/,
MEMOIRS OF FATHER P. GALLWEY, S.J.
ROEHAMPTON ! PRINTED BY JOHN GRIFFIN.
MEMOIRS OF
FATHER P. GALLWEY, S.J.
WITH F
FAT1:
LONDON : BURNS AND OATES (LIMITEDj NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO I BENZIGER BROTHERS
913
MEMOIRS OF
FATHER P. GALLWEY, S.J.
WITH PORTRAIT
BY
FATHER M. GAVIN, S.J.
LONDON : BURNS AND OATES (LIMITED) NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO '. BENZIGER BROTHERS-
1913
PREFACE.
Beyond a graceful tribute, entitled Father Gallwey, by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, in memory of his revered master and life- long friend, nothing has been published since Father Gallwey's death to chronicle his work for God in the Society of Jesus during seventy years.
Mr. Percy Fitzgerald's little sketch, as he terms it, contains some description of Stonyhurst in the days of his youth, bears witness to Father Gallwey's untiring energy, his love of literature, his interest in the Stonyhurst stage, and his devotedness to his pupils . It provides us also with some eighteen or twenty letters, written in the early fifties, from St. Beuno's College, North Wales, in the first year of Father Gallwey's priesthood. They are extremely interesting, revealing the warm heart of the writer, and varied by comments on litera- ture and music and the passing events of
vi PREFACE
the hour. They represent the bright and happy days of his early manhood, and are naturally very different from the grave and measured letters of maturer years, in which he spoke of things divine, and trained souls in the perfection of their state.
This unpretending little volume of memoirs is not meant in any sense to be a Life. Various writers, who knew him as Superior, or served with him in the ranks, have contributed chapters which bring him before us as Novice Master, Giver of Re- treats, Preacher and Writer of Books, one of which, the Watches of the Passion, has gained the distinction of a sixteenth edition. Thus sidelights are cast by friendly hands on a fervent Religious, while an attempt is made to describe his every-day life of prayer and labour and self-sacrifice as a member of the Mount Street Community.
A Life in the strict sense of the word is an impossibility. His correspondence has been almost entirely destroyed by himself, or by others, in many cases at his special desire. A letter, which quite recently came into my hands, to a Religious of the Sacred Heart, now in Mexico, gives the secret of
PREFACE vii
his wish to conceal all vestige of his good deeds. To a question asked by the Reli- gious, " What is the quickest way of gain- ing the personal love of our Lord that you speak of so often? " Father Gallwey an- swered in a letter dated January 3, 1884 :
" My dear Sister in Christ,
" St. John the Baptist's word is a good answer to your question and will do for a motto for the year : 'He must grow great and I must grow less.' Self is anti-Christ : self is the real obstacle to the love of our Lord. Love and selfishness are day and night. One must go before the other can reign."
Father Gallwey practised what he preached. The desire of advertisement is the characteristic of self. It loves to flourish its pious achievements. Hence our Lord selects prayer, fasting, almsdeeds as actions to be specially screened from the gaze of men. If done to be seen of men, the reward is given here, none other can be expected. Father Gallwey had a hor- ror of anything that looked like self-ad- vertisement. He must have known per- fectly well that some day an attempt would
viii PREFACE
be made to publish his Life. He was de- termined to defeat this project, and was most successful in his aim. Of his corres- pondence with persons of note like Cecil Marchioness of Lothian, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, Archbishop Errington, and hosts of others, through forty years, hardly a vestige remains. Lady Georgiana was his penitent and intimate friend, his letters to her were returned to him after her death. They would naturally have dealt with her literary labours and her many good works, and would have provided instructive read- ing. Her letters to him and his to her seem to have been destroyed by his own hand.
During the twelve years of his first rec- torate in Farm Street, from 1857 to 1869, he was prominent in every good work in London. His influence was greater at that time than any subsequent period. He was in the maturity of his physical and intellec- tual powers, and much sought after as preacher, confessor, giver of retreats and missions ; he assisted and revised the publi- cation of books, he was prominent in all works of charity in the Archdiocese. He never referred to his labours, and has left
PREFACE ix
no word or solitary letter behind to help his biographer. Few, for instance, know that he was the real founder of The Month. Mother Taylor, to whom we owe the Congregation of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, always gave Father Gallwey the credit of procuring that peri- odical for the Society . After one year, dur- ing which Cardinal Newman gave her for publication the Dream of Gerontius, she re- signed the Editorship. " I consider," thus wrote Mother Taylor, " the real founder was Father Gallwey. He took the greatest interest in its start. So did Father Coleridge, whom I then knew only by correspondence. . . . Cardinal Newman took it up from the first and called on me that summer about it. Father Gallwey got James Doyle to design the cover, and it was he ( J . D . ) who suggested the name Month r
Though recognized as a master of the spiritual life, little remains in writing of his direction, which would have been highly prized by confessors and penitents . A kind of fatality seems to have followed all his correspondence. Wholesale destruction
x PREFACE
was the order of the day. To a Religious of the Sacred Heart, he sent many letters of spiritual direction during two years' noviciate. Through a mistaken spirit of self-sacrifice she burnt all. One friend as- sured me she had letters from him for fifty years (and he rarely wrote save on spiri- tual things). They, too, have vanished. The clergy to whom he gave retreats would naturally at times have sought his guid- ance ; no line from them or him has ever rewarded my search.
"We can only offer, then, the record of a holy life in great part hidden, with some letters which will at least afford pleasure and spiritual profit to his friends, while others may be glad to learn more from one whom they knew by reputation or heard preach, who read his books, or knelt in his confessional.
Should this little volume reach a second edition, perhaps his friends in distant lands may be tempted to forward letters that are still in their possession.
The veil has indeed been lifted, in two well-known biographies, from a portion of Father Gallwey's life, his Provincialate
PREFACE xi
( 1873 — 76). His name and doings come to the front in Mr. Purcell's Life of Car- dinal Manning, and in the admirable Life of Cardinal Vaughan, which we owe to the pen of Mr. Snead-Cox. In Cardinal Man- ning's life, Father Gallwey is not always kindly spoken of, and in Cardinal Vaug- han's life the letters and the biographer's comments remind us of discussions and controversies which are now almost an- cient history. Men of great name and high example and of inflexible resolve, eager for God's glory, which each yearned to promote according to his lights, figure in these chapters . Saints have differed ere now in their mode of action and will differ again. Pope Leo XIII.'s ruling in his famous Constitution Romanos Pontifices closed discussion and dispute, and brought us profound peace. Any reference to Father Gallwey's action in his Provin- cialate would be out of place in these Memoirs .
The pleasing task alone remains of thanking all who contributed in any way to the publication of a necessarily inade- quate record of an apostolic life. My
xii PREFACE
gratitude is especially due to the Religious of the Sacred Heart and of the Holy Child Jesus for information and for letters kindly lent, and to the Irish Sisters of Charity for the account furnished by them of the Hos- pice for the Dying at Hackney, that last good work of much -needed charity estab- lished by Father Gallwey in the weakness of his declining years.
We are very much indebted to Father Charles Blount, S.J., for his contribution, " Father Gallwey as Novice Master," and to Father John Rickaby, S.J., and Father Michael King, S.J., for their respective chapters on Father Gallwey as " Giver of Retreats " and on " His Published Works." To the kindness of Father Sydney Smith, S.J., we owe " Father Gallwey as a Contro- versialist," and to Father Chandlery, S.J., the Index.
M. G.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface v
Chapter I.
Stonyhurst in 1856 1
Chapter II. Twenty-four Years at 114, Mount Street, W. 1 o
Chapter III. The Hospice for the Dying in Mare Street,
Hackney 44
Chapter IV.
Instructing Converts 59
Chapter V.
A Few Favourite Scripture Texts . . . . 80
Chapter VI.
Father Gallwey's Letters 86
Chapter VII. Letters to Religious of the Society of the Holy
Child Jesus 130
Chapter VIII. Father Gallwey as Novice Master . . . .151 Chapter IX.
A Giver of Retreats 168
Chapter X. His Published Works: Father Gallwey as a
Writer 197
Chapter XI. Father Gallwey as a Controversialist . . .221
Chapter XII. The Last Sickness and Death 235
CHAPTER I.
Stony hurst in 1856.
I have been asked to put on paper some Memoirs of Father Gallwey. It is a plea- sure and privilege to be allowed to write of a Jesuit Priest, so much respected and so widely known in the English speaking world. Although in the hackneyed phrase he outlived his generation, the memory of his noble deeds still remains, his voice still speaks in his books, and his Brethren of the English Province venerate in him a devoted labourer, a fervent religious, an example for young and old to imitate.
Perhaps these jottings, however imper- fect, may be welcomed by people in the world, by members of religious orders, by the secular Clergy, by religious in Convents where he gave Retreats, and may revive old recollections. Remarkable men are worth remembering.
My first sight of him was in September, B
2 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
1856, when as a boy I went to Stonyhurst. He was Prefect of Studies, and to him be- longed the duty of assigning the class to the newcomer. The class naturally depended on the knowledge of the pupil. After so many years, I remember perfectly that he asked me to put into Latin, " They say that Caesar was killed by Brutus," and I muddled through somehow. At that date Father Gallwey was a tall, thin man, with black hair partly curled, he had a stoop, a very large massive head and sharp penetrating eye. From 1855 to the autumn of 1 8 5 7 he was Minister and Prefect of Studies. The Minister in our houses is next in command to the Rector, looks after domestic dis- cipline, and that important department, the Commissariat. Although Father Francis Clough, to whom Stonyhurst owes so much, was Rector, I am sure in the estimation of all the boys, Father Gallwey was by far the biggest man in the house. Somehow you felt his influence everywhere : everyone spoke of him, and seemed to bow before him, and nothing seemed complete without him. He made giant changes in the studies,
STONYHURST IN 1856 3
" Coming back from the University Examination," says Father Gerard in his Stony Hurst Centenary Record, " to the system followed in the College itself, a great change has to be recorded, which was introduced by Father Peter Gallwey in the year 1855 — 6. Greatly curtailing the amount of matter to be read in each class, so that all might be able to prepare it ac- curately, he at the same time revived the institution of the Extraordinary, which had fallen into disuse. He also introduced the division of classes into two opposite par- ties, Romans and Carthaginians, each boy having his rival, and also Concertatios. The system thus inaugurated, modified by succeeding Prefects of Studies, notably Father Purbrick and Father Kingdon, is that which is still followed."
Father Purbrick bears testimony to the life Father Gallwey infused into the Studies at Stonyhurst in a letter whence the follow- ing passage is taken :
1 When Father Gallwey came to Stony- hurst as Prefect of Studies, he was unmis- takably in earnest, working hard himself, and bent on making everyone else work hard, full of life and energy, no admirer of tradition, but ever eager to start fresh ex-«
4 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
periments. He undoubtedly did a great work by stimulating emulation, by intro- ducing Concertatios in public during the Community meals . In a word he could not abide stagnation."
He urged on the studies with might and main, and had the gift of inspiring at least a little of his own enthusiasm in those he came in contact with . He encouraged hard work and hated idleness in a class. I re- member one day at the oral examination of a school, as we then called it, disappointed with the answering of some, he did not hesi- tate to say that over the door of every class ought to be written the warning, 'aut disce aut discede, either learn or go. He never minced matters, he was blunt and straight in his early manhood, blunt and straight in his green old age. You felt his influence all round ; wherever Father Gallwey moved, there was life and stir and go. He kept up the pace. I remember as if it were yester- day when the handsome Refectory at Stonyhurst was enlarged ; on November 12, 1856, it was opened and ready for use . The whole College was gathered together to hear Father Gallwey's address on the oc-
STONYHURST IN 1856 5
casion, the last words are in my ears still, " and I said, who ought not to say it, that to-morrow the Feast of St. Stanislaus should be a recreation day." Of course rapturous applause followed that pro- nouncement. Mention of his address re- minds me of his sermons which the boys sometimes heard. Nothing now remains of them in my mind from these far off years, except the earnestness of the man, and the impression left of the holiness of the speaker. Jesuits have their faults and shortcomings like the rest of men. They are not, however, accused (at least among themselves) of anticipating the verdict of the Sovereign Pontiff and canonizing their brethren before their death. They wait with commendable patience for the pronan- t'wmuSy declaramus, et deflnlmus of the Pope in his Bull of Canonization. Father Gallwey had better luck in those (distant times. I remember my master saying to me that he regarded Father Gallwey as a Saint . Everyone knows the meaning of the phrase, many men say it, or at least think it, of their mother. It means goodness far outside and beyond the even beaten ordm-
6 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
ary path. Most certainly that was the im- pression left by him on the boys. And this gave him immense authority with them, and added weight to his advice or to his repri- mands. The high esteem in which he was held was conspicuous in every department of that large College, and no one seemed to rate him more highly than the Rector, Father Francis Clough. Within my hear- ing, years after when Father Clough was Rector at Beaumont, he related how some distinguished person in a trouble of con- science earnestly besought of him a Confes- sor more than usually gifted ; Father Gall- wey was sent, and the penitent in tones of deep gratitude remarked when the Confes- sion was over : " Oh what a man !"
He was destined for a larger field of labour and left Stonyhurst in November, 1857, to be Rector of Farm Street Church. He came to say good-bye in the higher Line Playroom, and the parting advice I still re- call: "Beat the Protestants." By these words he meant that the students were to win the first prizes at the London Univer- sity and take the lead over their non-Catho- lic competitors. My recollections from
STONYHURST IN 1856 7
personal observation are broken off here, to be resumed some 20 years later. Rumours of his untiring energy in every branch of charitable work, of his great success as a Preacher and Confessor, reached us at Stonyhurst. Cardinal Wiseman was then at Westminster, various distinguished ec- clesiastics were found in the Archdiocese, FF. Faber, Dalgairns and Knox were at the Oratory, Canon MacMullen at St. Mary's (Cadogan Street, Chelsea), Canon Oakley at Islington, Dr. Manning at Bays- water, FF. Christie and William Eyre and Hathaway at Farm Street, and doubtless many others whom I am unable to quote, but on all hands it was admitted that Father Gallwey held a very conspicuous position among the devoted men working in the Vineyard. One heard of the converts he received, of the great influence his strik- ing personality exercised in London, of the crowds his sermons drew. He founded the Sodality of Our Lady in Farm Street, which has done much among Catholic men and will do more, and he organized a large Bazaar on a colossal scale for some charit- able purpose which was supported by all
8 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
the leading Catholics of those days.
These are the only two things achieved by him which I can recall now. The life of the busiest priest has its regular even round of work. He is known and seen in his own Church, in his Confessional and Pulpit, in the sick-room, in the parlour of the Pres- bytery, listening, instructing, consoling, cheering and doing God's work effectively, but secretly. Angels keep the records which men are not privileged to write. And so I must leave Father Gallwey to meet him again when he was Provincial.
All that came under my personal notice during his Provincialate was his special kindness and charity to the sick members of the Order, his extraordinary energy, and I may say, his ubiquity. He was every- where. Distance never checked him ; long journeys never seemed to fatigue him ; he was interested in all the work of the Pro- vince, promoted competition between the various Schools of the Society through money prizes, and encouraged individual members to some special line of study suited to their taste, capacity, and charac- ter. Many may not have agreed in the wis-
STONYHURST IN 1856 9
dam of his regulations, but all readily ad- mitted the zeal and boundless energy of the man in promoting God's work according to his lights.
CHAPTER II.
Twenty-four years at 114, Mount Street, W.
I.
I NOW proceed to give for the reader's in- struction and edification, r honestly and truthfully as they seem to me, some recol- lections of this remarkable man from the year 1882 until his death in 1906. I will mention his virtues and his shortcomings too, otherwise his character would not be truly painted. To chronicle a man's vir- tues without the shadows which may dull their brightness is to describe an unreal being, one who is not human . Father Gall- wey is unworthy of such treatment.
And first let me dwell on his independ- ence of character. One of the many charges brought against the Jesuits is that they destroy all individuality, and swamp instead of developing the natural charac- ter. This is traced in great measure to the
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET n
blind obedience (as the world says) incul- cated by Ignatius of Loyola. That Saint Ignatius demanded much of his children in the matter of obedience is perfectly true. Of the Three Vows obedience unquestion- ably is the most difficult . The Saint wished obedience to be the characteristic of the Company of soldiers "founded by him. Other religious Orders in the Church may practise greater austerity in fastings, and watchings, in food and diet. In true and perfect obedience, in the sacrifice of one's own will and judgtnent, the Saint wishes his children to be conspicuous. But this, whispers the world, is blind obedience, which destroys character arid cramps initia- tive. Whatever else obedience may be in the Society, most certainly it is not blind. Blind obedience Saint Ignatius does not ask, and does not want. For blind obedi- ence is a leap in the dark ; and this is pre- cisely what a Jesuit's obedience ought not to be according to the mind of the Saint. Read the letter on the virtue oT obedience and judge for yourself. The Saint asks for submission of intellect and will. But surely such submission is incompatible with blind-
12 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
ness, as the metaphor is usually understood. The superior, who holds the place of God, gives an order, or the rule prescribes a cer- tain course of action. Saint Ignatius de- mands obedience in all things where there is plainly no sin. But he gives the sub- ject the right of representation and conse- quently imposes on the Superior the obli- gation of weighing the reasons which sup- port the representation. That done, the Saint asks the assent of the intellect, add- ing a saving clause so far as the well dis- posed will (devota voluntas) can bend the understanding. Besides, the subject al- ways has the right of appeal to higher authority. Such is the ready, hearty obedi- ence described by the Saint. Whatever such obedience is, most certainly it is not blind. It is not a leap in the dark. It seems difficult to see how a man can obey and loyally carry out the orders of a Su- perior except with submission of intellect and will. The orders of a commanding officer in a campaign cannot be effectively put in execution by a subordinate, if the latter thinks the directions of his chief rash and unwise.
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 13
Saint Ignatius, then, asks obedience of mind arid judgment. Obedience as we have explained it does not destroy independence of character . The Saint never meant to des- troy but to improve and perfect the char- acter which God has given. The model of all obedience is Jesus Christ. Ignatius asks his men to knock under, to obey, and to toe the line. If the burthen is too great, why join the Society? The rules are ex- plained in the two years' Noviceship, and the perpetual vows are taken with full knowledge of all they demand and impose .
