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 REV. DR. RYDER, S. L Jf^ Y 
 
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 II K L I V E I! E D REFdliE T II K 
 
 iUAiv&it S0 lie tm 
 
 
 GEORGETOW 
 
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 James f. McLaughlin. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 WILLIAM II. MOORE, PRINTER. 
 1860. 
 
 W< 
 
EULOGY oo 2 . 2 
 
 KEY. DR. RYDER, S. J., 
 
 D E t. I V K K E D H E F O K E THE 
 
 Pjiloknic Societn of ©eorgetotmt College, §. C, 
 
 u 
 
 james f. Mclaughlin 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 WILLIAM H. MOORE, PRINTER. 
 1860. 
 
X ' 
 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 .CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 - . «j f 
 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Georgetown College, January 24, 1860. 
 Mr. Jas. F. McLaughlin : 
 
 Dear Sir : Regarding the Eulogy pronounced by you before the Philodemic Society 
 of Georgetown College upon the late Rev. Father James Ryder as a production of dis- 
 tinguished ability and eloquence, and considering that its publication would redound 
 not only to your credit, but to that of our entire community, as coming from our fel- 
 low-student, we respectfully request a copy of it for that purpose. 
 
 Very truly, your friends, 
 
 R. Y. BROWN, 
 * H. S. FOOTE, Jr., 
 
 D. S. HAYNES, 
 JNO. D. BRYAN, 
 WM. B. CARR, 
 ISAAC PARSONS, 
 JNO. W. KIDWELL, 
 R. E. FOOTE, 
 BOWIE JOHNSON, 
 BEN. S. JOHNSON, 
 M. LUCKETT, 
 
 E. NEALE, 
 
 H. J. MATHEWS, 
 JNO. F. MARION, 
 J. W. NEALE, 
 M. A. STRONG, 
 A. B. YOUNG, 
 C. A. DONEGAN. 
 
 Georgetown College, January 25, 1860. 
 Gentlemen: Your complimentary favor under date of January 24, has just been 
 placed in my hands. In reply, permit me to offer you my grateful acknowledgments 
 for the very flattering encomiums you have been pleased to pass on my humble tribute 
 to the memory of Dr. Ryder. I herewith submit the copy of my remarks, desultory 
 as they must necessarily be, from the short time allowed me for preparation. 
 With best wishes, gentlemen, I remain, 
 
 Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 james f. Mclaughlin. 
 
 To Robt. Y. Brown and others, 
 
 Students at Georgetown College. 
 
EULOGY. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Philodemic Society : 
 
 We have assembled to perform a solemn and imposing cere- 
 mony. The founder of our body, the venerated James Ryder, 
 is no more. At Philadelphia, on the morning of the 12th of 
 January, at fifteen minutes past ten o'clock, he calmly termin- 
 ated his mortal career ; and to-day we witnessed the offices of 
 religion over the dead, and swelled the funeral train, as, amid 
 the chants of holy men, it slowly passed to yonder graveyard. 
 The profound sorrow that pervades the whole community, 
 giving itself utterance in the tolling of sacred bells, in glowing 
 panegyric, and in the universal gloom that we behold around 
 us, conveys an earnest and eloquent testimony to the worth of 
 the distinguished dead. 
 
 If there be one visitation more than another trying to the 
 heart of man ; one power that sunders with relentless might 
 the ties consecrated to the affections, that power is death. 
 Yes, gentlemen, although the spirit be soothed by the holy 
 consolations of faith ; although we may look up to heaven, and 
 rejoice in knowing that the just man departed mingles forever- 
 more in the glorious hierarchy of the blessed, there is yet a 
 pang that every heart experiences when the friend whom we 
 devotedly loved, and the father whom we all venerated, bows 
 a meek victim to the King of Terrors, and yields to the un- 
 kindly dust his honored body. 
 
 The life of Father Ryder was passed almost entirely in offi- 
 cial and prominent positions, and it may not on this occasion 
 prove uninteresting to recur briefly to the principal events of 
 that life, which, after the vicissitudes of sixty years, stands 
 proudly forth at its close without a blemish to darken the 
 fair picture. 
 
James Ryder was born in the city of Dublin on the 8th of 
 October, in the year 1800. While yet a child he bid adieu to 
 the land of his fathers, and arriving in America, was sent to 
 pursue his studies at the venerable college of which we are 
 proud to claim ourselves the alumni. Discovering at the early 
 age of fifteen a vocation for the religious life, he was upon 
 application received into the Society of Jesus. Within these 
 haunts of our own boyhood, five years were passed in laying 
 up that rich store of learning that shone so conspicuously in 
 his after life. In 1820, by virtue of his distinguished talents, 
 he was sent to Rome to prosecute to their completion his stu- 
 dies in philosophy and theology. It was during this period 
 that he defended, before the assembled wise men of the Eter- 
 nal City, a thesis embracing the whole range of philosophy 
 and theology, and from the testimony of those who were pres- 
 ent, acquitted himself with an ability that would have done 
 honor to many an older head, even in Rome itself. No doubt 
 the achievements of this day made an impression on the ardent 
 mind of the young scholar that nerved him to renewed exer- 
 tion, and to seek, like the victor at the Olympic games of old, 
 in every succeeding exhibition of his intellectual prowess, a 
 more elevated position than the last. Having completed his 
 studies, he was raised to the rank of Professor of Theology in 
 the University of Spoleto, where the present Pope was at that 
 time Archbishop. He held this office for two years, an evi- 
 dence of the high appreciation in which his talents were held, 
 and after retiring from it bid adieu to the sky of Italy, and 
 returned again to his adopted country. 
 
