Simple Holy Old Fr. Charles
From the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters, cp
Sunday, Jan 18th, 2015
(We celebrate the feast of St. Charles on Jan.5th. every year. This is an edited version of a letter written by Fr. Wilfred O’Hagan the day after St. Charles was buried in 1893)
“Dear Ada, I received your letter too late to apply the medal to the remains of Fr. Charles but I am sending you something which hundreds of thousands in Ireland would give the world for: the (heart) sign which the old man had on his breast during the time he was lying in the church. I do not know whether it was the sign he wore while alive but I know it is the one he had while lying dead in the church.
All a
long I considered Charles a saint but since his death I am sure of it. Such extraordinary crowds were never seen in Mount Argus. The people were from every corner of Ireland. The roads were blocked and it was absolutely impossible to get into the church without long waiting. Sunday evening was the wettest and most disagreeable here that I have seen for a long time. It was quite a Godsend that it was so, or else I am afraid some would have been smothered. Even as it was, the crowds were outside in the rain, still struggling to get in.
The cabmen must have made a fortune. I hardly suppose there is a cab in Dublin that was not at Mount Argus in the last five days. But the cabbies were bent on more than taking fares. Yesterday after he was buried, two cabbies were found at the grave with their horse’s nosebags filled with earth. Of course this cannot be allowed to go on; else we shall have to be making a new grave every day!
The day of the funeral was awful. The Rector wrote to the superintendant of the police for men to keep the crowds back. We had no horse police but rows of helmeted men were overwhelmed by the pressing crowds. Poor old Ireland! There is faith here yet. Even from a point of numbers, the great Parnell’s funeral was inferior to that of the simple holy old Fr. Charles.”
(Good Fr. Wilfrid may have been given to exaggeration with his mention of “hundreds of thousands” ready to give the world for Charles’ heart sign and the 200,000 who attended Parnell’s funeral on 11th October 1891 being inferior to the number who attended the funeral of Charles but it does express his amazement at how well known and loved this simple, holy old man was!)