upon as a saint and unworldliness he had all the shrewd , practical gifted . His language in the pulpit was of set purpose , the poor and lowly , the little ones of Christ , they had Part , perhaps indeed the greater part , of the impression judgment in dealing with men and things , a well- where more pretentious efforts might have failed . to be oratorical he produced an effect which few pulpit the world . " As a preacher , too , he was singularly balanced mind , and with a profound and large- a penetrating force which found entrance for them Paul , which those who knew him best in his daily the gospel to the poor . " His manner was quiet , his produced by his preaching was no doubt due to his and precise knowledge of theological science in all its sessed in a fullness rarely found : for with his wide gestures few , the style of his discourses almost cate- chetical , his aim rather to instruct his hearers than hearted sympathy with the ills and weaknesses " of life especially insist upon , is that with all his idealism orators produce , and while his words were meant for plain and simple , as became one " sent to preach personal sanctity and the inspiration it sent to his here let us say that one of the characteristics of Father humanity such as is only given to the saints . And experience of the world , an uncommon acuteness of common-sense generally associated with the " man of to play upon their emotions . But without intending branches , went an equally large knowledge of the have met many since who knew him in those days temporaries and companions of Father Paul . " I words . So much seems to be insinuated by Father Tenison Woods , who had his information from con- human heart that came of his extensive and varied quisite in the confessor and spiritual director he pos- make his zeal effectual . The gifts and qualities re- 100 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist --- Page 58 --- unwearying kindness to him , their patience with his cries wrung from his unconscious lips witnessed to one . With a painful effort the dying superior ad- tinued unabated till his death . He had borne his He blessed God for the precious and unmerited grace for their affectionate solicitude on his behalf , for their shortcomings : and finally he begged their pardon for whatever he had done to disability or displeasure them , and implored their prayers for his poor soul . Then even prayed that his sufferings might be increased in dressed a few parting words to his dear religious , now illness throughout with the most edifying patience of dying in the Congregation : he thanked them all must have cost him was evident now when the piteous no more , " and gave himself up to silent prayer . kneeling grief-stricken and in tears about his bed . and resignation , indeed with cheerfulness , and had beyond the reach of their sympathy or comfort . The contrary to the expectation of his physicians , he lay afterwards he fell into a state of delirium which con- thus , racked with pain , dying a death surely very like the agonies he suffered . For a whole week , quite his receiving the Viaticum . The scene of the ad- punishment of his sins . But how dear his restraint praying God to bless them , he said : " I can speak Ioneliness of Calvary was indeed around that death- that of his Master-with loving hearts near , but far Grotti , but the nature of his illness did not admit of They were almost his last conscious words . Shortly bed . And the dying religious would not have had Extreme Union at the hands of Father Vincent ministration of this last Sacramento was a most affecting nounced his case hopeless . On the following day , in made perfect in a short space " 103 presence of the assembled community , he received it otherwise . Only once had he a passing glimmer of Corrigan , who had been invited for consultation , pro- g . 4 g . --- Page 59 --- that strange pilgrimage , vied with each other for the carried down to the little church which he had built clad in the black habit he had loved so well . were saying to each other : the saint is dead , the saint is people on their way to the Retreat and heard them sketch of Father Paul's life , " and being struck with and there laid out on a simple wooden bier after the dead . ' It was Father Paul Mary Pakenham . ' place in the pulpit was taken by his friend . Father going to serve Mass one morning in the church of the Passionists in Dublin , and I met a great number of a photograph of one of our religious which I saw manner traditional in the Congregation of the Passion . the district surrounding Mount Argus may be judged brilliant society which he had abandoned and the poor in Bucharest in 1902 , " says the writer of an Italian from the following instance : " I happened to be obsequies were celebrated , the church was thronged On the Monday morning the remains of Father Paul , During the two days that interviewed before the there , I asked one of the missionaries ( Father Louis gregation with intense and evident grief . Many were was a saint . I remember , when I was a little boy , soldier of Christ . Those who moved daily in the That is Father Paul Mary Pakenham , ' he said . ' He and affection to all that was mortal of this brave to whom he had devoted his life jostled each other in Ignatius Spencer , whose announcement of the death incessantly with people who came from every part of came his earnest voice was rushed for ever . His Irwin , C.P. ) what was the name of the Passionist . moved to tears . the surrounding country to pay their tribute of respect of Father Paul Mary was heard by the crowded con- " Made Perfect in a short space " 105 the Poor Clares at Harold's Cross . But when the time The sort of impression produced by the news in --- Page 60 --- with greater zest than Father Paul Mary himself , and heard in calm level accents that betrayed no trace of succession of immederate bursts of laughter . Suddenly . attenuated figure of the superior standing near , and in the midst of his ninth , he became aware of the tall . community as a whole reflected the fervour of their Father Paul walked quietly away before the offender emotion - " Brother - I am extremely angry with scribed