Letter from Fr. Stephen Murtagh

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Saint Francis of Assisi 1541 GOLDEN GATE AVENUE LOS ANGELES 26, CALIF. PHONE OLYMPIA 1305 November 1, 1949. My dear Father Provincial: I want to apologize for not communicating with you before this, - to reply to a letter from the Definitory, and to give you what information I have regarding the death of Fr. Donatus. Of course his death was a shock to all of us. He was in charge of Elk during the absence of Fr. Leopold. I had telephoned to him shortly before. He said he had a recurrence of gall bladder trouble for which he had been operated in 1946. I told him he would be soon leaving Elk, and suggested that he come to Los Angeles on his way back to Wilmington. This he promised to do. Ten days later he was dead. He lived alone in Elk. The people had seen him about the place on Friday evening. He was found at noon Saturday stretched out on the bed as if asleep. From the appearance of things it seemed that he had eaten his dinner, washed the dishes, laid down on the bed, and died. I felt his death all the more because he had lived so much of his life alone. The Coroner said death was from coronary thrombosis. When I got back from the funeral Fr. Daniel asked for a vacation and I was left with only Fr. Aidan who cannot do very much. I offer this as my reason for failing to write sooner. The letter from the Definition expressed the wish that in future difficulties such as arose recently regarding vacations be avoided. To this end, I feel that regulations should be clearly stated by the Provincial Definitory, and that the Superiors of the Custody should do what they can to clarify matters. Since the Custody is not autopomous I did not feel I had the right to put the date of return on obediences. It has been the custom for Father Provincial to notify me that he had an obedience from Father General. On receipt of this notice I wrote an obedience for the vacationist, only inserting the date of his leaving his Friary. There is a Definitorial enactment that each vacationist get "Three months from shore to shore". However, I am sure out of the goodness of his heart, Fr. Provincial has sometimes allowed this three month term to be exceeded. Par be it from me to protest that the law be observed strictly, considering that I have had many trips to Ireland. Nevertheless I have received complaints that certain Friars have overstayed their term. A recent complaint was that one had spent nearly six months in Ireland, - and this man was a Fastor. Saint Francis of Assisi 1541 GOLDEN GATE AVENUE LOS ANGELES 26, CALIF. PHONE OLYMPIA 1305 Accordingly to help avoid future difficulties, I make un-officially the following suggestions, namely that: 1. The Provincial Definitory state the time limit for vacations in Ireland. 2. The Friar wishing to go to Ireland apply to the Custos. 3. The Custos send the applications to Father Provincial. 4. Father Provincial send the obedience from Father General to the Custos. 5. In case of a Friar working in a parish, the Custos notify an…