 The name of Father Ryder is a household word in George- 
 town College. The chairs of Rhetoric, Philosophy, and The- 
 ology were respectively occupied by this patron of letters, and 
 to each he brought an ability never surpassed, and but seldom 
 equalled. During long years of scholastic discipline he applied 
 himself with untiring assiduity to a study of the great masters 
 of oratory ; and when appointed to the presidency of the in- 
 
6 
 
 stitution, Gracchus-like, he came forth from the closet a ripe 
 scholar, a polished gentleman, and, greater than all, an elo- 
 quent divine. He continued to hold this responsible post, 
 with occasional interruption, for nine years, a fact that suffi- 
 ciently attests his administrative abilities. During the period 
 of Father Ryder's connection with Georgetown College, many 
 young men of the most distinguished families in the land made 
 their studies in these old halls, and not a few who have since 
 risen to eminence in Church and State, can remember when he 
 occupied to them the position of superior or professor. The 
 closing years of his life have been passed in various parts of 
 the United States. Wherever he appeared, his lectures and 
 sermons always attracted large audiences of every denomina- 
 tion, and no one who heard him once will ever forget his im- 
 pressive oratory. 
 
 But there was one study to which the whole force of 
 his intellect was devoted, and that was the study of man. 
 The peculiar functions of his ministry, with a mind like 
 his thoroughly disciplined in philosophical and metaphysical 
 science, gave him an insight into the character of the American 
 people, which, to an intense thinker, such as Dr. Ryder, 
 opened up the whole frame-work of our social system, and 
 laid at his command the power of pointing out, if not of 
 correcting evils, wherever they were apparent. To matters of 
 business he brought a spirit of earnestness and zeal that gave 
 & prestige of success to' every undertaking; and with the docile 
 temper which so strikingly characterized him, was content to 
 perform all duties, whether of small or of great moment, with 
 equal diligence and address. All were struck with the ac- 
 tivity of his mind, the subtlety of his thoughts, and the power 
 and copiousness of his language and ideas. Every subject to 
 which he gave his attention appeared under a great variety of 
 aspects. He was, indeed, the only man I ever knew whose 
 ordinary conversation gave an adequate idea of the reputation 
 he had acquired in the world. If Father Ryder passed in a 
 
stage-coach from town to town he saw more, and profited more 
 by the events and incidents of the ride than many another 
 would by a trip over half the country. How fully then must 
 he have acquired the copious stores of knowledge, always the 
 reward of inquiry and reflection, in the active and busy avo- 
 cations of a public life of fifty years. Whether we behold him 
 in early life, here at the shrine of learning, passing his days in 
 the faithful discharge of a scholar's duty and wasting the mid- 
 night lamp over the pages of his classics ; whether we follow 
 him as he wends his pilgrim steps to the Holy City, and there, 
 under the shadow of St. Peter's, spends long years of study 
 and meditation, until, by the achievements of his own energy, 
 and the force of his sterling abilities, he appears before the Car- 
 dinals, the Literati, the bright stars that shone in the galaxy 
 of wisdom at Rome, a professed master of sacred and profane 
 lore, we will always find him the same deep reasoner, the same 
 invincible logician, the same clear-headed man. 
 
 To a mind at once philosophical and poetical, the splendid 
 drama of antiquity was clothed in a thousand tints and color- 
 ings, whether studied in the inspired pages of the Bible, or ad- 
 mired and contemplated from the stand point of the mighty 
 masters of Greece and Rome. 
 
 To most men the complicated events of early times — the in- 
 tricate history of Religion, which dates its origin from the 
 Patriarchs of the plains of Mesopotamia, and which was 
 handed down from father to son as an element incompa- 
 tible with the vices, the passions, the idolatry of man, be- 
 tween which and the world there was a ceaseless and deadly 
 warfare, until the Godlike sacrifice of expiation was consum- 
 mated on the cross of Calvary — with most men, I repeat, all 
 these developments of an antique age obtain credibility only 
 through the weight of universal authority. But, to Father 
 Ryder, (and I speak from the testimony of others,) the entire 
 annals of the Divine economy were the constant study of his 
 life, and to him they appeared a simple chain of dependent 
 
events, which, when unravelled and analyzed, present to the 
 christian mind a vivid and glorious reality. 
 
 I have said that to him were unfolded the treasures of pro- 
 fane lore; and indeed our country, rejoicing, as it justly does, 
 in its distinguished scholars, has not produced the superior to 
 Father Ryder. He was a man who would have adorned an 
 Augustan age of literature, for with a versatility of genius 
 equal to the most arduous undertakings, he pored with un- 
 wearied application over the works of classical learning, until 
 he knew by rote the whole story of Roman grandeur, and 
 of Rome's decay; until he had trodden, in vivid imagination, 
 every foot of ground, and was familiar with every scene of glory 
 in those Isles, 
 
 " Where grew the arts of war and peace, 
 Where burning Sappho loved and sung." 
 
