.* \ -.V i m. ' -.:i;',:v;:;'.|- 4 MENOLOGY OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS ENGLISH-SPEAKING ASSISTANCY The Editor of this loork subfuits himself in heart and spirit to all the decrees of the Holy Roman Church, in respect of the titles of Saint and of Blessed, as also of the record of any virtues or miraculous events which have not received the sanction of the sovereign authority of the Vicar of fesus Christ. MENOLOGY OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS ENGLISH-SPEAKING ASSISTANCY: COMPRISING THE PROVIN'CES OF ENGLAND, IRELAND, MARYLAND AND MISSOURI, TOGETHER WITH THE MISSIONS OF CANADA AND NEW ORLEANS. VOLUME II. MANRESA PRESS, ROEHAMPTON, LONDON. igo2. H54- MENOLOGY OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING ASSISTANCY. JULY. Father Francis Walsingiiam, son of Edward Walsingham, of Exhall, and probably nephew to Queen Elizabedi's famous Secretary of State, was born at Hawick, a small township in Northumberland. He studied at All Souls College, Oxford, for some time, in which he appears to have held a tutorship. He then entered the army, serving under Sir Robert Sidney, Governor of Flushing, and next began the study of law. About this time he was converted to the Catholic Faith, principally through reading one of this in his of Father Parsons' works ; and great turning-point life, he wrote, in 1609, a most detailed history, under the title of Scairh Ulade in Matters of Religion, in which he was probably assisted by Father Parsons, at that time his Rector. After his conversion he entered the EnoHsh Colleoe, Rome, and having completed his theology, was ordained Priest in 1608. He joined the Society during that year, and took the three vows in 1623. He was sent to the English Mission in 1616, served for some years in Leicestershire, and about 1633 was removed into Derbyshire, where he died on the 1st of July, 1647, ^^ the age of seventy-one. Father Walsingham's B lb. 4 i \()L. II, 2 ENGLISH-SPEAKING ASSISTANCY, mission lay chiefly amongst the poor, for it was his dehght to instruct the ignorant and uneducated. He devoted himself especially to the care of the children, seeking them out and patiently explaining to them the truths of the Christian Faith. He took particular pains to accommodate his choice of words and precepts to their limited capacities. He by no means, however, passed over their parents or those of riper years, but seized every opportunity of getting into conversation with them on pious subjects. He was careful to urge upon them the use of frequent acts of contrition and of fervent ejaculatory prayers. Meantime, Father W'alsingham was constantly reported to the magistrates by informers, and was often so suddenly fallen upon by the pursuivants that his escape must have appeared almost miraculous. On one occasion the searchers suddenly rushed into the house where he was living in order to arrest him, and, although they entered the room in which he was kneeling before an altar, their eyes were withheld from perceiving him. His manner was engaging and persuasive, and his every motive marked with the simplicity of the dove. His soul was ever athirst for the glory of God, and he spent in prayer every moment that he could spare from his ministerial work. The Nuns of the Holy Sepulchre, New Hall, greatly prize a MS. volume in their library, containing a treatise on Meditation, composed by him and in his handwriting, besides other spiritual e.xercises and pious instructions. The short treatise is called The Evangelique Pearl, and treats of the excel- lency of devotion and of the different methods of mental prayer. Amongst these, he recommends us to place ourselves in the presence of God, by the application to Him of each of our five senses, and he concludes with the " — following brief ma.xims : Speak efficaciously—labour diligentl)' mortify yourselves heartily—suffer — — — — patiently pray devoutly resign )ourselves wholly seek God only and rest peacefully." JULY 2. — FATHER FRANCIS ATKINS. July 2. 1. Father Adam Brooke was born in London, in the year 1542. He studied at Oxford for five years, but then went abroad from conscientious motives. His high moral character and remarkable talents proved a strong argument in his favour with Superiors, and he was admitted into the Society, at Rome, in 1564, becoming a Professed Father in the year 1578. After his noviceship he resumed his study of Philosophy, and was sent to Lithuania, where he was employed in the highest offices in the Province. He was appointed Rector of the College of Wilna, and taught there for four years, after which he was during several years Spiritual Father of the Community, and was greatly praised in the Annual Letters for his care and diligence in the fulfilment of those trusts. Besides holding these posts, he lectured for twenty years on ethics and controversial subjects at Bransberg, Wilna, and for was other places, with great reputation learning and piety. He especially beloved and esteemed by the Bishop of W' ilna, and was regarded in universal veneration by the clergy. He is said to have attended the General Con- o-regration held at Rome, in isSi, along with Father Good. He died in the year 1605. 