Report on the Parish Mission in Partschins

Austria.

Meran. (From a private letter.) With regard to the mission in Partschins, in which many visitors also took part (notably Countess Stachelburg, the Misses v. Isser, the Wasmann family, etc., of Meran), there was and is but one opinion. Those who expected nothing but good from it were completely satisfied in their expectation, and others, who viewed it with the usual prejudices, found themselves most happily disabused in its course. Least of all may certain Meran residents have found their account in it, who had come specifically to attend the sermon for the maidens. These found it, so it seemed, so little in accordance with their wishes and expectations that they left the church after the very first part. The Rev. Fr. Krupsky, who led the mission and delivered the customary sermons for the different estates himself, had in fact announced beforehand that he would not deliver these discourses before segregated groups behind closed doors, but publicly before everyone, and that all and sundry were therefore invited; and the thoroughly practical man treated those certain delicate matters with such tact that certain people, even with the best will in the world, would not have been fortunate enough to catch anything to serve as grist for their mill. Alongside the excellent Fr. Krupsky stood the young Fr. Mathoi worthily on this, his maiden mission. If earthly distinctions were to be won in the struggles for God's kingdom against its adversaries, truly! — Fr. Mathoi would have earned his spurs in Partschins. But the good people also made use of these days of salvation in the most conscientious manner. Not only did those living close to the church make it their concern to attend diligently all sermons and devotions; the mountain dwellers also did not wish to miss anything, and therefore commended their lonely huts to the protection of the Almighty, and, confidently leaving them alone, all came down into the house of the Lord to care entirely for what was noblest in them, their souls, and did not tire of waiting, even until evening fasting, and sometimes even in vain, before the continually besieged confessionals. — Moreover, these missions in Partschins made such a beneficial impression upon the people of the neighbouring parishes as well, that the pastors, already well-disposed toward this ecclesiastical remedy, need fear no obstacles, but may hope only to meet a general desire when they likewise hold missions in the near future.