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Show THE LATE FATHER JOSE. Last of the Spanish Franciscans in California; (The- Monitor, San Francisco.) On Thursday evening, Oct. 30, Father Jose Godayol, O. F. M., quietly passed to everlasting rest at the Orphan asylum asy-lum near Watsonville. With him closes a most interesting chapter of California Califor-nia church history, for good Father Jose was the last of those noble' men who had come over from .Spain, to work among the people of his .nationality in the widely scattered settlements on this coast ns rplip-imis nf tVi wvar.oicJ- can order. The deceased was born- at Vich, Catalonia, Cat-alonia, on Jan. ; 16, 1829.. After completing com-pleting his classical and philosophical studies in his native town, young Godayol, Go-dayol, in company of three other young men, among whom was the late Rev. James Vila of Santa Barbara, left Spain for the purpose of entering the missionary field in California. They arrived at Santa Barbara early in 1854. Young Godayol, Codina and Alcina at once prepared to join the Franciscan order, which had just then laid the foundation for a .missionary college after aft-er the plan of San Fernando and Zacatecas, which had furnished the Indian In-dian missionaries of old. uodayol was. the senior of the three candidates who, on July 23, 1854, received re-ceived the brown habit of the Seraphic order. Father Jose thus enjoyed the distinction of being the first young man to enter the Franciscan order anywhere any-where on the western coast of North America. Godayol was 24 years of age at the time. "On July 30, 1855, the three novices made. their, vows and thereafter there-after devoted -themselves to the study of theology under the Very Rev. Gonzales Gon-zales Rubior-0. F.;M., who had for several years .been administrator of the diocese of California. On Aug. 15, 1860, the three clerics. -were elevated, to the priesthood at San Francisco by Most Rev. Sadoc Alemany and celebrated their first mass at the beloved xld mission. mis-sion. From that time to within a few months of his death Father Jose, un-I un-I der which name the old man was 1 known all over California among the ( Spaniards and Mexicans, devoted himself him-self with zeal to missionary work and also acted . as professor, procurator of the college,- etc. The neat little church I at Montecito, near Santa Barbara, is the fruit of his energy in the last years of his life. : The deceased had expressed the wish that he might find the last earthly resting place at his dear Santa Barbara Bar-bara among the brethren whom he outlived out-lived by many years. The body was therefore brought to the mission -on Monday, Nov. 3, accompanied by the Very Rev. Commissary Theodor Arentz of the Pajaro ' asylum. On Tuesday morning the office of the dead was chanted for the deceased by . fathers and clerics of the monastery. At 9 o'clock Father Joseph O'Keefe, O. F. M., guardian of the Mexican Franciscan Francis-can monastery at San Luis Rey, who had known Father Jose for more than forty years, and who is himself the only priestly survivor of the ancient Spanish college of Santa Barbara, sang the Requiem. The deacons were the Fathers Zephyrin and Mathias. The choir was composed of fathers ana clerics from the monastery. Rev. P. J. Stockman of Santa Barbara preached in Spanish, and Father' Peter, rector of St. Anthony's college, made an address ad-dress in English. Besides the fathers mentioned there were present in the sanctuary Rev. Father O'Reilly of San Buenaventura, Rev. Father O'Reilly O'Reil-ly of Santa Barbara, Rev. Father Pujol Pu-jol of El Rio, Very Rev. Theodor Arentz, Ar-entz, O. F. M., Rev. Father Guadian Ludger Glauber. Rev. Father Victor of Los Angeles, Rev. Fathers Mathias, Eugene, Herman, Felix, James, Lucius, Berthold, Idlefons. eleven Franciscan clerics, seven novices and twelve lay brothers. The old church was filled to overflowing with people from the town, particularly Spaniards, some of whom had known Father Jose Godayol for half a century almost. At the close of the ceremonies the procession formed and made its way to the old cemetery,' in which as many as 4,000 Indians have been laid to rest from the foundation of the. mission in 1786 down : to 1S50; There, what was mortal in Father Jose rests in the cemetery vaults that enclose the bodies of Fathers. Gonzalez. Sanchez and many other religious, of mission times and of our period. "'' l- ' On the day following, Wednesday, a little before 6 o'clock p. m., the young cleric, Francis Xaxier Zettel, died of consumption at the age of 24. Father Xavier was born at Formosa, Canada, of a pious family which has given seven children to God in the religious state. An elder brother died as a cleric here only two years ago; a younger brother is now making his novitiate at the old mission; and a sister has also devoted herself to religious life among the Sisters Sis-ters of Notre Dame. The father is. a wealthy creamery owner in Minnesota. Father Xavier was ailing for several years, but calmly awaited death to take him to the home of his Heavenly Father. The funeral took place after the customary office for the dead and solemn Requiem mass on Friday morning. morn-ing. R. I. p. |