[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          FATHER PATRICK RYAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FLEISCHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the life and 
work of Father Patrick Ryan.
  Father Ryan, the pastor of Saints Peter and Paul's parish in 
Chattanooga from 1872 to 1878, was a shepherd who gave his life in 
ministering to his flock. He died a martyr's death in the yellow fever 
epidemic of 1878 when he was only 33 years old.
  Perhaps his most notable accomplishment in the Chattanooga community 
was the opening of Notre Dame Academy, under the direction of the 
Dominican Sisters, which is the oldest private school in the city. The 
school had been in operation for little more than 2 years when it had 
to be converted into a hospital and orphanage because of the terrible 
yellow fever scourge in the city.
  Although many people left the city as the disease spread, Father Ryan 
and Jonathan W. Bachman, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, were 
among the 1,800 people remaining in the city. They were good friends, 
and when Father Ryan was stricken, he was visited by Dr. Bachman.
  Father Ryan is described by an eyewitness as ``going from house to 
house in the worst infected section of the city to find what he could 
do for the sick and needy.'' He continued ministering to his flock, 
after he himself had contracted the dreaded disease, to within 48 hours 
of his death.
  In 1901, when the Chattanooga Council of the Knights of Columbus was 
organized, it was named the Father Patrick Ryan Council in honor of the 
priest who, by his high ideals, his devotion to duty, his spirit of 
sacrifice for his congregation and his city, seemed to exemplify the 
aims and purposes of the new order.
  Several letters have been written in support of the cause of 
beatification and canonization of Father Patrick Ryan, including the 
Notarial Act of the Bishop of Knoxville, the Most Reverend Richard 
Stika; the letter naming Reverend J. David Carter as Episcopal Delegate 
and Promoter of Justice for the Cause of Beatification and 
Canonization; and a letter naming Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano as Vice 
Postulator for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization.
  I believe it is most appropriate to honor a man who sacrificed 
himself to provide comfort to the people in Chattanooga who were 
afflicted with yellow fever so long ago.

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