THE LATE REV. C. J. VENNING, S.M.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1611, 30 November 1912, Page 2

THE LATE REV. C. J. VENNING, S.M.

(Coatribntod.) When' death overtook the Eer. Father C. J. Venning with such) tragic suddenness, he was in his thirty-thiru ye&v. He was indeed a young man, yet to few has it been given to accomplish so much in even a long lifetime. He eeomed to draw from a 'limitless store of energy; he was ever aglow with .an eager, contagious enthusiasm; his one desire was to spend himself and be spent. He taxed his small yet wiry frame to the utmost, and never allowed himself rest while there was work to be done. .Only those who knew Mm intimately during the past nine years can form any idea of his extraordinary tirolessness. !No hour was too early, ror any too late, nor could any working day bo too long for • his ministrations of zeal and _chanty. Ho had gifts of organisation of a very high order, and had, moreover, the power of enlisting competent helpers in his various * He S had long been the moving spirit in the St. "Vincent do Paul work in tn l © archdiocese; his visiting of ; the poor ana sick was constant, systematic, cheerfuU and self-sacrificing; his name 19 blessed in tho homes of the verv poo*. One is loath to speak of his work ao gaol ctaplain as one is afraid of superlatives. •He met these pariahs of society as man meets man-he gave them, encouragement, sympathy, practical advico, and material "OiPi and there is many an honest, respected, and self-respecting man who owes to gather Venning what lie is to-day. Anaddr&s unique in. its kind is to be seen in n small frame in his room-a olfering from the prisoners of the Terrace G No one who knew Father Venning and his work was surprised at Wellingtons tribute to him on Sunday last. _ict Btranger would find it har<l to . that that vast, sorrowing concourse of people had como to honour a young man of thirty-threo years—a man of no lnu liant parts, of no dominating personalih, vet a man, who, like his Master of old, "went ahout good.