Father Ignatius went to two or three towns, where the police would not allow him to beg unless patronised by a native priest, and not being able to fulfil these conditions he was obliged to desist.
This was Father Ignatius's last visit to Germany; he had been there five times during his life. The first was a tour of pleasure, all the rest were for higher objects. He seems to have had a great regard for the Germans; he considered them related by blood to the English, and although he himself was of Norman descent, he appears to have a special liking for the Saxon element in character. He preferred to see it blended certainly, and would consider a vein of Celtic or Norman blood an improvement on the Teutonic.
There were other reasons. St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, was an Englishman; St. Columbanus and St. Gall might be said to have laboured more in Germany than in their native Ireland. The Germans owed something to England, and he wished to have them make a return. Besides, the Reformation began in Germany, and he would have the countrymen of Luther and of Cranmer work together to repair the injuries they had suffered from each other. This twofold plea was forced upon him by a German periodical, which advocated the cause of the "Crusade" even so far back as 1838. Father Ignatius also knew how German scholarship was tinging the intellect of England, and he thought a spread of devotion would be the best antidote to Rationalism. The reasons for working in France, which he styled "that generous Catholic nation," were somewhat different, but they have been detailed by himself in those portions of the correspondence respecting his crusade.
He visits Raal, Resburg, Baden, Ratisbonne, and Munich; hence he starts for London. Here he arrives on the 4th of October. He did not delay, but went straight to Dublin, and stayed for the first time in Blessed Paul's Retreat, Harold's Cross. This house became his head-quarters for some time, for we find him returning thither after a mission in Kenilworth, and one in Liverpool, as well as a retreat for nuns, which closes his labours for the year 1856.
CHAPTER XV.
Father Ignatius In 1857.
Seven years, according to physiologists, make a total change in the human frame, such is the extent of the renewal; and although the laws of spirit do not follow those of matter, it may be a pleasing problem to find out how far there is an analogy. The chapter of 1850 was headed like this; let us see if the events of both tell differently upon Father Ignatius.
The first event he records in the Journal for this year is the reception of Mrs. O'Neill into the Church. This good lady had then one son a Passionist; she was what might be called a very strict and devoted Protestant, although all her children were brought up Catholics by her husband. She loved the son who first joined our order very tenderly, and felt his becoming a monk so much that she would never read one of his letters. The son was ordained priest in Monte-Argentaro, and the first news he heard after he had for the first time offered up the Holy Sacrifice, was that his mother had been received in our retreat in Dublin by Father Ignatius. She was induced by another son, who lived in Dublin, to attend benediction, and our Lord gave her the grace of conversion with His blessing. She is now a fervent Catholic, and another son and a daughter have since followed the example of their brother. The mother finds her greatest happiness in what once seemed her greatest affliction. Such is the power of grace, always leading to joy through the bitterness of the cross.
The next event is the death of Father Paul Mary of St. Michael. This saintly Passionist was the Honourable Charles Reginald Packenham, son of the Earl of Longford. He became a convert when captain in the Guards, and shortly after joined our Institute. He was the first rector of Blessed Paul's Retreat, and having edified his brethren by his humility and religious virtues for nearly six years, the term of his life as a Passionist, died in the odour of sanctity. He had been ailing for some time, but still able to do a little in the way of preaching and confessions. It was advertised that he would preach in Gardiner Street, Dublin, on Sunday, March 1. He died that day at one o'clock A.M., and Father Ignatius went to preach in his stead; it created a sensation when the good father began by asking prayers for the repose of the soul of him whose place he came to fill.
In a letter Father Ignatius wrote at this time we have his opinion of Father Paul Mary: ".... As to the Passionists, I do not think those who managed our coming here (to Dublin) which was all done during my absence in Germany, had any idea of serving England. I believe the prime instigator of the move was Father Paul Mary, who was born in Dublin, and was through and through an Irishman in his affections, though trained in England. He, to the last, had all the anti-English feelings, which prevail so much through Ireland, and never would give me the least hope of his being interested for England. I fall in, notwithstanding that, with all the notions of his great virtue and holiness which others have; and I think, moreover, that the best Catholics in Ireland are to be found among those who have been the most bitterly prejudiced against England. But I think there is in reserve for them another great step in advance when they lay down this aversion and turn it into divine charity in a heroic degree."