Welsh Journals

derrick and trying to hoist the boat on to the wharf, to see it it will be possible to repair her. Money is scarce-wc have 31d on the island, but even that cannot be spent here, as there is no shop My carpenter has one hand bound up in a poultice but one of our young postulants is heav- ing and hauling, and doing his best to help. We have tne turf cnapel roofed and floored and proba- bly should have had it ready for next Sunday were it not tor the accident to our boat." Six weeks later "1 went ashore yesterday to preach at Mynytho (corruption of Aiynydd y man nythod, 'the moun- tain of little nests') where I had to go and visit my sick convert, old David Hughes. One of his sons is coming to the island to be instructed and bap- tised. There is another small village close by, called Y Wylys, where the people have expressed a desire to hear me, and whither I am going, please God, next Sunday and another young man has applied for instruction, and expressed his wish to come and learn with us on the island, that he also may become a missionary for Wales. He is pure Welsh, from this neighbourhood. I shall soon begin preaching in all the villages round about Abersoch there seems to be a good move- ment afoot among the people, who show every day greater willingness to hear Catholic doctrine. My being Welsh and related to them closely by the ties of blood, probably has much to do with it. I have got into my new hut and am housed for the winter the rest were housed more than a month ago. Our first experience of a storm in the new hut was rather amusing. Last night week-and I were waked up by a furious blast of wind burst- ing in the window, and beginning to blow the iron plates off from over our heads. He jumped out of bed and rushed out in scanty costume to secure the roof with turf and stones, and fix the shutter in its place by means of my staff and a billhook. The next night it rained heavily, and the water began to find out the joints of our arm- our till we were well flooded, and had to get up and move the bed into another part of the hut, after jumping barefoot into as pretty a pool of water as anyone might wish to see. However, the next day we mended it all right, made the roof water-tight, and cut a drain under the cell. For- san et haec olim meminisse juvabit. We have many a hearty laugh over our pioneer difficulties, by and by, when all are over, we shall be able to laugh more. We are rather a merry lot on the island, not much given to grumbling, God be thanked and these little involuntary mortifications help us to make up for our shortcomings in other respects. A good many kind people, many of them entirely unknown to us, seem inclined to help us. God bless them and help them at their need 5th November, 1887 "We have had a terrible week. On Saturday last I went ashore to hear a young man's confession who had not attended his duty for some time, and stayed there to say Mass next day, for only him and my acolyte. We went to Mynytho to preach in the afternoon and had a very poor attendance. I have made up my mind to go to them, as they will not come to me, and in the spring will do it by reciting the rosary with some of my brethren, with the cross borne before us and a bell to mark the mysteries. This will, of course, gather a crowd, and then I shall preach. I used to do this in the wild places in Portugal; and I shall do it here, please God. It began to blow on Sunday night, and was too rough for us to return in our little dinghy on Monday. The wrecking of our large boat is a terrible loss to us." It was the beginning of the end. Fr. Hughes caught a chill and on the 16th December was dead. His community was dispersed and, so far as human eye could discern. his labours for the conversion of his countrymen forgotten and with- out fruit. Surely in the mind of God it is other- wise. He was buried in the graveyard of Llanengan Church near Abersoch, just outside the chancel where Mass was said of old, and a requiem was celebrated for him there among the graves of the Catholic and Protestant Welsh of many genera- tions. On his gravestone are inscriptions, of which the first is in Welsh Er parchus gof am y Tad Henry Hughes, T.S.D., anwyd yn N ghaernarfon, dodwyd y gar reg hon uwchben ei ran ddaearol gan yr Anrhy- ddeddus Augusta Herbert, o Lanofer. Gorphen- nodd ei ddyddi.ni Rhagfyr 16, 1887, oed 54. Cym- r fu yn apostolig mewn llawer gwlad ac iaith; llafuriodd dros y Gred Gatholig,-bu farw yn ei waith. Fr. Hughes, looked upon as a wild and un- practical visionary by most Catholics, always commanded a tremendous respect among Protest- ants. Prayer and faith were not merely the found- ation of his labours; they were his labours. He never begged on behalf of his good works; if people were generous, he thanked them and God if not, then he "did without." He left all for God and to God. Iustorum animae in manu Dei sunt. (The extracts from Fr. Hughes's letters are taken from Cennad Catholig Cymru of 1912). Bound copies of "The Welsh Outlook," Vol. XV (1928), will be ready shortly, and may be obtained from the publishers for 12/6. Readers may have their own copies bound for 6/6, post free.