26 - Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon

26

Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon

1 p.; typescript

Letter from Fr. Joseph Fenelon OFM Cap. to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, providing details of Fr. Albert Bibby’s declining health. Father Fenelon states that he recently arrived from Santa Ynez after being summoned to Santa Barbara. Father Albert suffered a severe ‘turn’ involving intense stomach pain and delirium. The doctors confirmed that Father Albert has cancer spreading in his stomach and stated that his passing is only a matter of time. At the doctor’s suggestion, Father Fenelon has informed Albert of his grave condition so he could prepare himself. Father Albert requested a Jesuit priest for a general confession and received the Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction) before Father Fenelon left him. Despite the diagnosis, Father Albert is reported to be in good spirits and ‘perfectly happy’, though he is ‘gradually wearing away’. He expressed a desire to move somewhere with better food and air to recover enough strength to potentially return home to Ireland, though Father Fenelon expresses doubt about this possibility.

ISAD(G) 2nd edition