THE CINCINNATI TIMES-STAR
November 1, 1904

NEWS
scans from newspaper collection of
Ruth Adams-Battle

transcribed by Ruth Adams-Battle
and Linda Boorom

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ARCHBISHOP ELDER IS SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS WHO WAIT FOR THE END.

With the Example of Their Beloved Leader Before Them They Are Like Him in Resignation, Listening for the Call to Eternity

Father Gallagher Early in the Day Announced That the Prelate Was Growing Weaker and Would Not Live Throughout the Day, According to the Physicians.

In Fact It Would Not Have Been a Surprise to the Watchers at the Bedside if the Breath of Life Left the Body of the Stricken Churchman Before the Noon Hour - Sunday Was Marked by Earnest Prayers of the Members of the Catholic Diocese for the Welfare of the Patient.

"Archbishop Elder is growing weaker and we fear he will not survive the day.  He slept some during the night, but it was the sleep of exhaustion. Sister Agnes Regina was with him throughout the night." - Father Gallagher at Seton Hospital at 7:30 this morning.

Slowly the sands of life are passing for Archbishop Elder, and a great soul. hovering on the brink, seems struggling to make flight from earth to that eternity whence it came.  Hope has departed from those gathered near the bedside of the distinguished prelate, and the end inevitable is a question of hours only.  That the parting has not come sooner is considered remarkable to all except the few who know the wonderful vitality of the man, a vitality and strength borrowed through a life of continued abstinence, calm and absolute repose.  The sun shining down to where lay the dying man seemed to bring a message, for he smiled faintly as, breaking through a fog of early morning, the first rays penetrated the darkened room.  The fading strength was evident to those about, as the voice grew weaker.  Yet there remained consciousness bright and clear, a full realization of all occurring and the wonderful repose that has marked the sick man from the hour of his first attack.  He had fought the good fight, had finished the course and waited the summons of his maker.  Few were admitted to the sick room in the last hours. Excepting the faithful nurses, who are about constantly. Archbishop Moeller and Bishop Macs of Covington, Father Mackey and Gallagher, admittance was denied all. Speech was forbidden except when the patient asked a question, and then only the briefest answer was allowed. Monday passed as had Sunday, in peaceful waiting. Those closest to the archbishop became resigned to the certainty that he seemed to realize several days ago.  The inquiries from all sides continued and arrangements had been made to let the public knows as soon as possible that the end had come.  To those of the archbishop's faith Sunday was a day of gloom.  From each Catholic church was made announcement of the serious condition of their spiritual leader, the prayers ordered were said.  Life was sustained through Sunday and Monday only by heroic methods known to modern medicine.  But as time passed the response to powerful stimulant became feebler.  The absence of symptoms of pneumonia would have been an encouraging sign were it not for the graver danger of constantly failing strength.  When it became evident that failing could not be checked it was realized there was no longer hope.  Nature and human skill were both exhausted.  Only the spiritual in the man seemed to keep him alive.  When Father Mackey, for years the friend and intimate of the archbishop, appeared at his bedside Sunday he was greeted with a smiled and the whispered inquiry whether Father Mackey had enjoyed his trip to St. Louis.  The two had not met until then, Father Mackey returning Saturday morning at a time when none but the physician and nurses were allowed within the room.  To others the archbishop also showed his realization of what was transpiring.  While the sisters were saying a rosary at his bedside they stopped, thinking he could not hear.  He bade them continue and joined in the prayer till it finished.

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...man I ever met who impressed [unreadable] feeling that the man with whom I ??? speaking was a saint. I always thought the most beautiful trait of his character was his humility. Notwithstanding his exalted position, he was, from the time I first knew him, the most humble of men. It was only in the sancutary that he became at all different. A great contender for absolute correctness in service and for orderly arrangement of all things connected with the service. I have seen him in the sanctuary stand and direct, in short, sharp sentences, the placing of the furnishings of the altar, etc. He did not mean to be in the least imperious or to interfere with the work of the others, whose duty it might be to perfect the arrangement, although, to a stranger, it might appear that his sharpness and decision were faultfindings. In this connection I have heard a story which just illustrates the point. On one occasion when the priests and acolytes were prepairing for a service, they were late and were hurrying in their work so as not to further delay the celebration. The archbishop entered the sancuary. Glancing around and finding all not prepared, he began giving directions in his characteristic manner. One of the priests, already worried by the wait, turned to him as said, a trifle warmly, 'Now, archbishop if you will only let us alone we will have everything arranged properly in a moment. You are worrying us.' The archbishop did not reply to this, but retired to the sacristy and the work went on. In a moment the priest who had spoken and the others entered the sacristy, and there, before them all, the venerable archbishop, the head of the church in this part of the country, walked over to that poor priest and, kneeling before him, publicly begged his pardon for having offended him."