 If I were asked to-day whom he resembled in the structure 
 of his intellect; what great master he selected for his own emu- 
 lation in oratory, I would answer in the language of one, 
 whose abilities and enlarged experience entitle his opinion to 
 the highest consideration — " no one did he resemble; he was his 
 own master." And were this the occasion, I could easily 
 prove, that Dr. Ryder was one of the most original orators of 
 his age; original in his style, original in his conceptions, 
 original in every attribute that marks the man of genius. Be- 
 hold him in the vineyard of the Lord, an angel,, ministering to 
 the wants of the faithful : from the princely palace to the 
 laborer's cot, gracing the one, at home in the other : from the 
 altar of God, to the bedside of the dying sinner; behold him 
 in these daily rounds of duty, and you have an epitome of the 
 life of a Jesuit. Who will take the place of Father Ryder ? 
 Who will stand forth, like him, the expounder and friend of 
 constitutional liberty, and the eloquent advocate of a higher 
 liberty than is even guarantied by our own cherished consti- 
 tution? I refer to the liberty of the children of God. 
 
 Respected audience, we have consigned to the tomb the 
 
mortal remains of one of the greatest pulpit orators in the 
 Catholic Church of America ! It is a proud thought to his 
 countrymen, and to the sons of his countrymen, that he whose 
 religious admonitions have echoed throughout the Representa- 
 tive Halls of the nation, whose eloquence and learning have 
 been the theme of praise on every tongue throughout the land, 
 and have claimed the tribute of flattering consideration abroad ; 
 to them it is a proud thought, that the man who reflected such 
 credit on our institutions was himself an Irish adopted citizen. 
 Would that my feeble voice could be heard by all the country- 
 men of Dr. Ryder throughout the land ! I would bid them re- 
 member and engrave on their hearts the life-long injunctions 
 of the man whose death we mourn ; I would bid them follow 
 the example of him who lived and died a good patriot, an up- 
 right citizen, a polished gentleman, and an exemplary chris- 
 tian. While the Celtic blood of my fathers courses through 
 my veins — and I am proud and happy to say it is Celtic — aye, 
 all Celtic — I shall ever congratulate Irishmen and the sons of 
 Irishmen that the land of our fathers — that the land which has 
 given to Europe, to America, to the world a long line of illus- 
 trious orators, statesmen, warriors, and poets — was likewise 
 the birth-place of him who was borne hither to-day in all the 
 sad habiliments of the tomb. Born in Dublin — the cradle of 
 orators — Dublin, that swells the roll of fame with such names 
 as Sheridan, Grattan, and Edmund Burke, how could Father 
 Ryder have been otherwise than the scholar, the gentleman, 
 the orator? 
 
 Methinks I see our beloved father stretched on his dying 
 couch, preparing for the awful summoning to the bar of God. 
 The hope of a blissful immortality lights up those well-re- 
 membered features. On the rocky isle of St. Helena the dying 
 Napoleon muttered with his last breath the imperial cry, " to 
 arms ;" but, if one desire under the Omnipotent linger in the 
 breast of the expiring Ryder, methinks that desire is to be 
 re-united with the kindred spirits of the departed great. I 
 
10 
 
 seem to hear the beautiful words of the Roman, as they escape 
 his dying lips : " praeclarum diem, cum ad Mud divinum ani- 
 morum concilium coelumque prognosciscar, cumque ex hac turha 
 et colluvione discedam." 
 
 The wisdom of antiquity affirmed that no man could be 
 deemed happy until after death, and the declaration is not 
 without foundation in truth ; for it is not in the nature of all 
 men to give to their fellows the justice due to their merits. 
 He who explored the western continent was left after the 
 achievements of his mighty career to die among strangers in 
 obscurity and poverty. Edmund Burke, in the palmiest days 
 of his glory, was regarded as " a splendid madman," and our 
 own Webster was held up to the odium of his countrymen in 
 the mightiest efforts of his exalted genius. What great man 
 ever escapes the breath of detraction? What great man ever 
 passes through the ordeal of captious criticism without incur- 
 ring the impotent hatred of the malignant, or the harmless 
 envy of the inferior ? Unfortunately, the conflict of rival in- 
 terests too often warps the judgment of men, stifles their better 
 feelings, and causes them to withhold the tribute of common 
 justice from the worthy and meritorious. But it is pleasing 
 and consoling to know that the clouds and darkness that often 
 surround the living, dissolve and fade away with the taberna- 
 cle of the flesh. When the body is consigned to the tomb, 
 and the soul freed from the dross of perishable matter, enters 
 upon its second and glorious existence, then may we expect 
 justice, the emanation of the Divine mind; then it is that the 
 good and great man begins to live a new and immortal life on 
 earth. Respected audience, to this general principle I will 
 make the exception of Father Ryder, for he has gone down to 
 the grave without an enemy, as he was in life without a rival. 
 
