BBC Essex has an article about Fr Byles whom I wrote about the other day. They have the above photo of a plaque in St Helen's Church in Chipping Ongar where he was Rector for eight years. The article also tells of a memorial plaque that is to be unveiled at Rossall Public School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, by Bishop Michael Campbell on 2 May in the school chapel.
See: Titanic 100: The Essex priest who refused to leave passengers
The article in the Catholic Herald by Fr Stewart Foster has now been put online: The priest who prayed the rosary and heard Confessions as the Titanic sank
In the combox, Steve T. reminds us that there were three priests on the Titanic, as well as a Jesuit scholastic who left the ship at Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland. (See: The Priests Aboard Titanic.) Fr. Juozas Montvila and Fr. Joseph Peruschitz also refused places on the lifeboats and continued to minister to the people as the ship went down. I presume that they gave general absolution at the end, once it was no longer possible to hear any more confessions. That would be a situation when General Absolution would be licit.
9 comments:
The Jesuit scholastic who got off in Queensland was Br. Francis Browne, who later was ordained to the priesthood and served as a military chaplain with Fr. Willie Doyle, S.J., the saintly Trench Priest of World War I.
It was holy obedience that saved Br. Francis' life. Some wealthy people on the Titanic wanted to pay his way on to America, so he wired his provincial for permission to go. The terse reply: "Get off that ship!" So he did, and because he obeyed, he was not on board the Titanic during its fatal collision with the iceberg. In an age when we are used to scoffing at the idea of obedience, this should be a lesson.
Geez, that's pretty brave of them. I mean you always hear about people like J.J. Astor, the Captain and the orchestra going down with the ship, but no one talks about the priests who were there to the end and gave absolution to those aboard. God bless them.
Fr Tim: Cobh (seat of the Diocese of Cloyne) was formerly known as Queenstown - not Queensland.
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Psssst! A word to the wise,Father - for "Queensland" read "Queenstown"
No need to publish this!
Queenstown rather than Queensland, I think, Father. I grew up in the corresponding port of Kingstown (nowadays Dún Laoghaire).
Queenstown rather than Queensland, Father. I grew up in the corresponding port of Kingstown (nowadays Dún Laoghaire).
Thanks all. I have changed it to Queenstown now.
Thank you for the acknowledgment, Father.
"According to a survivor’s account on the Encyclopedia Titanica website, Fr. Peruschitz and Fr. Byles acted together in the ship’s last hours, refusing every invitation to get into a lifeboat." It's too bad, in my opinion, that Fr. Peruschitz is virtually unknown. Even on the websites dedicated to Father Byles, one can find no hint that he was not alone in ministering to the doomed. No doubt the two are companions in a high place in Heaven, which is the only adulation worth anything.
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