Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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6 EOVIOLA COLLEGE REVIEW versity. Їп 1899 he was named rector of Loyola College in Montreal, whence ill-health compelled him to withdraw. Many of his later years were spent in missionary work in Canada and in the United States. Applying all his noble faculties to this strenuous and fruitful apostolate, he reaped such a harvest as shall be known only on the great day of reckoning. While attached to the church of the Gésu, in Montreal, he acted as Local Director of the League of the Sacred Heart for three years and became in that way especially endeared to both Promoters and Associates. Many of us recall the beautiful and practical instructions he was accustomed to give at the monthly meetings of the League, either on the [ntention of the month or on some special devotion, such as that to the Sacred Heart, to St. Joseph or to the Holy Souls. Some of his sayings at these meetings remain fresh and vivid in the memory of his hearers to this day; for this master of spirituality and of the deep and hidden things of God had the peculiar gift of throwing new light on old familiar points of doctrine. His sermons at the early Masses in the Gésu, his retreats given to the English-speaking women of Montreal, were always practical, sympathetic, original and deeply spiritual. Father Doherty's style of oratory and his method of development, particularly in his controversial sermons and in his discussion of doctrinal points, delighted the cultured and the learned. The modulation of his voice, the force and elegance of diction, the high and sustained thought, the direct and masterly reasoning, the depth and the solidity of his learning had a special charm. А leading secular newspaper declared him to have been one of the most learned men of Canada. This was absolutely true, for his stores of knowledge covered a wide area. In literature, in rhetoric, in the sciences he wasa master. An expert in philosophy, a physicist, a chemist, an architect, and excellent mechanic, he was competent to teach and direct men in almost every department of human endeavour. He was an accomplished musician of rare skill and technique. and possessed a baritone voice which was often heard to advantage in the church services. The death of this distinguished priest would have been in one less pre- pared appallingly sudden; to him it was the swift passage into that life which he had often and so beautifully represented to others, and to union with the Master whom he had served with such perfection. He had apparently re- covered from an attack of La Grippe, and was about to resume the course of evening lectures which had been temporarily interrupted. On Sunday morning, March 2rd, 1907, he said mass, entered the confessional, and remained there during part of the following mass, when it was announced that he was going to preach in the evening. Half an hour later he was seized with a violent pain in the chest and went to the College infirmary. But the end had come. There was barely time to give him the last absolution before he had passed away. The announcement of his sudden death was received with a profound and thrilling emotion by the large congregation. Father Doherty's funeral, simple, touching and absolutely poor, as is the rule of his Order, took place on Tuesday, March 5th, the ceremony being attended by the Archbishop and Coadjutor Bishop of Montreal, by members of the reverend clergy and by a vast concourse of the laity, Catholic and non- Catholic. His mortal remains were laid to rest in the Jesuit cemetery at

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TOVOLA COLLEGE SR EV raw 5 A FORMER RECTOR ОЕ LOYOLA COLLEGE A brief consideration of the career of that distinguished son of Saint Ignatius, Father William Doherty, who passed away suddenly on March 3rd, 1907, in Montreal, must surely be of interest to our readers throughout Canada, by whom he was well known, and among whom he so zealously laboured during so many years. The personality of this priest was so unobtrusive, his humility so profound, that it is quite possible that there were many who did not realize how brilliant and versatile were his gifts. Born April 9th, 1844, of wealthy parentage, in St. John, N.B., he entered Fordham College, near New York, at the age of thirteen, and during his course of studies he revealed talents of the highest order. It was during his college career that his professor, Father Jouin, the author of various philosoph- ical works, declared that his brilliant pupil could, if necessary, teach philo- sophy himself. This he was later in life called upon to do; for one of the many eminent positions which he held in the Society of Jesus was that of Professor of Philosophy in Georgetown University. The young student's valedictory, when he received his degree at Fordham, was held by competent critics to be a masterly effort. А few. months after his