There is still living in Hamilton, Western Canada, as Vicar-General of the diocese, an Irish priest—Father Gordon, from Wexford—who has witnessed astonishing changes in his time. He has seen the city founded, and the town spring up; the forest cleared and the settlement created; the rude log chapel, in which a handful of the faithful knelt in the midst of the wood, replaced by the spacious brick church in which many hundreds now worship. And not only has he witnessed astonishing changes, but he has himself done much to effect the changes which he has lived to see accomplished. It is now about thirty-seven years since he came to Toronto, then a small place, and known by the name of Little York. Bishop McDonnell, a Scotchman, was the first Catholic bishop of the diocese, at that time of immense extent. Father O'Grady, a Cork man, was stationed at Little York, and though even at that time the position of the Irish Catholic was miserable in the extreme, Father O Grady was a favourite with the authorities; and indeed such were his social qualities and charm of manner, that no dinner party was considered complete without his genial presence. Father Gordon had charge of the back townships, twenty-four in number. We must appreciate the extent of his spiritual jurisdiction when we learn that a township comprised an area of twelve miles square; and Father Gordon had to attend twenty-four of these!
Irish Catholics there were, scattered through this vast territory—very nearly all of which was in its natural state, as it came from the hand of God; but they were few and far between, hidden in the recesses of the forest, most of them not having seen a priest for years, perhaps since they left their native home. Many of these had worked on the Erie canal, and had come to Canada and taken land to settle. The fewer in number brought some little money with them, but generally their wealth consisted of provisions, which they had to carry on their backs through the
