OBITUARY NOTICE OF FATHER JOHN BAPTIST OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. On the first day of the year 1908 the Province of St. Joseph sustained a very severe loss in the death of Father John Baptist in the 52nd year of his age. His death was not unexpected as it came at the end of a severe and protracted illness; yet it was not until he was gone from amongst us that his brethren realised the severity of their loss. Born at Blackrock, Co. Dublin, March 5th 1858, it will be seen that when the end came, he had but reached the prime of life. He entered the Novitiate in 1880 and was professed on the 9th April of the following year. His Student life was spent in Belfast and London, where he was ordained in 1885. For about a year after his ordination he filled the Office of Director of Students in Sutton. He was then removed to Glasgow, where he is still well remembered; although he spent but two years there principally in parochial work. From Glasgow he was removed to Dublin, where for 15 years his life was devoted to Missionary work, until he was appointed Vicar of Belfast. Here the closing years of his life were passed, three as Vicar, and about two and a half in impaired health, as a member of the Community. But the chronology of Father John Baptist’s life is the least interesting portion of it. To him time and place were of little account, except in so far as they offered him opportunities of exercising his unbounded zeal for the salvation of souls. It was his most striking characteristic. Gifted by nature, with a keen intelligence, great fluency of expression, sincere piety and a sympathy that amounted to tenderness for the suffering, he was thoroughly equipped for the work of the Missions; and as he never did things by halves but acted on the principal, that if a thing were worth doing it was worth doing well, it is no wonder that he achieved the results as a Missionary, which were in keeping with the energy and untiring zeal, which he devoted to the work of the Missions. It would be hard even to do scant justice to the memory of Father John Baptist, for the wholehearted way in which he sacrificed himself for his neighbour’s salvation. From the time that he joined the Missionary Staff his life was one continual round of labour, and even the short respite between missions was no relaxation to him. His return from missions was eagerly watched by penitents, who flocked to him in such numbers that the few days, which the Holy Rule allows for rest after Missions, were almost entirely devoted to hearing confessions. No one who had not lived with him can have any idea of his ceaseless labours, especially during the 15 years, he lived in Dublin; and it need be no wonder that his constitution, robust though it was, gradually gave way under such severe exaction. It is no exaggeration to say – speaking humanly – that Father John Baptist hastened his death by many years, by spending himself counting the cost, for the Salvation of his neighbour. His zeal, however, was not of the fierce order. He could be at times roused to indignation in denouncing vice, and vehement in unmasking the woes to come; but almost all his conquests were won by gentleness and sympathy, and, as became a Passionist, he was most effective when he spoke of the Sufferings of Our Redeemer. On this topic no one could listen to him without being deeply moved and feeling that the speaker had made a special study of Christ and Him Crucified. No wonder, therefore, that the Confraternities over which he presided, both in Belfast and Dublin, increased to such numbers, under his enlightened and pious guidance. This short notice of his would be very incomplete without some reference to the admirable patience and resignation, with which he bore his long and trying illness. He was naturally of a very bright and cheerful disposition, and he was conspicuously a courageous man. These two qualities sustained him during an illness that would have made an ordinary patient, despondent and gloomy. He fought hard to regain his strength, that he might still labour for some years for the salvation of souls, but, when once he realised that his course was run, or that even should he recover partially, he would be an invalid, he had no further wish to live ; but in a spirit of earnest piety, set about preparing for the end. For months he bore his increasing infirmities without murmur or complaint: cheerful, courageous, resigned, he awaited the end. Death seemed to have no terrors for him, because life had but few regrets, and doubtless during his last hours, he was consoled by the memory of his arduous life, and sustained by the prayers of the thousands whom he had aided in the struggle for salvation. With all the blessings, which religion provides for the dying, his pure soul passed from earth from earth at four o’clock on the first morning of 1808. The Bishop of the Diocese, the Vicar General, over 30 secular priests and the entire representative lay men of the City, as well as the poor of the district, whom he loved like a father, attended his obsequies. His remains lie in the beautiful little Cemetery, which has been recently enclosed in the grounds of the Retreat at Holy Cross, Ardoyne, Belfast.