This independence of character was visi- ble all through Father Gallwey's long life, in word, and deed, and bearing, as subject and Superior. It was traced even in his spiritual direction in some ways peculiar, distinctive, outside the beaten track. He was so fashioned that others leant on him, while he stood alone, apart, a striking per- sonality. To him old Homer's description might in many senses be applied, " con- spicuous above the Argives by his head and broad shoulders."
i4 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
II.
One of the striking qualities of Jesuits in Community life is their strongly main- tained individuality. This was seen in a marked degree in Father Gallwey. He claimed all the liberty the Church gives in his judgments on men and things. He claimed that liberty without violation of any rule of domestic discipline. In this he fol- lowed the great writers and thinkers, theo- logians, philosophers and historians who, throughout the ages, loyally served the Church they adorned. A magni nominls umbra, the shadow of a great name never darkened Father Gallwey's opinion. In- deed he carried this so far that a brother Jesuit, with a deep reverence for him, said one day in my hearing that he never could tell in advance what view Father Gallwey would take on any subject. He always had his own view and his own opinion on books, devotions, practices, persons and events. And he never hesitated to express it, at the opportune moment, in language which was not always diplomatic. The sly and art- ful Jesuit formed no feature of his portrait.
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 15
Amongst ourselves, as with acquaintances and friends outside the Society, he was straight, open, blunt and fearless. He gave his opinion when asked, people might adopt it or reject it as they chose. This in- dependence in word and action never inter- fered with his obedience as a Jesuit.
He was a thoroughly obedient man . Al- though he held the highest offices in our Order as Provincial, Novice Master, and Rector at two separate periods in Farm Street, for the last 26 years of his life he was a private in the ranks, as a private he died, and as a private this fine old soldier went to Heaven. Superiors amongst us, by our Founder's rule, are changed at stated periods with the single exception of the Father General, who holds office for life. Appointments, however exalted, once aban- doned, confer no exemption in the slightest degree from the ordinary rule. An emin- ent ecclesiastic once said that Saint Igna- tius was an aristocrat, and that he stamped his aristocratic spirit on the society that he founded. Perhaps a more correct estimate of the Saint is to describe him as partly an aristocrat, and partly a radical. He was
16 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
certainly a leveller, and he insisted that his subjects, when they ceased to be in authority, should knock under and toe the line like the rest. Thus their obedience is tested. In the ranks Father Gallwey was remarkable by his obedience. His readi- ness to ask leave for everything outside the rule was one of the characteristics of his life. He was perpetually in and out of the Superior's room asking permission for various things. To a man of his com- manding character and strongly-marked personality, the constant submission to or- dinary rules and common life even more than daily asking leave must have been ex- tremely trying. For he was not like other men : he had a difficult character to over- come. He did not change it; by prayer and grace he overcame it. A member of the Order, much respected among us, Father Gallwey's Superior, in later years, thus writes of him :
' My acquaintance with Father Gallwey was not quite so prolonged as you seem to imply. It was only during my stay in Farm Street that I lived in the same Community with him. My acquaintance with him at
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 17
Farm Street was long enough, however, to give me a great esteem for him, a great ad- miration for his really marvellous labori- ousness, his complete 'detachment from everything that was not connected with his duties, his minute fidelity to the religious rule, the fidelity of a fervent novice, in spite of all the drawbacks of his advanced years and bodily infirmities. I think that the spirit of obedience is more fully and ac- curately tested and more rigorously proved by his uninterrupted regularity than by fidelity to less usual orders or instructions. I believe the minute and uninterrupted fidelity to rule and the observance of a re- ligious house was wholly supernatural. He was naturally a man of strong character, and with very definite views ;and strong will. With such a character obedience is not easy ; not easy as it may be with pliant char- acters ; it involves a constant struggle and hard work, victory over self, a victory won by Faith. I incline to think that to him obedience was the most difficult of virtues. "What brought his, obedience most keenly to the test was an order or a suggestion to relax somewhat of his austerities to himself, to avail himself of those appliances or con- veniences which his years and his infirmi- ties made desirable or even necessary. He could not lend himself to such suggestions c
18 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
without a severe struggle, but the struggle was made. Surely such obedience is far more meritorious than the easy yielding of more pliable characters."
The reader will not fail to note that this well-deserved tribute is given to one who maintained to the last his individuality and his strong will.
This perhaps is the most fitting place to append the testimony of two men, his Superiors in Farm Street. Each Rector gave his own testimony and impressions in- dependently of the other.
" It would be insincere to speak of Father Gallwey in terms of indiscriminating eulogy. He had the defects of his quali- ties. But they were great qualities. And his defects were those of a great man.
1 The yoke of obedience must have been galling at times to one so masterful by nature and so accustomed to command. But his obedience was that of a novice. He was most scrupulous in asking for neces- sary permissions, inconveniently so, as he would often visit a Superior's room for the purpose repeatedly in the course of the day.
' This punctiliousness in asking permis- sions arose also from his love of poverty,
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 19
which he practised strictly. Very large sums of money passed through his hands for charitable purposes, and people were the more ready to give what he asked be- cause they knew he wanted nothing for himself.
" His charity to the poor was extraordin- ary and was exercised on a large scale. He begged unblushingly for causes he knew to be deserving, for poor communities of re- ligious, for the education of church stu- dents, for reduced gentlefolk, for all, in fact, who appealed to him for aid.
" Almsgiving was his favourite topic in his sermons, and he was sometimes thought to ride his hobby too hard, but no one ever questioned his motives . He did not confine his begging to cases only in which he was personally and immediately interested, but he always had at heart the needs also of the church he served, and was unremitting in obtaining pecuniary help 'for its wants. In an emergency, a Superior could always turn to him for financial assistance and was seldom disappointed. It is probably true to say that the extent of his charities will never be known.
" Certainly he was not the man to reveal them. Except his Superior, whose per- mission he had to ask, and the recipients, no one else was allowed to "know. With
20 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
him it was a case of the left hand not know- ing what the right did . This dislike of pub- licity or of anything that had the appear- ance of self-advertisement was characteris- tic of him. His influence at one time was widespread among all sorts and conditions of Catholics. But it was exercised quietly and unobtrusively, as spiritual influence should be.
" His love of work was insatiable. One never found him unoccupied, he seemed to take his leisure in prayer. No one' who knew him could fail to recognize him as a man of prayer. His devotion to our Lady was very tender. The beads were seldom out of his hands. He would speak of her in his sermons, in season and out of season. And those who have been present at his lec- tures on the Passion will remember how he would interrupt his subject to throw upon the screen some picture of our Lady, usually a copy of some old master, though it had no bearing upon the matter in hand.
4 He was regular in all that concerned common life. He resented almost fiercely any exception made in his favour, as when for example, on one occasion, a specially convenient chair was provided for his use. The writer occupied the room adjoining his for four years arid remembers how prompt he was in rising at the first sound of the
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 21
caller's voice. He attended all community duties to the very end, in spite of the in- firmities of old age.
" He was naturally a man of strong likes and dislikes, and, though he would at times express strong disagreement with those from whom he differed, he was sel- dom betrayed into any expression that could be called uncharitable. He was by nature a man of quick temper, but though sometimes the old fire flamed out, in this respect also grace had brought nature well under control.
" He had the saving sense of humour. Those who knew him will not need to be told that. But nevertheless he suffered at times from considerable depression of spirits. The writer remembers how de- jected he was for a long period when, after an operation on his eyes for cataract, his sight was slow in returning, and what a sud- den revulsion from low to high spirits took place when one day he found himself able to read again.
" He prepared his sermons with the most conscientious care, never trusting to the spur of the moment nor to old sermons, but making fresh notes each time of what he in- tended to say. He told the writer more than once that his sermons cost him more labour to prepare as he grew older. He
22
MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
thought out his subject beforehand, usually in presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and hence his sermons were distinguished by freshness and originality of thought and treatment . But perhaps their chief charac- teristic was that indefinable unction which was due to his practising what he preached. They made no pretence of studied elo- quence, though of natural eloquence there was often plenty, and they were frequently wanting in method and order, but they were always striking and impressive and full of deep feeling. His pathos was genuine. There he seldom struck a false note. He disdained the tricks of oratory, but he possessed the true orator's power of per- suading and moving his hearers .
"He was an acknowledged master of the spiritual life and must have trained many souls to great holiness. But of this, little can be known except to those concerned. He was thought by some to be strict and exacting with those under his guidance. But those who knew him best knew the al- most womanly tenderness of his big heart, especially to those in trouble, and the deep feeling which, in spite of his great powers of self-control, he was often unable to sup- press.
"He was, of course, an adept in the Spiri- tual Exercises. He drew large numbers
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 23
yearly to his ladies' retreats, and this in spite of the fact that he was said in the latter part of his life to give the Exercises almost in the same words year by year. He had no liking for short retreats. He thought the Exercises required eight days at least to do them justice. And he in- sisted on four meditations a day for all exercitants. He required strict compliance with the regulations of the retreat and woe betide anybody discovered breaking the rule of silence ; such offenders were some- times summarily dismissed. But he de- voted himself unsparingly to all in retreat, and tried to see each of them individually at least for a few minutes every day. Those who have conducted ladies' retreats will realize what labour that must Tiave in- volved."
Here is a second letter from his last Superior :
" As I was Father Gallwey's last Su- perior you ask me for my impressions. Father Gallwey it was who made me a Catholic at the early age of two ; he baptized me, to him I had made my first Confession, and it certainly was, or would have been under other conditions than those of the re- ligious life, an anomaly, that in the end I should have been fris religious Superior. Never, however, did he allow these earlier
24 MfcMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
relations to affect his treatment of me in this our last connection. I found him in all things most helpful. He was intensely in- terested and alive to all the work that went on at Farm Street, and singularly free from the proverbial conservatism of old age, be- ing ready to fall in with the changes which I was fond of proposing. This struck me the more, for I naturally anticipated that he would love the old grooves, and be op- posed, at his great age, to new way3 ; but again and again, I found him quite on the side of experiment, progress and change. There was nothing in him of the typical old man, he was young at eighty-six in his energy and desire for work, young in his simplicity and faith, and young in his con- fidence. He never could bring himself easily to submit to any of the special re- strictions and precautions which the doctors prescribed, and which, indeed, ordinary prudence would suggest. I remember re- ceiving an unsigned letter a year before Father Gallwey's death from an anxious friend of his. In it I was told that if I wanted to kill the Father, ' prussic acid or a bullet would prove a less cruel method than an accident in a hansom cab, for the reckless way in which you permit or en- courage him to drive about can have no other result ' ! He was of an extraordinarily
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 25
active habit and anything like enforced rest oppressed him excessively. Another point, which is worth dwelling on, was his dislike for display, or advertisement. When he was Rector at Farm Street, the Sacred Heart or Clutton aisle was opened : it was done without any ceremony, at a quiet time of the day the hoardings were removed and the aisle was opened. When in my time some little display was made on the occa- sion of the completion of a new side altar, I discovered that he thought it very much out of place, and disliked such do- ings exceedingly. It was, to me, an indi- cation of his habitual simplicity and horror of self-advertisement. His own religious and spiritual life were precisely on these hidden lines : his prayer and mortification were incessant, but it was only after being in the house with him a long time that one became aware of it. He would make his way quietly back to the Chapel, like a bird to its nest, after every call to the parlour or to the Church . There in a corner during the day and late into the night he would remain in the most absorbed prayer. His humour and funny stories, very old chest- nuts, had always served as a cloak to his deep piety, and did so to the very end. Other virtues of his I might touch on, were his humility and poverty, for no one was
26 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
so regular and punctilious as he in asking for ' leaves,' even for the smallest things, and chiefly might I dwell on his charity. His was a charity which ' thinketh no evil/ for I fear he helped many a worthless vaga- bond. After his death I had all his long list of cases investigated by the Charity Or- ganization Society, and I do not believe that one of them quite stood that vigilant body's impartial scrutiny. Father Gallwey's heart was very large, and where he saw there was suffering and want, that was enough for him. This is only a brief sketch of the good Father which I have written at your request. It can only convey a very inade- quate notion of my feelings and recollec- tions of him, for his was altogether a great personality and he never lost this note of greatness to the last."
And now to resume my own recollec- tions.
The next point in which religious and laymen may copy him to some extent was his love of prayer. Far back in the early days of his priesthood, when Father Tracy Clarke was his Rector, while the noviceship was at Hodder, near Stonyhurst, Father Clarke said to a friend, " Value Father Gall- wey, he is a man of prayer.'* The same
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 27
characteristic was most remarkable in the Community life in Mount Street. In the letter previously quoted from his Superior we find the following passage :
" It was impossible to live with Father Gallwey and not recognize that he was wholly a man of God ; a man whose single purpose and continued effort was to pro- mote the service of God, one who was in- tensely interested in all that concerns the interests of God. It was equally easy to see that he was a man of prayer. As a small but definite indication of this spirit of prayer, he was most faithful to the morning visit to the Blessed Sacra- ment, as well as to the last visit before retiring at night, even in his last years, when the labour of mounting and descend- ing stairs made it a matter of no little diffi- culty and pain.
" He left nothing incomplete in his prayer, nothing that could detract from the reverence and humility of the penitent. Even in extreme old age, he would remain throughout a Church Service on his knees."
The reverence of his prayers could hardly escape a casual observer, and still less those who lived in the same Community
28 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
with him for many years. Grace before and after meals is not an easy form of prayer. It is apt to be hurried. Neither the occa- sion nor the place is a help to that outward reverence which we always owe to God. And yet during grace Father Gallwey was remarkable for recollection and fervour. He never failed in the answers, and his "Amen" at the end was audible throughout the Refectory. Similarly, in saying the Di- vine Office, the posture, the expression of the man would strike and impress. In the preparatory prayer Aperi Domtne, found in the Breviary, and recommended before the recitation of Office, we find the words, digne attente ac devote, whoever does his best may hope in God's mercy to pray worthily. The word digne can only be used analogi- cally. No prayer of Saint or Angel is worthy of Him who dwells in the Highest, but at least He will accept and grant the petition, if it be for our welfare, even though dust and ashes commune with God. Father Gallwey had a claim to the attention and devotion which should be inseparable from our prayers. Office is proverbially exposed to distraction, and perhaps to this
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 29
cause was due the extra pains he seemed to bestow on its recitation . I have been asked for my own impressions of him. And I should point to recollection and fervour as easily seen by such as have watched Father Gallwey praying. Many years ago he was taking his dinner on his knees at a little table in the Refectory, a form of penance usual amongst us and in other Religious Orders, of any beholder his demeanour and expression would naturally have arrested attention. To what was the grave face due, the eyes modestly cast down, the whole bearing remembered now after many long years? He was making his annual eight days' Retreat.
His passionate devotion to Mass, the holy Mass as he used to call it, is well known to those who heard his sermons or meditations, and read his books and sought his Confessional for guidance. His was a most devout and recollected Mass without extravagance or singularity, for he hated all forms of eccentricity. By voice and look and bearing you were reminded that he was ministering in the greatest act of worship man can offer to God. He sang Mass too
3o MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
with much feeling and most willingly late on in life, would bear the inconveni- ence of the fast by singing High Mass, to relieve some tired member of the Com- munity .
Father Faber mentions : " Mass to St. Philip was never said merely as a holy habit or routine. To the Saint there was always a holy novelty in it." Perhaps Father Gall- wey shared this privilege to some extent with the Saint. It was at least very notice- able how anxious he always was to learn the intention for which the Holy Sacrifice had to be offered. Some priests form their intention, as it is written for them on the Tabella or Mass board, or remember it as once promised. He seemed to make a rule each day to examine carefully the inten- tion, to know the person, the object for which the Holy Sacrifice was offered. This was a point on which he was most keen. He had many claims on his Mass. Friends were so anxious to have it said by him rather than by others .
The thanksgiving after Mass was invari- ably made before the Altar of the Sacred Heart in Farm Street. It was well-known
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 31
that those precious moments were never to be disturbed by Confessions or other calls. The thanksgiving over, he was found in his Confessional, to begin the day's work for his Master. He was constantly on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament outside the time prescribed for prayer. His enor- mous correspondence, many visitors, con- verts, sick calls, duties of Community life, sermons, Retreats, never interfered with his visits to the Blessed Sacrament. How he found time was a marvel. Those who have worked long in London, prize a Sunday morning which happens to be free of a sermon or other duty. As visitors are few on a Sunday, the time is eagerly grasped for arrears of work ; to answer let- ters, or for some anxious pressing duty. Yet a Sunday morning was precisely the time when Father Gallwey was to be found in the Sodality Chapel on his knees before the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle, which he loved to call a tomb, had a marvellous attraction for him, late at night, and early in the morning, and many times during the day. He used constantly to rush up the stone stairs, forgetful of age and infirmity,
32 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
to say a little word to Jesus Christ before going forth to work for Him in the busy London streets .
Another characteristic o*f our vener- able friend was his absolute disregard of creature comforts. As Superior he was generosity itself when the sick were concerned. Nothing was 'denied them in the shape of food, clothing, change of scene which his large heart could pro- vide. As for himself he seemed to ignore such things. When compelled by the doctor's orders, because of his years and many infirmities, to take extras in the shape of wine or special diet, he never seemed to pay the slightest attention to the meal be- fore him ; wine was taken as children take medicine, not always with the best of grace. His room was the picture of discomfort, the window open when it ought to have been closed, and nothing to indicate that he cared to look after himself.
Now I come to a striking point on which some stress deserves to be laid, gathered from personal observation. In the twenty-four years passed with him in the same house I never once entered his
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 33
room to find him, to use a familiar phrase, taking things easily. In sickness one saw him covered with a blanket, writing his let- ters in bed. Often he was in deep thought in a chair, or pacing the room, which always seemed too small; much more frequently he was to be seen at his table studying or writ- ing. Never once did I see him resting as we understand the term, except in the last days, when the armour had been taken off and the old soldier lay down to die. Work had an absorbing attraction for him : he could not be idle.
These memories may well close with a mention of his sermons and his charity to the poor and the heavily-laden.
