Father Jerome of the Purification The late Father Jerome of the Purification – in the world Thomas Smith – was born at Longford, the chief town of the County of Ireland bearing the same name, in 1884. When but a boy, the virtuousness of his youthful life seemed a happy presage of his priestly vocation, and caused his parents to send him to the Diocesan Seminary, St. Mel’s College. Having successfully completed his philosophical course, he was transferred to the Irish College, Paris, and here it was that the day of his Passionist vocation dawned. It happened that he often visited our church, then situated at Rue de Boni, and intercourse with our religious led to a wish to join the congregation. Having satisfied himself that God had called him to religion, he then applied for admission to Fr. Ignatius Paoli, then Provincial of the Anglo-Hibernian Province. He was accepted and entered the novitiate at Broadway, Worcestershire in 1864. The year he spent as a Passionist novice may be summed up in a word – his every action bespoke fervour while he presumably (?) that foundation of virtue which stood the test of many later years. He was professed on 27 November 1865. To a religious of such piety as his, his ordination in 1870 was the fulfilment of his heart’s desire. Owing to his great (?) of character and recognised ability, he was appointed as Director of Students at Mount Argus. In 1871-72 he was one of the community of the newly established retreat in Belfast. Mgr. Paoli, Bishop of Nicopolis and Administrator of Valactia and Maldovia, who knew of Jerome’s sterling qualities, invited him to Bucharest, and on his arrival made him Master of the Novitiate at (?). This position he held until the retreat became the diocesan seminary: he remained in it as its first superior. Later on he returned to this Province and at the Provincial Chapter of 1882 he was appointed Rector of Mount Argus, Dublin, which office, however, unforeseen circumstances forced him to resign two years later. It was at this period of his life that Fr. Jerome was called upon to bear one of those heavier crosses which it often pleases God to lay upon the shoulders of some of his devoted servants: but he bore it as he did all else, in a Christlike fashion. Owing to a sudden reverse of fortune his aged parents were left penniless. Fr. Jerome sought and obtained permission to leave the congregation in order to support them. He accomplished this devoted duty of filial charity whilst serving as a secular priest in the Diocese of Newport and Glasgow. Released from this charge by his parents’ death he sought readmission into the congregation. He was accepted and returned to our mission in Bulgaria. On his way thither he was clothed in our house in Paris, and after a noviceship of six months, was professed in the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Sistar, Bulgaria, by the late Mgr (?). It was due to an unfortunate error on the part of His Lordship in not sending a notification of this fact to our Mother House in Rome, that the usual obituary notices failed to reach the various Provinces. This province, however, who knew of the facts did, when we received the sad news of the good old religious’s death, offered the suffrages for the repose of his soul. To know Fr. Jerome was to love him: he had a noble, unselfish nature, which enshrined many a trait of which the best might boast. Probably his chief characteristic was zeal for souls. Of the many virtues that graced him, it seemed to reign as queen. It was a fitting sequence of his strong Irish faith. This zeal showed itself at every turn of his life, but especially in his preaching, in his long hours in the confessional, in the promptitude and willingness with which he attended the sick and afflicted of his parish. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, too, was as fervent as it was constant. A prelate who knew him well once described him as a “verus homo Dei”. As the years rolled by he also moved speedily along the highway of holiness. For years before his death he was stricken with blindness. To a student, as he was, this affliction must have been very keen, but he never murmured, bearing his cross. As he had done during the most of his entire life, in glad imitation of his suffering saviour. Note: The next paragraph in the photocopy of the original obituary. The writer quotes a panegyric on Jerome written in French and sent to him by the Vicar-General of the Passionist mission in Bulgaria. Because of the poor quality of the photocopy, it is not possible to transcribe it. Such is a brief sketch of the life of Fr. Jerome of the Presentation – a worthy Passionist in the truest and deepest sense of the words. His labours are over, and the eternal respite has come: may he indeed not forget us, his still exiled brethren, and may he ever pray for our mission in Bulgaria, which he served so well in life. May he rest in peace.