by rule , Father Paul's voice was seldom heard years , with the freshness of a happening of yesterday . their attainment . Very possibly St. Paul of the Cross , Once , during the time of silence , a good religious . of giving it with a dignity and impressiveness which nor did any sign of anger ruffle its usual serenity , and you ! " That was all : not a muscle of the face moved . a correction seemed called for , he had a peculiar art stantly before their eyes , it is small wonder that the moved by some harmless joke , woke the echoes by a superior . So , beyond the general admonitions pre- who had occasion once to improve his holy companion , by his religious in exhortation or rebuke . But when produced a lasting effect , but left no sting behind . which they would not willingly have made to further had recovered from his surprise . But the impression reproof was remembered , and the very tones in which Father Fulgentius , for overmuch zeal as superior , the fervour of Father Paul : but there is little doubt it was spoken , when told us after more than sixty he spoke of the earlier Passionist . " He is a great that of him he would also have used the words which With such a high exemplar of the religious life con- made was as permanent as it was salutary , and the might have more than once found it necessary to curb No one , however , could enjoy a pleasantry in season sympathize with his aims , and there was no sacrifice 96 . Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist saint . ' --- Page 61 --- panions Father Vincent Grotti and two others . This in the parish church during the month which the God from fields that were indeed white to harvest . work done may be formed from the fact that twenty into the night , and some notion of the extent of the Rathmines on 9th November , 1856 . " He had as com- Among all that sought him , the poor were his especially wants , whether of soul or body , gave him a peculiar which all who knew him anticipated an abundant a desire to make it as profitable to souls as might be . of Dublin : the confessionals were thronged until far So day and night he worked , garnering the grain of was to be his introduction to a missionary career , from appointment with much joy . In those early days , slow to acknowledge . His work at Mount Argus was . was appointed to take part in a formal mission opened by the Passionist Fathers in the Catholic church at spiritual harvest . Needless to say he received the favourites , and the tender care he had for all their Communion ( in those days of infrequent Communion ) exception : it drew the faithful in crowds from all parts thousand persons are said to have approached Holy title to their love and veneration which they were not in truth , a perpetual mission , which sorely taxed a sioners was incomparably heavier and more exacting from all quarters , the work falling to the lot of mis- without thought of self . He seemed to realize that stay in Italy was expended now without stint " and when such functions were a rarity and attracted people his time on earth would be short , and to be filled with than at present . The mission at Rathmines was no strength of body which he had attained during his constitution already worn down by years of ill health 98 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist and austerity of life . In the midst of his labours at home . however . he that locked to Blessed Paul's . The comparative 1930s . 99 --- Page 62 --- and unworldliness he had all the shrewd , practical the poor and lowly , the little ones of Christ , they had ( at Mount Argus ) . He was looked upon as a saint gifted . His language in the pulpit was of set purpose , Part , perhaps indeed the greater part , of the impression where more pretentious efforts might have failed . the world . " As a preacher , too , he was singularly judgment in dealing with men and things . a well- produced by his preaching was no doubt due to his to be oratorical he produced an effect which few pulpit Paul , which those who knew him best in his daily plain and simple , as became one " sent to preach the gospel to the poor . " His manner was quiet , his here let us say that one of the characteristics of Father life especially insist upon , is that with all his idealism personal sanctity and the inspiration it sent to his and precise knowledge of theological science in all its gestures few , the style of his discourses almost cate- chetical , his aim rather to instruct his hearers than Tenison Woods , who had his information from con- balanced mind , and with a profound and large- hearted sympathy with the ills and weaknesses of a penetrating force which found entrance for them , words . So much seems to be insinuated by Father experience of the world , an uncommon acuteness of common-sense generally associated with the " man of sessed in a fullness rarely found : for with his wide humanity such as is only given to the saints . And to play upon their emotions . But without intending branches , went an equally large knowledge of the temporaries and companions of Father Paul . " I orators produce , and while his words were meant for quisite in the confessor and spiritual director he pos- make his zeal effectual . The gifts and qualities re- human heart that came of his extensive and varied have met many since who knew him in those days 100 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist --- Page 63 --- tinued unabated till his death . He had borne his even prayed that his sufferings might be increased in cries wrune from his unconscious ' lips witnessed to illness throughout with the most edifying patience must have cost him was evident now when the piteous and resignation , indeed with cheerfulness , and had shortcomings : and finally he begged their pardon for contrary to the expectation of his physicians , he lay unwearving kindness to him , their patience with his and implored their prayers for his poor " soul . Then whatever he had done to disability or displeasure them , the agonies he suffered . For a whole week , quite He blessed God for the precious and unmerited grace no more , " and gave himself up to silent prayer . thus , racked with pain , dying