Poems: Patriotic, Religious, Miscellaneous | Page 6

to all hearts and elicited
widespread and unmeasured praise from critics
of the highest repute.
Like all true poets, Father Ryan touched the tenderest chords of the
human heart, and made them respond to his own lofty feelings and
sublime inspirations.
Of his priestly character but little need be said. His superiors and those
whom he served know best how well and faithfully
he discharged the
sometimes severe and always onerous and responsible duties of his
sacred calling. The merit of his life-work is now
the measure of his
reward. As he had in view only God's honor and glory, and the good of
his fellow-men, and directed his labors
and employed his talents to
promote these ends, may we not hope that a merciful Judge has given
him a recompense in excess of his deserts, since, in the bountifulness of
His liberality, He is wont to bestow a reward exceeding our merits?

But it is not claimed that Father Ryan was without fault.
This would
be attributing to him angelic nature or equivalent perfection, against
which, were he living, he would be the first to protest. He needs no
such fulsome or exaggerated praise. He was a man, though not cast in
the common mould, and as such let us view him. Doubtless he had his
faults, and perhaps not a few;
for "the best of men are only the least
sinful." But as far as is known, he had no serious defects or blemishes
that would mar the beauty or disturb the harmonious grandeur of his
character in its entirety. Had his heart been cold and selfish, or his
thoughts defiled with the sordid cares of earth, he never could have
sung so sweetly or soared so sublimely into those serene and heavenly
regions whither his chaste fancy led him. He delighted to roam
in
those far-off regions beyond the skies, whose spheres are ruled and
whose realms are governed by those mysterious laws
which have
their fountain source in God, and whose operations are controlled by
the exercise of His infinite power and love. His defects, then, did not
seriously impair the integrity of his virtues, which were many and solid.
Chief amongst his virtues may be named his zeal for the honor and
glory of God, and devotion to the Mother of God -- the latter the
necessary outgrowth of the former. The deep and earnest piety of
Father Ryan towards his "Queen and Patroness", as he loved to call her,
bespeaks much in his praise; for, like all truly great men
of the
Catholic Church, he saw that it was not only eminently proper, but also
a sublime act of Christian duty, to pay filial reverence and honor to the
Mother of God. Hence Father Ryan crowned Mary with many gems of
rare beauty. Amongst them may be named his beautiful poem "Last of
May", dedicated to the Children of Mary, of the Cathedral of Mobile,
Ala. Few Catholics will read these lines without experiencing feelings
of deep and tender devotion towards their Queen and Mother.
Father Ryan's was an open, manly character, in which there was no
dissimulation. His generous nature and warm heart were ever moved by
kind impulses and influenced by charitable feelings,
as became his
priestly calling. We may readily believe him when he tells us that he
never wrote a line for hate's sake. He shrank instinctively from all that
was mean and sordid. Generosity was a marked trait of his character, an

ennobling principle of his nature,
the motive power of his actions,
and the mainspring of his life. Friendship was likewise congenial to his
taste, if not a necessity of his nature; and with him it meant more than a
name.
It was a sacred union formed between kindred spirits --
a
chain of affection whose binding link was fidelity.
Never was he false
to its claims, nor known to have violated its obligations. Hence he was
highly esteemed during life by numerous persons of all classes and
denominations; for his sympathies
were as broad as humanity, and as
far-reaching as its wants and its miseries. Yet he was a man of deep
conviction and a strict adherent to principle, or what he conceived to be
principle; for we find him long after the war still clinging to its
memories, and slow to accept its results, which he believed were
fraught with disaster to the people of his section. A Southerner of the
most pronounced kind, he was unwilling
to make any concession to
his victorious opponents of the North which could be withheld from
them. Perhaps, upon reflection, it may not appear wholly strange or
inexplicable that he should have so acted. There was, at least, some
foundation for his fears with regard to the ill fate of those of his section.
Though peace had been proclaimed, the rainbow of hope did not
encircle the