Letter 3-To his uncle.(1)

Blessed Paul's Retreat
Harold's Cross
Dublin
1st April 1858

Dear Uncle,
From your letter of 16th March I see that you and my brothers and sisters are all keeping well.
I too am enjoying good health, thanks be to God. I received your letter here in Ireland on 22nd March; I came to Dublin, the capital of Ireland on 9th July, 1857.

The people here speak English. Our congregation has only one house in Ireland;(2) here we have five Passionist priests and five lay-brothers. In spite of the large number of Catholics in Ireland, there are very few priests and I have to say two Masses every Sunday. We have to hear confessions from morning till night nearly every day. If we had twelve priests here, they would all be kept busy preaching and hearing confessions. Much good can be done here in the Lord's vineyard. As you know, Ireland is a Catholic country, its population being about eight million.(3) For more than three hundred years the Irish have been cruelly persecuted but have remained loyal to the Catholic faith in spite of everything.

During my crossing from England to Ireland I felt fine.
With regard to the division of my father's property, I now renounce any claim to it;(4) I want the interest and produce from my share of the inheritance to be given to my brothers and sisters. It would not be contrary to my wishes if one or two of my brothers cultivated my part, leaving the interest to the other brothers and sisters. You may do this if you wish, and if it seems useful to you. All the property my brothers and sisters acquired after my father's death belongs to themselves alone, but this is not the case with anything they acquired before his death. However, I suppose they did not acquire anything before he died.
I wish my brothers John Peter and John Matthew prosperity and happiness in married life;(5) and I wish you all a happy Easter. Every day I pray for you all during Holy Mass: being so far away from my own home, I can only hope that we will all meet again in heaven; if I were with you just now, my heart would be very troubled.

Give my best wishes to my brother the priest,(6) my other brothers and sisters, the parish priest and curate, and all the family.
My address is as follows:
Rev. Fr. Charles,
Blessed Paul's Retreat,
Harold's Cross,
Dublin,
Ireland.

Letter 3-Notes

1. Summ. p. 329, L. 7.
2. St. Paul's Retreat, Mount Argus was founded on 15th August, 1856, by Father Paul Mary (Pakenham) c.p., a convert to Catholicism and nephew of the Duke of Wellington. Father Paul Mary died on 1st March, 1857.
3. By 1858 the population of Ireland had been greatly reduced by the famine and by emigration. Charles probably got this information from some outof-date reference book.
4. Peter Joseph Houben, Charles' father, had died on 7th August, 1850, and had left his property to his sons and daughters. As a Passionist religious, Charles makes no claim to use or usufruct with regard to his share of the inheritance; by his vow of poverty he has already made the renunciation, which he now explains to his family.
5. John Peter Houben married Mary Catherine Lebens on 6th January 1858. This was his second marriage; his first wife, Anne Catherine Donners, had died on 2nd July 1848. John Matthew Houben married Mary Mechtilde Meertens early in 1858 (exact date unknown).
6. Father Peter Joseph Houben had been ordained on 10th June, 1854.