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| St Mary's Church (Defiance Ohio) Our Lady of Perpetual Help. |
The sweetest thing about religion is the fact that it soothes the dying and comforts the friendless. No matter who he is or where he is, the Christian in a Christian community is always among friends.
A stranger, Lawrence Davitt, age 30 years, came to Defiance. He was a drummer (sales man), and sold jewelry and clocks for a Cincinnati firm. But this was his first visit to Defiance, and not a soul did he know. That evening he was taken sick, and was sick all night. He received the best of care from the people at the hotel, the Star House on Jackson street. The next morning he felt better. But the next evening he was worse and a physician was sent for. The physician gave his patient the necessary medicine, but something in his face caused the sick man to express a wish for a spiritual adviser, and, having heard of the good Father Kinkead, that gentleman was sent for. He came at once, and done everything in his power to comfort the dying man, who realized that his hour of dissolution had come. Fifteen minutes after the arrival of the father, but not until the rites of the church had been administered, the stranger was dead.
Father Kinkead at once took charge of the body, and telegraphed the only relative of the deceased, a brother in Califoria, asking what should be done with his remains. The answer at once came back to bury them here.
The firm for which the stranger worked was also notified and it sent $100 and a man all the way from Cincinnati to see that all that money could do was done. But money can't buy friends, and the stranger had found friends before he passed away.
The beautiful funeral services of the Catholic church were held over the remains of the stranger in the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Not a vacant seat was in the big church, and hardly a dry eye when Father Kinkead had concluded his eloquent and appropriate sermon. All present seemed to realize that someof their loved ones might die among strangers, and many were the unexpressed wish that all strangers would find as good friends as Lawrence Davitt did in Defiance.
Father Kinkead at once took charge of the body, and telegraphed the only relative of the deceased, a brother in Califoria, asking what should be done with his remains. The answer at once came back to bury them here.
The firm for which the stranger worked was also notified and it sent $100 and a man all the way from Cincinnati to see that all that money could do was done. But money can't buy friends, and the stranger had found friends before he passed away.
The beautiful funeral services of the Catholic church were held over the remains of the stranger in the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Not a vacant seat was in the big church, and hardly a dry eye when Father Kinkead had concluded his eloquent and appropriate sermon. All present seemed to realize that someof their loved ones might die among strangers, and many were the unexpressed wish that all strangers would find as good friends as Lawrence Davitt did in Defiance.
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