In Memoriam
Amongst the passengers on board the 'Titanic' was a Westminster priest, Rev. Thomas Byles, who has a special claim on the prayers of our readers. In the early days of the Missionary Society, when it was confined to the Westminster Diocese, Father Byles lived with us for some time, and since then our relations with him have been of the happiest. He was the son of a Nonconformist clergyman, and was educated at Rossall and Balliol. Joining the Catholic Church in 1894, he studied at St. Edmund's, Ware, and at the Beda College, Rome. Since 1905 he has served the mission at Ongar, in Essex. How much he was able to minister to the terror-stricken multitude on the 'Titanic' is a tale yet untold and perhaps never will be told. All we know is that his end could be all apiece with the rest of his life; and that he would do all that a Catholic priest could in that terrible hour. In the presence of such an appalling calamity, we can only sorrowfully bow our heads, and whisper a 'Requiescat in pace'. THE CATHOLIC GAZETTE - 1912 Copyright © Catholic Gazette. |