 We have seen him filling honorable and distinguished posi- 
 tions in Rome, at a time, too, when the arts and sciences were 
 reviving and expanding, as if the mercury-wand were again 
 waved over them. The doctrines of a false philosophy were 
 
11 
 
 being fulminated with the might of error across the horizon of 
 enlightened Europe. Transcendentalists of Germany, with 
 Kant at their head, had inaugurated their vague and complex 
 systems upon the Continent. In the department of Letters, an 
 Angelo Mai was exploring the shelves of the Ambrosian and the 
 Vatican, and enriching the classical literature of the age with the 
 lost books of antiquity, and, with almost inspired energies, res- 
 toring to the world the immortal treatise of Cicero, De Repub- 
 lica, an achievement that has crowned the untiring Jesuit with 
 imperishable glory. The profound learning and elegant scholar- 
 ship of a Wiseman were just beginning to attract the attention 
 of Home, and command the admiration of Europe ; that admi- 
 ration, which, with his growing years, has warmed into an en- 
 thusiasm, and placed him at the head of the Catholic Church 
 in England. It was in an atmosphere like this, where truth 
 combatted error to its overthrow; amid such giants of intellect — 
 men that remind us of the old Romans in the days of Fabri- 
 cius — that Dr. Ryder passed the first years of his manhood, and 
 whence he returned to his own country imbued with the elegant 
 tastes of the age, and a lively spirit of scientific and philoso- 
 phical research. Indeed, to him is Georgetown College mainly 
 indebted for its present high position among our institutions of 
 learning ; for at various periods of his life we find him filling 
 every office of importance in the government of the College. 
 At one time, Disciplinarian, at another, Prefect of Schools, anon 
 Vice President, President, Professor of Philosophy, Theology, 
 Sacred Scriptures ; for a time gracing the chair of Superior of 
 the whole Province, and bringing to each the experience, the 
 wisdom, the docility, the very spirit of refined culture and ex- 
 alted piety : 
 
 " Oh, who that gallant spirit shall resume, 
 
 Leap from Eurotas' banks, and call thee from the tomb?" 
 
 The Philodemic Society may well mourn, on this solemn oc- 
 casion, for the first, the brightest name on its distinguished 
 roll is the name of James Ryder ! The stranger who visits 
 
12 
 
 the College, beholds the constitution by which our body is 
 governed, as it was framed by our founders; and he whose 
 mortal remains have just been composed to rest was the foun- 
 der, the first President of the Association. Gentlemen of the 
 Society, this scene is one that should impress us all. As a 
 body, we to-day mourn the loss of our father. What absent 
 Philodemician, in the north, in the south, be he where he may, 
 that turns not with melancholy thoughts towards his boyhood 
 home to-day? Yes, my friends and fellow-members, the old 
 Philodemic Society comes back to his mind; the friends and 
 companions of his early life are around him; he thinks of the 
 evening debate, the gathering in yonder chamber; again 
 Father Ryder occupies the chair ; again the scenes of the past, 
 thoughts that were buried for years, come crowding upon his 
 mind; but u a change comes over the spirit of his dream;" 
 the sad realities of the present moment break upon him, and 
 gentlemen, as the tear rises to our own eyes, the sympathy of 
 thousands throughout the land accords the same tribute to the 
 memory of the same revered person. Could that inanimate 
 body rise from the grave, and speak to this assemblage again, 
 he would bid us weep not for him, rather weep for ourselves, 
 and prepare for the day of our own dissolution. Resident 
 members of the Philodemic Society, let us ever adhere to the 
 wise precepts and wholesome lessons of our founder, and first 
 President. By this we will evince our best love for the de- 
 ceased ; by this we will perpetuate a monument to his memory, 
 more durable than bronze or marble, a monument here in 
 Georgetown College; here, where he first offered his heart and his 
 life to God, and where after the good fight of three-score years, 
 his worn-out body has been laid away in the stilly recesses of 
 the grave ; and gentlemen, that monument will be the Philo- 
 demic Society. 
 
 Reverend fathers and members of the Jesuit order, I would 
 address to you a few words of condolence and sympathy on 
 this melancholy occasion. You have brought home the remains 
 
13 
 
 of Father Ryder from the scene of his holy labors ; you have 
 brought him back with all " his blushing honors" strewed upon 
 his coffin ; you have laid his bones to-day by the side of those of 
 Father George, the beloved friend of his long life, congenial 
 company in death. I saw him two years ago, when he bid 
 the dying Fenwick farewell, and the tear stole to my eye, and 
 I turned away in my emotion, for it was a touching scene to 
 behold. The one had joined your order at the tender age of 
 thirteen, the other when two years older. Hand in hand they 
 journeyed up the hill of life. In America, in Europe, wherever 
 the one was, there the other would be found. Shining lights 
 in the Church, they have gone down to the grave full of years 
 and full of honor. Many a pilgrim will come in after years to 
 this old home-house of the Jesuits, and ask for Father Ryder 
 and for Father Fenwick, and when told they sleep together in 
 death, bend his sorrowful steps yonder to the graveyard, and 
 there, withdrawn from the profane gaze, sit down and weep 
 over their union in the grave. You have every reason, rever- 
 end gentlemen, to be proud of Father Ryder. He has left his 
 impress on the times in which he lived. He was, it is true, a 
 simple Jesuit, but that, indeed, was much. Had he been a 
 man of the world, what office in the State that would not have 
 had its honor reflected back in James Ryder ? What dignity 
 too exalted for him even in the Church itself? If merit be 
 the criterion and infallible index of the grade a man should 
 occupy, surely then to Dr. Ryder we may assign a most prom- 
 inent place in the Church or in the State. But he was only a 
 simple Jesuit, and therein consisted the moral heroism of his 
 life. " Show me the being," in his own expressive words, 
 " show me the being who has learned to sacrifice self for the 
 good of others, and to spurn the pleasures of this world, and I 
 will show you one who has already attained the spotless per- 
 fection of an angel." He was obedient to others as a child to 
 a cherished parent ; nor was this obedience an empty name, a 
 mere conventional form, inserted to round a sentence or grace 
 