a death surely very like punishment of his sins . But how dear his restraint afterwards he fell into a state of delirium which con- of dying in the Congregation : he thanked them all dressed a few parting words to his dear religious , now one . With a painful effort the dying superior ad- that of his Master-with loving hearts near , but far beyond the reach of their sympathy or comfort . The kneeling grief-stricken and in tears about his bed . for their affectionate solicitude on his behalf , for their bed . And the dying religious would not have had Ioneliness of Calvary was indeed around that death- praying God to bless them , he said : " I can speak They were almost his last conscious words . Shortly Grotti , but the nature of his illness did not admit of nounced his case hopeless . On the following day , in " made perfect in a short space " 103 his receiving the Viaticum . The scene of the ad- ministration of this last Sacramento was a most affecting presence of the assembled community , he received it otherwise . Only once had he a passing glimmer of Extreme Union at the hands of Father Vincent Corrigan , who had been invited for consultation , pro- 8 . --- Page 64 --- During the two days that intervened before the sketch of Father Paul's life , " and being struck with carried down to the little church which he had built manner traditional in the Congregation of the Passion . incessantly with people who came from every part of there , I asked one of the missionaries ( Father Louis obsequies were celebrated , the church was thronged and there laid out on a simple wooden bier after the " made perfect in a short space " 105 the surrounding country to pay their tribute of respect place in the pulpit was taken by his friend , Father soldier of Christ . Those who moved daily in the that strange pilgrimage , vied with each other for the Passionists in Dublin , and I met a great number of and affection to all that was mortal of this brave brilliant society which he had abandoned and the poor was a saint . I remember , when I was a little boy , clad in the black habit he had loved so well , were That is Father Paul Mary Pakenham , ' he said . ' He in Bucharest in 1902 , " says the writer of an Italian going to serve Mass one morning in the church of the a photograph of one of our religious which I saw saving to each other : the saint is dead , the saint is Irwin , C.P. ) what was the name of the Passionist . people on their way to the Retreat and heard them Ignatius Spencer , whose announcement of the death from the following instance : " I happened to be came his earnest voice was rushed for ever . His of Father Paul Mary was heard by the crowded con- dead . ' It was Father Paul Mary Pakenham . gregation with intense and evident grief . Many were moved to tears . On the Monday morning the remains of Father Paul , to whom he had devoted his life jostled each other in the Poor Clares at Harold's Cross . But when the time The sort of impression produced by the news in the district surrounding Mount Argus may be judged --- Page 65 --- the noble friends and relatives of the deceased , of all thought that they had been privileged to take part preserving order and in clearing the building at night . the importance devotion of the people , and behind poor of the immediate district who had profited by his teachings and example . " The same newspaper , with their devotion unsatisfied , happy only in the venerated dead . Even so , many had to return home that a number of police were requisitioned to assist in in this public demonstration of reverence towards " one objects of piety handed to them by the faithful . For , Within the church a strong wooden barricade had been which notes especially the attendance of the poor , his friends and admirers in the world : " Among all erected around the bier to protect the remains against pressing were the crowds which beset the little church this three or four religious stood constantly employed whom they regarded as already in the company of a relic or memorial , something , no matter how triffing , in touching the body with the rosaries , medals or other that had come for a moment in contact with the Archbishop of Dublin , presiding at the Office and says a newspaper report of the time , " numbers of the by a great congregation of the faithful - " including , ' for , even in the immobility of death . The avenues High Mass , which were attended by a full representation everyone who came was desirous of carrying away , as the 4th of March ; His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Cullen , with visitors and vehicles of all sorts . So vast and leading to the Retreat were blocked during those days beautiful features so expressive of all he had lived remarks also on the absence of those who had been of the secular and regular clergy of the diocese and honour or the consolation of looking on those noble The solemn observes were celebrated on Wednesday , 106 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist the saints . --- Page 66 --- body was then found perfectly intact and incorrupt . their saintly father's loss almost forty years before . give way to a new cemetery for the use of the religious community at Mount Argus . During the removal of The coffin was afterwards closed and reverently lowered into its new resting-place where now , close beneath the remains of the dead religious from the old burial- opened . Whether it was due to natural or super- then as they had stood by it in their fresh sorrow for who lay in a peaceful slumber . ' The writer had the which had long stood useless , was finally removed to containing the body of Father Paul Mary Pakenham and the face wore a most life-like expression as of one awaits the resurrection of the just . happiness of being present on that occasion and will place to the new , the members of the then community , the great Celtic cross which overshadows the cemetery , doubtless moved by a holy curiosity , had the coffin natural causes we do not care to conjecture . but the never forget the sight , nor the emotion of some members of the original community who stood by the coffin death of Father Paul Mary , the chapel built