devotion. "He scarcely ever had the stole off his neck during Lent,"
is the remark of one of them. He also made frequent excursions to
Cheticamp, Arichat, and other parts of Cape Breton, to preach
missions there, and to assist the dying. In his memoir he speaks of
that sublime pilgrimage of the heart, the admirable devotion of the
Way of the Cross, as one especially acceptable to God; and no wonder
it bore marvellous fruit as conducted by him. At each station this
holy servant of God did not content himself with reading the usual
prayers: he gave expression to heavenly thoughts inspired by his own
burning love of his crucified Saviour, producing a mysterious and
lasting echo in all hearts. The church was always crowded on those
occasions. To prepare children for their first communion, he devoted
six entire weeks of instruction each year. His capacity for work was
immense; and while hurry never appeared in his actions, he managed to
glide through them with a masterly ease far out-stripping the
speediest progress of ordinary mortals. A supernatural light seemed
to supersede the necessity of recourse to the usual slow and
laborious process of reasoning in seeing one's way, and to endow him
with an intuition excluding all doubt, and with an instinct ever
ready in performance. Thus for everything he found ample time,
because no particle of his time was lost. He was a living,
palpitating, breathing, vocal, acting temple of the Holy Ghost, and
this Divine indwelling was, in a manner, visible to all. At the
altar, during the holy sacrifice which he daily offered, it seemed to
transfigure his countenance so as to impress his heavenly citizenship
upon all beholders. In administering the sacrament, in instructing
the people, in his incessant endeavors to keep or win them from sin,
and to provide for all their spiritual wants, the same irradiation of
holiness imparted the most extraordinary efficacy to his charity and
zeal.