14 
 
 the Institutes of St. Ignatius. The whole life of Father Ryder 
 is a beautiful illustration of the power, the virtue, the efficacy 
 of this holy obedience. Ordered by his superior to assume 
 the management of this Institution, he obeys ; ordered by his 
 superior to Frederick, Maryland, to teach little children their 
 first rudiments, he obeys ; ordered by his superior to depart 
 for the distant and unsettled regions of California, he obeys 
 willingly, cheerfully obeys the order of those above him, no 
 matter what the tax on his constitution ; if his life be forfeited 
 he obeys the call of duty; and with this vow of obedience 
 he has taken two others, the vows of Chastity and Poverty. 
 God knows he kept them all. Thousands throughout the land 
 would bear willing testimony to his observance of his holy 
 vows, but what testimony is needed? His whole life is a 
 living, irrefutable testimony of his spotless and virginal purity. 
 
 Respected audience, there is much more that could be 
 spoken on the present occasion of the man of his times, his 
 genial temperament, his social relations, but I leave these 
 topics for abler hands. It is to be hoped that the day is not 
 distant when we may behold some public monument to Dr. 
 Ryder's memory. The biography of such a man would exert 
 a powerful influence for good on the rising generation, and 
 prove an invaluable acquisition to American literature. 
 
 And now, ere I bring my desultory remarks to a close, I 
 would recall a few personal recollections of the dead. At my 
 mother's breast I received my love and devotion for Father 
 Ryder, and never for one moment of my life have I had cause 
 to regret that early love, and that early devotion. I was en- 
 tered in this venerable Institution almost a child, and during 
 Father Ryder's second incumbency of the Presidential chair, 
 I well remember the fatherly smile, that went straight to my 
 heart, and the kindly expressions with which he bid me wel- 
 come to Georgetown College. Under various circumstances 
 it has been alike my pleasure and fortune to have been 
 thrown much in the company of Father Ryder. I have seen 
 
15 
 
 him mingling in the circles of the learned, where revered 
 wisdom held its mild sway; I have seen him among the 
 young, the gay, the brilliant, in the felicitous moments of his 
 sparkling wit, and rare good humor, and never was that wit 
 poisoned with the shaft of malice ; never was that pleasant 
 raillery employed for uncharitable ridicule ; never, never did 
 I hear an expression fall from his lips unbecoming a gentle- 
 man and a christian. His heart was as tender as a woman's, 
 and susceptible to the finest feelings of our nature. I have 
 seen him on a cold winter's night come forth from his own 
 abode, and hasten on to the house of death. The eyes of the 
 dying man brightened with a sickly lustre as the gray-haired 
 priest entered the chamber, where the dark shadow of death 
 was hovering. The winds of winter moaned a plaintive dirge 
 without ; a stricken family stood in impotent grief around the 
 bed-side of the dying son and brother ; and the priest — God 
 bless him — with all the love and tenderness of a mother, ad- 
 ministered the saving rights of religion to the soul departing, 
 and prayed with uplifted hands as the spark of life went 
 calmly forth from the earthly habitation of the flesh. That 
 chamber — that scene can never be erased from the tablets of 
 memory, for the dying man was of my own flesh and blood. 
 
 But a few weeks have elapsed since, in his sacred character 
 of priest, Father Ryder passed three memorable days among 
 us. We all remember, as the things of yesterday, his admo- 
 nitions, his eloquence, the very expressions with which he en- 
 forced his instructions. And to-day he is among us again, but, 
 alas ! how changed. When he told us in glowing language of 
 the uncertainty of human life, little did he think that a few 
 weeks would verify in his own person those words of solemn 
 significance. But let us not mourn, respected audience, let 
 us rather rejoice in his translation to a better life, and remem- 
 ber that the death of the just man is — 
 
 "A death-like sleep, 
 
 A gentle wafting to immortal life." 
 
16 
 
 There is a silent eloquence in the death of a good man that 
 finds its way to all hearts. 
 
 After the conflict of long, long years, comes the earthly 
 separation of the mortal frame and the soul immortal , when 
 the latter is summoned "before the great Judge, who calls 
 upon that soul for the tenor of a well-spent life." It is the 
 salutary lesson of a stern reality. May it be the Mentor that 
 shall guide our own footsteps to the goal of a blissful immor- 
 tality, and a re-union with the loved ones who have gone 
 before us : 
 
 " Henceforth I learn that suffering for truth's sake 
 
 Is fortitude to highest tictory, 
 
 And, to the faithful, death the gate of life." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 From the Catholic Herald and Visitor, Philadelphia. 
 
 FUNERAL OF THE Rev. Dr. RYDER. 
 
 SERMON BY REV. WM. OHARA, D. I). 
 
