There died in St Mary's Home at Newton Heath on December 2Ist, 1916, John Francis Maurus Carew, O.S.B. He was sixty-six years of age; forty-seven years a professed Religious of the Order of St Benedict; thirty-six years a priest. On December 23rd he was buried at Moston Catholic Cemetery, near Manchester. There were very few of his Brethren present, for the day - the Saturday before Christmas - made it impossible to attend the funeral. Father Maurus, or Father John as he was commonly called, - and as he preferred to be called, - was born at Bath; professed at Ramsgate; ordained at Fort Augustus. He was one of those, who at a certain period, when opportunity was given, left Ramsgate and the Subiaco Congregation to join the English Benedictine Congregation. For a time Fr John resided at Downside; then at Fort Augustus. His final affiliation was to St Laurence's, Ampleforth. Between the years 1880 and 1900 his missionary experiences were varied, extending over nine different missions. The principal ones were St Mary's Liverpool, where, between 1882 and 1886, his energies were chiefly exercised; St Mary's, Warrington, though only for a short period; Dowlais in South Wales, where he was Rector for four years; and St Peter's, Liverpool. I think that in each of these Missions he has left a particular remembrance of his personality; and was popular in each, not through flattering smoothnesses, but because of the interior goodness and worth of the man. St Peter's was Father John's last Mission. He worked there for two years as Assistant Priest. He had no ambition to lead and shrank from the responsibility of it. He was very nervous in public, for example in the pulpit, in spite of a certain, shall I call it, 'bluster' of manner, which, coupled with a somewhat vast presence, might convey the opposite opinion to those who did not know him. He was older than the Rector here, but preferred the lower place. The discerning understood his more gentle and humble characteristics; that is why an old woman when he was ill, spoke of him sympathetically as a 'poor, dear lamb!' From Seel Street he retired in 1902 to Ampleforth, knowing he would never work again. He was no stranger to the Abbey, for he had been recalled from the Missionary work in the year 1887, and until 1891 he shared in the work of teaching and organising the College studies Ampleforth. It was a task familiar to him, for this had been work of the first years of his religious life at Ramsgate. In earlier years he had been, I might almost say a 'ruthless' worker, allowing the work in his hand to preoccupy him entirely; this may account for that nervous 'breakdown' which so early incapacitated him for responsibility and activity. Fr John was never robust in health; delicate and thin as a young man, grown older he became very stout and continually suffered.
At Ampleforth no formal or obligatory duties were put upon him, yet he helped many of the Community, in the Confessional, in their studies, in one way or another. But he found infirmities still creeping on him and finally in the year 1912, at his own request, he was sent to St Mary's Home, Newton Heath, to be taken care of by the Alexian Brothers. There his mind, as his body, grew lethargic, till the end came - a mind that had been very capable, and active, though impatient, for he was a man of keen understanding, yet sometimes of overbearing assertion. Fr John would never desire a panegyric to be spoken over him, and I am sure would stir in his coffin at the thought of it, so I will not speak one. He was a man as other men, with his gifts and his failings. But, as one, to whom he had been a friend, said to me the other day: 'He had the Faith; that is the thing that matters, not superficial blemishes which meet the eye.' He was indeed deeply loyal to the Faith, to the Mother of God, and, the things of Faith. He was always angry at any hint of 'modernism,' or spirit of compromise in Religion. He was gentle and tender, unfailingly patient to the intimate things of the Soul, as those knew, and they were many, who sought his help in the Confessional. He had many friends among the more simple natures and the poor. The younger Religious of Ampleforth, among whom he lived latterly, held him in affectionate regard. Truly he was a man of idiosyncrasies, but beneath was the personality with its attractiveness, its genuineness, its simplicity, oftentimes its helpfulness. God rest his soul!
JOHN MAURUS CAREW 21 December 1916
1850 27 Oct Born Bath
Educ St Augustine's College Ramsgate
1868 1 Nov Clothed
1869 1 Nov Professed St Augustine's College Ramsgate
Transferred to the English Benedictine Congregation 1877
Some months of probation at Belmont
1878 13 Nov Solemn Vows
Affiliated to Fort Augustus
1879 5 Jun Minor Orders Bishop John Macdonald
6 Jun Subdiaconate
1880 21 May Diaconate
1880 22 May Ordained Fort Augustus
18 Jul Left for the English Mission
Served the Mission at Cleator
1881 St Peter's Liverpool
1882 St Mary's Liverpool
After the separation of Fort Augustus from Eng Congregation (1882) decided to remain with the latter wh was accordingly effected by arrangement of Superiors
1886 St Mary's Warrington
1887 Returned to Ampleforth & taught in the school
1891 On the Mission again to Frizington
Harrington
1892 Lee House
1894 Aberford
1896 Dowlais
1900 St Peter's Liverpool
1902 Returned invalided to Ampleforth
Did some mission work of a few months at a time in the years immediately following, especially in Liverpool & Lostock Hall 1912 Sep After a severe paralytic stroke went to St Mary's House, Newton Heath, Manchester
1916 21 Dec Died at Newton Heath
23 Dec Buried at Moston Cemetery, Manchester