It belongs to a more skilful hand to speak of his published sermons. After all, a ser- mon is meant in the first place to be heard. It is not an essay. The polished sermon that reads well may easily be a failure in the pulpit, and vice versa, a sermon that produces a very great effect, when printed ceases to attract, and is dull and un- interesting. Though some of his published sermons rank high in thought and expres- sion, Father Gallwey to be appreciated had
34 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
to be heard. For forty years he preached in Farm Street ; during a long period he attracted a large and attentive audience, in the latter years the interest fell off, chiefly because he forgot the wise advice of St. Francis de Sales that it is always better for a sermon to be too short than to be too long . The elements in trie success of a sermon are the man, the matter and the delivery. In the pulpit Father Gallwey was an apostle, a messenger with tidings from on high, and those that knew him were certain, and strangers, total strangers, felt, he prac- tised all he preached. There was no affec- tation, or straining after effect, all was natural, simple, straight. He gave his Master's message from his heart, and never minced words, or ran after sweet sounding phrases. Clearly, bluntly, forcibly he spoke. Often he offended like the Saints before him, for he told unpleasant truths and forced men to think. The divine Preacher mightily offended the world, and as His words could not be checked or gainsayed, the world adopted a serviceable method of closing His lips, it promptly put Him to death. But the world was too
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 35
clever in its own conceits. It never reck- oned on the most famous day in history when the Man who had offended, crucified in shame, rose again in triumph to receive the homage of the world. The preacher who offends finds himself in good company. It is impossible to teach, to reprove, to cor- rect, to instruct unto justice without offend- ing. In hearing Father Gallwey the con- gregation realized that the preacher in the pulpit had really at heart the eternal salva- tion of his audience, that he sought not him- self, but Jesus Christ and His will by plac- ing before his hearers a high standard of action.
In the composition of his sermons he spared no labour or pains . A Catholic still living, with wide experience of Parliamen- tary life, stated in the writer's presence, that the finest orator he ever heard, finer even than Gladstone, was de Ravig- nan. The secret of the latter's suc- cess was largely due to the labour be- stowed on his sermons. " Idleness," said de Ravignan, in his instructions on sacred eloquence to the Jesuit students at Saint Acheuil, " is the bane of the pul-
36 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
pit." De Ravignan had all the natural ad- vantages which help a public speaker ; a striking presence, fine voice, and splendid delivery ; and as an excellent preparation for the pulpit, he taught Theology in the early years of his priesthood. For ten years he wrote his sermons and learnt them "by heart. After that long probation, which fitted him for his successful career at Notre Dame, he was content with carefully pre- pared notes, the skeleton of a sermon. Father Gallwey could not compete with de Ravignan— except in the martyrdom of laborious preparation. He wrote his ser- mons, even to the days when "his eye- sight failed. No pains or labour seemed too great in this Apostleship of preach- ing the word. Frequently what we call domestic exhortations, meant for the community alone, were read from the written manuscript. In speaking 'to his brethren he might have spare'd himself this labour, for words from him always commanded the attention due to his years, long experience, high standing and holi- ness . But he asked of others a high stand- ard in labour and preparation, and he prac-
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 37
tised what he preached.
The sermons were eminently practical, and there was always a lesson to take away. His thoughts were fresh and striking : a listener would often think or say, " I never saw that truth in that way before." He im- pressed himself on his congregation. He used the same texts of scripture again and again, and though the interpretation may sometimes have been fanciful and strained, somehow it fitted in with the truth he was driving home, and the lesson stuck. Two men, after a sermon from him in Lent, were walking home from Farm Street ; one opened the conversation, and the other an- swered, " After hearing a sermon like that, don't you think we had better walk home in silence." He was particularly effective in attacking scandals of the day. He never minced matters : the words were forcible and racy, the illustrations striking and sometimes amusing, the dash and courage of the attack reminded you of the land of his birth. And yet there was nothing un- kind in his censures, even those who de- served them would admit that his intentions were always of the purest and his great
38 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
merits enabled him to speak with a freedom denied to others ; people remembered it was Father Gallwey. The reader will not forget that these observations represent the impression made by the sermons as de- livered.
He seemed to me more effective in his meditations than in his sermons. Want of unity and connection could be frequently observed in the latter, in the former they were not so much needed. The medita- tions were full of striking thoughts, thrown out anyhow, pearls without any setting, and on that account more telling. These striking thoughts were borrowed from his favourite author, the Crucifix. He studied that Divine book, and practised the lessons it teaches, and unfolded the secrets, which eternity will not exhaust. In the pulpit, convent, monastery and chapel, his voice clear and musical, often quivering and broken from deep feeling, the intense earn- estness of the man, the language perfectly natural, revealing much, yet leaving you with the impression that there was more in the depths of his heart that could not be told, added immense weight to the solemn
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 39
truths he unfolded in his Master's name.
And now to pass to what seems a hope- less task, some records of his charities. The task is hopeless, for his correspondence is in great part lost, and he kept almost in- violably secret the record of his deeds. He rarely spoke of them except in the most casual way. Whatever his faults, self-ad- vertisement was not one. " But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doest." St. Chrysostom's gloss on these famous words is, " If it were possible for yourself to be ignorant of it, that should be your aim : so that your very hands in motion to give alms should not know what you were doing." I think Father Gallwey fulfilled his Master's wish, and the Saint's commentary on the passage. He never ceased asking alms and was most successful in his appeals. He begged in- cessantly, but never for himself. Some may have resented his demands as exces- sive. Before we condemn him we must re- member that he was positively in love (my vocabulary can afford no better word) with the poor and the sick, the weary and
4o MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
heavily-laden. But you cannot check the intemperate energy of love, or bridle its words, or dictate its action. It has ways and means of its own ; love is unreasonable, and declines to be tied down by the hard and fast rules of logic. All forms of need had a claim on his large Irish heart. Many years ago the Rector of a well-known Col- lege said that Father Gallwey never sent a boy without asking for a reduction of pen- sion. He had a fund to educate poor boys for the Church. Convents opened their doors at his request to girls whose parents had seen better days. He found places for servants, and pupils for tutors, and procured alms for all sorts and conditions of men, right on to the end of his life. He had two thoughts before his mind, the suffer- ings of the poor and the dangers of the rich, and with the bluntness of an Apostle, he warned the rich that almsgiving was for them the golden key that opened the Gates of Paradise. The luxury of the age he de- tested : lazy, idle, effeminate men, sumptu- ously-dressed women were told plain truths about the use and misuse of gold.
Not merely in procuring money for the
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 41
destitute was his charity displayed ; his time, presence, words were ever at the ser- vice of the sick. We speak of the " rush " of the age ; many are rushing away from God, but fortunes are not spent, nor is health impaired, by rushing after the things of Christ. It used to be said of Father Gallwey, and with much truth, that he was always in a hurry. Yes ; but the hurry and the rush was in the service of the Lord, and often for the sick and the dying. Distance was no obstacle to his visits to the sick at any hour of the day or night, in all weathers and in all seasons. He loved the atmosphere of the sick-room : to him it was a tonic. He more than fulfilled all that is found in those in- structive words of the Roman Ritual as ap- proved for England, De visitatione et car a infirmorum. The Ritual tells the Parish Priest not to wait until he is summoned, but to go unasked, and he is advised to supply all the temporal and spiritual wants of the invalid. This injunction Father Gallwey fulfilled to the letter. The poor were sup- plied ; those who alone asked spiritual assistance had at their command the coun-
42 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
sel, and vast experience, and holy thoughts of the venerable Priest. One of his char- acteristics was his constancy to "his friends ; never was this more apparent than in sick- ness or sorrow.
He was a specialist for the death -bed. In his sermons and meditations the refer- ence to "death was frequent, but never out of season. The Crucifix and Maria De- solata inspired the lesson of Christian hope which cheats death of its terrors. He had quite an extraordinary faith in the virtue of Extreme Unction. He availed himself of the most generous views of Theologians, and gave it, with the permission of the Priest of the Mission, wherever there was probable danger of death. He had the firmest belief in its healing power for soul and body. He enabled the dying to over- come the tyranny of death with a courage that leant exclusively on the strength of the Crucified. No wonder he was sought after as a specialist to soften and to sweeten that punishment, which God, with all punish- ments at His command, has selected to prove His hatred of sin. When a soul that Father Gallwey had attended passed from
LIFE AT MOUNT STREET 43
this world, he clamoured for the Holy Mass as he used to call it : he was importunate in his request for that acceptable sacrifice of the Altar, which above all other forms of prayer and penance, lessens the suffering of Purgatory. He fought with all his heart against that false form of Charity which places the soul in Heaven almost immedi- ately it leaves the earth. It puzzles us to, see on what grounds such a verdict is re- turned, since the Church, by solemn defini- tion, has taught nothing of the duration of that punishment, of which the Saints and spiritually -minded speak with reverential fear.
CHAPTER III.
The Hospice for the Dying in Mare Street, Hackney.
Love for the poor and the dying is shown more by deeds than by words, and although Father Gallwey's acts of charity, because of his reserve, must remain in numberless cases unrecorded, there remains at least one splendid witness to his zeal and prayers in St. Joseph's Hospice for the Dying, Mare Street, Hackney. It is said that this Hos- pice was the reward of thirty years' prayer. From his early years in London in the 'sixties it had been his ambition to estab- lish a home where the poor could die in peace with all the consolations of re- ligion. The poor of his native land, often lonely and abandoned in a wilderness of busy men, claimed his special care. The following letters from members of the Irish Sisters of Charity, to whom the Hospice
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 45
was entrusted, describe the foundation of this wonderful work due to Father Gallwey and to two generous benefactors who sup- plied the money. We may add that the donor of £10,000 was personally unknown to him. He laid the case before her as a last resort after many years of prayer, and his petition met with a success he hardly dared to expect.
The following note from the Rev. Mother of the Irish Sisters of Charity, Gardiner Street, Dublin, tells its own tale :
" I first met Father Gallwey in Tramore in 1 867 ; he had come over to see his sister, who was dying .
" He took a great interest in our Con- gregation, and was most desirous that we should open a House in England, and for this purpose he sent us many postulants. Our Blind Asylum, Merrion, elicited his genuine sympathy, and later on the Hospice for the Dying.
" Being a strong Irishman, he felt much for our poor country people, who in an alien land, and amid strange surroundings, soon fell away from the practice of their Reli- gion, though in the old people their great gift of Faith remained intact, only waiting for an understanding hand to bring it into
46 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
action. He thought that a purely Irish Congregation of Nuns would best appeal to them, and influence them for good. He regretted greatly that our first English foun-» dation in Preston had not been a success . He made several attempts to get us to London, but there were many difficulties in the way, first, want of subjects, our lHome Mission requiring all our Sisters, then the difficulty of providing the ways and means. This latter difficulty was overcome in the year 1 900 by the generosity of a young convert, a member of a rich London family ; she offered to pay the rent of a House and the support of four Sisters, as also the Chaplain's salary. The good Father was triumphant, he obtained the sanction of Car- dinal Vaughan, who expressed a desire that we should establish ourselves in Hackney, and include in our labours the district of Hoxton, where a great number of our people were congregated : they came over in the year of the famine, 1848, principally from Cork and Kerry ; the old people pre- served the faith, which in the second generation, from mixed marriages, &c, became considerably weakened, and was most frequently lost in the third generation. He then applied again to our Mother General, M.M. Scholastica Margison, who could no longer refuse. The following
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 47
February, M .M . Lucy and myself were sent over to London to see how matters stood, and we were indebted to the hospitality of Lady Catharine Wheble, who entertained us for the necessary time. Father Gallwey had seen about a house for us in King Edward's Road, Hackney, and only wanted our approval to take it for us : we met him at Farm Street the day after our arrival, and proceeded to Hackney. With us he went over the house, seeing what repairs and improvements would be necessary to make it suitable, went with us to a furnishing shop to order all requisites ; all this to be done at the expense of our kind benefactress. He proved himself a real Father, introduced us to anyone likely to help us, and procured for us an interview with the Cardinal, who was most gracious, and said, ' Remember, Sisters, I invited you over a couple of times.' Father Gall- wey promising to look after everything for us, we took our way home.
" On the 2nd of July the same year, 1900, the Foundation was made, Mass was celebrated for the first time in the little chapel. Father Gallwey arrived in the afternoon with a few friends, gave Benedic- tion of the Blessed Sacrament, and said a few appropriate words, and from his heart gave us all his blessing. He never ceased
48 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
to prove himself the Father and friend of the little Community, coming up in the Ember weeks to hear our confessions and to give the customary exercises twice a year of our Trlduum, even in extreme old age.
"Another great proof of his goodness and the power of his prayer and union with God, lay in obtaining the necessary means of purchasing the freehold property on which we are now well established, a matter of £9,000 or £10,000. The Superior tried every means of obtaining the money, even going so far as offering to borrow it (we had then only one small house on the same property). This, of course, could not be allowed by our Mother General. When everything looked hopeless, and the Su- perior had made her offering, a letter arrived from our good Father, saying that just as he too had given up hope, he re- ceived that morning a letter from a lady to whom he had written as a last resource, say- ing that she was willing to pay the required sum, which she most generously did to "the great delight and gratitude of all con- cerned, doubtless to the joy of the good Father himself."
A second letter from the Rev. Mother of the Hospice for the Dying, Mare Street, Hackney, gives full details of the founda-
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 49
tion and opening of the Hospital :
' When first I met Father Gallwey it was on the Feast of the Visitation, July 2, 1900. The Father had come down with the foun- dress and several friends for the opening of our Convent at 4, King Edward's Road, Hackney. It had long been his desire that a community of the Irish Sisters of Charity should be established in London, to visit and instruct the poor Catholics, many of whom were Irish. Benediction was given in our little chapel, and Father Gallwey spoke to the Sisters.
' He quoted his favourite Psalm : ' Lift up thine eyes to the mountains from whence help will come to thee.'
" He reminded the Sisters of the vast field of work that lay before them and warned them not to put their trust in the great ones of this world, but that their help was from the Lord who hath made Heaven and Earth ; he prayed that the Lord would bless their coming in and going out amongst the poor and afflicted.
"He then went through the house and saw everything, and left the community greatly strengthened by his words. During our three years in King Edward's Road, he came regularly four times a year and also gave Trldaams twice a year, and was always a father and a friend. On one E
5o MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
occasion he was staying in a house near at hand ; he asked Mother Rectress to lend him the alarum clock as he was to say Mass at 7.30. Next morning the Sisters saw the old Father stepping out of a cab at 6.30 with the alarum clock grasped in his hand ; he spent the hour before Mass in prayer. Father Gallwey had no trace of human res- pect, his wonderful simplicity and earnest- ness about all things was a striking feature ; as a rule he did not waste words, but was very kind-hearted to everyone, and old as he was, never gave himself any comfort or allowed others to give him any. When asked if he wanted anything, 'he used to say : " Get me more of the grace of God, I want plenty of that ! ' He suffered very much from rheumatism, and told us one day that it ' was only since the nuns came from Ireland that he had felt it so severely ! ' I am sure he offered up many a sharp twinge for our works and our souls.
"He loved to hear all about the poor, and the places we visited in Hackney and Hoxton, and got us help for them at a Sale of Work held in St. George's Hall, Mount Street, 1902. Father Gallwey took great trouble to make it a success, and spent three hours in a hot, crowded room, working for the cause !
" In 1903 our lease was up in King Ed-
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 51
ward's Road, and though much work was being done in Hackney and Hoxton, Father Gallwey was anxious that we should open an Institution in London. In years past many had wished and prayed that some day we might have a Hospice for the Dying in London, similar to the one under our care in Dublin. So the Community in Hackney began to pray in particular to the Holy Child Jesus for this intention ; a very small house in Cambridge Lodge Villas was to let ; trusting for help from on high it was taken for seven years . It stood in a terrace of six, houses and next to a detached house with garden. Once in the small house prayers were renewed and a statue of the Child Jesus was placed in the tiny chapel. A lamp , was burning before it night and day. After nine months' waiting the news came that the whole freehold property was up for sale, prayers were renewed, and Father Gallwey was deeply interested in the result. As the time drew near when the Rectress was visiting him, he said : ' Go home, and tell the nuns to pray harder than ever !' When hope was nearly dying out, on November 30, 1903, a letter came from Father Gallwey, saying that a lady had offered to purchase the freehold for a Hospice for the Dying !
" On December 4, 1903, feast of St.
52 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
Barbara, the place was handed over to the congregation for £10,000.
" A year and one month elapsed before our hopes were realized, as the detached house was still retained by the lady until July, 1904, when she left. Many repairs and alterations were required to make the house suitable, and on January 15, 1905, the feast of the Holy Name, Mass was cele- brated in one of the rooms, and a poor man and a poor woman were admitted. These proved the forerunners of many poor souls, who finding shelter in St. Joseph's Hospice, have passed happily to their reward.
" Father Gallwey had a particular de- votion to those who have seen better days, and the Hospice has fulfilled his desires in this, as many a poor wreck has drifted there, whose birth and education would have rendered the workhouse -infirmary well-nigh intolerable.
In March, 1906, Father Gallwey or- ganized a sale at the Portrnan Rooms, and though obliged to go to Bournemouth for his health, he insisted on coming to London to be present at the sale, and after the usual opening with one ' Hail Mary,' the won- derful old Father remained for hours at a table working away for the dying poor.
" After that he came in June to give us the Triduuni; he was very feeble and suf-
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 53
fering much, but in spite of all, his iron will and great love for souls urged him on ; he spoke of his favourite theme, the Pas- sion of Christ and the love of God and the poor. Anyone hearing him could not fail to think that he lived as a ' Stranger and Pilgrim ' in this world, and that he travelled in spirit with our Lady and St. Joseph to Bethlehem and Nazareth. Calvary was his favourite resting-place ; as he expressed it : ' I will often go in spirit to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. If I forget thee, O Calvary, let my right hand be forgotten.'
' The day we came out of Triduum we saw the old Father for the last time. He asked to see the Sisters, and when Mother Rectress came, she found him trying to put on his shoes. Seeing what an effort it seemed to be, she offered to help him . With his usual dry humour he said : ' I am not such a fool as I look,' and insisted on draw- ing on the shoe with great difficulty. He was very kind to us all, and walked over to the Hospice, some of the poor patients came to him, and one woman knelt down and kissed the hem of his cassock ! The last we saw of him was walking feebly with his stout stick to help him, a bag slung over his shoulder, and his venerable head stooped with age. He was helped into the tram
54 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
which passes our door, having firmly re- fused to allow us to get him a cab. We never saw him again until we went to see him resting after his well-fought battle with the spirit of the world. We were greatly- honoured by being presented with his pil- grim's stick, and it is kept as a treasure in one of the Hospice wards. We still feel that he is helping on the work he loved so well, and hope that it may enlarge and bring more souls to add to his glory in Heaven."
