Obituary Notice
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Fr. IGNATIUS Gibney (1889-1952) REV. FATHER IGNATIUS OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS. It was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the Vigil of the Feast of the Seven Dolours of our’ Blessed Lady. On that day of such intimately Passionist association a simple, touching scene took place in a Dublin Nursing Home. By the bed- side of an ailing priest sat a brother Passionist who had watched devotedly. He looked at the patient, who showed signs of improve- ment, and spoke a word of cheer: "You seem better to-day." There was an answering smile of gratitude, and then: "I think the Old Warrior is going home."' Thus with resigned foresight, and just a suggestion of the dramatic, so much a part of his nature, did Father Ignatius face the call which came to him on the following day, 15th September, 1952, the Feast of the Dolours of the Mother who was the devotion and the love of his life. Francis Gibney was: born in Dublin on 4th November, 1889, | and received his early education at O'Connell Schools in that city. He made his novitiate in St. Saviour's, Broadway, and was ordained in Dublin in 1913. The early years of his priestly life were spent in Holy Cross, Belfast and St. Anne's, Sutton. On the formation of St. Patrick's Province he was appointed to St. Gabriel's, The Graan, Enniskillen. After many years he was transferred to St, Paul's, Mount Argus, and about five years ago was sent as one of the first community of the newlyfounded St. Michael's, Dankeith, Kilmarnock. He was a member of that community until the time of his sudden and lamented death. Mere words are powerless to pay adequate tribute to the © memory of this. great Passionist, or to express the loss which his death has occasioned. It was typical of the man that he himself, in his last hours, should have turned the phrase which might most fittingly be at once his epitaph and obituary. "The Old Warrior is going home." In the black-robed army of the Crucified he was, indeed, a valiant warrior. He looked older and was more feeble than his sixty-three years, and all because of his relentless, ‘whole-hearted, self-giving campaigning for his Master. Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales knew the persuasive power of his eloquent pleading in the cause of his Darling Lord, and the rich harvest of souls which his untiring efforts reaped gave testimony of the sincerity of the heart whence that pleading came. He was, like his Father and Founder, a true Hunter of Souls. Whether it was.to the spell-bound multitude of some great occasion, or to the faithful few of some Catholic outpost, the energy and eloquence of.
of his preaching was the same. One soul was of infinite value, and in the light of that principle he measured his effort. What others might deem hopeless or impossible he accepted only as a challenge to his zeals; and he never shirked that challenge. Neither time nor effort nor fear nor human respect could dismay or deter him in his crusading for souls. ._ In his dramatic delivery and spontaneous gesture he was inimitable; in his versatility he was unequalled, He could touch and pierce and win the heart of the hardened sinner, and he could fire with fervour every member of a convent community; he could enthreall a church of tiniest children, and he could enrapture a congregation of Cistercian monks. And all would plead that they might again be favoured with the blessing of his services. Yet his preaching was but a shadow of his greater quality, his appeal as a Confessor. Long hours or bodily fatigue meant nothing when he was engaged in this work of his heart, and to his dying day his zeal in this regard was as great and as generous as it was on the day when first his hands were chrismed with the annointing of the priesthood. His patience was endless, his kindness was without limit. Wherever he was penitents flocked to him, for they knew that in this great, consoling, understanding priest they would find the sympathy and the succour of a true “alter Christus." Among his own Brethern it was the same. Few other confessors were sought when Fr, Ignatius was available. His love for the suffering and the sorrowing made him their beloved and lasting friend. Everywhere they gathered around him; daily he was inundated with correspondence seeking his advice, his consolation and his prayers. And they never sought in vain, But, despite all his greatness and appeal, he was ever a Religious of unspoilt simplicity and humility. He would seek the opinion of the lowliest of the community as to the merit of & manuscript, and would accept and put into effect any criticiam offered. His generous nature would not suffer him to retain in his possession anything which he thought another desired or needed. In community life he was an ever-popular member. His keen, but always Kindly, humour made merry the time of recreation, and his dramatic declamations were an accepted and essential feature of every festive oceasion. ‘There was no community that did not welcome the sound of the quaint shuffle of his sandalled feet. A community was happier for that sound. But, above all, he was a man of deep, child-like faith. Wherever he went, what-~ ever the reason for his journey, his Mission Crucifix was an essential item of his luggage. He would not travel without it.
Though death came unexpectedly, far from his community and at a time when he was not engaged in apostolic work, it was his own Mission Crucifix he held in his dying hands. His tender devotion to the Little Flower, to whose intercession he always attributed the fact that a serious impediment in his speech had not hindered his ordination, was an enthusiasm of his life. He sought to make it so in others. And it was of her he spoke in his last illness. His, indeed, was a great spirit. Though medical advice had long insisted that the condition of his heart demanded that he should rest and relax, he could never resist the call of the apostolate. "I'll die in harness," he always countered. And he did. Precisely a month before his death he concluded a retreat to the Sisters of Nazareth at Kilmarnock. At the end of the retreat he had a heart attack. The doctor ordered a complete change and rest. It was decided that he should go to Dublin to recuperate. But another Physician decreed that the change should be lasting, the rest eternal. A sudden seizure, a few days of ebb and flow, and then, to the great edification of all, quietly and at peace Fr. Ignatius’ surrendered his great spirit to Him whom he loved so dearly, whom he served so well. In the shadow of Mount Argus, by the side of another great brother- soldier of the Cross, Fr. Paul Mary Pakenham, rest the mortal remains of Fr. Ignatius of the Seven Dolours. The Old Warrior has gone home. We loved him in life; let us not forget him in death, May he rest: in peace. / ae
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.