Obituary Notice
This obituary notice has been digitally processed from a scanned archival document. Some words may be imperfectly rendered.
Br. Pius Ward (1838- 1909) Sens fe aan ot wo oo er P ener at Weens SORE 34 ¥ "Brother Pins (Ward) "In the death of Brother Pius the Order in England particularly has lost a “valuable and venerable sons. If there is unction in "the gospel of work" then Brother Pius may truly be said "to have been anointed with its oil" for his work ~ was his "gladnéss", Born at Arklow in Co. Wicklow, Ireland in the year 1838, he | grew up to youth's estate in the pious atmosphere of an Irish home and in ‘the honest but hard employment of a farmer's life on his father's. land - thus building up in thé pure air of the country that strong constitution of body which stood him. in such good stead through his long and laborioud life. After a short spell of city life in Dublin he entered the Novitiate at Broadway, Worcestershire, England and was clothed with the habit on July I7th 1845, taking the name of Pius and dise. carding the name of William Ward by which he had been known in the outside world. After his year. of probation was ended he was solemily professed as a Fassionist by the Master of Novices, Fr. Raymund,on July [8th 1866. Then began for him a life of labour in many different retreats. First at Glasgow where he spent some time in. the exacting position of "questor, and at Sutton, and Broadway and Highgate where he performed the. duties allotted to him with scrupulous care and painstaking effort. - For some yeurs he lived at St. ‘Paul's Retreat, Dublin and there he. improved the grounds and promoted in a great degree the dairy department. “After "begging" on behalf of Broadway he was. sent to the new foundation at Garmarthen, South Wales and it is owing to his generous self-sacrifice and toil that today.our finely appointed and, well-wooded. grounds there.are due. * He @inehaxg discharged the duties of cook, porter and gardener and at the. call of nis superiors left Carmarthen for St. Mary's Retreat, Harborne where. from 1892 unto the day of his last illness he laboured as questor in his usual conscientious and self- sacrificing spirit.. Every year it was his great delight at Christmas to erect the Crib-in-honour of the Infant Jesus: Last year he had a premonition it would be his last work and so it proveds With the New Year he was confined to his room with heart+trouble and bronchitis. . During the- following three months he had short periods of returning health and strengths Finding these were only temporary respites, towards the end of March he begged.with preat , eamestness for the Last Sacraments which were administered on Holy Thursday night... At Ras bor Ke rallied for a timé but the improvment was short lived.’ On Saturday evening 22nd May he _ was seized with an apoplectic stroke and paralysis of the left. side. The Last “Sacraments were again administered and despite the care of the Brother Infirmarian and the skill of his medical adviser he gradually grew weaker. After a few weeks of acute suffering and partial unconsciousness afew days - before his death: he’ regained complete consciousness. _ Tmable to spealt he gave many ‘signs of his entire resignation to the Divine Will. On Saturday evenings June 5th - (1909) about 5 ofclock after an agony of some. hours he quietly and peacefully breathed his last, Crucifix in~hand and. the sweet names of "Jesus and. Mary"! sounding in his ears. On ‘tuesday, June 8th-he was burried in our little cemetery at Harborne, Simple faith and great -love of the Mother of God wére the great char- acteristics of his spiritual life, and: as a religious he was particularly noted for his faithful and scrupolous discharge of ‘duty,a deep and unaffected loyalty ‘to the Congregation and unsparing labours in ‘its behalf. Rai. intavas aint cies hese inane, Gini = botnet ible nisin. iam min auinerh teenie teres amu tind idnmeetiememry Sime cede fakes heedl mavens premises piesa eaten eis itis ine sind meh wre at Metts Meine amis aren onde SN baa — online Sarin utimwey init isan shinies, Seite neers temerity amin mers benveehh | Mahass . edents amet | hemes. wernt een) Rien deem ett sree pert Gn eed reed namie = falta reins emt hilimes teint inate
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.