 On Saturday morning last, the funeral obsequies of Rev. Jas. Ryder, D. D., S. J., 
 took place in St. Joseph's church. The church was thronged by an immense number 
 of persons. Immediately after the announcement of his death, the edifice was draped 
 in deep mourning. The remains, dressed in the alb, amice, and dalmatics, were laid 
 in the coffin, and placed within the sanctuary, surrounded by a number of lighted can- 
 dles. Clasped in his hands was the chalice, on which was placed the patena. The 
 features wore a very natural appearance, and were gazed upon by an immense number 
 of persons, both on Friday and Saturday. The Sanctuary was literally covered with 
 the appropriate manifestations of mourning, and along the galleries of the church was 
 a strip of black cloth, relieved at intervals with beautiful white rosettes. The number 
 who visited the church, from Thursday evening until Saturday morning, could not 
 have been less than ten thousand persons. 
 
 On Saturday morning the funeral ceremonies took place. At about 9£ o'clock the 
 following clergymen entered the Sanctuary: Rev. Fathers McMonigle, of the Cathe- 
 dral ; Ward, Sourin, Blox, De Wolf, and Lachat, of St. John's ; Stanton, Harnett, and 
 Gallagher, of St. Augustine's ; Martin, of St. Mary's ; Keirns and McLoughlin, of St. 
 Ann's; Dunn and Kinehan, of St. Theresa's; Kean, of St. Gregory's ; O'Haran and 
 McAnany, of St. Paul's; Whelan, Cantwell, and O'Reilly, of St. Phillip's ; Toner, of the 
 Assumption; Kelly, of St. Malachi's ; Dr. Nicola, of St. Alphonsus , Mulholland, of 
 Manayunk; Biggio, of Bordentown ; Bowles, of Burlington ; and Welsh, of Ivy Mills. 
 
 Rev. J. F. Brannagan, of St. Patrick's, acted as Master of Ceremonies. 
 
 The office of the dead was recited, led by Rev. Father Dominic, of Germantown, and 
 Rev. Father De Wolfe, of St. Joseph's College. High Mass was celebrated, Right Rev. 
 Bishop Wood being celebrant, assisted by Deacons of Honor: Rev. Father Stanton, of 
 St. Augustine's, and Rosenbauer, of New York ; Deacons of the Mass, Rev. Fathers 
 Dominic, of Germantown, and O'Connor, of West Philadelphia. 
 
 Ohnewald's Mass was sung by the choir, which was a powerful and effective one. 
 
 The funeral sermon was delivered by Rev. Wm. O'Hara, D. D., superior of the The- 
 ological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo. 
 
 [From the Catholic Herald and Visitor.} 
 BURIAL OF THE REV. JAMES RYDER, S. J. 
 Scarcely had a week elapsed since the death of our beloved Bishop, when Almighty 
 God, in His infinite wisdom, has seen proper to close the mortal career of Rev. Dr. 
 Ryder. 
 
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 Nut in Philadelphia alone, but throughout the whole country, has this news come 
 to sorrowing hearts. No where, however, has his loss been more sincerely felt and 
 deplored than at the home of his childhood — Georgetown College. And as a touching 
 testimonial of* this deep-felt grief, the Rev. Messrs. Early and Stonestreet, respectively 
 Presidents of Georgetown and Gonzaga Colleges, visited Philadelphia for the purpose 
 of conveying the body of their deceased brother to Georgetown, where it might rest 
 amid those haunts that he loved so well. The body arrived at Washington on the 
 morning of the 19th, in charge of the two Rev. gentlemen mentioned above, accompa- 
 nied by the Rev. Messrs. Lilly, Blox, and Mulledy, of Philadelphia. Trinity Church, 
 which nestles at the foot of the college hill, was the place chosen for the performance 
 of the ceremonies. The altar and sanctuary were draped with plain black muslin. 
 Long before the bell began to toll the funeral hour, the galleries and floor of the 
 church were thronged. Yet we witnessed not the least disturbance or inattention in 
 this multitude. All seemed to be impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, and 
 as they moved along the aisles to take the last look at the corpse of the beloved dead, 
 we saw many a tearful eye and throbbing bosom. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Villiger (Father Provincial) celebrated Mass, assisted by Rev. Mr. Blenkiu- 
 sop as deacon, and Mr. McDermott as sub-deacon. Within the sanctuary there knelt 
 some twenty clergymen, among whom we recognized Rev. Messrs. Early, (President 
 of Georgetown College,) Stonestreet, (ex-Father Provincial,) Nota, (occupant of the chair 
 of Philosophy at the College.) Fulton and Welch, (Professors of Rhetoric and Poetry.) 
 Maguire, Lynch, and Boyle, &c. 
 
 The choir, although wanting the sweet and soft melody of the female voice, was 
 excellent. Mr. French sang alto. 
 