Thus ends the letter.
Let no one suppose that the object of these few memories of the venerable man, now enjoying his reward through God's ex- ceeding mercy, is to indulge in unmixed panegyric ; mere praise is almost con- temptible after his weary day. He had his faults like the rest of us, and no one would have more willingly acknowledged his own shortcomings and resented an unreal portrait. It is almost refreshing to remember that we are all encom- passed with infirmity. Our Lord's chosen disciples were confirmed in grace at Pentecost . This privilege secured for them immunity from grave fault, while it left the
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 55
liberty of will intact . We shall not lose the benefit of their intercession by the admission that they may have committed venial sins, semi-deliberate and deliberate, through human weakness. It is absolutely certain, and some theologians hold as of faith (de fide), that the perfect cannot in a lifetime avoid all venial sins without the special privilege of grace . Approved authors have thought that this grace was granted to St. Joseph, at least, after his marriage with our Lady, to St. John the Baptist arid to the Apostles after Pentecost . This is a tenable opinion as regards venial sins fully deliber- ate, but very uncertain in the matter of semi-deliberate faults (see Noldin, vol. II.
P. 58).
Catholics are bound to believe as an article of faith that the Blessed Queen of Heaven, " by the special privilege of God," was preserved all through life from every venial transgression . In the noblest prayer that ever was composed the Divine Master bids not merely the sinner but the Saint to repeat : " Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us ." All that Suarez, one of the Church's greatest
56 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
writers, will allow is that the just man, by good deeds and frequent prayers, can with less difficulty for one whole day {per diem integrum) avoid every fault (see Tepe de Gratia, vol . III. p . 45).
After this brief digression, which shows the impossibility of escaping small sins, even in the case of those far advanced in the service of God, we have less difficulty in understanding how great gifts and glori- ous deeds are found side by side with blemish and infirmity. Father Gallwey had a difficult character to deal with. He was a man of strong views, and most tena- cious will. Human nature was strong in him, and fine soldier that he was he set him- self to a lifelong struggle with the foe.
A commentator on the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, speaking of the Second Week, devoted to the imitation of Jesus Christ, lays down the principle that the more a man overcomes himself the greater is his know- ledge of Jesus Christ. Our venerable friend led a mortified life, and vince te ipsum was his motto . Placed in very high and responsible positions, fully convinced of the rectitude of his own views, he some-
THE HOSPICE FOR THE DYING 57
times failed to see that others, inside and outside the Society, were as anxious as he to advance the glory of God. A character such as his does not pull easily in harness with other men ; it is apt to be over -exacting in authority, and restless under opposition. He sometimes forgot in his zeal that those around were not called upon to think and act alike with him, and that liberty of thought and action belonged also to others not so highly gifted. Men who keenly re- sent roughness and harshness of manner bow before gentle persuasion. To conceal these small infirmities would be unkind to him and unjust to others. All who knew him admit that he rendered conspicuous service to the Catholic cause in England by his labours and writings, and was uni- versally respected by his Brethren during the seventy years he spent in religion. Or- dinary folk loved him more with his faults than without them. His standard was high, and his example noble in every department of a priest's life, in the pulpit, in the con- fessional, in the chamber of sickness and death. He was ready to recognize to the full the services of others, and reserved be-
58 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
yond belief in reference to his work on the Master's behalf. Clad in infirmity from head to foot, he readily admitted his faults, and frankly confessed that he had very strong passions to overcome.
CHAPTER IV.
Instructing Converts.
No account of Father Gallwey, however meagre, would be at all complete without some reference to the converts whom he received into the Church. Unfortunately no accurate list has been preserved of those who owed to him the gift of faith. He was very keen in the blessed work of lead- ing souls to the knowledge of divine truth. But he is especially worthy of admiration and imitation in the careful instructions be- stowed on converts before reception. He instructed Jiis converts with extraordinary care, and drilled them in the Catechism. His usual method was to teach the Catechism, and next to explain the Creed <of Pope Pius IV. which converts recite on their entry into the Church. Among the questions wisely put in the Instructio for the reception of a Catechumen is this :
6o MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
" Who will watch over and assist the con- vert, as far as may be needed, after his reception into the Church." He watched his converts carefully after recep- tion. If with all the strength of his com- manding character he taught them that they entered the Church not to teach and com- mand, but to learn and to obey, he made that obedience easy by showing them how to pray and to meditate, and by urging upon them frequent reception of the Sacra- ments and attendance at Holy Mass. The reasonable homage of faith is the effect of grace, and if converts are to be worthy of their vocation and to guard against the dan- ger of relapse they need the help of Heaven. It is deeply to be regretted that hardly any personal record of conversion is available for publication. Fortunately I am able to offer the following letter from one of the most distinguished of his con- verts, who knew him intimately and at- tended his Retreats. The reader will be interested to see that Father Gallwey was instrumental in a conversion which no less a man than Mr. Gladstone was anxious to prevent.
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 61
" Father Gallwey was a renowned fisher- man of souls, and one example of his method may not be without interest. If a number of other stories of conversion were collected together we should have a spiri- tual Compleat Angler , for he made studies in his art and was a real Izaak Walton in patience and adaptability, handling even his bait ' tenderly as if he loved it .' I had been coming along quietly for some years by reading and inquiry, with a real desire for truth, but a considerable reluctance to put my neck under the yoke, when one day someone said to me, ' Would you like to see a Jesuit priest? I could arrange it.' I jumped at the idea, the name of ' Jesuit ' made one tingle with interest and expecta- tion. I thought all Catholic priests were oracles of wisdom, but that through con- tempt for my youth and ignorance, they would not speak of what they knew. But a Jesuit would surely explain things if there were an appointment made on purpose, and he would know all that could be known about everything. So one January after- noon in 1879, Father Gallwey kindly stayed at home at Mount Street ' to be sent for.' When he arrived it was not the Jesuit of fiction who walked in, but simply — Father Gallwey, with his great expanse of head, and the visions in his eyes, and his
62 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
kind smile and his quick shuffle, and his re- assuring abruptness of speech. His coat collar was turned up, and his gown — ' his fisherman's coat '—girt up underneath it, as it was his custom to wear it when he came out in a hurry. There was nothing alarm- ing or mysterious ahout him. He held my hand a moment and looked me very straight
in the eyes. ' Well, Miss , I've often
heard of you,' he said, and I was too ready for anything even to know that I was sur- prised. Father Gallwey made everything seem natural and inevitable, and it was a great blessing to be able to skip the pre- face of the interview ; there was no question of ' How to begin.' ■' Shall I leave you alone ?' said my hostess, fresh from the ter- rors of a lady who was afraid to face a Jesuit ' by herself.' I gratefully accepted, and saw with still greater gratitude that Father Gallwey would conduct the inter- view. This was a novelty, and most help- ful, for I was mortally shy. Father Gall- wey put me in an arm-chair and sat down beside me. He began to ask preliminary questions and I to answer them, feeling that it was the most natural and the most un- natural thing that had ever happened. "I felt like Alice in Wonderland, and as if I had never been so young in my life. How old was I ? — Father Gallwey wanted to
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 63
know — just twenty-one ; ' that's all right/ said Father Gallwey, rubbing his hands . I wondered why, but it seemed to give him satisfaction. Had I father and mother liv- ing ? Only my father ; my mother had died before I could remember. ' Poor child F said Father Gallwey, parenthetically, and I noticed then what a non -Catholic writer calls the blending of impersonality with tenderness in the tone, which belongs to the Catholic priesthood. He asked a few more questions, and it touched and astonished me greatly that he seemed to care about things in a way that made ' Father ' quite a natural title in speaking to him. Then he came to the point. Where was I as to religious be- liefs ? and I explained that I was just at the cross-roads, having understood that there were only two alternatives, sub- mission to the Catholic Church or no fixed beliefs at all. What had I read? I had read the Bible and Hooker, and mostly, of late, German authors, in whose obscurities, far beyond my understanding, I had hoped to come upon the truth. ' All that is very good,' said Father Gallwey. ' And then I had read Archbishop Ullathorne, and the Catholic Church had started up before my mind as a possible solution of my difficul- ties, but/ &c. Then Father Gallwey be- gan— from the cross-roads where I was, and
64 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
taking his stand on the existence of God, worked on to show the Church as the Divine Teacher, and the only authentic wit- ness of the Truth. I could not help seeing it, and recognizing the voice ' which spoke with authority, and not as the Scribes and Pharisees.' He stayed an hour and went away with ' God bless you, it would be a million of pities if you Should be lost.' I did not understand what it meant ' to be lost,' but felt grateful that he hoped it would not happen to me. My hostess escorted Father Gallwey downstairs, and came back beaming. ' He says you are sure to come right,' she said, ingenuously, ' because you don't come back to the same point once it has been answered.' This was anything but joyful news to me, for ' come right ' had not quite the same meaning in my mind as in hers. I told my father of the inter- view, with the natural result that he begged me to promise not to see Father Gallwey again for the present. I promised, but re- served my liberty to write, and the kind and patient Father, protesting a little against my father's decision but very moderately, wrote constantly for the next few weeks. I was sent down to the country to undergo a cure of controversial reading and discus- sion, but Protestantism as a religion had been already dead some years for me, and
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 65
it was only a labour and a weariness ; the new light was quite steady. After a fort- night I wrote that I had had enough, and that my mind was made up . I meant to be a Catholic. After an interchange of tele- grams I was taken up to London, and there was a consultation of divines as to what to do with me. At six a.m. the following morning I was informed that Cromer had been chosen for solitude and reflection. Cromer was full of Quakers, a serene and quiet atmosphere, and in those days there was no priest nearer than Norwich. We were to go at ten a.m. ' Then,' I said, ' I will go and get Father Gallwey to receive me into the Church first.' Father Gallwey was in his Confessional, my first introduc- tion to"' the box.' He looked quite natural through the perforated zinc and considered the situation. ' No,' he said, ' I am not afraid for you. Go to Cromer and let your father have every chance.' It was a great astonishment to the relations when I came back saying that Father Gallwey had re- fused my request ; the Jesuit reputation of 1 going round about the sea and land to make one proselyte ' (and the end of the text is not spared to the ' proselyte ' ) seemed in contradiction with his action. We went down to Cromer for ten days. Then we returned to London, and as a F
66 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
happy thought, Mr. Gladstone was called in. He had saved so many, it was said, from ' going to Rome,' and I had the deep- est admiration for him. Canon Liddon was also suggested, but it was decided that a layman would have more influence over my mind. Mr. Gladstone patiently and kindly gave his time and his eloquence for three quarters of an hour, arid wrote the same evening to say that he had done scant jus- tice to his subject, and hoped that some- thing might still save me from the grave crime of moral suicide . He pointed out the deterioration in mind and character which he had noticed in his friends who had been received into the Roman Church, and ex- pressed every kind wish that I might not prove another example of it . His argument had been based on loyalty to the Anglican Church, ' the Church of your baptism.' I was naturally unable to meet his arguments . He said pathetically that ' he had so often been dragged over the harrows of the Roman Controversy,' but his words did not answer the questions in my mind, and I went back to Father Gallwey. The idea of 4 mental and moral deterioration ' had rankled, and it vexed my soul. I had said to him : ' Supposing I don't find my mind satisfied, once I have been received into the Church, I shall have put my neck in a noose
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 67
quite unnecessarily.' Father Gallwey was sympathetic, and entertained the idea seri- ously . After a minute he said thoughtfully, 1 I really don't see that you will be so much worse off than you are now, you will only have to go a stage further on, and seek the truth elsewhere.' This was far more re- assuring than any discourse of the blessed- ness of the faith and the impossibility of being dissatisfied when one was once in possession of the truth. A few days after- wards he received me into the Church, and in congratulating me, gave his usual ex- hortation about the fox and the fable, re- commending me to get ' the other foxes ' to cut off their ' tails ' likewise. Alas, my ' other foxes ' could not see the idea and carried their brushes gaily to the end of the run.
" But Father Gallwey did not leave his neophytes after baptism; he devoted him- self to keep in touch by writing or talking, to open out new points of view, to warn be- fore bad turnings in the road, and to an- swer all possible and impossible questions. Once I brought him one of those tangled problems with which erudite Anglicans love to ' pose > those who are young in the faith. 1 What shall I say ? ' I asked . ' I would say, " upon my soul I don't know ! " ' said Father Gallwey, and this satisfied me better
68 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
than a treatise on the obscure point. After all, why should one know these things which were useful neither to God nor Caesar, and only ornamental to learned Anglican divines. Father Gallwey had the reputation of being dictatorial and auto- cratic with his converts, but I never came across that side of his character. He was extraordinarily gentle in his suggestions and remonstrances, he ' begged as a per- sonal favour ' that one would do this or that, and made it seem as if it put him under an obligation if one followed his advice. He told me himself long afterwards, ' I always went as far as I possibly could with you along your own road before I asked you to turn.' And this was true. He waited three years patiently before he brought me to the point of making a Retreat, proposing it every year, but never insisting, and ex- pressing himself as ' so grateful/ when at length the invitation was accepted . When the Retreat developed the fruit he had been waiting for, a call to religious life, and the time came to take leave of him, he stretched out both hands — ' with both my hands I bless you for it,' he said, and opening the book of Esther, he read me the touching passages in which Mardochai speaks of himself as watching Esther from the time that she went in and out as ' a little one.'
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 69
' And he walked every day before the court of the house in which the chosen virgins were kept, having a care for Esther's wel- fare, and desiring to know what would be- fall her' (Esther, Ch. 2, v. 11). He said, 'that is what I have always felt for you from the beginning and what I have done in your regard.' It was perfectly true, and no other words than those of Holy Scrip- ture in his mouth could so well have ex- plained it. There came clouds afterwards between him and us for a time, and no one quite knew why : God allowed it so, and those who knew Father Gallwey well said that it was not rare in the course of his long friendships. But all came right in his last years as inexplicably as it had gone wrong, and in his Retreats he was his old and most dear self. The last Retreat in the year of his death was a great struggle, a swan's song ; he was already half away from this earth. He made a greater effort still to come down for our distribution of prizes,; 1 by command,' as he said. The last look I had at him was as he leaned forward in his chair, looking up and smiling, to kiss the Bishop's hand as he passed out, and I regard it as a great privilege that the last few lines he wrote, perhaps on the day before his death, were for me."
We are allowed to offer a second letter,
?o MEMOIRS OE FATHER GALLWEY
which describes the care Father Gallwey bestowed, as already noticed, on his con- verts, while incidentally it also refers to the close attention and tender solicitude which characterized him as director of Retreats :
" One of Father Gallwey's great char- acteristics was his thoroughness. Having once taken charge of what he describes as ' a job,' he would go through with it to the end. Having, for instance, got hold of a convert, the Father settled down to work, and right through the Creed of Pope Pius IV. did he take them, his big Bible in front of him and his kindly face beaming with joy at having a soul to lead into the fold. And when his wonderful teaching had made it all clear, and the end was approaching, there would come the question : 'Now then ! we have been through a great many things together, but suppose after you arc received, you come on something the Church teaches which I've forgotten to ex- plain to you ; what about that, eh ? ' And there was a little anxiety on his face till out came the answer, slowly perhaps and halt- ingly, as from lips not used to such acts of faith : ' Well, Father, if the Church teaches it, that will be enough for me, for I know now that what she teaches is truth.' ' That's all right, that's all right, my dear
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 71
child, and God bless you ! ' And when his converts were safe in the fold, they were not left to themselves, the foundations of the interior life were well laid and built upon. One of Father Gallwey's first cares after they were launched was to initiate them into the practice of mental prayer, and here simplicity was as ever the note of his teaching. ' Do you know you are making meditations all day long ? ' he would say, and explained to his surprised hearers that instead of being such a difficult flight to meditate, it was (according to him) the easiest thing in the world ; your memory, understanding and will were constantly at work, noticing people and things, reflect- ing on them and coming to a decision about them. One of his favourite illustrations was of the telegram you were supposed to receive. You opened it and read : ' Aunt Maria seriously ill.' You began using your memory, and recalled how you had heard of her having been obliged to leave home on account of ill-health . Then your under- standing set to work to think out why they had sent you a wire and not merely a letter : was her state very critical ? Ah ! you have it ; they want you to go and help to nurse her, and at once. Now your will comes in to decide whether or not you will go. You decide to go ; then comes the writing
72 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
of the reply telegram, and the searching out of ways and means of getting to your des- tination, and the carrying of them out. And from this the Father would explain it was but a short step to learn how to meditate, how to think about pious subjects. ' And isn't it easy after all, eh ? ' And so he, would follow up his converts, and, if one may say so, it was a joy to the Father to see them ' safe off ' out of this world, watching over them to the last. ' I believe he would like to see us all off before he goes himself,' one of them remarked. The smallest things were not too small for him. ' My dear child,' he said one day to one of his converts, ' on which knee do you genu- flect?' 'The right knee, Father,' with some perplexity as to what could be com- ing. ' Ah ! that's all right, that's all right ; but I could not remember ever having told you, and so many converts make a mistake and genuflect on the left knee.'
In his direction Father Gallwey was both father and mother to his spiritual chil- dren. His warm sympathy and wonderful way of entering, not only into difficulties, but into the details of difficulties, had all the delicacy of a woman, but underneath was a very virile determination that his people should do God's will and God's will only, however much human nature might
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 73
shrink. He had a very rooted objection to shirkers ; never mind how often you failed, he was always ready to put you on your feet again and send you off afresh, but you had to be ready to be put on your feet again and very resolved to try arid keep on them; if not, woe betide you.
