CHAPTER XII.
A Little Of His Home And Foreign Work.
Father Ignatius gives a retreat to the nuns of Lingdale House, and comes immediately after to Oscott, where the first Provincial Synod of the English Hierarchy was being held. He presents a petition to the Synodal Fathers, and receives encouragement to prosecute his work of moving all whom he can to pray for the conversion of England. His next mission was to make the visitation of our Belgian houses for the Provincial; when he found himself again abroad, he took advantage of the opportunity. He goes to different places, and finds many Belgian and French bishops who preach upon his oeuvre, and recommend it by circulars to their clergy. These journeys he paid for by begging wherever he went, and the object he begged for is seen from a letter of his to Mr. Monteith, dated Lille, Aug. 24, 1852:—
"My dear Mr. Monteith,—Here I am, writing to you again, and you will soon see that what brings me to this is, as usual, want of money—auri fames. The case stands thus: I am on travel again, with commission of finding means to build our house near London, of which I am rector, or rather I am rector of a little place which stands on the ground, and erecter rather than rector ex officio of the house that is to be there. I have my ideas how we might get means for this expense, and for all other expenses; and, moreover, how means could be got for all the houses in England and Scotland too. I am following the end as well as I can, all alone, by the way which seems to me the best and only one; but my being alone makes the progress slow. Hitherto, my ideas are to others like dreams—empty dreams, though I have a pocket-book full of recommendations from Rome to support them, which encourage me to think I am not mad, when, by the manner in which I see people sometimes look at me, I should almost think I was. I allude chiefly to the way in which, in a company of English Catholics, the mention from me of the idea, conversion of England, immediately silences a company in the most animated conversation, as if I had said, 'Next week I am going to be crowned King of France!' ... Though I speak as I do, I am not without encouragement and fine prospects; but I want to hasten things, as souls by thousands and millions perish by delays; and this I will not, if I can help it, have to answer for. An Englishman's regular, natural way to get his matters attended to, is a steady, persevering grumble. He grumbles over one step, then grumbles over the next, however comfortable and happy he may be over what he has gained.
"Last week I was at Cambrai, where there was a most remarkable centenary feast, in honour of Notre Dame de Grâce. There is there an old picture of Our Lady, brought from Rome 400 years ago, and installed in the cathedral in 1452, which has been a centre of devotion ever since. This was the year for the grand solemnity; pilgrimages coming all the week from the diocese and farther. The most remarkable of the pilgrims unquestionably was Cardinal Wiseman, who came to preside over the procession and solemnities of the last day. He sung mass, and preached his first sermon in France, which was one of the most eloquent I ever heard from him, or any one, notwithstanding his imperfect diction. It was all to the point of moving the French Episcopate and nation to prayers for the conversion of England. So, if I live, I have little or no doubt of succeeding in time, but, meanwhile, I must poke here and poke there for money, till it begins to come freely of itself. As to what the Continent could do if their heart was once moved, I am convinced by the history of the Crusades. If the Catholic nations were now engaged in a material war, there would be armies on foot, and fleets at sea, the cost of which, for one week, would be enough to build cathedrals for all our bishops. Why not the same money drawn to effect the spiritual conquest? Because they do not care about it. Then, let us make them; and how? The first step, of course, must be to care for it ourselves. 'Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi.' And what can we do to bring our English and Scotch to this?—Grumble at them, I suppose."
On his return from France in September, himself and Father Eugene came to the determination to move away from The Hyde, if a more convenient site could be procured. The reason of this was chiefly the unsuitableness of the place to the working of our vocation. It was too solitary for missionaries, and there was no local work for a number of priests. Some of the fathers disguise themselves in secular suits, less unseemly than that in which they once beheld Father Ignatius, and go in search of a place, but without success. Father Ignatius gave a mission at this time in Kentish Town, and he little thought, as he took his walk along the tarred paling in Maiden Lane, that inside lay the grounds of the future St. Joseph's Retreat.
Towards the end of the year 1852, Father Ignatius accompanies as far as London Bridge a colony of Passionists, whom Dr. O'Connor, the Bishop of Pittsburg, was bringing out to the United States. These Passionists have grown in gentem magnam, and the worthy Bishop, like another Odescalchi, resigned his crosier, and became a Jesuit.
He concludes this year and begins the next giving retreats. The scenes of his labours in this department were Somers Town, Blandford Square (London), our own house, Dudley, and Douay. He also assisted at a mission in Commercial Road, London, E.
The heaviest part of his work, as a member of The Hyde community, was attending to the parish, which, with the Barnet Mission, then under our charge, was equal in area to many a diocese in Catholic countries. Father Ignatius often walked thirty miles in one day on parochial duty. To give an idea of how he went through this work, one instance will suffice. On one day to went to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, and from all the unhappy inmates he was able to get one confession. Next day he walked to give the Holy Communion to this single penitent, and walked afterwards to Barnet before he broke his fast. This must be a distance of at least fifteen miles.
In May, 1853, he gives a retreat to his old parishioners of West Bromwich, another in Winchester in July, to the nuns in Wolverhampton in August, and to the people in Oxburgh in October, and in Southport, Lancashire, in Advent.