Irish Jesuit Province

To St. MatthiasAuthor(s): M. R.Source: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 33, No. 387 (Sep., 1905), pp. 486-487Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20500834 .

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486 rHE lRISH MONTHL Y

knowing it. Worldliness is constantly trickling in unless we keep the bottle tightly corked.

32. Often, in our fallen state, with the powers of the mind impaired, our wills refuse to follow the conclusions of our intel lects; just as you may sometimes see a horse running away with the shafts of a gig, while the broken-down vehicle remains behind.

33. It is well for a young man to be a little slovenly, and for an old man to be a little foppish. [Compare Vauvenargues: " Quand on devient vieux, il faut se parer "-in order not to distress those around by unsightly dress or the careless ways that old age is apt to fall into.]

The foregoing remarks were all heard by the present reporter, but not the following. It was said that a novice once asked

Father Clarke for leave to humble himself by being guilty of some

voluntary absurdity. "Don't strain, Brother, don't strain: it will come naturally."

As has been explained before, these notes were taken at the

very end of Father Clarke's career. What he was in his prime,

or what he might have been as a preacher, may be conjectured

from a renminiscence of a certain old Father Fishwick, who told

me twice " twenty golden years ago " that after one of Father

Clarke's early sermons another listener turned to him (Father F.)

and said: " I suppose that that is the sort of way that Grattan

used to speak." m. R.

TO ST. MATTHIAS

I HAVE not wearied you til now With prayers or praises, St. Matthias !

Nay, to my shame I must avow A lurking jealousy and bias.

For, though not yours the name whereby I'm known along life's dusty path, you

Have seemed unwittingly to vie With my true namesake, great St. Matthew.

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TO ST. MATTHIAS 487

Thus friends will wish me " happy feast Your twenty-fourth of February,

Ere yet the frost and snow have ceased, While sunbeams of their warmth are chai y;

Whereas my patron's feast occurs

The twenty-first of mild September, Before the wintry tempest stirs,

While fields the summer's heat remember.

Another prejudice I knew

In childhood (pardon its survival !)

Joseph the Just appeared for you A more than formidable rival.

Forgiv,e me, humble Saint, if still

The claims of Barsabas seem greater; But you, not he, were raised to fill

The post left vacant by the Traitor.

I love him for his very name:

Though name and nature often vary, More than the name could Joseph claim

Of likeness to the Spouse of Mary. God's Word confirms the people's word

When (like his namesake) " just " they called him) *

Yet you before him were preferred, And in Apostle's place forestalled him.

Great, then, your virtues must have been, And great must be your heavendy glory,

Matthias, though so dense a screen Hides almost all your earthly story.

Nothing is known save this alone God joined you to the great Eleven

On earth, and an Apostle's throne Is yours for ever now in heaven.

* Matt. i. 19 ; Acts i. 23.

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