FATHER PAUL OF MELLERAY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 49, 7 December 1899, Page 24

FATHER PAUL OF MELLERAY.

One of the most notable figures in the clerical life of the South of Ireland for many a long decade of years was the well-known and deeply-beloved Father Paul Cahill, of Mount Melleray. Father Paul never left the Abbey from the day he entered it, and never saw a railway train. His fame for sanctity drew to him crowds of people, not alone from the South of Ireland, but from England and the United States, to benefit by his counsels and to receive the Sacraments at his hands. The saintly old priest died on January 12, 1894, aged 82 years. We have been requested to publish the following In Memoriam, which was written by a brother in religion and appeared in the Southern Cross : — Your life was long, 'tis over now, A wonder to the last, 'Twas in a mould we must allow, Of noblest heroes cast. Fraternal love and love divine, With all their beauteous train, Displayed that lovely life of thine Unsullied by a stain. Set on our mount as on a throne, You swayed a mighty host ; Your name was through the nations known, From north to southern coast. And they who once beheld your face — Your soft angelic eye — Felt in their souls a potent grace For God to live and die. Here let me tell what he has been For fifty years and more — So long in Melleray's home serene The cross he bravely bore. His vigils long, his fast austere — Beyond what Nature bears — His glorious work from year to year, His sweet seraphic prayers. Now I will tell you how be died — What charming words he Baid : ' Thank G-od,' with loving heart he cried, ' I die on this poor bed. It might have been my lot to lie Down by the roadside bare, Where many a better man than I Expired in midnight air. ' Oh 1 blessed be God, I meet my death Within this abbey blest, 'Midst dear ones praying in every breath For my eternal rest. Yet, brother, dear, the foe of men A final fight will try ; The holy font shake o'er them then, 'Twill make the demons fly.' No pang disturbed his latest hour, The peace of God was there ; His mind retained its perfect power, He passed away in prayer. 1 God's holy will be ever done ! ' Oft from his lips would fall, You spoke it last when life was run, Immortal Father Paul.