by him , all that is mortal of Father Paul Mary Pakenham And counted sorrow , gain . might be no unfit epitaph : In March , 1894 , thirty-seven years after the happy The service of a living pain : 108 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist He chose between them , bowed his head , master , Newman , the fine verses of Lionel Johnson The freedom of the living dead ; 109 --- Page 67 --- of England , through the dew of prophetic ecstasy , prayed for in the Catholic , and predicted as a certain plored so fervidly , and foresaw so clearly the conversion it was said . had constituted himself the signpost from were , inaugurated by two such extraordinary con- was ordered that many of the most remarkable of have prefigured the singular fact , that both in England Apostle at Damascus , and in the yet unabated glow and in Ireland his humble Retreats should be , as it and saw there shining beyond the sandy tract and Oxford to Rome , and many looked down the road , which gradually developed , and with predispositions long series of clerical and lay converts who were in- of his first fervour he gave up the ghost . When Dr. catastrophe in the Protestant Church . Dr. Pusey , as fluenced by their teaching , entered the Church , it was most touching spectacle which preached a more in- Newman , Father Faber , Provost Manning , and the Blessed Paul of the Cross , himself , whose heart im- spiring and a more eloquent sermon than the Holy was the most miraculous of all the English conversions Spirit within him had ever uttered , or than men may versions out of that race of nobles who have been , for darksome marsh the fair turrets of the City of God . seems to have fallen like the flash which smoke the by slow degrees , after long delays , with tendencies read in the marvellous moral of his life . His , perhaps , manifestly determined . " Their conversion had been to the Church . Hardly could the supernatural eye of Church in the world , as Father Ignatius Spencer , and three centuries , the most powerful enemies of the Father Paul Pakenham . Upon Father Paul , grace In the wonderful and happy ways of Providence , it and in the air . below the horizon , still leaves its glow on the earth None who saw Father Paul will ever forget that 1961 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 0 0 111 . --- Page 68 --- Passionists at last consented to receive him . On discipline , the broken sleep , the severe fast , the stern He naturally feared last the awful austerities of the Roman Catholic almost immediately ; and soon after poetic , of dear old Saint Philip's Oratory ? But the with all his soul and all his body - to leave the world nurtured , and of a frame already fragile the cutting every trace of the old Adam , and arise renewed and young soldier had embraced the Church and the Cross humblest of all the Church's ministries . Why not the and the world's ways at once and altogether - to bury every act of its discipline and every word of its preach- regenerated : a noble , a soldier of the Court , a man of subtle and chivalrous Order of Loyola for a noble For the last two days of Lent , prostrate before the row of life-long poverty , and the rough routine of the Retreat in Worcestershire , he felt the call to Orders . crown , and the contempt and obloquy of all the world . Vincent or the gentle , liberal air , half ascetic , half Passion should be intolerable to one so delicately of the vulgar , and the most squalid of the poor : one fashion-therefore , the chosen Priest of the nearest ( this was in the year 1851 ) being near the Passionist ing the Passion of Christ and ' Him Crucified , the altar of that community , which commemorates in luxury , in an atmosphere closed against privation or neophyte prayed that his call might be made clear , therefore , hunger , and thirst , and broken rest , and the voluntary lash , and the bare foot , and the shaven who had lived a life of inherited opulence , of customary simplicity and purity of intention . He became a He deserved to have and he had his will . The of the House , earnestly endeavoured to dissuade him . and his grace suffering . Father Vincent , the superior appendix . and a soldier -or the simple and genital rule of Saint pain , and lit with genius , and passion , and wit- 113 . --- Page 69 --- him . When death struck him in a day , like a re- might speak to them in the plainest and humblest invocation of St. Michael the Archangel . The old rulgar and the lowly poor , and mortifying even the words the great living lesson of God's Cross . He had and even unto the end , loving and living among the hoped Charles would go through with the regular one external reward only-priceless to one of his went thither-not the fiery fanatic you might imagine , Duke is said to have been the only one of his relations not heard of the sacrifices he had made , of the sanctity who could comprehend this most singular step . He him in his cell-finding him as everyone else did who natural grace and flow of his rich intellect , that he discipline , as he had undertaken it , and went to see of his nature , of the great hope in which he was held . perfect humility . Fame utterly stunned him . Until but more gentle , and genital , and graceful in all his of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ , under the almost immediately before his death , the world had that he must lead a dying life , " as it is said in the Imitation of Christ . " whom he irritated in all things pocket to Broadway , and was received as a novice among asylums for widows , orphans , and female Then as death drew high , even in the eyes of men , the The last was made first the novice became the Rector ways than he used to be in the drawingrooms of mission , and all his other property-divided the money and the Founder-and a certain mild sovereignty and penitents then returned without a penny in his And so he lived the life of a long , slow agony of crown descended and the glory grew about his head . all that was mortal in him - " knowing for certain unworldly attraction diffused itself over all who saw 114 Paul Mary Pakenham , Passionist Easter Monday he returned to London , sold his com- St. " James " .