"To see Father Gallwey giving a Retreat, or rather, conducting the Exercises, was to see him at his best. The keynote was work, a week with our Lord, a week's visit to Him, but no time for idling. No ! a week of; good hard work, plenty of exercise for memory, understanding and will. It was so essentially The Exercises as given iby Father Gallwey. You might fancy your- self back in the days of St. Ignatius, so closely did he follow his spirit, and so mili- tary was the precision with which your day was mapped out. The hour for rising well- fixed, and kept ; the points for medita- tion thought over before sleep, the mind, on awakening, turned from all other thoughts and fixed on the business of the day. The hour for meditation come, an attitude of humility and reverence assumed, careful examination at the end of the Exer- cise to see how it had succeeded or how failed. ' Take up your work and go over the stitches carefully,' as the Father used to say. During the first part of the Retreat all
74 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
joyful thoughts put aside, there was even a recommendation to do the thing thoroughly by excluding the light of day from your room. Silence, real silence, not the half- silence so often kept in Retreats nowadays . Penance was not slurred over, though the Father was very wise, and even tender with his children. When he came to the Meditation on the Passion he made it all live. You felt the sadness of Gethsemane creeping over you, you saw the face of our Lord grow sorrowful and sad. You realized, almost as if you had been there, His love and agony of long- ing for the salvation of the world ; you saw Him left alone in His grief, and with shame and sorrow you could but repent ot your softness and lack of love for Him who bore so much for you. When the time came for the choice of a state of life, or for the reformation of a state already decided on, Father Gallwey redoubled his zeal for his exercitants, inspiring, guiding, strengthen- ing. ' I want you,' he said to one of them, 1 to go on knowing and doing God's will more and more every day of your life. May God bless you and guide you until you are safe in Heaven. After that you may do as you like.' He was always intent on getting the best out of his children, to get them to do something great for God. In the last
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 75
letter he wrote to one of them, not long be- fore his death, he said : ' It is a great com- fort to me to notice how our Lord is streng- thening and guiding you. In the Book of the Maccabees you will see the Mother of the Seven Martyrs described as an admir- able woman, who united a man's heart (courage) with a woman's thought. May our Blessed Lord give you a man's cour- ageous heart and a woman's very useful tenderness that you may do something large for our Lord ! "
We are privileged to give yet another account of Father Gallwey from the pen of one who met him after her conver- sion, and is now a Religious of the Sacred Heart. Besides characteristic anecdotes of Father Gallwey, we have additional proof of his extraordinary care of converts, his love of souls, and his joy in guiding Reli- gious to the perfection of their state.
" It was in 1866, just after having been received into the Church in the country that, by the advice of Cardinal Newman, I went to Father Gallwey. It was on the eve of All Saints, and I still remember the rows of benches filled with penitents at his confessional door in Farm Street. After
76 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
waiting two hours I had to come away, but returned early next morning and saw him, and from that day until his death, a period of over forty years, he was for me always the kindest of fathers, the most faithful of friends, and the most devoted of Direc- tors. I can never forget the pains he took to make sure that I was fully instructed, both dogmatically and morally, in the Catholic faith, and after that to teach, me the science of the spiritual life. In the midst of all his work in the London season he found time to give me a course of in- struction on the methods of meditation of St. Ignatius, as was his wont with all those who put themselves under his direction. There was no standing still with him in the spiritual life, and he considered no pains were too great to lead a soul to a knowledge and love of our Blessed Lord.
" His spiritual direction was based on Holy Scripture and the Exercises of St. Ignatius, of which he was a master. He insisted that those under his direction should learn by heart the rules of the dis- cernment of spirits given by St. Ignatius, which he never ceased commenting on, con- vinced that a true knowledge of them was the best safeguard against temptations and delusions in the spiritual life. His rever- ent love for Holy Scripture was certainly
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 77
i ' , >
one of his marked characteristics. He al- ways had a text at hand wherewith to an- swer any query or difficulty, and his Bible was his constant companion wherever he went. A convert of his once related to me that after visiting a Catholic Church when a Wesleyan, she became desirous of know- ing something about the Catholic faith. Accordingly she went to 114, Mount Street and asked to see a Father, having made up her mind that should the priest who came to her be able to base his arguments on the Scriptures, which she had been led to be- lieve were a dead letter to Catholics, she would pursue her inquiries. What was not her surprise when she found that Father Gallwey, who came to her, had a well-worn Bible under his arm, and that for every question she proposed, a text ready where- with to answer it ! Needless to say, she was soon under instruction, and was re- ceived into the Church. I remember his telling me that he never went to bed at night, however late the hour, without read- ing a chapter of Holy Scripture on his knees.
" His love of souls was that of a saint. One day he said to me : ' I am the happiest man in the world for I have but one passion — souls ; and I can always satisfy that.' Thus it was he not only thirsted after their
78 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
salvation, but likewise after their perfec- tion. When he saw the germ of a religious vocation he watched over it and nurtured it tenderly ; he could bear no trifling with this grace, which he considered a priceless one. He waxed wroth when parents offered op- position to their children entering religion, and in one instance I remember when a father, who was under instruction to be- come a Catholic, told him that he could not enter the Church if his daughter became a nun, he replied : ' Sir, you can then pre- pare her grave clothes, for if you will not give her to God in religion, He will take her to Himself by death.' The gentleman yielded, but it was not till many years after that he was received into the Church on his death-bed, saying he owed his salvation to his child in religion. Father Gallwey had predicted to the daughter that it would be so were she faithful to her vocation.1
" Father Gallwey had an iron will and could stand no shirking where there was a question of doing something for God at
1 To discover the fruits of grace in the souls of those he directed was a source of real joy to him. One day, after having paid a visit to the Convent of the Poor Clares at Notting Hill, he was heard to say, with a face beaming with joy, " I had a bit of real consolation to-day. When I asked Sister Teresa [a penitent of his who had lately entered], what she found hardest in the life, she answered me, ' That is difficult to say, for what is hardest is the sweetest, ' '?
INSTRUCTING CONVERTS 79
the cost of some little humiliation. To a penitent who told him he was asking of her what she could not do, he desired her to leave the confessional and to remain on her knees before the Blessed Sacrament, pray- ing for grace until she felt she could do it, and that he would not see her again until then.
" If he was at times severe he was equally tender on other occasions ; thus, to those who had erred and gone astray through human frailty, he was truly the ' Good Shepherd.' A young convert in whom he was much interested, got into a dangerous position whilst he was away from London as Master of Novices at Manresa. When he returned and found out what happened, he moved heaven and earth to win her back, and when the prodigal did at last return, his joy was quite touching. Not a word of reproach, but demonstrative affection. It was a case of ' rejoice with me for my child that was lost is found . . .' His prayers and good- ness were the salvation of that soul."
CHAPTER V.
A Few Favourite Scripture Texts.
Father Gallwey loved his Bible. He quoted it largely in his sermons and medi- tations, and though his interpretation of a text was sometimes â– fanciful, Scripture added great weight to his words and beauty to his discourses. He used often to say that we ought to chew the words of the inspired narrative and squeeze some juice suitable to our character and needs. The texts quoted were often heard from the pulpit ; they will not on that account be the less welcome, at least to his friends. They will be helpful in meditation, and es- pecially in that easier form of meditation described by St. Ignatius in the Exercises as the second method of prayer.
Texts of Scripture as prayer and to keep in mind.
" I know that Thou art a gracious and
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merciful God, patient and of much com- passion and easy to forgive evil." (Jonas lv.2.)
' Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not He thy Father, that hath possessed thee and made thee and created thee? " (Deut. xxxii. 6.)
" Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord, for My people have done two evils. They have forsaken Me the foun- tain of living water and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremtas 11. 12—13.)
1 There is no beauty in Him, nor come- liness ; and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be de- sirous of Him; despised and the most abject of men, a man , of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity, and His look was, as it were hidden and despise'd, where- upon we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows : and we have thought Him as it were a leper and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our ini- quities, and He was bruised for our sins, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed." (Isalas till. 2—5.) G
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" The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and bene- diction." (Apoc. v. 12.)
" But thou our God art gracious and true, patient and ordering all things in mercy. For if we sin we are Thine, know- ing Thy greatness ; and if we sin not, we know that we are counted with Thee." (Wisdom xv. 1 .)
" Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and pre- pare thy soul for temptation. Humble thy heart arid endure ; incline thine ear and re- ceive the words of understanding, and make not haste in the time of clouds. Wait on God with patience, join thyself to God and endure that thy life may be increased in the latter end. Take all that shall be brought upon thee ; and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience . For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but accept- able men in the furnace of humiliation. Believe 'God arid He will recover thee and direct thy way, and trust in Him. Keep His fear, and grow old therein. Ye that fear the Lord, wait for His mercy ; and go not aside from Him, lest ye fall. Ye that fear the Lord believe Him and your reward shall not be made void. Ye that fear the Lord, hope in Him, and mercy shall come
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to you for your delight. Ye that fear the Lord, love Him, and your hearts shall be enlightened. My children, behold the generation of men ; and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord and hath been confounded." {Eccleslastlcas it. 1 — 11 . )
" And now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel : Fear not, for I have redeemed thee and called thee by thy name ; thou art Mine. When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee ; when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Lloly one of Israel thy Saviour : I have given Egypt for thy atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Since thou becamest honourable in My eyes thou art glorious : I have loved thee, and I will give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee : I will bring thy seed from the east, arid gather thee from the west." (Isaias xliil. 1 — 5.)
" But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. . . . But love ye your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing thereby, and your reward shall be great ; you shall be the sons of the most
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High, for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil." (Lake vl. 27.)
" Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou con- demnest thyself. For thou dost the same things that thou judgest . For we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that do such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them that do such things and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and patience and long suffering? Know- est thou not that the benignity of God lead- eth thee to penance ? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou trea- surest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the just judg- ment of God, who will render to every man according to his works. To them indeed, who, according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour arid incorruption, eternal life ; but to them1 that are conten- tious, and obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation." (Romans II. 1 — 9.)
He was fond of recommending the third chapter of St. James on the evils of the tongue and the difference between earthly
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and heavenly wisdom. A very favourite Psalm of his was the 1 20th : " I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains whence help shall come to me." As a consolation to those who gave alms generously for the honour of God, he used to point to the three first lines of the 40th Psalm, and to the well- known verses : ;' For alms deliver from all sin and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God to all them that give it " (Tobias iv. 1 1 — 12), and to the passage from St. Mat- thew (xxv. 34 — 40). These words from the inspired writers ought to be read, he used to say, for the consolation of the charitable at the hour of death.
CHAPTER VI.
Father Gallwey's Letters.
Father Gallwey was not a great letter writer. He was not fond, so far as one can tell, of giving spiritual direction by letter, as Saints and holy men have done before him. He preferred to give advice on the spot in the confessional, in private conver- sation, pr in the many retreats which he con- ducted in the fifty years of his priestly life. But as a very large number of persons is sure to have corresponded with him during the forty years he spent in Farm Street, he must have written many letters ; of these comparatively few have come under my notice. Some contain private details un- suitable for publication. A careful selec- tion has been made. All letters to him seem to have been lost or 'destroyed. He was most unwilling that any record of his deeds should be published after his death.
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To a friend, a religious of the Society of the Holy Child, who remarked : " They will be writing your life some day/' he made the characteristic answer : " I shall take good care that they don't."
Many of the letters, stretching over a period of thirty-four years, bear no date or address. They prove the kindness of his heart, and an intense desire to raise his penitents in the world and in religion to the perfection of their state. The motive he placed before thern was the love of God. He never wearies of reminding us that God is first and foremost the Father and Lover of the Soul, but love demands a return in love. The letters must speak for them- selves . They will reward attentive perusal, as the outcome of a holy man's prayer and practice, and of experience gained during fifty years in the confessional. These let- ters, few though they be, enable us to follow the lines of his broad and generous spiritual direction. We hope against hope that more letters may be forthcoming.
For the convenience of the reader a few words are prefixed, not to all, but to some of these letters, giving their drift.
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I.
Letters to a Penitent in the World.
( Father Gallwey, in this letter, urges kind thoughts of God, and the love of children and friends for His sake. The love of Christ in the mysteries of religion is veiled, lest they distract us from the duties of life.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
" God bless you : I am hoping that you will come, if God so wills. Meanwhile I will try to answer some questions.
" Mortal sin is very easy to those who neglect prayer and never deny themselves pleasure, and give no alms and do not fre- quent Mass or Sacraments, and go into dan- gers, such as bad theatres, unlawful love- making, &c. Mortal sin is not at all easy to those who are keeping far from it, hedged round by Rules and Sacraments, and Superiors and prayer, &c. . . .
" There are times, e.g., during Medita- tion, when we select our subject and deter- mine what sorts of thoughts we shall submit to the millstone. If a person was habitually to select severe texts, or sentences from Massillon or some Jansenist writer, the mind would gradually become steeped in
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gloomy thoughts, and during the day these gloomy thoughts would crop up unbidden.
" If in meditation and prayer time you put under the millstone thoughts of God's love, the mind becomes educated in that direction, and those thoughts crop up of themselves afterwards. Besides this, good angels often suggest thoughts, and so do bad angels, during the day. Saints gradu- ally get a great command over their thoughts all day long. As love grows it be- comes more hard not to think of God. God is a jealous God. But at the same time He loves all His children and wishes you to love them all. He does not forbid you to like and to love children and friends . Very often what pleases you, pleases Him too ; and He by no means wishes you to be without this pleasure, as it helps necessary work. The only time we must deny nature is when what pleases na- ture displeases God, not when both nature and God are pleased together. God is the Creator of nature, much in it is good and pleases Him.
" Our Lord loves Charity above all, and if you pray for me He will give me graces at your request which He might not give me at my own, and moreover He will give you more graces than if you asked for yourself, because you add alms to prayer.
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" Our Lord is obliged to keep all mys- teries covered by a veil for the present. If you realized the Blessed Sacrament you could scarcely attend to your children. So, too, if you realized the mysteries of His Passion, or Purgatory, &c.
1 We come into life poisoned and di- seased, sins committed in the past, and sometimes worldly education increases the poison, so that we grow up with a mania for self and for riches, comfort, &c, which has to be conquered.
" Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
(Our Lord through humility allowed His Apostles greater success in the work of con- version than fell to His own lot. People in the world exaggerate perfection. Christ does not wish to deaden love of kindred or friends. He loved dearly His Mother, cousins, and friends.)
Stonyhurst College, Blackburn. September i, i88j.
" My dear Child in Christ,
" God bless you and all dear to you !
" Here I am in the thick of the Retreat, but though there are 1 20 in retreat they do
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not take up my time as much as ladies would or nuns, so that I can write to you. Father Colley is making the retreat, and he is a model to all.
" You must understand well and make use of the Rules of St. Ignatius for the Dis- cernment of Spirits.
" Curiously enough during the Triduum
at I answered one of your questions. I
was pointing out how our Blessed Lord, through humility of heart, put His Apostles forward and Himself in the background. Our Blessed Saviour in three years con- verted about 500, St. Peter in one sermon 3,000 (St. John iv. 37, 38). It is very good to pray that others may succeed better than we do.
" It is quite surprising how God in His present plan for our redemption has multi- plied humiliations to keep us down, infirmi- ties of body and soul . At the same time God wants us also to have more understanding and knowledge, and will give it as soon as we are humble enough.
" You wonder if people sometimes exag- gerate perfection beyond our Lord's exam- ple. Yes, very much. You see this often in the Gospel. The Pharisee would not let Magdalen come near him. Our Lord would. The Pharisees wondered why He dined with sinners . St . John and St . James
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wished that fire might come down on the Samaritan because they would not receive our Lord . He chid them ( St . Luke ix . 55). They wanted to hinder some from working miracles because they did not go about with them. He did not approve. (Mark ix. 38.) I do not think that our Blessed Lord wishes proper affection and friend- ship to be deadened. He says, indeed (Matt. x. 35), that He is come to separate a man from his father, but He means when He calls a son to be a Christian and the Father remains a Jew. He rewards those also who leave father and mother for His sake.
" He Himself had five of His cousins among His Apostles, and many more among His disciples, and His union with His mother is our model. He loves her more because of her high graces than on account of the natural tie ; but both are His own creation.
' You say : ' I wonder why God made people, for the best cannot add to 'His glory.' This seems in one sense to be true, but undoubtedly we can add to God's acci- dental glory as theologians call it. You can be quite sure that there is a way in which God is affected by joy and sorrow, so that we can deal with Him as with a friend. " Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
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( In the use of free time it is well to follow natural inclination, unless there be a clear indication to work for others dependent on us, as children on their mother. In doubt how to act, ask our Lord, when there is no one near to guide us He will be doubly attentive to our call. A rule of time ap- proved for those in the world is the best way to know the hours to be devoted to prayer arid work.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
"... St. Ignatius calls his Rules for dis- cernment of spirits, ' Rules which help to a certain extent to distinguish inspiration? which come from a good or bad angel,' &c. If a person was in a very intense state of fervour a thought of self-complacency would probably cause alarm and trouble, as St. Gabriel's words to our Lady. The Rules help us to distinguish, but we often want, moreover, belp from a master or Superior, and also that special gift of the Holy Ghost called discernment. With re- gard to working for others or praying, &c, the best way is to have a rule of time ap- proved. With regard to free time, I would advise you in your case to follow your attralt until you see clearly that you have a duty to do for others . Your danger would
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be to be scrupulous, and to be consequently unable to fix your mind, because some dis- tracting fear is worrying. You must be God's little child, and whenever you are in doubt whether you may pray or read or must go to your children, turn to Him and say : ' My dear Lord, you know I am quite wil- ling to do anything you want.' After this, follow your attrait till a clear indication comes to the contrary. Our Lord likes you to be o'ften in doubt in order that you may often come to Him and own helplessness.
"About the lonely feeling, only our Lord can fill the void . If you are working for the children He will often make you feel how grateful He is to you, and when you have no one at hand to lead you, He will be doubly good. You have much more of a docile spirit than is ordinary, and therefore you lean more. This is a grace, but very soon you will find that our Blessed Lord is really your friend and guide and Father and true love. Even in this world our Lord will to a great extent fill the void.
" ' I wonder whether it is good or bad to feel a separate life from others.' " In your case good ; but there will grow in you a great interest in all sorts of persons.
' Poverty of spirit is not humbug, but a very great reality. But remember that Christ means Gospel poverty to be quite
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different from starvation poverty. He un- dertakes to provide a hundredfold for those who leave all. 'I suppose for those who care much about God this life becomes more or less a Purgatory.' Quite right ! The Imitation says : ' Know for certain that you must lead a dying life ' ; the cross with much interior consolation. The cross brought redemption from sin within reach of the whole world. How do we know that one Mass does not release a soul ? It often does release many more than one. The In- dulgence helps besides.
