LETTER XLII,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
Francis Xavier d'Hoop.
LOUISVILLE (Kentucky), March 29, 1855.
REVEREND FATHER: *
I am about to fulfil a duty by satisfying the quite special request of one of your former disciples, Father Francis X. d'Hoop. I did not expect, on arriving at Louisville, that
I was about to assist at his last moments. You will remember that he was one of the band that I conducted to America in 1837.
The Rev. Father d'Hoop died young, and much regretted by all those who had the happiness of knowing him. He did much in his short life, and this country loses in him a fervent and zealous missionary. He leaves in sorrow a great number of children in Jesus Christ, of Protestants converted to the faith, of strayed sheep brought back to the sheepfold of the good pastor. These faithful souls will, I trust, continue to bless the cherished memory of their spiritual Father, and he will intercede for them from heaven, that they may persevere in the faith.
As you are acquainted with the family of Father d'Hoop,
(* This letter was originally addressed to Rev. Father Vanderhofstadt, of the college of Tournai.)
and as I have received many proofs of your great charity, I have taken the liberty of addressing you, in order to request you to communicate to them the news of his decease. The details which I give in the little notice which follows, will contribute to alleviate their grief.
Father Francis Xavier d'Hoop, of the Society of Jesus, died in America. Born at Meulebeke, in the diocese of Bruges, in Belgium, on the 4th of January, 1813, he pursued his studies with success in the college of Thielt, in West Flanders, and afterwards repaired to the college of Turnhout, founded by the venerable De Nef, whose name alone is a eulogium. In this nursery of missionaries, which has furnished so many worthy priests and so many excellent subjects to the country, Father d'Hoop, following the example of a great many others who had preceded him, took the generous resolution of devoting himself to American missions, and of embracing the religious life. In the month of September, 1837, he quitted his country and embarked for the United States, with four companions. On the 21st of November, of the same year, be entered the novitiate of the Jesuits at St. Stanislaus, Missouri. After two years probation, he was sent in quality of sub-prefect to the university of St. Louis, and applied himself at the same time to the acquiring of the languages most used in the country; in particular, the English, German, French, and Spanish. He was afterwards sent to the college of St. Charles at Grand Coteau, in Louisiana, where, for several years, he taught rhetoric and natural philosophy, with great success. He was ordained priest by Mgr. Blanc, archbishop of New Orleans, on the 29th of August, 1845. From that period until his death, he faithfully fulfilled as a true religious all the charges which were confided to him by his superiors. The cities of St. Louis, of Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Bardstown, and Louisville, were successively witnesses of his zeal and labors. Although suffering, during several years, with a painful disease in both legs, he always acquitted himself with fidelity in every duty of the charges confided to him by his superiors, and his zeal even appeared to augment with his sufferings.
Father d'Hoop attracted every heart by his religious simplicity, and his charity and zeal.
He contracted the malady, of which he died, on returning from a mission given in Madison, the capital of Indiana. Filled with confidence in God, and with proofs of an entire submission to the divine will, he gave up his soul to his Creator, at Louisville, Kentucky, on the 23d of March, 1855.
The next day, a solemn high mass was celebrated in the cathedral, at which the bishop and a greater part of the clergy of the city assisted. Bishop Spalding himself officiated at the obsequies, and with his accustomed eloquence pronounced the eulogium of the departed. His mortal remains repose in the cemetery of St. Joseph's college, Bardstown.
The Very Rev. Mr. du Pontavice, vicar-general and pastor of Madison, wrote us a very consoling letter: "I learned," says he, "the death of the Rev. Father d'Hoop at the moment when I was vesting to celebrate the holy sacrifice on Passion Sunday. I forgot my text ; your letter took its place. I spoke of his death, but I fear not to have edified as much as I ought to have done, for my voice was interrupted with sobs. I will add, that the whole of my numerous auditory was in tears.
"At the holy altar I recalled the blessed moments of his presence. Here he celebrated mass. In this chair of truth his eloquent and most edifying words were heard; words which converted so many sinners, imparted tranquillity and peace to souls hitherto troubled, and called forth abundant tears of holy joy and happiness. My heart was poured forth , so to speak, from my eyes.
"I shall never forget the moments that he passed with me at my house. I seem yet to hear the consoling words, so fraught with heavenly wisdom, which his lips pronounced. As a man of God, and as a scholar, we found in him an inexhaustible treasure of varied and extensive information. At the first impression of the idea that the last days of his apostolic life were devoted to me, my heart was overwhelmed with grief; but on a moment's reflection, calm joy succeeded to sorrow. Father d'Hoop was ripe for heaven, and I rejoice that it was in my parish he exerted his last effort to obtain the crown of immortality, and that my parishioners received his last adieux. Prostrate before the high altar he pronounced the words of consecration to the sacred hearts of Jesus and of Mary, for the pastor and his flock," etc., etc.
Accept, &c., &c.,
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.