"It is true that other nations have been converted, whilst England has stood to her Protestantism; but a first step has been made in this country, which, as far as I know, has no parallel. In other cases, it was the sovereign who made the first movement, having had no learned opposition or persecution from his subjects; and, as in the instance of St. Stephen, of Hungary, the conversions which followed came easily, and as it were naturally; or conversion began with the poor, who, though it cost them persecution and privation, had yet but little to lose. But this has not been the case in England. Here the work of conversion grew conspicuous among the ministers of the Protestant Church, of whom hundreds of the most esteemed and learned have been received into the bosom of the Church, and also among the noble and the gentle families of the kingdom; so that it may be said that scarcely is there a family that is not touched by conversion, in some near or more distant member of it. I say that this order of conversion is new, this operation of grace is most singular. Great numbers of those clergymen had prospects before them by remaining in Protestantism, flattering enough, of earthly felicity, wealth, and honour; and by their conversion they fell upon poverty, distress, and contempt, especially those men who, by reason of their families, could not embrace the clerical state. The sacrifices of the lay gentry have not always been so great; but even here how many have closed against themselves the path of honours and distinctions; how many have been discarded by their kindred and friends; how many of the gentle sex have abandoned the prospect of a settlement in life befitting their rank and station; while all have turned from the world to obey the voice of God; and that, in a country like this, where the world holds out allurements so specious and so attractive in every kind.
"But these great results can neither be attributed to the force, the eloquence, or the industry of man. Man has positively had no part in the work, except by prayer, and this praying has been professedly offered to God through Mary; through whom all the heresies of the world are destroyed."
I have no time to dwell upon this summary of results so beautifully told and so remarkably timed. But it is impossible not to notice that the great tide of conversion that has flowed so unusually, has passed through the two classes to which Father Ignatius himself belonged, that of the clergy and that of the gentry. It is a wonderful result following a most unprecedented combination of the voices of Catholic souls of many nations in prayer, set in motion by the very man who is summing up the result of the work, before he goes to his reward; nor do I believe, although his tongue is silent, and his features settled into cold obstruction, as we looked on them last night, that the prayer of his soul has ceased; no, his work goes on, his Apostleship is not dead. Purged by the sacrifice, I seem to see his spirit all this time. For you know that when a holy man quits this life, and has not loved it as he has loved God, he goes away no further than God, and God is very near to us. Have you never lost a dear parent or a child, and have you not found that when freed from the body the spirit of that one had more power over you; seemed to be freer to be with you at all solemn times, and to impress you with its purely spiritual qualities and virtues, all gross things having ceased though the purification of death and the final grace? and so I conceive his spirit standing by my side and saying still, at each interval of my voice,—"Pray for England: pray for her conversion." To you, fathers of the rude frieze, brethren of his Order, with the name of Christ on your breast, and the love of His passion in your heart, he says—"Pray for England: pray for her conversion." Superiors of the Benedictine Order, whom a special circumstance has brought here to-day, Father President-General, representative of St. Benedict, as of St. Augustine, and monastic successor of that first Apostle of England, to you, and to you, Priors of the Order, he says— "Fail not from the work of your forefathers, pray for England: pray for her conversion." To you, brethren of the priesthood, men consecrated to this mission, who know his voice familiarly, to you he says with the burning desire of his heart,—"Pray for England: pray for her conversion." Daughters of the virginal veil, who are his children, whilst in the inferior soul you suffer the grief of loss, in your superior soul you rejoice that he is with God; to you also he says:—"Pray for England: pray for her conversion." Dearly beloved brethren, how often in his missions and his ministries has he written those words upon your hearts. Let them not die out. Let them live on with something of his flame of charity. Be you as his missioners; carry these words to your children and your brethren. He prays yet, and will ever pray until the work be finished. Even in the presence of his God, neither the awe nor the majesty of that unspeakable presence can I conceive as interrupting the prayer which has become a portion of his nature—"God, have mercy on England. Turn, O Jesus, Thy meek eyes upon that people. Let pity drop from Thy glorious wounds, and mercy from Thy heart. In what she is blind, in what she sins, forgive her, for she knows not what she does. Have mercy on England." When joined to his beloved Dominic, and with blessed Paul, and meeting Gregory, and Augustine, and Bede, I conceive him urging them to join yet more earnestly with the prayers he left ascending from the earth, following his mission still in the heavens; nay, even pressing to be heard in the circles of the angels, whose meekness and purity he loved so well, and still his cry is: "Pray for England: pray for her conversion."
It remains for us to turn one last look upon his mortal remains, to consider our own mortality, and to prepare us for our approaching end. How beautiful, how sublime was his departure. Father Ignatius had often wished and prayed that, like his Divine Lord, like St. Francis Xavier, and like his dear friend and master in the spiritual life, Father Dominic, he might die at his post, yet deserted and alone. God granted him that prayer. He had just closed one mission and was proceeding to another; he turned aside for an hour on his way to converse with a dear friend and godson; he was seen ten minutes before conversing with children. Was he only inquiring his way, or did he utter the last words of his earthly mission to those young hearts? And here alone, unseen but of God and His angels, he fell down, and that heart which had beaten so long for the love and conversion of England stopped in his bosom. Crucified was he in his death as in his life to this world, that he might live to God.
When his lordship, the Bishop, descended from the pulpit, the procession to the place of burial was formed, and issued from the church in the following order, the choir singing the Miserere:—
The Children of the Schools of the Convent of the Holy Child.
The Rev. Father Bernard (Superior of the Order of Passionists, Paris), carrying a Cross, and having on each side an Acolyte, bearing a lighted candle.
The Thurifer.
Boys two abreast.
The Regular Clergy.
The Secular Clergy.
THE COFFIN.
The Lord Bishop of Birmingham.
The Laity.
As the melancholy cortége moved along, the clergy chanted the Miserere, and when the procession arrived at the vault, the coffin (which was of deal) was placed inside a leaden one, which was again enclosed in an outer shell of oak. Upon this was a black plate, bearing the following inscription:—
FATHER IGNATIUS OF ST. PAUL
(THE HON. AND REV. GEORGE SPENCER)
DIED OCT. 1, 1864, AGED 65 YEARS.
R. I. P.
Placed inside the coffin was a leaden tablet, on which the following was engraved:—
"MORTALES EXUVIAE
"Patris Ignatii a S. Paulo, Congregationis Passionis, de Comitibus Spencer. Minister Anglicanus primum; dein, ad Ecclesiam Catholicam conversus, sacerdotio Romae insignitus est anno 1832. Mirum, qua animi constantia per triginta et amplius annos pro conversione patriae laboraverat. Inter alumnos Passionis anno 1847 adscriptus, omnium virtutum exemplar confratribus semper extitit. Angliam, Hiberniam, Scotiam, necnon Italiam, Germaniam, et Galliam peragravit, populum exhortans ad propriam sanctificationem, et ut, veluti sacro agmine inito, preces fundant pro conversione Anglise. Dum perjucundum opus in Scotia prosequeretur, calendis Octobris anni 1864, sacrificio missae peracto, ad invisendum antiquae consuetudinis amicum (Dom. Robertum Monteith) pergens, ante januam amici repentino morbo correptus, a Deo cujus gloriam semper quesierat et ab angelis quorum puritatem imitaverat, opitulatus, supremam diem clausit, aetatis suae anno 65to. Requiescat in pace."