 After the sacrifice of the Mass. the Rev. Chas. I. White, of St. Matthew's, Washing- 
 ton, ascended the pulpit, and delivered a glowing eulogium upon the deceased. He 
 spoke of him as the valiant soldier of the Cross and zealous son of St. Ignatius, and 
 Christian patriot. He dwelt upon the intrepid heroism that he ever displayed in the 
 discharge of his duties, whether it was in defending Constitutional liberty against the 
 attacks of wild fanaticism, or in upholding the religion of his fathers amid its enemies. 
 On the lonely, often dangerous, sick call, he ever bore himself as a ministering angej 
 of mercy; now, he brings tranquillity and peace to the wretched and miserable; now. 
 by his gentle and soothing words, infusing hope and repentance into the breast of the 
 despairing sinner. Who that remembers the visitation of the cholera, will ask for an 
 example of his self-sacrificing heroism ? When hundreds were dying in our streets ; 
 when father and mother, sister and brother fled from the infected one of the family, 
 Father Rider, like a visitant angel of Divine love, hastened to tend the stricken and 
 deserted one, ministering to his wants with more than motherly kindness, even until 
 the cold damps of death are gathering on the brow of the sick man, then, at the risk 
 of his own life, bends down to hear the tale of sin and crime. Yet it was not on the 
 errand of mercy alone that his entire self-abnegation shines forth. In the midst of 
 these sublime employments of his duty, he turns to obey his Superior's order of dedi- 
 cating himself to the class-room, of bowing down the mighty powers of his intellect 
 to the humble office of instructing children. And in this unassuming mission he was 
 ever true to the high responsibility incurred by the preceptor. Of this there are evi- 
 dences in every State in which a pupil of his may reside. He had ever before his eyes 
 the great truth, that knowledge, without religion, is a curse, a poison, blighting and 
 destroying everything within its influence. In a word, his whole career was a beau- 
 t iful epitome of a Jesuit's life. Striving after Christian perfection, he renounced self— 
 
19 
 
 a serpent that is hidden in the wreath that crowns the brow of the Grecian and Roman 
 hero — making all his boasted heroism but a grand mockery and glorious cheat, when 
 compared with that displayed by the followers of Jesus, the meek and humble of heart; 
 and, as a consequence of this renunciation of self, the three cardinal virtues — Faith, 
 Hope and Charity — have twined themselves, as an escutcheon, around the name of the 
 Society of Jesus. The Rev. orator then concluded by calling upon the assembled 
 Priests — the brother Levites of the deceased — to whom he has left his almost Apos- 
 tolic zeal, as also upon the people, for whom his life has been a continual sacrifice, 
 never to forget him in their prayers. Yes! his angel form, surrounded by those souls 
 whom he has been instrumental in saving, and who are now happy in the heavenly 
 court of the New Jerusalem, may be bending down from above upon us, perhaps 
 praying that our good God may, in his infinite mercy, grant us the grace to die as he 
 himself died. 
 
 The students then formed themselves into a procession, and moved on towards the 
 burial-ground. The streets were crowded with spectators. And as the silver cross 
 at the head of the procession was borne along, the people bowed their heads in res- 
 pectful silence. But the most impressive scene was witnessed within the College 
 gates, as the procession passed through a grove of pine trees and orange-blossom 
 hedges. The solemn chaunting of the Priests, blending in harmony with the slow 
 and sorrowful tolling of the church bell, was caught up by the passing wind, and 
 seemed to die away like the responsive wailing of a far-off choir. The barren willow 
 tree waved and rustled its long, mournful branches, as the coffin was borne beneath 
 them to the upturned earth. The solemn service of the burial was sung, and the body 
 was lowered into its last resting-place. There he sleeps beside the grave of Father 
 Fenwick — the friend of his youth, manhood, and old age. He has been called to his 
 heavenly home but two years before Dr. Ryder; now their bodies lie together, while 
 their spirits range the land of the Blessed. M. A. S. 
 
 From. '• The Press," (Philadelphia.) 
 
 DEATH OF THE REV. JAMES RYDER, D. D. 
 
 Another distinguished divine in the Catholic Church has gone. Before the Catholic 
 community has had time to recover from the shock received in the sudd-m death of 
 Bishop Neumann, we are called upon to record the scarcely less sudden .summons of 
 another of their most eminent ministers. The Rev. James Ryder, D. D., died at the 
 parsonage of St. Joseph's Church yesterday morning, after a brief illness, which, until 
 a short time before his death, although severe, was not regarded as alarming by his 
 friends. His disease was inflammation of the bowels. Few men, in the Church or out 
 of it, have left a purer record than Dr. Ryder. By the people of his denomination in 
 this community, and in fact throughout the Union, he was greatly esteemed both for 
 his eminent services in the Church and the honorable relations he sustained, at differ- 
 ent periods of his life, to some of our first institutions of learning. More than this: 
 by those that knew him intimately he was as much beloved for his suavity of manner 
 as he was respected for his commanding ability. He was at once a thorough scholar, 
 an urbane gentleman, and a devoted and zealous Christian. In his death the Church 
 has lost one of her most eloquent and learned Doctors of Divinity, the people of his 
 charge a faithful pastor, and the society in which he moved an ornament hard to be 
 replaced. In the Order of which he was a distinguished member, (the Society of 
 Jesus,) he occupied a prominent position. 
 
20 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 The Rev. James Ryder, D. D., was born in Dublin in October, 1800. He came to 
 America a youth, and soon after entered Georgetown College, an institution with 
 which he was at intervals officially connected during a large portion of his life. In 
 1815 he entered among the Jesuits as a novice of the order, and during the ensuing 
 five years prosecuted his philosophical studies in the college above referred to. In 
 1820 he went to Rome, where, for five years, he was occupied in the study of theol- 
 ogy. It was during this period that he made his defence of all theology in the 
 Roman College. After his ordination, in 1825, he was appointed a teacher of Theology 
 and Sacred Scripture in the College of Spoleto, where the present Pope was then 
 Archbishop. At the close of three years he resigned this position, and returned to 
 America. The ripened attainments which he had acquired during his absence ren- 
 dered his presence at Georgetown desirable, and he accordingly entered the college a 
 second time, not as a pupil, but as a teacher of theology and philosophy. 
 
