Harvard memorial biographies ...

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Harvard Memorial Biographies.

bled me. Not even the memory of my ingratitude towards our
good God makes me unhappy, for all sadness is banished by joy,
beholding what a Redeemer my sins have gained for me, and
knowing, too, that 'there is more joy in heaven before the angels
of God over one sinner doing penance, than over ninety-and-nine
who need no penance.' "
The following is an extract of a letter written during
Christmas week:"If I reject the luxuries of the world, it is not, I trust, like
Diogenes, with greater pride than that with which the world makes
use of them, but because I feel that they are not for me, though,
perhaps, very well in their place. We celebrate this week the birthday of Him who, born in a stable, died upon a cross, and as he has
left us no other model than himself, his poverty is as much a matter
of imitation as his other virtues. Ought we then, who are named
after him, Christians (and much more Jesuits), to aspire to a higher
station than that of our Lord?"
From these letters we see the devout channel in which his
thoughts flowed while at the Novitiate, and the earnest sincerity
with which he had devoted himself to his work. In the month
of February (1860) his health failed, in consequence of his
severe personal discipline, the deprivation of the comforts to
which he had been accustomed, and his hard labors and
studies. By the advice of his spiritual counsellors he abandoned his purpose, at least for a time, and returned to Boston,
to his father's house. He then entered the office of William
Brigham, Esq., as a student at law, and took up again the
threads of his former life. He resumed his very active labors
with the Sabbath-school children, and among the poor of the
city, and was especially interested in St. Mary's Catholic
School in Endicott Street. Among other efforts in this cause,
he delivered two lectures, - one at the Tremont Temple, on
the education of Catholic children; and another at the Music
Hall, on the history of the Society of Jesus. During this year
he took an ardent interest in the state of the country, and in the
political campaign, and worked zealously for the election of the
late Hon. William Appleton as member of Congress from the
Fifth District.