Very Rev. Fr John Baptist Roes, C.SS.R.
“A Great Preacher among us tonight— Death”

Fr John Baptist was born in the Diocese of  Malines, Belgium,  on 12 March, 1814. At college he was dear to his masters and fellow students alike. Great was their delight when he won the Doctor’s Cap. On his return home after this event there were great rejoicings and the town was illuminated.

These honours only made him the more desirous to give himself entirely to God. He was ordained priest in his twenty-fifth year, 22 April, 1838, and became a professor in the college in which he had made his studies. He was loved by everyone, and in his priestly life gave the greatest edification. All were satisfied with him except himself. He longed for greater security, and fuller sacrifice of his own will.

He sought admission into the Congregation of the most Holy Redeemer, and after a most fervent novitiate made his vows at St Trond, on Christmas Day, 1847. Soon after his profession, he began to communicate to others the stores he had laid up, in what we may call his hidden life. He gave missions and spiritual exercises with great success in various parts of Belgium. So thoroughly had he steeped his soul in the spirit of St Alphonsus that he was soon appointed Master of Novices. It was from this office that he passed to the Rectorate of Mount St Alphonsus.

Fr Roes arrived in Limerick at a time when the Redemptorists were overwhelmed with work. He did not know a word of English, and yet he scrupled to take a Father from hearing Confessions which then went on almost the whole day. Humbling himself, like a child he went to the Christian Brothers’ schools, and there, aided by the  Brothers, always kind to the Community, learned English. God blessed his humility and industry to such a degree that in an incredibly short time he was able to preach, to take part in all the apostolic works, and to write all the letters which his office demanded. He was a model for his Community and preached nothing which he was not himself the first to practice.

From the very beginning he had proposed to himself no mean idea of the religious life. He considered it nothing else than to die to the world and live consecrated to God through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, with all his soul he despised worldliness. His actions displayed wonderful simplicity and humility, while he feared honours more than the proud loved them, and received humiliations with joy. He was full of charity to all, but especially to the poor and sick, whom he strove to visit and relieve. He practiced all the devotions which St Alphonsus was wont to practice, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, making the Way of the Cross, praying frequently to the Blessed Virgin, invoking St Joseph, and St Teresa. He was a man dead to human respect, at first sight seeming somewhat austere. He was indeed inclined by nature to be rigid, but he had so conquered himself, that he was not only respected, but loved as Superior.

His zeal for his neighbour never made him forget the needs of his own soul.  Therefore, he was not only always present at the Community exercises, but all that he did was done in a spirit of prayer.

While still in robust health, and apparently with years of labour before him, he was struck down by a grave illness. The doctors held different views as to what his malady was, but he calmly reposed in the arms of God, accepting all his sufferings and desiring only the accomplishment of the Divine Will.

When news spread that Fr Rector was dangerously ill, the church was soon crowded with suppliants begging God to spare the good Father to them. But this was not to be. As to Fr Roes, he was under no illusion. He prepared himself for the end. Having received the last Sacraments, he prayed unceasingly to Jesus and Mary. At last, full of virtue, and rich in merits, he calmly resigned his soul to God, at 6pm, Friday 5 October, 1860.

The following notice appeared in one of the public papers, giving details of Father Roes’ death and funeral:

Obsequies and Funeral

“Immediately after last Sunday Mass at the Church of Mount St Alphonsus, the high and side altars, the pillars, confessionals, and every part of the interior of the building were hung with black drapery, and other emblems of mourning, relieved with crosses and inscriptions from holy writ; while over the high altar which was deeply veiled, were displayed in large letters the words ‘REQUISCAT IN PACE’.

“The body, which was enclosed in a coffin, covered with black cloth, and plain black mountings, was brought into the church at five o’clock and placed upon a catafalque directly in front of the high altar.

“The church was as crowded in every part as it could possibly be, and for some time after the remains had been brought into the church, the wailings of the people were loud and prolonged. Rosaries were then commenced by the congregation and at the end of each the Litany for the Dead was reverentially recited. These devotions were continuously practised up to seven o’clock, at which hour the Rev. Fathers and Brothers of the order entered the church, and intoned the Vespers for the Dead.