" Yours very truly in Christ,
P.Gallwey."
(A meek mistress is strong, and governs her house, her children and servants. Meekness is not weakness . We are not to be over-anxious or to see too many defects in ourselves. Good seed can be dropped even in a drawing-room.)
November 16th. " My dear Child in Christ,
11 You say the last three years have gone by slowly. That is because you have worked very hard, and travelled over much
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ground in the spiritual life. It has been a life of genuine hard work .
" The thought that the "Gospel unfits us for ordinary life must be a mistake. If the Gospel were carried out, this world would be a paradise. Sometimes we overlook certain parts of the Gospel and then get our- selves into a puzzle . We only take portions of it as heretics do. Now, with regard to the management of children and servants. If we take the whole Gospel we shall find that meekness does not mean weakness. Our Saviour was very meek in His Passion, but full of courage. Observe His gentle word to the servant who struck Him, and remember, too, that the meek possess the land in the end. A meek mistress is silent for the moment, shows no anger, but comes back to the point next day after prayer and sees that all obey. Do not imagine that you are unfit to govern a house. You are quite quick-sighted enough, and you are certainly firm, and our Lord will help you ; you are over-anxious and see too many de- fects in yourself. The Devil's favourite temptation with you is to tell you something against yourself to perplex and depress you . Remember St. Ignatius' Rule. If our Lord wants you to see a fault He will speak in a way that will neither perplex nor distress.
" Your argument about the necessity of
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an authoritative voice to settle doubts and disputes in religious questions is perfect. All you need add is prayer, because oftentimes Protestants are not ready for argument till prayer has prepared the way. You are right also in your view that oftentimes in drawing-rooms you can sow a good seed and must leave it to time to take root. 11 Yours very truly in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
( Love is pain, the value of love is proved by pain. Killing lawful affection does not promote the love of God. The love of mothers, wives and friends is a wonderful help to love God. Father Gallwey wishes that he was ten times more affectionate. Writing down thoughts in meditation time, as a remedy against distraction, stops fer- vour. A bit of the Our Father or of Hail Mary, or of a text, is better, a plan followed by St. Theresa. Tidiness in home and dress and servants is to be insisted upon ; and dowdiness is to be avoided. )
" My dear Child in Christ,
" God bless you and all dear to you. He says to you : ' What I am doing, you know H
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not now, but you will know hereafter.' Acceptable men are tried in the furnace of humiliation, and so He tries you to purify you more and save you from pride. Read the first thirteen verses (chap. 2) of Eccle- siasticus (not Ecclesiastes) and take them in well.
" What you say, that love is pain, pleases me much. Pain proves that love is genuine. Love on earth must no doubt be a foretaste of the hunger and thirst of pur- gatory. Pray often that the children may die rather than ever lose innocence. You are not wrong. For though God, in His infinite mercy, can mend the torn robe with jewels, He would die to prevent one mortal sin. Read the fourth chapter of Wisdom on Innocence, verses 7 to 17.
" Scenery and nature help many souls to God, but I think that living souls and their wants in town are a grander study. ' The proper study of mankind is man.' The poor Centurion ! Do not be hard on him. Our Lord never stays away because a man says : ' Oh, Lord, I am not worthy.1 How do you know that He did not go afterwards. The Devil guessed that our Saviour was the Christy the Messias promised, but did not know that He was God. If he had known he never would have worked for His death. The early Fathers say that one
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reason why St. Joseph was espoused to our Lady was to conceal from the Devil the miraculous birth of Jesus. It is not at all certain that the Devil knows all our thoughts — more probably not . He can give good guesses from outward signs, but theo- logians think that the devils do not read all our thoughts.
" I cannot conceive that killing an affec- tion would promote love of God. Sensual affection is, I think, a great impediment, but I see in mothers and wives and friends an affection which helps wonderfully to love for God. It would be strange, indeed, if God, who creates nature and grace, should make one antagonistic to the other. 'St. Paul speaks of a want of affection as one of the worst curses of the latter days ( 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 5). Nature ought not to be crushed except when it is vitiated by sin and inor- dinate. I wish I was ten times more affec- tionate. St. Paul is wonderfully affection- ate. Some Saints who were very affection- ate have for God's sake risen above it, e.g., the Mother of the Machabees and our Lady.
" When you mix in society, I do not think that you are bound to be interested in the trivialities of life. I think your best plan is to go about eagerly seeking for the chance of doing some good by sympathy and charity.
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" Bossuet is an orator, and orators say things to strike. When he represents our Lord as a sinner, he is only making use of what St. Paul says, that He became sin for us, or rather that God made Him sin ( 2 Cor. v. 2 i ) (not sin the verb but sin the substantive). I have often, in the pulpit, called attention to the fact that the brazen serpent was a type of Christ. At first sight, this seems odd, till we remember that in His Passion the Lord laid on Him the ini- quities of us all, and He on the Cross per- sonified the sinner.
" I do not quite like the writing plan dur- ing Meditation, though I remember hear- ing one of our Fathers wish that he could be allowed to have a pen in his hand all the time. I think a pen would prevent all fer- vent colloquies. I advise you rather when your mind is wandering to begin colloquies . Use bits of the ' Our Father ' or ' Hail Mary ' or sorne text. St. Teresa used to do this, and I always find a great help in this plan.
" I think sortie reading of modern books for conversation's sake would be desirable . Take care to get a tidy house that does not look too dingy, and have tidy servants, arid do not let your dress attract attention by being dowdy.
" Consolation and desolation are real
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supernatural states or preternatural, sent or permitted by God, and over which you have- no control. The more you get near to God, the more you will be out of conceit with yourself, and see more defects. Nierem- berg and Lancisius are 'both very unearthly men and most energetic in pushing for- ward.
" Very truly yours in Christ,
P.Gallwey."
(Christ accepts half an hour given to children, servants, or the poor, as if spent before the Tabernacle. Love is made up of little acts ; great occasions for its display are scarce.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
"The thoughts which you have to bear in mind are : First, that our Lord most faith- fully adheres to His word, ' What you did to the least of my little ones you did it to, me,' and therefore accepts every half hour which you devote to your children or your servants or the poor, as if spent directly on Himself in the Blessed Sacrament ; second- ly, that your life at present made up of home duties resembles our Lady's at Nazar- eth ; (you can become most holy by doing
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all these daily duties in union with the car- penter's work at Nazareth arid the Blessed Virgin's housework), thirdly, that love is made up of little things. You will find con- tinually little opportunities of proving to our Lord that you remember Him and love Him. The love of married life and the love of mother and child proves itself by a num- ber of little acts. Great .occasions are scarce.
" Very truly yours in "Christ,
P.Gallwey."
( Father Gallwey again urges on his peni- tent poverty of spirit, hospitality, tidiness in home and dress. Our Lord and His Mother practised more than they ask of us. Christ overlooks a mother's shortcomings and loves her far more than she loves her children. A mother can love Christ as much as any nun. The confessor's guid- ance checks the extravagance into which love might betray us.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
" Remember our Lord's word. Blessed are the poor in spirit. All cannot be poor in effect, but all can be poor in spirit, and it
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is much better to be poor in spirit and actu- ally rich, than actually poor, and not poor in spirit. A nun may be in effect poor, and yet in her heart may be desiring the good things of this world. On the other hand a lady may be rich, and yet truly desirous of our Lord's poverty. In the book of Esther you see a good instance of poverty of spirit. Esther wears Tier royal crown, but detests the pride of it.
"Of course our Blessed Lord needed not poverty for Himself. Riches could not harm Him. He was thinking of all of us, and amongst the rest, of you His dear child, and He chose poverty in order to save your heart from loving riches inordinately. In your position, then, you cannot be poor in effect, but you can draw quite close to our Lord by poverty of spirit. You must keep your house nice and entertain hospit- ably and dress tidily, and all the while in your heart wish to be poor with our Lady, and seek for opportunities of tasting poverty by denying yourself some luxuries. Aspirations, therefore, towards the imita- tion of Christ are not at all mere illusions. Provided you do nothing outwardly without advice and act under some obedience, you will find that all the good desires will help you much to our Lord. Even in the re- ligious life nuns and monks are obliged to
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regulate their poverty according to the duties of their state. If they want a good library, they must have it, and if they must be dressed neatly, they must have tidy clothes. Our Lord and His Mother pur- posely practised more than they wish us to practise. You will find much more peace if you will try to look on yours'elf asi our Lord's little child. Instead of blaming yourself because you do not equal the Saints, try to take the view I take of you, that our Blessed Lord is looking down on you with wonderful pleasure, loving you immensely more than you love your chil- dren, not noticing your shortcomings, but wonderfully contented because you make efforts to please Him. This view will warm your heart more ; it is the true view, and no vanity will come from it. . . . To every one our Lord says : ' Thou shalt love with thy whole heart.' You may be quite sure that our Blessed Saviour gives you full leave to love Him as much as any nun loves Him. All my intercourse with you has left this impression on my mind, that He gives you great grace, and is very much pleased with you. Your only danger would be if you pushed on without guidance. The Devil might then trick you and get you to injure health or do some ex- travagant things. But so long as our Lord
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continues to give you grace to be very open the Devil cannot trick you.
" I am always pleased to hear of chil- dren's acts of self-denial. They win much grace for after-life.
" Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
" My dear Child in Christ,
" Though I wrote yesterday before re- ceiving your last letter I will write again just to say again God bless you always, my good and dear child in Christ.
" I do not like your fasting every day. I think it is not safe. I think twice a week better for you.
44 1 am so pleased with what you write that all worries are endurable except the fear of sin. Our Lord will love you for writing that, and will save you from deliberate sin. Be very filial with God : call Him Father, and call Him Jesus, Father, and Saviour. These names must be very dear to you. " Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
( His correspondent's doctrine on sen- sible devotion is incorrect. Such devotion
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is a wonderful help to love. We should ac- cept it gratefully when our Lord sends it, and be patient when he withdraws it. Valuable advice is given for the training of children by strictness and gentleness born of a mother's love. Children should be en- couraged to love flowers, to arrange them for the altar, arid to give them to the sick. Quickness in seeing faults in our neighbour is a useful gift, if we are ready to help him by prayer and a kind word. As for pen- ance, it is better to offer it for others than for ourselves. Penance for others has a double value : while remaining penance it is also an alms.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
" God bless you always and God bless each of your children and everyone else dear to you !
"Your doctrine about sensible devotion is wrong — it is an exaggeration and might do harm. Of course it is true that the feelings belong to the animal nature, but would it not be a most grave heresy to say that the senses of the body cannot help to sanctity ? The eyes belong to the animal nature. Are we not to use them as helps to salvation ? Are we not to read good books or look at
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a crucifix or at the poor? St. Ignatius strongly urges us in retreat to pray for tears, and he means not merely inward grief but tears from the eyes . The Protestants have adopted your false principle and pushed it farther. They are fond of quoting the text, ' Rend your hearts and not your gar- ments,' and wish to believe that God only wants inward penance and not bodily pain or weariness. Holy Church on the con- trary, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, knows that the body and soul must work together. If inward sorrow is great, there is sure to be outward penance, and so sen- sible consolation is often a wonderful help to love, and takes away inordinate relish for this world. So, please, my dear child, do not try to stifle sensible devotion whenever our Lord sends it to you ; accept it grate- fully as a great help, and be humble and patient when He withdraws it.
"You say that your sister thinks that you spoil your children. On this point I think, firstly, that you will be rendering them a great service if you accustom them from childhood to obey promptly, to conquer sel- fishness, to be obliging to everyone, to do acts of self-denial, to love to give alms ; but secondly, all this must be so managed that they shall never be too much afraid of you. I see in you at the present day very great
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proof of the good that has come to you in consequence of having been brought up strictly. The art to be learned is to com- bine strictness with gentleness. In other words there must be true motherly love, true Christian love. For in love there is both strength and gentleness . You say that you have lost your former tastes for the garden and for adorning the house. I do not wonder at this, and this is one more reason why I do not like your crushing sen- sible devotion, for I believe that our "Lord is very much pleased with you, and I think I do know your spiritual state well. If then our Lord is pleased with you, and is wean- ing you "from this world, it is that He may unite you more closely to Himself, and therefore I think He will often send you some spiritual consolation as a help, other- wise I think that your health would break down, if you had always to work on in dry- ness and desolation. Get your children to have a taste for flowers, and to grow flowers for the altar, and to give a bunch of flowers to sick persons. You s"ay also you are quick to see faults in others. I have thought much on this talent of seeing faults in others, and this is the outcome of my studies : If you become aware that a poor neighbour has rheumatic fever, this know- ledge brings with it an obligation o~f giving
HIS LETTERS 109
some beef -tea or some other help. Even so, if I see a fault in my neighbour, my dis- covery brings with it an obligation of giv- ing him a spiritual alms, so that aquick per- ception of our neighbour's defects is a use- ful gift, if the charity of our heart keeps pace with the quickness of the intellect. But if we see faults quickly and do not give any help, the quick perception becomes a very mischievous disease. . . . Renew every day your faith in His promise that every thought and every word and every act of yours which goes towards helping your children, will be valued as if given directly to our Blessed Lord. . . .
" The Devil's plan with you "has been to fill your mind with panics about yourself, and mistrust o'f your good thoughts . You will obtain very great contrition and very strong love as soon as you begin to believe that our Lord loves you very much, far more than you love your children, and that He is so partial to you that HeVill not" look at any of your faults, but will cast them behind His back.
11 With regard to penance, it is a better act to offer up penances to gain graces for others than to*do penances for our own sins, for penance for others has the double value of penance and almsgiving. Another motive for penance is the desire of sharing
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suffering with our Lord in His suffering for us.
" If after any duty that absorbs your mind you find you can turn easily to God, that is a good sign that you have not been far away. Some duties require all your at- tention, but when this attention is given for God, there is no dissipation. " Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
(Our Lord is always delighted when we run to Him in a difficulty. One reason why our Lord spoke in parables and left the Scripture in part difficult to understand, is because He wants us to ask help of Him and of others. The Devil is a slanderer : he slanders us to God, and God to us, and accuses us to ourselves. Unable to assail God directly, he tries to wound Him by wounding us.)
Sidmouth, August 3, 1887. " My dear Child in Christ,
"Our Blessed Saviour will be delighted if when you want advice you lift your heart to Him with very filial trust. If I were near you what a consolation it would be to me
HIS LETTERS ill
if you came to me in a difficulty ; how much more pleased must our Lord be when you run to Him. Try to convince yourself more arid more that you are more dear to Him than the best child on earth is to the best mother, and that the Devil hates you and torments you simply because you are God's child, and His image. Not being able now to assail God directly, he tries to wound Him by wounding you. Our Lord sees that this persecution comes on you because you belong to Him, and therefore is full of pity for you. One reason why our Lord spoke in parables, and has left the Scripture in part difficult, is because, first, it is part of His plan that we shall all want a mas- ter to help us and so depend on one another. If you could solve all your difficulties my occupation would be gone. . . Secondly, He also wishes us to have some labour in understanding that we may be forced to beg light from Him. As the Jews would never draw near to Him when prospering, He often sent them troubles to force them to have recourse to Him. I am quite sure that you are much pleased when your children come to you to untie a knot for them, and most certainly it is a joy for me when you come to me for help in a difficulty, there- fore, why should not your Heavenly Father also have the comfort of hearing you say
ii2 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
' O Lord, make haste to help me.' Do not let the Devil trick you into the idea that our Lord is displeased with you or far away. Remember that Diabolus means ' accu- ser ' ; he is always accusing you to our Lord, accusing our Lord to you, and ac- cusing you to yourself. Some uncertainty is necessary, otherwise you would not need help from God or man."
(We are not justified in applying all truths to ourselves. One man's meat is another man's poison. The Devil, in the guise of an angel, may suggest anxious thoughts that worry and perplex, while en- couraging thoughts are from God. Father Gallwey consoles his correspondent ; the fear of God's judgment and of Purgatory is a sign that the judgment will not be severe. He urges again a strong love of God. God is jealous and covets every bit of love. A victory over self is a delightful act of love for God.)
September 2, 1890. " My dear Child in Christ,
"This morning a verse in the 1 1 8th Psalm brought to my mind the con-
HIS LETTERS 113
versation we had about the chilling effect of desolation when it goes on long. ' My soul has slumbered, become drowsy, through heaviness.' There are a great many verses in that Psalm which it would be worth your while to study. Take one at a time, or two or three, and just see whether you can mean them. If you come to one that seems unintelligible, skip it.
11 Yes, there is often truth at the bottom of your difficulties, but it is a truth exagger- ated, or more commonly a truth which is true for others, but does not apply to your soul. It is a truth that ' quinine is a goo'd medicine,' but it may chance that to-day it would be poison to you. Some writer has said that our minds are like millstones, al- ways grinding sortie thought, but it depends on us to determine whether we grind good wheat or bad. There are severe truths in the Gospel, and consoling hopeful truths, and you have power to select one or other to be ground. Naturally you always lean to the severe truths, and after a time they chill you and take the spring out of your soul. St. Ignatius' simple Rule will help you much. You imagine commonly, I guess, that the Devil is deceiving you when encouraging thoughts come, and when you think you are doing well. I believe that it is the other way round. It is when I
H4 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
anxious thoughts are worrying and perplex- ing and drying you up that the Devil is speaking under the guise of an angel. Your fear of God's judgments and of Purgatory is a very strong sign that your judgment will not be severe. Be bold and filial and consider strong love to be quite within your reach.
" You say :' How silly, what good can it do to God that you should eat less or have some small discomfort ? ' The answer is, ' God is a jealous God/ that is to say, He desires love from each of us as much as if He were most jealous. Now God's great rival is Self. Every act of inordinate love of self pains and disappoints our jealous God. Every act, however small, of resist- ance to self and self-conquest is really an act of delightful love to God.
" ' One sometimes compares persons with high aspirations with others who quietly go on.' Such comparisons are of little use. Unless you know the souls you cannot judge . Some persons who seem to be go- ing on quietly are committing grievous sins very habitually, and some who express high aspirations, do not in their practice aim so
high.-
HIS LETTERS 115
II.
Letters to an Old Friend and Peni- tent in the World.
( Explanation of the Alma Red emptor is.)
