"'Beautiful title! and appropriate! Here are the stations of the Cross! And this is the Feast of the Seven Dolors! Beautiful title!'
"'This,' he continued, 'reminds me of what I once read of St. Thomas of Canterbury. When passing for the last time through France to England, he was asked, by a gentleman who entertained him, to bless a little oratory which might be a memorial of his visit. "Under what title?" asked the Archbishop. "I shall leave the selection to your grace," said the host. "Well then," rejoined the Archbishop, "let it be to the first English martyr." He was himself the first martyr.
"'Our Lady of Dolors!' Beautiful Title! I am a Passionist. Here are the stations of the Cross; and this is the Feast of the Seven Dolors,' repeated Father Ignatius; and again he became absorbed and silent, so long that I thought he wanted never to bless my little oratory. He blessed it, however; and now is it by mere accident that on this, the eve of St. John of the Cross, Father Ignatius's disciple and friend, Father Alban, comes to bless the oratory cross, and set up the little memorial tablet which I have prepared with the following inscription?—
ORATE PRO ANIMA
REV SSMI. PATRIS IGNATII (SPENCER)
QUI DIE OCTODECIMO SEPTEMBRIS, A.D. 1864.
HOC ORATORIUM
SUB TITULO 'B. V. MARIAE DE SEPTEM DOLORIBUS,'
BENEDIXIT.
R.I.P."
In a letter to Father Joseph about this time, Father Ignatius says:—
"I proceed to say that I have two more moves fixed: for Sunday the 18th, to Port Glasgow; Thursday the 22nd, to Catholic Church, East Shaw Street, Greenock. During the week following I shall suspend missionary work, and make my visit to Mr. Monteith, and re-commence on Sunday morning, October 2nd. I have got two places to go to in Scotland, Leith and Portobello, and I wish to get one more to go to first."
This sentence we put in italics, as it seems to signify a clear foreknowledge of his death. This one other place he did get, and it was Coatbridge, his last mission. His letters, after this, are more confused about his future; it would seem his clear vision failed him. At all events, this much may be gathered from his words, that he knew for certain his dissolution was near, and very probably knew even the day. There is nothing whatever in his plans for the future to militate against this conclusion. The most definite is the following, which we quote from his last letter to Father Provincial, dated from Coatbridge, Sept. 28: "I am going on Saturday to Leith; on Thursday, Oct. 6, to Portobello; on Monday, Oct. 10, to Carstairs (Mr. Monteith's), for a visit and repose." Did he know that repose was to be eternal? He kept to his first arrangement about the visit; but we must hear something about his last little mission.
We subjoin two accounts of this mission. The first was sent us by a gentleman, Mr. M'Auley of Airdrie, who attended the mission, and the next by the Rev. Mr. O'Keefe, the priest.
Mr. M'Auley writes:
"I was witness to his missionary labours for the last five days of his life in this world. On Sunday, the 25th September, Rev. Michael O'Keefe, St. Patrick's Catholic Chapel, Coatbridge (a large village two miles from Airdrie, and eight from Glasgow), announced to his flock that Father Ignatius would open a mission there on the following Tuesday evening at eight o'clock, and close it on Saturday morning, 1st October. Accordingly, the beautiful little church was crowded on Tuesday at eight, when the saintly father made his appearance and addressed the people for upwards of an hour. He gave them a brief outline of his conversion, his different visits to Ireland and the Continent, the grand objects he had in view—namely, the conversion of his country to the Catholic faith, the faith of their fathers; as also, the conversion of Scotland and the sanctification of Ireland. He then showed the power of prayer, and said that the conversion of Great Britain could only be attained by prayer. He said the sanctification of Ireland should begin by rooting out the vices and disorders which prevail. These, he remarked, were drunkenness, cursing, and company-keeping, and that they would form the subjects of his discourses for the three following evenings.