A
Prince In the Service of The Great King
The Catholic Register - January 5,
2009
In a new series of articles, Betty Seymour, serving
with her husband, Frank, as postular of the Cause for the Canonization of the
Servant of God Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, explains the evidence for the
"heroic virtues" of the Prince-Priest.
In the preface to her biography of
Father Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, Sarah
Brownson gives as her main aim, “to be accurate and exact, to present…his
character…in its completeness, for it was one of marked originality, of rare
consistency, and of unusual gracefulness…showing him…even greater in what he
was than in what he did. He formed
his character, or it formed itself, according to the commands of the Church, the
precepts of the Gospel, the counsels of the saints, and (he) measured all his
undertakings and all his motives by the highest standard of Christian
perfection, so that like other great and holy men, he was beyond his age,
misrepresented and misunderstood”.
In his early missions, Fr. Gallitzin found much to dishearten him, “All seemed
to him started on a false basis, and in the spirit of the world, not of
Christ.” He wanted for those under
his charge, “to bring a better-souled life among them as well as a temporal
one more in consonance with spiritual ordering”.
He had a, “clear conception of what a Catholic community should be; he
had fixed opinions of organization, of regularity…the slip-shod way in which
communities came together at that early and drifting period, was a positive
torture to him”. Trustee
interference and dictation in church matters was, “an abomination to him, to
which he would never yield. He saw
in it the germ of that system which has since borne such bitter fruit of schism
and scandal…” For he who had
seen what such irreverence and insubordination had done for
Europe
, “culminating in indifference to religion, in lack of reverence for the
sacredness of its ministers and sacraments, in disregard of all authority
spiritual or temporal…”Gallitzin knew he could not allow it in his Catholic
community.
Throughout her biography she offers the reader glimpses of Gallitzin’s
priestly life. His sermons to his
people were plain doctrinal instructions with the aim of uniting his
parishioners in heart & mind to the early apostles & saints, teaching
them “…how to infuse the light of the mysteries of religion into their
simple daily life”. In preparing
his sermons,“…he showed a force and breath of thought, a rare word power;
which only constant study, continued mental activity, aided by the Holy Spirit
could give”. He was,
“unrelenting in his austerities, ever cheerful with his people, he pointed
every word and act toward the one great aim he had in view: to make every life
within his reach loyally, practically, fervently Catholic…he never permitted
them to hold the salvation of their souls as a separate thing.”
When he gave himself to the service of God he kept back no talent, no
accomplishment.
He was of stern integrity-severely
just, rigidly upright in all his dealings. He
had an iron will and loving heart with all the light and grace of the church,
all the strength and power of the truth…he was a man of unusual force. This
force became quite evident when Fr. Gallitzin was inspired to make a written
public reply to the publication of a minister’s sermon in a neighboring
community. This discourse,
“contained all, or nearly all, the slanders which successive generations of
heretics and infidels have been able to concoct against the
Church
of
Christ
.” Gallitzin’s Defence of Catholic Principles and subsequent letters, “created a
great excitement, were soon published in one pamphlet, and went through many
editions in a few years. By means of
these letters Gallitzin, if we mistake not, was the first in this country to
enter the controversial lists in behalf of the Church.
His success was from the beginning most remarkable; this and a second
book written some years later, have been translated into German and French, and
widely circulated in England, Ireland, France, and Germany, as well as all over
the United States; it is said by American and Irish bishops and priests, who
have ample opportunities for judging, that they know of no books of their kind
in the English language which have made so many converts.”
