This kind of confession was necessary, in order that readers might have an idea of Father Ignatius's position after the death of Father Dominic.
He set to work at once, first carrying out Father Dominic's intentions, and then trying some special work of his own. The new church at Woodchester was consecrated by Dr. Hendren and Dr. Ullathorne, and Dr. Wiseman preached at the opening. The new church of St. Michael's, Aston Hall, was opened in the same year. On the 7th of November the community of Poplar House, two priests and a lay brother, move to The Hyde.
Father Ignatius, with Fathers Vincent and Gaudentius, give a mission in Westminster, and they venture out in their habits through the streets of London. This mission brought out some of Father Ignatius's peculiarities. In the instruction upon the sanctification of holy days, which it was his duty to give, he proposed that the Irish should make "a general strike, not for wages, but for mass on festivals." He went to visit Father Faber, who was ill at the time; they became engrossed in conversation, when Father Ignatius looked at his watch and said he should get away to prepare his sermon or instruction. Father Faber said this was a very human proceeding, and was of opinion that missionaries should be able to preach like the Apostles, without preparation. Father Ignatius turned the matter over in his mind, reasoned it out with himself, and thenceforward never delivered what might be called an elaborate discourse.
It may be remarked, before closing the chapter, that Father Dominic, at Father Ignatius's suggestion, ordered, in the beginning of 1849, three Hail Marys to be said by us after Complin for the conversion of England. The practice is still continued, and has been extended to our houses on the Continent and in America.
CHAPTER V.
Spirit Of Father Ignatius At This Time.
So much has to be said about the exterior actions of Father Ignatius, that one is apt, in reading them, to forget the spirit in which they were done. It is true that it is by the nature of the actions themselves a judgment can be formed of what that spirit must have been, but then they are liable to a false construction.
He was chiefly remarkable for his spirit of poverty. It was not alone that he loved poverty, and tried to observe his vow, but he refined this observance to an exquisite degree, by trying to treat himself and get others to treat him like a mean beggar. He wished to feel poverty, and sought hardships in things that were easy enough, for that end. When he went by train he always took a third-class ticket, and was most ingenious in his defence of this proceeding. If some one objected to him that the third-class carriages generally contained rough, low, ill-bred, and coarsely-spoken fellows, he gently answered: "Yes; you may find a thick sprinkling of blackguards there." "Whether or no," he would say again, "the third class is the poor man's class, and it ought to be mine." One time he was expected to preach a grand sermon in some town or other; the lord of the manor, a Catholic, ordered his carriage, with livery servants, and came himself to bring him in state to the priest's house. He waited for the good father on the platform, looking at the doors of the different first-class carriages, and condescending to give a glance or two towards the second. What was his surprise when Father Ignatius, habit and sandals and a', got out of a third. "My dear Father Ignatius," he half indignantly exclaimed, "why do you travel by third class?" "Well," replied Father Ignatius, "because there isn't a fourth."
This idea that he was a poor man and ought to live like one he carried out in everything. He might be generally seen with a large blue bag. This bag was not of a respectable make or durable material; no, it was made of some kind of drogget, like an ordinary sack, and had a thick clumsy tape that gathered in the mouth of it, and closed it with a big knot. When he had a long journey before him he brought a pair of these, and tying them together put the knot upon his shoulder, and would trudge off six or seven miles with one dangling in front and another behind. If somebody offered him a seat in a car or wagon, he gladly accepted it; if not, he did without it. On this same principle he seldom refused a meal when out; and if he wanted something to eat, he generally went and begged for it at the first house he came to. At home he usually washed and mended his underclothing and stockings (the stockings, by the way, would have blistered the hardest foot after his mending), and whilst he was Superior he would never allow anyone to do a menial service for him. He had a great dread of the slightest attempt at over-nicety in a priest's dress; it was anguish to him to see a priest, especially a religious, with kid gloves, neat shoes, or a fashionable hat. His own appearance might be put down as one degree short of slovenliness. Be it remembered that this was not his natural bent. We are told by those who knew him when a young man, that he would walk a dozen streets in London, and enter every hosier's shop, to find articles that would suit his taste in style and fitting; it had been almost impossible to please him in this respect; whereas, when a religious, he would as soon wear a cast-off tartan as anything else, if it did not tend to bring a kind of disrespect upon his order. He wore for several years an old mantle belonging to a religious who died, and would never leave it off as long as there was room for another patch upon it, unless the Provincial gave him strict orders to do so.
He was scrupulously exact in fulfilling the rules and regulations of the Congregation, so much so that even in those cases in which others would consider themselves dispensed, he would go through everything. It is our rule to chant the entire of the Divine Office in choir; the rector is supposed to give a homily or two, called examens, every week to the religious. When there is not a sufficient number to chant, of course no law human or divine would require us to do so; and if there be not a congregation, one is not expected, in the ordinary course of things, to preach to empty benches. Father Ignatius was as keenly aware of the common-sense drift of this kind of reasoning as any one could be, but he so overcame the promptings of human considerations, that a literal observance, in the face of such plain exceptions, seemed his ordinary way of acting. There are two instances in point that occurred about the year 1849. The two priests who formed the choir of the community at The Hyde remained in bed one night, either from illness or late attendance at sick-calls, and Father Ignatius was the only priest present. He chanted the whole of matins and lauds by himself, and went through it as formally as if there were twenty religious in choir. Another day the priests were out, and he and two lay brothers only remained at home; he preached them the examen just the same as if the choir was full. Another time the alarum that used to go off at one o'clock, at that time for matins, missed. Father Ignatius awoke at three o'clock, and he immediately sprung the rattle and assembled the religious for matins. At half-past four the night work in choir was over: half-past five was then the hour of rising for prime. Father Ignatius kept them all in choir until the time, and had the bells rung, and everything else in due order. This does not argue a kind of unreasoning observance in him, out of time and out of place. On the contrary, he well knew that it was inconvenient, but he thought God would be more glorified by it than by an exemption from what was prescribed. One anecdote he used to relate to us convinced us of that. He often related with particular tact how once in Aston Hall, Father Dominic did not hear the bell for matins. He awoke at half-past two; everything was still. He went and sounded the rattle with a vengeance, as if every sound was meant to say, "I'll give a good penance to the brother that forgot to put up the alarum." When he had done sounding he dropped the instrument at the choir door, and went in with a taper to light the lamps. What was his mortification to find all the religious just concluding their meditation with a smothered laugh at their Superior.