“At the close Fr Harbison, C.SS.R., amid the breathless attention of the audience, ascended the pulpit, and  looked down on the coffin which rested within the draped pillars of the catafalque, and it was many minutes before the deep emotion with which he was sensibly overcome, allowed him to proceed.  He said—

“‘There is a great preacher among us tonight— Death, the preacher whom all must attend to. The most humble man can comprehend his sermon; the proudest must bow down before the impression of his discourse; when he speaks; the giddy must be serious; the fickle-minded, attentive; and the stoutest heart, amongst us yield to sad and sorrowing emotions. No age, no sex, no class, no individual can mock his calls, or resist his appeals. The preacher now before you is Death. His garments are the coffin which is in front of that altar, and his sermons are the remains of our beloved Fr Rector, exclaiming from that coffin: Yesterday for me; tomorrow for you! Happy day for me, will it also be a happy day for you? By God’s grace, I have been ever ready for that day; are you also ready? From my youth, I have believed and acted upon that belief, that they only are blessed who hear the Word of God and keep it.’ Do you also listen to the Will of God, and obey it.

“This my dear brethren, is the sermon, which the great preacher Death, preaches to you all this evening. May God grant it be not preached in vain, for any one of us, for any one of you. May our Blessed Lady in this festival of Her Rosary, and of Her victories, turn this sad bereavement into lessons of wisdom and grace for everyone here present.

“A few days ago Fr Roes was in the prime of life and the vigour of health. Eight days ago, he ascended that altar to celebrate the divine mysteries; to offer the Immaculate Lamb for you and with you, and to-day his body lies before that altar in the coffin, and others come to celebrate, and offer prayers for the repose of his departed soul. Eight days ago he sat for 10 long hours in the mercy seat, the tribunal of penance, absolving sinners and imparting peace to the troubled, counsel to the afflicted, and grace and happiness to all who presented themselves to him; and now he has already been before the great tribunal of the living God, to render an account of his own every thought, word, and deed. Eight days ago he was with us and of us, and today he is landed upon that shore whence no traveller returns. Then he was in that brief, uncertain, swiftly-passing, indescribable, thing we call time; now he is in an unchangeable eternity.

“St Alphonsus used often to say to his brethren: ‘Do not grieve, like men of the world, when any amongst you dies, but rejoice, for I hold it as certain, that no one who dies an observant member of our little Congregation can ever be lost.’ Therefore, my dear brethren, we are not here to weep or grieve, we are here only to learn wisdom. That coffin, and these remains, speak loudly to all here and say; are you ready? A few days ago the strongest amongst you had as much reason to expect the great summons as I had, for I was full of health and vigour, buoyant in spirit and hopeful of a long future. But if the lid of that coffin were now uplifted, and the remains of Fr Roes could speak to this congregation, they would say that which his whole life has said: ‘They only are blessed who hear the Word of God and keep it.’

“As his life had been holy so was his death. Early on last night week (Saturday) he was seized with severe pains in the stomach, something like what is known as English Cholera; but patiently and uncomplainingly he bore it until morning without awaking a brother or uttering a single complaint or exclamation of pain. He would not even allow himself a drink of water lest he should deprive himself of that consolation— the greatest to a true priest of God— the consolation he had enjoyed everyday uninterruptedly for 22 years— of offering up the adorable Sacrifice of the Altar.

“At the usual hour on last Sunday morning, he ascended the sacred steps, and went on with his Mass, trembling weak, and with great difficulty was able to complete it. It was the last time. After his thanksgiving, he returned to that bed from which he never rose. During all his illness the virtues of his life were only intensified by the development produced by sickness— humble, so that he did not think it right that anyone should be troubled about him— obedient, in the minutest thing to every order of the physicians in attendance, and the persons who waited on him— perfectly resigned to the Will of God, not one complaint, during his whole sickness, ever escaped his lips; he prayed and offered himself to God every hour of the day and night.

“When asked if he would like to die, he answered, ‘From my youth every day, I have offered my life to God, and as far as I could, I have spent it for him. What better tidings could I hear, than that God is now satisfied and is willing to take me to himself.’

“At five o’clock on the Friday evening the physician said that life was fast passing away, and that he could not hold out hopes any longer.. ‘Welcome be the Will of God,’ was the meek reply; but, he added ‘I shall not die for three hours more,’ and his remarkable words were literally fulfilled.

“These three hours were hours of prayer, hours of great grace, united as he was with all his brethren during that time. At the end of these hours, after having responded to the Litanies, after kissing the Crucifix, and receiving the last plenary indulgence, he closed his eyes, and resigned his pure spirit to him who gave it, as though an infant had fallen asleep on its mothers breast,’” safe in her loving embrace. †

[Thanks to Mr Damian Bath for typing this article]