On the 9th of July, 1909, died at Merthyr Tydvil, fortified by all the rites of Holy Church, in the sixty-second year of his age, Bernard Stephen Canon Wade, the faithful and devoted pastor of the Mission. He was buried on the Wednesday following and was followed to the grave by a vast crowd of clergy and laity. No one can wonder when he reads of a church filled with weeping mourners on the day of the Requiem; of thousands gathered outside around the doors; of silent forms and bowed heads as the coffin was borne to the hearse; of the long procession to Cefn Coed; of the tears and heartrending expressions of grief as the body was lowered into its last resting-place.
Here were laid the remains of one who had been, to others besides his own flock, a true friend and guide for five-and-twenty years, who had won their affection and respect and was endeared to them more than they knew till they saw he was gone. The obituary notice of Canon Wade in the Merthyr Express of July 17th is an eloquent and generous tribute to one whose qualities had marked him out for special reward and who had gained the esteem and confidence of all in Merthyr and the district as a member of the Board of Guardians, a ready and efficient speaker, a man of blameless life, of quiet but resolute energy combined with tact and courtesy to all. It was such qualities as these that made the writer say, 'No man was held in higher regard by the whole,' and that he was 'one of the best citizens Merthyr has ever seen.' But it is when we turn to the touching words of a panegyric spoken by the Bishop that we recognise those sterling qualities in Canon Wade that were the foundation of his character and that adorned his life thoughout from boyhood to death -Truth, loyalty and fidelity! 'I do not think,' said the Bishop 'that I have ever known a more true and loyal and faithful man than Bernard Stephen Wade,' and appealing to those who had known him in Merthyr during the last twenty-five years, 'most of you can tell me about his straightforwardness, loyalty and faithfulness.' The writer of these lines remembers Canon Wade for some year as a school-fellow at Ampleforth and as a member of the same Religious Community, and can bear witness to the correctness of the Bishop's outline of those earlier days: 'I remember him when he was quite a child at Ampleforth. There never was a more cheerful or more helpful child or boy. He was friends always with his masters and companions, always ready to join in the study and the play. And afterwards, when he pursued his more serious studies, there again he was most dutiful, helpful, clever, public-spirited, liked by all.'
And lastly when the generations that have known him shall have passed on like himself, the noble church he built at Merthyr and the mission he established at Merthyr Vale will stand for the best memorials of his zeal, his energy and his name.
The Mass de Requiem was sung by the Right Rev. Abbot of Ampleforth in presence of Dr. Hedley, Bishop of the Diocese. The Abbot President, the Right Rev. F. A. Gasquet, seventeen of his own brethren and several of the secular clergy assisted at the obsequies. The procession to the cemetery, which was fully a mile in length, was composed of, besides the clergy, contingents of the Glamorgan and Brecon police, the members of the Young Men's Society, the children of the several Catholic schools with their teachers, the members of his own flock and numbers of non-Catholic gentlemen, both lay and clerical. The service at the graveside was performed by the Abbot of Ampleforth. We conclude with the following taken from the Merthyr Express: -
'Thousands of people had taken prominent positions in the cemetery grounds, and the sight was one of the most solemn ever witnessed there. As the coffin was lowered into the grave the grief expressed was almost heartrending, and just afterwards the earth closed over the body of one of the best citizens Merthyr has ever seen'
Bernard Stephen WADE 9 July 1909 1846 18 Oct born 1866 28 Sep Clothed 1868 2 Jun Simply Professed 1874 19 Dec Priest 1879 St David's Swansea 1884 Merthyr Tydvil 1909 9 Jul died