Canon Sheehan by Rev. Herman J. Heuser

Page 1

Canon Sheehan THE courteous request of the editor of "The Book News Monthly," to say something about my relations with Father Sheehan, implies that the biography of the author of "My New Curate" has had some vogue in general literary circles. This fact is noteworthy as one of a series of paradoxes encircling the career of the reserved pastor of Doneraile. Lord Castletown, as Vice Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland, an Eton and Oxford man of ripe experience in every field of public and educational activity, made no secret of what he owed to Father Sheehan in drawing up a national scheme of University education, and added that by the priest's death he lost not only a wise counsellor but also a friend who southed his soul as no one else could. Lord Castletown is not a Catholic. His lady, daughter of the fourth Viscount of Doneraile, built a town hall that this Catholic pastor might have a stage, and concert and billiard rooms for the youth of his flock. Nor was this attraction to the parish priest of Doneraile confined to the people of his home country. The clergy in Australia wanted him for their bishop; the leading magazines in America sought him as a contributor; from every part of Europe and America men who had read his books made pilgrimages to Doneraile to get a glimpse of him. These visitors were not merely curious people, not solely Irish Americans, but men of eminence in the sociological and literary world. A typical instance of the fascination which the modest country pastor exercised on men of intellect and social standing is our own Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes. As guest of Lord and Lady Castletown he had met the Canon. The philosophical habit of mind and literary tastes of the two men drew them at once permanently to each other, and there sprang up between them Canon Sheehan By Herman J. Heuser an intimacy fruitful of rare intellectual intercourse, as is manifest from their correspondence covering nearly ten years, to the very eve of the priest's death. Mr. Justice Holmes went back to Ireland when he learned of his friend's illness and sat by his sickbed for many a day, shortly before the end. Now, it is well understood that the American jurist had no conscious leanings toward the Catholic faith, that his sphere of life, his social and professional procecupations separated him at a wide distance from the Irish churchman. Yet no man has shown less reserve in his sincere admiration and deep sympathy for the Canon as a man than did Justice Holmes. Notwithstanding this international renown, Canon Sheehan (the titles "Canon" and "Doctor" came to him in his latter years and contributed nothing to his fame or his comfort) was at the time of his death the pastor of an obscure village, remote from the travelled road, in the south of Ireland. Fond of study and retirement, he had rarely left his rural home, unless to answer some call of duty as instructor or comforter. The daily routine of…