Funeral of Father Moreau

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 86, 22 December 1883, Page 2

Funeral of Father Moreau

Yesterday, Wanganui witnessed one of the largest funerals which has ever taken place in that town, an immense number of persons bnvine gathered from all parts I of the coast to pay their last tribute of respoct to Father Moreau It is es;imated that between 1.500 and 2.000 were present on the occasion. On Thursday last the body of the good father was conveyed into the Church, where it lay in state before the High Altar till yesterday afternoon, when the funeral took place. At 8 a.m. a solemn "Requiem Mass was sunn, the celebrant being Father Sanzeau parish priest of Blenheim, and Provincial Superior of the Marist Society, to which the deceased clergyman belonged. Father Chastagnon ( f aran>iki) acted ns Deacon, Father Grogan (Hawera) being SubDeacon. Fathers Kirk and Goggan (Wanganui) and Carew (Feilding.) At 2.30 p.m. the office for the dead com--menced, and after the choir had sung the antiphon Libera me, the Rev. Fa the ■ Sa'zeau preached an eloquent sermon, taking for his text the worts, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." The choir then chanted the psalm De profundis while the prosession left the Church. The following gentlemen acted as pall-bearers: — Messrs Stratford. Seaton, W. Campbell, Adams, Driscoll and Dugnn. The procession was headed by the Acolytes, followed by the Sisters of Mercy, and the Children of Mary. Next came the priests, followed by the hearse and the brethren of the Hibernian Society in regalia, and after these came the general public. On arrival at the grave, the service was concluded, and the coffin lowered beneath a perfect mass of floral wreaths and crosses. Thus the last earthly honors wore paid to one who in varions parts of New Zealand, and during a'period of 43 years, prored himself one of the world's truest heroes, one who was always re dy to sacrifice himself for the glory of God and the good of his neighbor. Ib fnct, words utterly fail to truly depict the beauties of his simple yet uoble life. Requiescat in pace.