 He was soon after appointed to the vice-presidency of the college, which position 
 he held for several years, having twice visited Philadelphia during the interval, and 
 spent some time here in a pastoral relation. It was upon one of these occasions that 
 he attended the laying of the corner-stone of St. John's Church, Thirteenth street, 
 above Chestnut. 
 
 With regard to Father Ryder's claim to the title of D. D., it may not be generally 
 known that all Professed Jesuits are acknowledged on the continent of Europe as 
 Doctors of Divinity ; and that one of the requisites of becoming a Professed Jesuit is, 
 that he shall be able to teach theology and philosophy in any university; another is, 
 that besides taking the three ordinary vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, he 
 must vow obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff* to go to any foreign mission, and to re- 
 fuse all ecclesiastical honors. 
 
 In 1839, during the erection of St. Joseph's Church, in Willing's alley, Dr. Ryder 
 was pastor of that congregation, as he had in fact been for a short period while the}' 
 yet worshipped in the old building on the site of their present large and comfortable 
 edifice. The corner-stone of this church, it may be added, was laid by Dr. Ryder. 
 who preached in St. Mary's on the occasion. The procession to the church on that 
 day, and the solemnities attending it, are well remembered by many of our citizens. 
 Toward the close of 1839 he assumed the pastoral charge of St. John's Church, in 
 Frederick, Maryland. 
 
 In 1840, his eminent qualifications for the post, no less than his long and honorable 
 connection with the institution itself, pointed to Dr. Ryder as the most suitable person 
 to fill the president's chair of the college, which he did for six years. During this 
 period, extending from 1840 to 1846, as the chief governing officer of Georgetown 
 College, he had many young men under his charge, who have since risen to honorable 
 eminence in professional life, and the sons of not a few of the first men in the nation. 
 
 Dr. Ryder thrice visited Europe on business for the order of which he is so distin- 
 guished a member. It was after his return from Europe the second time that he was 
 elected to the presidency of the Holy Cross, the Roman Catholic College located at 
 Worcester, Massachusetts. Subsequent to this, he was re-elected to the presidential 
 chair of Georgetown College, in which capacity he continued for three years more. 
 
 In 1853 he went to California on business for the Church. While there his health 
 gave way, and he sailed for Havana, where he remained a short period, and after 
 spending a few months in the Southern States, where he delivered a popular course of 
 lectures, returned to Philadelphia, and, four years ago, was made pastor to St. John's 
 
21 
 
 Church, in this city, where he continued for about two years, at the close of which he 
 went to Alexandria, where, for nearly two years more, he occupied the position of as- 
 sistant pastor. Returning again to this city, he has, for the past few months, acted as 
 assistant pastor of the church at which he expired yesterday morning. 
 
 As already indicated, Dr. Ryder was in his sixtieth year at his death. He was of 
 medium height, and rather corpulent. His hair, which was thin and quite white, was 
 combed behind his ears, giving his features, in repose, an air of peculiar docility. His 
 complexion was florid. His face, which was not unlike the portraits of John Quincy 
 Adams, though full, and indicative of a marked preponderance of the vital forces, was 
 delicate in outline, as it was also youthful in appearance, and redolent with good 
 nature, though he had a laughing dark eye, not incapable of flashing fiercer things 
 than the unadulterated milk of human kindness. 
 
 His address in the pulpit was at once that of a gentleman and a scholar — eminently 
 dignified, yet not haughty or overbearing. He was graceful, and apparently as fasti- 
 dious in his tastes as a woman. Culture and refinement always marked his discourse- 
 also, the strictest conformity to the philosophical rules of rhetorical propriety. This 
 peculiarity is probably attributable to his long connection with one of our first insti- 
 tutions of learning. He was a most methodical thinker. He scarcely ever uttered a 
 sentence without a purpose. For an extempore speaker, he was really remarkable in 
 this particular. Without manifesting any great anxiousness to make, his hearers be- 
 lieve that what he preached was true, he usually disposed of the various points of his 
 argument in such a manner as to render the conclusion he desired irresistible. He 
 laid down a proposition with so much gentleness, that, however unpalatably it might 
 at first seem in the hands of another, he secured a hearing, and then proceeded with 
 the most insinuating arguments to establish his point. In this persuasive power he 
 was a model of a pulpit orator. 
 
 He had a soft, mild way of pronouncing his words, quite in keeping with his benev- 
 olent expression of face. In his gesticulation he was no less exact and precise than 
 he was in framing his sentences and arranging his arguments. In the former, his right 
 arm was mainly employed ; the left occasionally, although the pulpit use of neither was 
 such as might not be employed with propriety in animated private discourse. It was 
 not necessary to hear him long to ascertain that it was sense, not sound, by which he 
 sought to impress his listeners. His style of speaking, upon the whole, may be des- 
 cribed as conversational, though so far as it regards ability to present ideas in the 
 most fitting terms to be clearly understood, he was truly eloquent. As a word painter 
 he was more successful in moving the heart than in exciting the imagination. In his 
 delivery he varied from the slow — bordering on the monotonous — to the warm and 
 and more rapid, but was never so precipitate as to interfere with distinct articulation. 
 His sermons were by no means devoid of ornament, but these flowed naturally from 
 the soul and ardor of his subject, and not from the design to please the ear. 
 
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