" I am very far away from Dorking up in Yorkshire attending a dangerous case. I hope to be back on Friday. Just at pre- sent I am confining myself to one thought : I am begging our Blessed Lady to obtain for me some little share of that maternal love which she had for her Divine Son. I like the words : Mater parvuli Jesu, gratia plena, benedlcta in mulleribus, ora pro nobis peccatorlbus: ' Mother of the little child Jesus, full of grace and blessed among women, pray for us sinners.'
" Have you ever studied the Alma Re- demptorls? It contains some very useful thoughts. Perhaps you have not a literal translation of it. Paraphrases are not as pretty as the original Latin. The literal sense is something of this kind.
Sacred (or Venerable) Mother of our Redeemer, who art still (and dost ever con- tinue to be) the open Gate of Heaven, and the star of the Sea, bring help to thy falling people, who desire to rise. Thou who, while nature stood astonished, didst give
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birth to thy own Holy Creator.1
" ' Before the birth a Virgin, and after, still a Virgin. From Gabriel's mouth ac- cept the greeting, Ave, and take pity on sinners.'
" Observe, if a woman can give birth to her own Creator, no miracle of mercy is impossible. You mistook my meaning about the letters. I like yours in style much more than the familiarity of mine.
" When I get back on Friday I will find out whether the Enfants de Marie meet next Tuesday and let you know.
11 God bless you and may our "Blessed Lady obtain for you a great increase of love for her Son during this Christmas.
"My best wishes also to Mother General. " Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
(His correspondent is reminded that we do not make as much use as we should of the Passion in our ordinary prayers.)
" When your New Year's note arrived I was making my annual retreat. Since then
1 Dante, in the Paradiso, Canto 33, says: Vergine madre figlia del suo figlio
Umile ed alta piu che creatui-a Termine fisso d'eterno consiglio.
HIS LETTERS 117
I have been giving a Triduum in addition to other heavy work ; so that letters are late. However, I find that I am writing on the feast of one of your family Saints, St. Wol- stan. This may make amends somewhat, and now, as I consider that you are only let out to the Dominican Fathers for a time, I must beg of you to take great pains to keep very good, so that we may not have too much trouble to get the garden into good order when the lease expires. I can give you one suggestion which is very much in my mind lately, that is, that we do not make nearly as much use of the Passion of our Lord as we ought. You may remember that when the woman only touched His gar- ment a virtue came out from Him.
" Several holy Fathers write that much more does a virtue come out of the Passion even if we only call it to memory ; trying to recollect how things happened. I think it is a most efficacious remedy for troubles to keep repeating some word that our Blessed Lord spoke during the Passion over and over again, during several meditations, till light comes.
" Present my dutiful good wishes to Mother Abbess, and any Brothers who may be with you, for there is no knowing when they turn up, and believe me very truly,
P. Gallwey."
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(Father Gallwey mentions the help he gained from the " Hail Mary " when out of sorts, and adds some words of comfort to the desolate.)
" I have been negotiating for a priest for you and I thought that I had one, but his health is an obstacle at present. I hope Rosary Sunday will have brought you some spiritual grace. I used to observe formerly that when an effort was made on that day to honour our Blessed Lady, some marked blessing came to the Church. You seem from your account of yourself to have got one of those lazy fits to which we are all so subject ; and only the Saints know how to resist them properly. One happy thing is that the charity of our Blessed Lord does not give us up when we are inclined to give our- selves up. I have sometimes found good, and great good, when seedy and out of gear, in repeating the first words of the ' Hail Mary' slowly. Hail, full of grace— the Lord is with thee— I am a sinner— The Lord has good reason to leave me, but He is with thee— there is no sin in thee, full of grace.— Hail, I am glad, I wish you joy.
" Another thought that helps is that each step down hill brings so much trouble after, and more as we grow older. We must rouse ourselves at last before we get quite
Mis letters u§
to the bottom, and then it is very dismal work climbing up. As I have often told you before, I am much more surprised at the constancy which I have witnessed dur- ing so many years than at your occasionally getting a fit of desolation.
" I end with a word of Thomas a Kempis, which has helped me before now : 4 When you are in trouble do not stick in the mud too much.' The meaning is, do not brood too much over it. Do not imagine that it will not end, or that it is beyond cure. You have got out of former scrapes, and God is merciful now as then."
( The reason why the impression made in Meditation does not always last is because our Lord wishes us to go back to Him dur- ing the day for strength and advice.)
" Many thanks for your nice letter. It cheers me to get a bit of good news. You must not wonder that the impressions made by a Meditation seem not to last. Some of them do not last, but some do.
11 Some do not, because our Lord wishes to keep us near Him throughout the day, and if by working for one hour we could get bread for the whole day, we should not
i2o MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
go back to Him often. Moreover, some impressions He does not wish always to last. Whether we like it or not, there will be a succession of clouds and sunshine to keep us humble. Still you will find that when you have a good useful light, you will often be able, by making a repetition in the same meditation, to deepen the impression made till it becomes familiar.
"To-day Father Porter takes my place as Rector, but I am to remain in London to scold you and others.
" This evening I begin my retreat at Manresa . Give me a prayer and tell Mother Abbess also to do so. God bless both ! "
" God bless you more and more for your last note, which I read in the train coming here. It is full of charity and kindness. Our Blessed Lord is very good to His child.
" I was thinking of your note when my eye fell on a word in the i 24th Psalm : ' Do good, O Lord, to those who are good and right of heart.' Through His grace and our Lady's care you seem to me to be al- ways growing in goodness of heart. May you go on till death every hour receiving more graces. All your notes renew in me the thought of which I spoke to you, that
HIS LETTERS 121
I am not doing for you what I ought to be doing .
" You have a just claim to spiritual help from me, and you will reproach me properly in Purgatory if I do not do more for you now. Again, my dear Child in Christ, God bless you, and Mother Abbess also."
(Father Gallwey introduces a favourite text of his, often quoted with deep feeling, in his sermons — 2 Kings xv. 21.)
" May our Lord bless you every hour of the next month in reward of all your great charity. I am snatching a moment to say one word to you in return for your two last letters, which were so very kind and good. I wish I could win good graces for you. I will give you one sentence to think of. Read the xv. chapter of 2 Book of Kings and notice the 21st verse : ' In what place soever Thou shalt be, Lord my King, either in death or in life, there will Thy servant be.' Apply that to our Blessed Lord and His Blessed Mother. Say to them that their child wishes to be with them in life and death, in poverty and in humility. Wherever my Lord and my Lady are, there I wish to be. Again and again, my Hear
122 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
Child in Christ, may God bless you. Give my very best wishes to Mother General."
(Life in the world and consecration to God at the same time are quite possible.)
" It seems to me that your line is pretty clearly marked out. You wish to be conse- crated, but cannot have the outward forms of consecration. You must be consecrated, and thoroughly so in your heart. Just as there are many who in body are in a con- vent, and in heart worldly, so you must be in body in your home, and in heart a conse- crated spouse of our Lord. That this may be carried out one thing is absolutely neces- sary, to conquer with courage the difficulties in the way of prayer. Just at this moment I know a lady in the world who has to man- age a house, and she seems to have cour- ageously conquered the difficulties that hin- der prayer, and the consequence is that she seems to me to get as large graces as any nun I ever met.
" In order to succeed in prayer, you will have to manage your Meditations well, pre- paring points well, and getting suitable sub- jects. It will also be necessary to give a good deal of time to voluntary prayer. With regard to the Meditations, I think it
HIS LETTERS 123
would help if you always afterwards gave a few minutes to reflection in the morning, to see if all had been done well, and also if you kept a diary, writing every "day a few, lines to show how you succeeded, and what thought occupied you.
" Put down also in the diary any inspira- tion that comes strongly to your mind dur- ing the day. As to my health, I think I am recovering very steadily, not quite as quickly as might be, but I am decidedly better.
" May our Blessed Lord give you a good bit of courage and bless you in every way.
11 The thought you mention about the glory to God that accrues from an increase of merit, is a specimen of what I mean by an inspiration. That thought helps me very much."
(Why we pray sometimes like parrots. A miracle on the body at Lourdes is less difficult than the conversion of a soul.)
" What I was trying to make clear on Sunday, was that when we say the Stabat Mater y first, we often say so much that we do not mean, like parrots ; for example, the nati vulnerati pcenas rttecum divide, ' share the sufferings of your Son with me.'
124 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
" Secondly, what then are we to do ? To go on honouring only with our lips, or to turn honest and lay aside all such prayers !
11 Thirdly, neither course will do ; we must rouse ourselves, and mount up to a much higher state far above our "flesh and blood.
" Fourthly, How can we get to such a state seeing that we do not even desire to get to it ? We don't wish for sufferings .
"Fifthly, we can ask our Lady to pray for us sinners . She knows what to pray for ; we don't. She will pray earnestly for the better gifts for us .
"Sixthly, but we must remember that it is easier for God to cure a blind man at Lourdes than to cure our souls, (a) Be- cause the blind man is eager to be cured ; we are riot, {b) Because his sins have not caused his blindness ; our blindness is an effect of sin.
" I arrange matters differently. I like going round the wounds of our Lord and asking help for different groups at each. By the crown of thorns I ask for Superiors ; by the right hand for all in the state of pain, and for all benefactors ; by the left hand for all now in grievous sin ; by His sacred feet for all I have trampled upon, and for all trampled on by others, and for all who suffer much ; by the sacred side I ask for all
HIS LETTERS 125
for whom I am specially bound to pray, who have peculiar claims on account of new re- lationship, religious bonds, friendship and kindness, &c. However, I shall tell you more when I see you, which I hope will be next Saturday ; I will write again exact hour. If our Blessed Lord wills it we can manage Extreme Unction. I will spend a day or two with you."
(Valuable advice to souls in desolation.)
"God bless you I I was going to write to you about yesterday's letter when your card
about poor arrived. May our Lord
be very good to her ; she has had a fair share of Purgatory in this world. About yourself. Open the 2nd Chapter of Eccle- siasticus (not Ecclesiastes) and read thir- teen verses. Also read St. Ignatius' des- cription of desolation in the Rules for the discernment of spirits. You have them in the Retreat prayers. I have often found that in merely reading over what he says about desolation to persons who were suf- fering from it, the cloud was removed.
" He describes the soul as "' wholly slug- gish and tepid and sad, without hope, with- out love.' That is to say, the poor sufferer thinks his soul to be in this state, and all
126 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
the while he may be gaining more merit far than when in consolation . God is purposely- withdrawing sensible help in order to teach you to live by faith and to trust Him when all seems desperate. He is not gone away. He is not far off. He is only waiting a little while until you have conquere'd the devil, and then He comes back. God bless you again. May our Lord come back and give you a double share of 'Christian graces."
(A few words of consolation to his old friend.)
"A very happy Feast to you and your sis- ter and your papa and everybody else at Maidenhead. Your little note I look upon as the quarterly rent which is an acknow- ledgment that still belongs to us . When
Europe gets back to a right state we shall have our own again. Meanwhile I have a thought for you which I take from our Office for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. If you will open your Bible at the twelfth chapter of the Prophet Isaias, you will find the thought that our Blessed Lord wishes you to have to-morrow and henceforth in life and in death. ' I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, for Thou wast angry with
HIS LETTERS 127
me. Thy wrath is turned away and Thou hast comforted me ! Beloved God is my Saviour. I will deal confidently and will not fear ! ' Find some time to go to your chapel and think of the verses of this chap- ter, one at a time, and make a good act of faith, that they are sent to you from the Sacred Heart of our Lord."
(He urges greater care of health and re- minds his correspondent that God values much more our desires than our acts . )
" You will be most welcome on Monday if you come, and if you wish to come to the Confessional at 1 or 1.30, before the de- vout, come. I will meet you there in order that you may not be kept waiting. Take great care not to undertake more than you have a right to do. It is much easier for our Lord to give you internal graces in your own room, even at Dorking, than to work miracles to cure your body if over-tired. With regard to the words of the Imitation, so often brought under your eye, they con- tain a good lesson for your present state. If you were well, you might, as you say, run off to Westbury and be there in body. In your present state you can do little cor-
128 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
porally. All you can do is to watch your heart arid its desires. Luckily our Blessed Lord, like every other true friend, values the desires of the heart immeasurably more than tlte outward acts. The warning given to you is that your whole attention is to be given to your desires . For instance, you must not be too much spent on actually go- ing to London for All Souls, nor on going to Mass. What is most important is that you should desire to be with our Lord and doing His will. I called your attention to the 1 1 8th Psalm for this very reason, that it expresses so wonderfully the desires and thoughts of a loving heart. Try more and more to form intense desires."
(Greater trust in God, especially in sick- ness, is the advice of the last letter.)
11 Dr. Harper will not let me stir as yet. He is at my throat every morning. I am afraid, therefore, that I shall not be able to get to you till the Feast of the Assump- tion. I shall certainly go that day what- ever happens. Meanwhile, may God bless you and Mother Abbess. Try vigorously not to lose great trust in our Blessed Lord during your present starvation. He sees
His letters nq
every desire of your heart, and every time you wish for Holy Communion you give Him joy. He can speak to you and bless you in your room. You give Him very great pleasure, indeed, every time you make an act of trust in the mercy and love of His Sacred Heart. Again, may He bless His suffering child. We must have a good talk about Extreme Unction next Monday."
CHAPTER VII.
Letters to Religious of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.
The letters in this chapter were ad- dressed to members of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. Providence seems to have allowed that Father Gallwey's apos- tolic work with nuns should be mainly de- voted to the Religious of the Holy Child and to the Society of the Sacred Heart. His retreats to ladies in the world at the Sacred Heart Convent, Roehampton, stretched over a period of nearly fifty years. The first was in September, i860, the last in May, 1906. He gave also retreats and Tri- duums to the Religious, and from the autumn of 1877 to his death was Director of the Children of Mary, established in that Convent. His labours for the Society of the Holy Child Jesus covered a shorter period, about the last twenty years of his
HIS LETTERS TO RELIGIOUS 131
life. He gave retreats at Mayfield and St. Leonards during this interval ; and he was brought into close communication with the Religious at Cavendish Square, where, as Director, he gave Instructions and Medita- tions to the Children of Mary. To both Societies he sent valuable subjects.
He was attracted to these Orders for vari- ous reasons, one probably being that both have rendered eminent service in the cause of Catholic Education. For in all that concerned the training of youth of either sex Father Gallwey took the keenest inter- est. He was most anxious that nuns should aim at a high standard of education ; and urged the importance of this truly apostolic work in private conversations, in retreats, and in his letters . The battle of the Church is fought in the schools, he thought, and no pains should be spared to make our edu- cational establishments thoroughly up-to- date. Obviously the spiritual training of Religious and their pupils should hold the first place in the programme. True spiri- tuality, love of God, and zeal for perfec- tion are tested by a readiness for persever- ing labour and a constant strain to make
132 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
that labour in Colleges and Convents effi- cient and successful. Such was his creed.
(A Religious apparently tempted to change her Order for another is strongly urged to remain where she is. She could not have been over -absorbed by her work during the year, for she prayed better dur- ing the vacation. This is a sign that she was not far away from God during the year. Our Lord asks of her weary work ; the sacrifice of time, comfort and spiritual re- pose. He urges the importance c*f the highest standard in education.)
August, i goo. "I advise you strongly to put quite out of your head all thought of another Order, and to bend all your efforts during the retreat to obtaining more grace for your present duties. I think it would be sheer loss of time to debate the question whether you are in your right place. I will tell you some of the reasons that weigh with me : first, you are able to pray better during holiday time . That is always a sign that you have not been far away from God during the working time. If you had been indulging passions during the year, prayer would not be easy in vacation, but if your
HIS LETTERS TO RELIGIOUS 133
mind has only been absorbed in work that was a duty, our Lord will be good to you when there is a chance. Either Rodriguez or Lancisius tells of a lay-Brother, a cook, who worked all day for the monks, and in the evening was allowed to walk out in the grounds, and then he was full of devotion and shed tears. He imagined that if he could get rid of the cooking he would have the sensible devotion all day. lie got leave to give up the kitchen and all the devotion vanished.
" Secondly, I think that by giving you more pious thoughts during holidays, our Blessed Lord says to you that during the year, what He asks from you is not really pious thoughts but weary work.
11 In St. Ignatius' time education became so important to the Church, that for our scholastics he cut down prayer, and would only allow one "Communion in the week, lest anything should interfere with study. He wanted all his men to follow our Lord usque ad defatlgatlonem. A very good mother, when her child is very ill, has to nurse and watch till she is quite spent with weariness ; she has no sweet thoughts.
" Thirdly, I have always considered you one of our Lord's chosen children, most dear to Him. He does not now call you to rest at His Feet, but to weary work ; and
134 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
while you are working, He is ever watch- ing. He was very delighted when He saw the poor widow cast her two mites into the poor-box, and called His Apostles to watch her. His Sacred Heart is greatly consoled when He watches you working for Him. He calls His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph and other Saints to see how you sacrifice worldly pleasures and bodily com- fort, and even spiritual consolation for His little ones.
11 Fourthly, the question of education is now even more important to the Church than in the days of St. Ignatius. There is a fearful struggle going on for the souls of children. It is of the utmost importance that you should give an education up to the highest mark .
" So spend all your retreat time in be- lieving firmly that you are God's most dear child, and that He asks you to sacrifice yourself thoroughly for His work. Your motto is to be : Dllexlt me et tradidit seme- tlpsum pro me: ' He loved me and He de- livered Himself up for me.' He gave Himself entirely for me. He entirely for- got all His own rights for me. In return He asks : ' Will you sacrifice yourself for Me? Will you give up worldly pleasure, bodily comfort, bodily health, if necessary, spiritual repose ? ' "
HIS LETTERS TO RELIGIOUS 135
December 28, igoi . "Don't clamour to get rid of exceptional leaves, but worry our Lady and St. Joseph to make you well enough to work for our Blessed Lord, and be very filial and prayer- ful and loving. That is what He wants from you. He perhaps sends you bad health for a while in order that you may have leisure to grow in love. Be a very good child. You have most special reasons to be hope- ful and loving."
July 20, 1 go 2.
"( 1 ) One thing seems to me clear : that you see all that has been wrong and are sorry for it, so that you can safely confess and take your vows.
