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Show A STRANGE jIAIiRLUiE A Catholio Clergyman and a Sister of Charity Man and Wife . j ' WEBE MAEEIED IN AUSTRALIA . j How a Young Priest Renounced his Vows and a Sister Forsook lior Veil. , According to the story of William Mathowson, a well known merchant of San Francisco, who spent Sunday iu Salt Lake, the cast bound Central Pacific Pa-cific train contained among other pas-, scngcrs, a couple, who, had their history his-tory been known, would have attracted more than ordinary attention. Tho story is a long one and iu order to get the full details one must need go back to the begiuning. In Orange county, New York about thirty years ago, lived a well-to-do Irish farmer, who by industry and thrift, had become the possessor of several sev-eral broad acres of land and some spare cash besides. He had only one son, Patrick, a bright lad, and tho height of of his ambition was to see him fitted for a better position in life than that of a farmer. To this end he seut his boy to the best Catholic school in the country coun-try and great was his joy when he learned from the lips of the young man that ho had decided de-cided to take holy orders and become a priest. Time passed on and Father Patrick Hanlon was the; name added to tho roster of the clergy of the church founded foun-ded by Peter, and against which it is written the gates of hell shall not prevail. pre-vail. The young priest's first duties wero in a little town of Nebraska, assiduously in building up his little charge. So successful was he that the attention of his bishop was called to his work and In a very short time he was commended for his earnestness by Cardinal Car-dinal Manning. And then came a change. Hi Holiness Holi-ness Pope Leo must have the faith preadin Australia. Young men were wanted to carry tho banner of tho cross into the far-off country; to teach tho way of eternal life to the benighted people of the rcmoto interior and by a special order from the cardinal endorsed by the pontiff. Fathor Hanlan was included in-cluded among the many w ho were to spread the gospel of light among the people of tho large island. For two years did Father Patrick labor la-bor earnestly araoung the rough people of the district to which he was assigned. That he was successful can be attested by the statement that in lieu of holding services in the dingy old building he found when he first visited the spot, ho, in less than a year, celebrated the mass in a neat little church built by his flock, who had learned to love him, and from' the further fact that the town to which he was assigned was no longer considered consid-ered as rough, but that its people wore fast becoming quiet and orderly. But the physical nature of the young "man could not boar the constant strain, and ere long his health failed him. Realizing that his labor on earth would soon be fiuished if he did not seek rest, he asked to be relieved for a timo and went to Melbourne. ' Hero ho sought his much needed repose re-pose from duty and here is where the romantic part of the tale bogius. , In the hospital of St. Vincent was a sister of mercy who was known to the sisterhood as Sister Agatha. A beautiful beauti-ful woman was she, with wonderfully lustrous eyes and one of tho sweetest faces that God had ever endowed womankind with. The touch of her hand was the softest and the music of her voice tho sweotest to tho poor unfortunates un-fortunates who were sont to the institution. insti-tution. Sister Agatha had a history. She was a daughter of an English clcr-. clcr-. gynian and had become a convert to the Catholio faith during her early girlhood. girl-hood. When she became of ago she had left her home and united herself with the sisters of mercy and had gone to Australia. ' While In Melbourne Father Hanlon occasionally visited tho hospital. And horo is where the church of Rome lost one of it's most tireless workers and St. Vincent's hospital hos-pital Its most gentle, loving nurse. It was a caso of love at first sigit on the part of both and yet neither was glad. By the solemn vows of tho church both were bound to a life of chastltv. But it was not to bo. Tho ruler of all hearts has not so ordained 5t and working in His inscrfitablo way, willed otherwise. In consequence Fathor Hanlan proposed. pro-posed. The details of the slrugglo he underwent before he could fully justify himself that ho was taking tho right courso will ever remain a secret until the morning of tho resurrection. And the proposal will remain locked In two human hearts, a closely guarded treas-viro treas-viro uutil it shall bo told before the throno ou tho day when the morning stars shall sing together and tho sous of tho Paternal shout for joy. They wero married, not, however, until the church authorities had been notified. In vain did the bishop of i Father Hanlon's dioceso plead with him not to tako the step. Tito die was cast, tho Rubicon crossed aud tho wedding wed-ding took place. Ero the tidings could fly across the sea to tho old homo iu New York, the young man learned that his father had died and left him his entire fortune. It was toward the old homo of his boyhood tht ho and his wife were going "when The Times informant met them. Mr. Mathewson had known tho young man iu his infancy, aud to him had told his story. Thus endeth thes t ory of the first aud only instance of the kind on record. |