graduation, William Doherty entered the Jesuit novitiate, and continued his studies in various houses of the Order, notably at Woodstock, Md., where he was privileged to have for his masters such eminent men as Father Mazzella, afterwards Cardinal, Father de Augustinis, afterwards a professor in the Roman College, and the well-known moralist, Father Sabetti. With such teachers and such a pupil, the result was not surprising; the young Jesuit, after many years of continuous application, became proficient in the various branches of human learning. He was ordained priest by the late Primate of the American Church, Archbishop Bailey, and he laboured successively in England, the United States and Canada, everywhere leaving the same luminous trail of vast and profound erudition, and of exalted spirituality. In 1884 he became Superior and parish priest of Guelph, Ontario. It was there that he displayed new and surprising gifts in the designing and construction of one of the finest churches in Western Canada. His knowledge of architecture and his remarkable aptitude for business details displayed in the beginning and the progress of the work, enabled him to raise a noble monu- ment worthy of Our Lady, to whom the church is dedicated. During the many years of Father Doherty’s ministry in Guelph and elsewhere he made numberless friends, and endeared himself not only to his own, but also to non-Catholics, who were deeply impressed by his learning and his holiness. - He was temporarily transferred to the United States in 1897, and for two years gave the post-graduate course in Philosophy in Georgetown Uni-

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Т © УО КА COLLEGE Ж ЕУ ГЕ 7 Sault-au-Récollet. He was survived by two sisters residing in Baltimore, the last of an unusually happy and united family, two members of which were distinguished Religious of the Sacred Heart. To sum up in an adequate manner such a life and such a personality within these brief limits is simply an impossibility. His eminent perfection in the thorny path of religious life is, so to say, the secret of the cloister. He was, above all, saintly in the highest degree, completely detached from the world, freed from everything that was petty or narrow or ignoble, embracing all men, as it were, in the brotherhood of charity, seeing good everywhere, trusting and believing. His love of poverty was so great and he was so completely mortified that he possessed absolutely nothing. It was touchingly related to the writer that when a souvenir of him was asked for after his death, nothing could be found but a cheap picture of St. Thomas Aquinas, . and the notes of his last sermons, written on the backs of envelopes already used and on the wrappers of newspapers. Нів brethren could tell many a tale of the profound humility which made him as simple as a child; the perfect sincerity of speech and purpose, which would not lend itself to the most trifling deception; the obedience which caused him to obey the rules of his Order exactly and entirely; the large-hearted charity and kindliness of heart, which caused him to abound in sympathy for those who were in affliction, and which endeared him to numberless friends, despite his quiet reserve and apparent austerity of manner and his almost mystical piety. А staunch, loyal and appreciative friend, Father Doherty was broadly tolerant of the weaknesses of others. Stern only to himself, he was a foe to all scrupulosity, doubt or fear, or whatsoever might keep souls from a filial love for God and confidence in His all-embracing mercy. This quality, combined with his knowledge of theology in its innermost intricacies, made the lamented priest an ideal confessor and a master in the spiritual life. He wanted his penitents to be cheerful, courageous, and to walk in the sunshine of the children of God. | Father Doherty was always the refined, the polished, the courtly gentleman, familiar with the ways of men, adapting himself to their various grades, and expressing himself with the utmost purity of diction and with a charming accent. Many, like the present writer, in deploring his death with deep and heart-felt sorrow, in offering a fervent (though it may seem superfluous) prayer for his soul, feel intimately convinced that their loss, and the irreparable loss to the Order which he adorned, is indeed his gain. Аз far as our limited human judgment can understand the Mysterious Beyond, the Gates of Heaven must have opened very wide, indeed, to receive the soul that was called so suddenly hence. Should any rust of earth, however, remain, the Promoters and Associates of the League of the Sacred Heart, whom he so zealously and so ably directed will feel it their privilege to offer up a heart-felt prayer for his soul's repose, asking that he who showed so many others the way may hasten to his own Eternal Home. 'They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars to all eternity. ANNA T. SADLIER. — Canadian Messenger, Мау, 1907.