"( 2) If I were with you I would absolve all ; therefore God will be infinitely more merciful.
"(3) He says : T am He who for My own sake forgive sins ' : because He created you, because He is your Father ; because you are His child and He loves you with a parental love infinitely above the love of the best of mothers. He is far more de- sirous of forgiving you than you are of be- ing forgiven.
"(4) I can find excuses for many things
136 MEMOIRS OF FATHER GALLWEY
in your letter. He will find more.
"(5) One sure conclusion is that you must love more after this absolution than ever before. Confess, get absolution, and go ahead !"
( The following were written immediately after leaving Father Gallwey, and are more or less his exact words.)
" When you do get some time in the Chapel, in Meditation and at Holy Mass, tell our Lord to shield you and not to let you stray from Him. He has given you more chances of sanctity, and has made it easier for you to become a saint than many others . If it is not good for you to be where you are, God will do something, remove you if He sees it necessary. You have to live till ninety and to do a great deal for Him. Fac Cor amans Jesu me I — Fac at nos amernns Te.
" You do not want to go away from Jesus ? When you feel jaded, then the Devil tries to make you think it is all your fault. Look for the cause of the fatigue, and don't, above all, get discouraged.
" Be God's little child. Return to what you were. Call God your Father. Lie down by Him in the Garden of Olives,
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' Abba, Father.' The first word on the Cross was ' Father, forgive them.' The last word was ' Father, into Thy Hands I commend my spirit.'
"If you have gone a bit astray don't stay there. If you are in the mud, don't stick in it. Get up ! Make an act of contrition. Put that part of your life in parenthesis and close it immediately, and begin again.
"As a penance try to make others happy. Would your mother forgive you what you have done ? Yes . Then God certainly will. Be always God's little child."
" Pray much for the spirit of love. Not sweet thoughts and consolations, but suffer- ing love. Our Lord loves us and thinks nothing too good for us. When distracted with study, remember when you go to prayer, that although you may not feel glad to go to our Lord, He loves you intensely and is more than delighted to see you."
" My dear Sister in Christ,
" 1st. Our Lord says to you : ' Learn of Me that I am meek and humble of Heart.'
" 2nd. You see His humility of Heart in
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the words : ' My Heart hath expected misery and reproach.' Habitually He was ready for misery and reproaches. That was His portion.
"3rd. Consequently, when any con- tradiction came, He was ready for it. It was what He expected. He was meek .
"4th. Humility of Heart also made Him very grateful for small acts of kindness, such as the good thief's friendly word, and Magdalen's ointment.
" Again God bless you.
" Yours very truly,
P. GALLWEY."
" God bless you always more and more. That temptation that bothers you is only a trial of the father of lies. He does not at all like your persevering in looking at the text with untiring importunity. The grace will come, and it is the pearl beyond price, but you must pay the price. Our Lord is watching your struggle.
"Pray for me next fortnight. I have very heavy work in Manchester : lecturing."
" God bless you ! This is a line to thank you for all your charity and for the good news in your last letter . Fight a good fight .
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Our Blessed Lord will be very good to you. Knock and it shall be opened to you . I am mending fast."
(Father Gallwey, with regard to prayer, gives three short rules to those tempted to abandon it : don't omit, don't shorten, don't put off — prolong.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
" God bless you ! I think that whenever prayer becomes difficult, the only plan is to persevere importuning. This is our Lord's advice. The Devil is always trying to get us (a) to omit prayers, '( b) to shorten them, ( c) to put them off. We must do the contrary, don't omit, don't shorten, don't put off, but make time and prolong.
" A second advice is when distractions set in, or are beginning, begin at once with words, ejaculations. Don't be idle, or the distractions will waste the whole time ; but incessantly multiply ejaculations and cry for help, or use suitable texts.
" Yours very truly,
P. Gallwey."
"God bless you ! 1 . Go to our Lord and say : ' My dear Lord, you know that this
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is not the first time I behaved badly to you. You have forgiven me worse things and you will forgive me now.'
"2. Then start afresh with your work of self-sacrifice. You will understand better now, that more effort is needed than you thought to continue the office of a victim. The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak."
" God bless you ! You are God's child. The remedy for your troubles is to pray till you are black in the face for the person who causes your troubles. It is an infallible remedy. If you only say five weak ' Hail Marys,' that won't do : but if you perse- vere vigorously till your face is black, or nearly so, you are sure to win."
"God bless you ! May our Lord and His Holy Mother be specially good to you this Christmas and during the coming year. 1 am tolerably sure I answered your letter. I always keep unanswered letters on my table till they are answered, and there is no vestige of yours there . I am also tolerably sure that I put my name outside on the en- velope. My penmanship is so good, the fairies may have wished to keep a speci-
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men of it, and stolen the letter. You may end the year in perfect peace, quite sure that you are what you have always been, a spoiled child. Again God bless you ! "
(A Religious should take the position as- signed by Superiors. She may represent her unfitness to be in authority, and then take what is given. " Ask for nothing, re- fuse nothing," ought to be the rule.)
" My dear Child in Christ,
"God bless you always ! I feel inclined to pray that you may have more troubles so that you may write to me oftener. Your letter makes me smile a little. The Irish nurses say to a child that is crying, ' You will be well before you are twice married.' So I say to you : when you have been two or three times Rev. Mother, you won't think much of your present trouble. . . . Don't disgrace our country by making any oppo- sition to your appointment. At the altar rails you say : Domine non sum dignus, and then receive the Sacred Host ; so now, say to God, and to Mother General if you like : â– I am not worthy,' but then take what- ever office is committed to you. ... I can't pity you one bit. I can only ask our
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Lord to be very good to you all your days, to remind you constantly that He is very close to you, and to keep you holy till you enter Heaven. After that, you may do as you like, and there is no knowing what a wild Irish girl will attempt even in Heaven. Keep this rule, ' ask for nothing and refuse nothing.'
' Yours very truly,
P. Gallwey."
"God bless you and all the nuns ! Your letter made me wish that I had seen you in London. Our Blessed Lord, who has al- ways been so good to you and your family, chose the exact right time to call away to Heaven your sister and your father. They are safe for ever ; and all they wanted were some earnest prayers to get them quick through Purgatory. They, of course, ex- pected you to do this much for them. But now, as you did run wild, go back to our Lord at once as if nothing had happened. He is quite willing to make friends and He won't be very angry with you for being fond of your people. Luckily, He is more fond of them than you are : and preferred to have them in Heaven than to leave them in this beautiful world. For whatever you
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may say, even N — is not quite as good as Heaven. Our Lord will forgive you en- tirely. Good-bye again, God bless you ! "
Letter to a Novice.
( In this very striking letter a novice is taught how to pray. She is to keep the thought of God's love before her mind, and to remember that He loves her infinitely more than father and mother, that He has forgiven her sins long ago, and that all He wants now is her love. She is to make col- loquies almost through the entire Medita- tion. He advises some sentence of Scrip- ture, and asks her to suck it, as if it were a lozenge. His own favourite lozenge was " Hallowed be Thy Name." Words are not needed when we are with Him ; when we think of our Lord He is proud of it ; when in our daily work we turn towards the Tabernacle, He is proud of it. We do not love our prayers, because we do not realize how intensely God loves us, and longs to hear us pray. A bad headache, well borne, is worth ten Meditations.)
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44 My dear Child in Christ,
11 In order to pray well, you must set about it in this way. You must be ab- solutely convinced that God loves you in- finitely more than your parents ; He has died for you, you personally ; He longs for a return of love. He says to you : ' Don't mind your faults, your sins, they are forgiven. I know them all, so you need not tell them to Me ; and I have atoned for them : but I want you to come and visit Me lovingly as My own dear child.'
44 Keep this idea of His love for you run- ning through all your prayers and medita- tions : during the latter make colloquies al- most all the time. Take some sentence, e.g., ' Hallowed be Thy Name,' and think of His two names of * Jesus ' arid 4 Father.' Then say to Him: 4 My Father ! Hallowed be Thy Name ! I want all the novices to love Your Name of Father. May it be fully realized in my respect and let me be Your true child,' &c. Or : 4 He loved me and He died for me ' ; or again : 4 Father forgive them ' ; or : ' You are in- deed the Good Shepherd and I am Your lost sheep,' or anything you like out of the Gos- pel or elsewhere. Repeat them again and again, use them as lozenges ; get all the good you can out of them. For my part I like, 4 Hallowed be Thy Name.' If you
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notice, when anyone likes you very much, they also love your name. Should it not be so with us towards Jesus ? . . . You say you don't know what to say at times ! There is no need for words when you are with Him. He loves you so, that even if you turn your eyes on the Tabernacle, He is proud of it. If you are at work in some other part of the house, and you turn your head towards the Tabernacle, He is proud of it. Your own earthly father loves you very much ! Well, suppose you would not go near him because you did not know any- thing to say to him, would he not say : 4 Don't mind that. I don't want you to talk to me, but I want to look at you ? ' And so it is with our most loving Heavenly Father. He says : ' I know you cannot say grand prayers, but just come and see Me. I love you to come and visit Me.' If you cannot pray, sometimes sit, and, as it were, hold our Lord's Hand. And make use of the sentences from time to time with acts of love and confidence. When your head aches, remember, that if well borne, it is worth ten meditations ; for you are then suffering like our Lord in His Crowning with thorns. Always keep before you His great personal love for you, and if you re- turn in some measure, as well as you can, His love for you, you will realize what K
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is really meant by the words Delectare In Domino. If I were staying here, this is what I would keep you up to.
"So now, write down to-day, 'I am to be- lieve that God loves me personally infinitely more than father or mother,' and keep this idea before you continually. Introduce "it into all your meditations, visits, and all you do, and you will soon love your prayers. We do not take pleasure in them because we do not think we are so intensely loved by Him to whom we pray. We fancy we are not cared for, and this puts a restraint on us. But you must get rid of this idea and try to be our Lord's pet child. He loves you very much ; so much that you can have no idea of your value in His eyes on account of all He has done for love of you. Now try this plan and I assure you, if you keep to it, you will love the time of prayer, and go to it joyfully and lovingly ; and you will find your visits to Him in the Blessed Sacrament all too short a time to spend with Him who loves you and who died for you.
" Very truly yours in Christ,
P. Gallwey."
Letter to a Professed Nun. (In his last letter to the Religious of the Society of the Holy Child, he in-
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sists in the case of the trained Religious as in that of the novice, on the immense advantage of remembering God's personal love of us. This conviction is never to leave us in prayer or work. Did we realize the full meaning of " He loved me and delivered Himself for me," we should go mad. He recommends repeating prayers, a practice he found most useful in his own devotions. He lays greater stress on what is done in our ordinary prayer, more still in extra or voluntary prayer than on prayer in retreat.)
11 My dear Child in Christ,
"When you run down in the spiritual life, you must not remain down, but quickly run up again. The Devil does not so much care for what He makes you do; but what he wants is to make you distrustful of our Lord. . . . Remember the words of Martha and Mary : ' Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick.' They did not say: ' He who loves Thee,' but ' whom Thou lov- est.' So, if I were praying for you, I should say : ' She whom Thou lovest,' &c. Our Lord loves you most intensely, far, far more than you can realize. He loves you, not for what you have done for
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Him, but for what He knows you can be- come, a child of God. St. Paul tells us that God loved us while we were ' yet in sin ' ! He did not wait till we turned to Him. No ! It was while we were still His enemies that He gave His life for us.
44 * He loved me and delivered His life for me.'
" Take this sentence in three parts : i . ' He loved me.' 2. ' He delivered Him- self.' 3. 'For me.' Study it. Repeat it over and over again till you believe it firmly, till it penetrates you fully. If we really believed it and realized the words in all their full meaning, we should go mad. That a God should so love us as to die for us ! The idea is so great, so wonderful, and yet so true, perfectly true. If we did but supernaturalize our lives more, we should more easily believe God's love for us, His unworthy children. The Devil's great wish is to lessen our belief in God's love and our trust m Him. If we commit some fault, he at once tries to persuade us that we are not fit to go and say our prayers now ; that we may as well put off our Con- fession till we are in better dispositions, &c. Don't listen to him, but go to our Lord after any or every "fault. Say : ' Yes, Lord ! I have fallen, but YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU can put things right again. If I were alone, I might be hopeless ; but You are here, You
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will help me, You know how weak I am and how I have sinned . Lord, put things right . Don't let me distrust you ; help me, I am sorry. Help me to begin again and for- give my past weakness.' Always remem- ber God's love for you and how He longs to help you, and looks for your trust, and how disappointed He is when you won't trust Him and you won't let Him help you. No matter how unfaithful you may have been at any time, He longs for you to turn to Him. Never hesitate after a fall, but turn to Him at once. . . . When you ar- rive home after a journey, if someone tells you that a person who loves you very dearly is upstairs, you do not wait to think of your fatigue, but run up quickly. Well, our Lord is always waiting for you, ever on the look-out for you,; run up to Him then quickly, don't make Him wait. Why should He have the last place ? The Devil often tries to make us put off our prayers, or abridge them ; this too often means to omit them altogether. No 1 Give our Lord the first place : let others wait if necessary. Make this a rule of your life : ' Never cut short a prayer, never put off a prayer, never omit a prayer without a just reason.' . . . When you find difficulty in prayer or meditation, take a sentence, e.g., ' Mother of God, pray for us sinners/ Repeat it, if necessary, the
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whole hour, till you are penetrated with it, even for several days if needs be ; worry our Lady till she must hear you ; go on until she does, until you get the help you need. I find this repetition of prayer most bene- ficial. Continue it also during the day ( say twenty times morning and afternoon ; or whenever you enter or leave a room, for instance). ... A retreat helps one very much, but I don't count so much on what is done then as on what one does at one's ordinary spiritual duties, and even more at one's ' voluntary ' prayer. Our Lord's heart is so tender. He loves to see us coming to Him of our own free will when we are not obliged to do so. . . . After having com- mitted a fault you would not be afraid to come to me ; you would trust me to forgive you, would you not ? Well, our Lord for- gives far more readily and fully than I could ever do ; so you must always banish any want of trust in Him and tell Him how sorry you are for having been wanting in His confidence and paining Him by the want of trust . You have your life before you, and I am perfectly certain that you tan become a real pet child of our Lord. So you must resolve to grow nearer and dearer to Him every day. He does so love you. Don't disappoint Him.
" Very truly yours in Christ,
P. GALLWEY."
CHAPTER VIII.
Father Gallwey as Novice Master.
In October, 1869, Father Gallwey was taken away from the important work which he was doing in London and appointed Rector and Master of Novices at Manresa House, Roehampton. In those days, more perhaps than at the present time, the care of the novices seemed to overshadow some- what the duties involved in the general government of the house. Though not quite as numerous then as now, the novices and juniors formed a larger proportion of the whole establishment, and at first sight at all events it would seem that there would be little or nothing to recall of Father Gall- wey during this period apart from his work among the young men committed to his training. On the other hand it is not sur- prising to find on a little closer examina- tion that his zeal and energy have left their
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mark, not only on the individuals who were initiated by him into religious life, but on the whole house and Community of which he was Rector.
In the first place the material buildings were considerably enlarged . It was his pre- decessor, Father Fitzsimon, who had built the greater part of the present domestic chapel, and had added to the original house, which forms the centre block of the whole existing building, the north wing contain- ing what is known as St. Ignatius' Quarters. Father Gallwey added the corresponding wing stretching to the south, and compris- ing the present library, the Quarters of the English Martyrs and St. Francis Borgia, and the present Juniors' Recreation Room.
It was as Rector, too, that in 1870, when Rome was seized by the Italian Army, and the Roman College was appropriated as a barracks for a portion of the invading force, Father Gallwey offered a home at Manresa to some of the exiled Italian scholastics and their Professors. As many as thirty-eight of the former and four of the latter were before long accommodated, and they re- mained in their new abode for nearly a
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year. Father Gallwey's influence is hardly to be mistaken in the fact that within little more than a month of their arrival the Italian scholastics gave a little entertain- ment to their entertainers, consisting of songs and of addresses in Latin prose and verse. This no doubt helped them to feel more at home and more welcome to the Community, and such displays of talent were always much encouraged by the Rec- tor. He greatly appreciated any effort made to interest and amuse the Community in this way, and did a great deal to encour- age literary or musical talent among younger men. Seances, as he called them, of this nature, seemed to give him great pleasure, and he was really an audience in himself as he listened in his intense way, or with that whimsical and genial smile of his, to the serious or witty compositions of the young students or novices.
Among the additions made to the material buildings by Father Gallwey should be included the Long Gallery of the ground floor. The walls of this gallery were literally covered with sacred engrav- ings and prints, which were intended to aid
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the imagination of beginners in mental prayer. The method of prayer which Father Gallwey's training tended to pro- mote, can be best understood from a study of his most important book, The Watches of the Passion. It corresponds to what St. Ignatius called Contemplatio in the book of the Spiritual Exercises, and aims at bring- ing about the true Christian attitude of mind and heart, the Christian dispositions and affections of the soul, by a great num- ber of observations on the persons them- selves and the words and actions of the persons who enter into the mystery and sub- ject of the Exercise. These observations, as made and thrown out, so to say, by Father Gallwey, were very varied, very pointed and striking, often very touching and pathetic. The phrase, " Points for Meditation," had a special application to his method of preparing the subject for mental prayer. He pointed outy as with the finger, all sorts of unexpected aspects and illustrations of the matter in hand, and each of these seemed, almost at once, the moment it was presented, to incline the will to some devout desire or sentiment. Sel-
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dom was there suggested any formal pro- cess of reasoning, calculated to lead in a systematic way to a definite conclusion. The concrete example and illustration was the chief means for arousing the will. If, to take the first sentence of the Foundation Exercise of St. Ignatius, he was proposing for meditation the truth that man is created to praise God, he did not reason from the nature of man and of God, and the mean- ing of the word praise ; but immediately the way in which a man praises a person or a thing was brought up before the mind, and it was felt that some similar conduct was the becoming one for a man towards his Maker. A Meditation on Death, as given by Father Gallwey, was more likely to be a contemplation of the administration and reception of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, than any consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of life, or of the nature of death, followed by the conclusions which naturally flow from such considera- tions . Father Gallwey was apparently very fond of giving points for meditation to his novices ; besides the times of retreats or Triduums, when he regarded this duty as
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