2. Father Francis Atkins entered the Society in the Province of Brazil, upon his conversion to the Catholic Faith, in the year 1749. He was one of the victims of Carvalho's merciless persecution, and along with the rest of his companions in South America, thirty-two in number, he was thrust on board a vessel and conveyed to Europe. He was confined in the horrible dungeon situated at the mouth of the Tagus, in the year 1759, and for nearly eighteen years never saw the face of the sun. Half of his fellow-prisoners liberated Donna perished, and the health of the survivors, when by Maria, ENGLISH-SPEAKING ASSISTANCY. was completely ruined. Father Atkins was in the habit of writing- to a near relative at Bransberg, and to some friends in England, enlarging much on the and his their happiness of his vocation expressing earnest desire for con- version. But his correspondence with them suddenly ceased at the period which coincided with his seizure and incarceration. He died from decline three months after his release in the summer of 1777, having been reduced " to a state of great emaciation. Father Atkins was probably the one " Englishman spoken of in Father de Gad's narrative, which was inserted by Father Weld in his history of The Suppression of the Society of Jesus in the Portuguese Dominions. July 3- The Venerable Antiionv Daniel died a martyr's death in the year the of after 1648, at age fifty, devoting fifteen years to the conversion of the Hurons. He was born, at Dieppe, of excellent parents, and from his childhood had grown familiar with the apostolic labours of our earliest missioners in Normandy. His mind readily turned in consequence towards a religious life, and when twenty-three years old he joined the Novitiate at Rouen. Thirteen years after this he began his missionary career amongst the savage tribes of Canada, and from that time the opening history of the mission runs in parallel lines with his own. Those who entered upon the work along with him acknowledged how much they admired and even envied the fervour of a zeal for all which was ever ready kinds of labour and suffering, and which by its invincible gentleness and patience gained access to the hearts of the savages, while its deep humility found great favour with God. Father Le Jeune tells us of his making the long journey from the Huron territory to Quebec that he might bring three little native children to form the beginning of a seminary of catechists. He depicts him as arriving with — JULY 3- VENERABLE ANTHONY DANIEL. 5 a countenance that reflected the l)rightness of his interior joy, yet was sadly emaciated. His ieet were bare, his body covered with a worn-out soutane, his breviary fastened round liis neck, his shirt in rays, the only thought in his mind being to have a Te Dcitni oftered up in thanksgiving to God for the mercies bestowed on these young Christians. He found, as he said, ample reward for all the fatigue he had passed through, in being able to baptize a wretched-looking native who was at the point of death. On the last occasion of his coming to make the Spiritual E.xercises at the central station of Saintc Maru\ he could not be prevailed upon to spend a few days with his brethren, but went back to prepare his neophytes and himself for that martyrdom which he felt sure God designed for them. Reaching again his mission of St. Joseph, on the feast of the Visitation of our Lady, he hastened to consecrate the last few hours that remained to him in attending to the spiritual needs of his flock. Those who were already Christians he reconciled to God, such as were still inhdels he most afi'ectionately entreated to die at least as children of the Church. Meanwhile a large body of the Iroquois had gathered round the station of St. Joseph, and perceiving, early on the morning of the 4th of July, that of most the Huron warriors and young men were absent from the village, they raised their savage war-cry, and began to break through the palisades. Father Daniel had just finished oftering up the Holy Sacrifice, when he heard the terrible sound, and without a moment's delay hurried to the cabins of some catechumens and infirm natives that he might regenerate their souls in the waters of Baptism.