Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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LOYOLA COLLEGE ВЕУТЕМ 13 To the City of Montreal Father O'Bryan rendered an important service by his successful development of Loyola College. When, in 1896, he was ap- pointed its first Rector, he threw himself into the enterprise with his customary whole-heartedness, and aimed at making the new institute in every respect a model of learning. After an interregnum of four years, during which time he was succeeded respectively by the late Father Doherty, Father Jones and Father Turgeon, he was recalled, in 1905, to his old post of duty, under the conditions imposed by his impaired health that must have been singularly uncongenial to one of his temperament. Physical infirmities had set in which caused grave anxiety to all who knew him. Тһе heart of this good priest, which had spent itself, as it were, in the service of God and of humanity, became seriously affected with the growing symptoms of ANGINA PECTORIS. Public speaking or active exertion of any kind was denied him, a sad trial truly for the unflagging energy and activity that had been unwearied in well-doing. Two years of repose and intermittent attack of the dread disease which carried him off, closed the career of Father O'Bryan. Three days before his death was his last appearance before an audience. It was an occasion which specially appealed to him, the meeting of an association founded by himself, the Alumni of Loyola. It gave the beloved Rector the opportunity to impress once more upon his hearers the lessons they had learned at the college, lessons of honour and manliness, of self-restriant and devotion to duty, of a loyal and fearless expression of their faith. His ringing words, uttered with old-time eloquence, though, alas, with visible effort, will never be forgotten, for they were, indeed, emphasized three days later by the tragic death of the speaker himself. The last day of Father O’Bryan’s life was a characteristic one, being spent almost entirely for others. He attended the funeral of an old professor, wel- comed Father Campbell, the Gelic missionary, who had just arrived from Scotland, and later in the day, went to see a friend who had been seriously ill. Inthe evening, he was visited, in an informal way, by the college physician, Dr. McCarthy, who warned him that he had been doing too much. At half past ten, Father O'Bryan was found in his office, seated in an armchair, and complaining of suffocation. The physician was summoned only to find the usual remedies unavailing and the end at hand. The intrepid priest had long faced death; he met it now with his wonted courage and complete resignation. He asked for the last Sacraments, which were administered, and while his assembled community were reciting the prayers for the dying, he passed into unconsciousness, only five minutes before his splendid career of usefulness had come to an end. By a beautiful coincidence, the faithful servant who had loved so much, and spent himself so untiringly in the service of his Master, was called to his reward on the octave of Corpus Christi, vigil of the feast of the Sacred Heart. It was symbolical of the rejoicing that should attend this ideal death, that the Church of the Gesu, on the morning of the funeral, was resplendant in its decorations for the great festival. The larger edifice was filled to repletion. Many remembered with poignant regret how often it had been filled to listen

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12 LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW id SM 122 77221200 Є тө 2220 шиш FIRST RECTOR OF LOYOLA MMS eS nudam Cat Cm NUNC NR COLLIER DICIAMO RICE Ё—- Father Gregory O'Bryan, S.J., was born in Halifax in 1858 and received his primary education in his native city. He studied for a time at the Grand Seminary in Montreal, and entered the Jesuits’ at the age of twenty-one. After his novitiate, a term of teaching at Saint Mary's College, in Montreal, and a course of philosophy, at Stonyhurst, England, he was sent to Manitoba to work in the College at St. Boniface, which had just been handed over to his Order. His theological studies in Milltown Park, near Dublin, was followed by his ordination to priesthood. It was in Ireland that he began his missionary work. After another year, in Roehampton, near London, he returned to Can- ada, in 1892. The young priest then entered upon that remarkable missionary career which embraced almost the whole of Canada, Newfoundland, and the Northern States. “There are few Catholic centers of any importance,’’ says а bio- grapher, “іп which he has not preached, few religious communities to whom he has not given retreats. Besides this he was frequently called upon to give diocesan retreats to the clergy. Everywhere was felt the influence of his strong and forceful personality. His deep and earnest conviction made itself felt in every effort of his eloquence, in every flight of that natural gift of oratory which ranked him among the foremost of our Canadian missionaries. Не brought the truths of Faith home to his hearers by the power of his fearless manhood, as well as by his compelling words. The pith of Father O'Bryan's messages to his hearers ever showed plainly that he was impatient of half- heartedness in the service of God, of shallowness and insincerity. His style of preaching was free from sensationalism and founded on common sense and solid reasoning. “Іп all his discourses, says one of the leading Catholic journals, “there was a profoundity of thought, a degree of learning, and a rare power of expression—may we not call it a heart language?—which went straight, as the arrow from the bow, from soul to soul, beseeching love for the Crucified. There was a masculine strength and directness in it which did not, however, detract from beauty of diction, or flashes of poetic thought. He owed to his Celtic origin, no less than to the polish of his training, a grace of нас always harmoniously and aptly applied. The conspicious note of Father O'Bryan's missionary labors, and it may be said of his life, was forgetfulness of self. He it was who always chose the most arduous duties, who, after a day of indescribable fatigue, rose to say the earliest Mass next morning, or to hear confessions. Не did not spare himself, but he was ever full of thoughtful consideration for others, a quality which was manifested even to his last hour.

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14 LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW to his masterly sermons. The demonstration of grief was noticeable and strik- ing. Women and men wept, every head was bowed in prayer, while many hearts recalled the acts of kindness and the words of sympathy and encourage- ment. Тһе vast throng, as one person, seemed to mourn “THE HUMAN-HEARTED MAN WE LOVED,” no less than the great Jesuit, the scholarly educator, the successful missionary. Father O’Bryan was buried in the little cemetery at Sault-au-Recollet. His grave is beside the one wherein so lately was laid Father Doherty, his friend and fellow in the missionary field. The example of the Rector of Loyola, as a saintly religious and indefatigable worker must remain in the college that he governed, and wherein he inculcated the highest ideas of Christian manhood; in the Order of which he was an ornament; in the various congrega- tions, where though dead, he still speaks; in Canada, in which he was an en- lightened and public-spirited citizen; in the Canadian Church, whereof he was, in every truth, a shining? light. ANNA T. SADLIER, (In the Canadian Messenger of the Sacred Heart).