Work in Progress: Father Price and Bishop Leo Haid

More work on this illustration of a scene from Father Price’s life. He’s here pictured with Bishop Leo Haid of Belmont Abbey. #drawingexistedfirst #drawforever #theartistsway #thewarofart #fatherthomasfrederickprice #thetarheelapostle #maryknoll #tarheelapostle #leohaid #bishopleohaid #belmontabbey 

Complete: Father Price, The Tarheel Apostle, at prayer.

I am very happy with this portrait of Father Price. In the midst of all his vigorous tasks and plans, he always managed to find time to “go away by [himself]” for prayer. He would often be caught in his room, after a cheerful “come in” to a knock at the door, scrambling up from his knees where he had been in prayer late at night. The greatest saints, who did marvelous works of God, who dreamed and dared most, spent at least as much time in prayer as at work. “From his rising in the morning until his retiring at night, Father Price's life seemed to be one of uninterrupted union with God. Even in his busiest hours he lived in an atmosphere of heaven, and whenever the opportunity offered he would be on his knees before the little shrine of Our Lady in his room, or in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. In his absent-mindedness he forgot things,. but never the presence of God. He always found time for spiritual reading and recollection, and this without neglecting the demands of an intensely active apostolate. In all seasons, the late hours of the night and the early dawn found him wrapped in prayer. At Maryknoll the sacristan often found in the chapel the stump of a candle that had been burned during the night; yet at the first sound of the bell Father Price would rise again for morning prayer and meditation... While he talked, or listened, or walked, or rode, his rosary was present, twined about his fingers during conversation, or slipping between them as he told the decades. A man of prayer, he found real companionship and genuine spiritual pleasure in the mere feel of his rosary. He must have said it a dozen times a day. If a visitor opened the door of his room too quickly after the cheery, Come in! he was likely to surprise Father Price scrambling from his knees before the little shrine, rosary in hand, and looking embarrassed at being caught...”

Work in Progress: Father Price and the Shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde, 1876

More work on this illustration of Father Price’s experience of the shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde in 1876. After his vision of the Blessed Mother and finding a board to hoist himself onto, the biographies reference a metal ring, presumably intended for rigging, that Freddie Price and his fellow survivor clung to in the midst of the gale. In re-reading the 3 versions of the story that I have, as well as the news story and history of the shipwreck, I don’t think I had appreciated before now how terrifying this must have been. This was the deep sea in a hurricane. Imagine the movie “the Perfect Storm” if you’ve seen it. The ring became their axis mundi, their tether to life in the violence of the hurricane. I’ve often thought of prayers, particularly the Rosary and the Divine Office, along with spontaneous intercession and petition, as tethers in the storm of life. “Lord, save us or we perish.” Even in the fury and confusion of the moment, these tethers diffuse peace, order, patience, endurance, and hope into the chaos of life. Cling to your tether. #tarheelapostle #thetarheelapostle #drawingexistedfirst #drawforever #thomasfrederickprice #maryknoll #theartistsway #thewarofart 

Work in Progress: Father Price at Prayer

More work on this portrait of Father Price at prayer.

“Father Price was intensely active about the country, gathering the people together in farmhouses where he taught Christian doctrine, fortifying the faith of believers and correcting the misapprehensions of non-believers. No one was ever neglected. If a farmer was too busy to come to instructions, the priest would follow him out into the fields, walking up and down plow furrows, or standing by as rows of tobacco or corn were chopped down. Whatever leisure the missioner might have would be devoted to the sick, the afflicted, the aged, and no distance was too great for him to carry the consolation of God's word to the very poor.”

This passage reminds me of Bishop Ned Schlesinger. When I knew him as Father Ned and he was ministering in Newton Grove, an old haunt of Father Price’s, I was able to accompany him once or twice as he went out to check on his lambs who had not been to mass recently. I walked out into a field with him and watched him wave down a farmer on a plow and scold him in Father Ned’s kind and quiet way, that he was missed at church, and wanted there. The spirit of the Tarheel Apostle is alive and well in priests like Father (Bishop) Ned.

Work in Progress: Father Price and the Shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde

Working on another illustration of Father Price’s experience of the shipwreck of The Rebecca Clyde during hurricane Felipe in 1876. It is said that when he was able to locate with the Blessed Mother’s help a large “board” to hoist himself upon, another passenger sought refuge with him, and came out of the furious waves spluttering and cursing. Freddie Price immediately chastised the man and reminded him that he should be using what energy he had to give thanks to God for his life. It occurs to me that I am the man in the story, full of cursing and ugliness, raised to a better way by the contemplation of a saint. 

Work in Progress: Father Price, The Tarheel Apostle, at prayer

I was able to get a good start on this new drawing of Father Price. Unfortunately Fr Price was very resistant to being photographed and did not want attention drawn to himself, so I was amazed when I found this image of him praying the divine office on a country road. This captures so much of his spirit. Very excited about this one.

In his biographies, whenever his love for the Old North State is referenced, it is always by recalling the serene pine forests of our home. And of course, for his home of Wilmington, a second home to me from my younger years, is almost completely dominated by these tall and whispering sentinels. It is fitting therefore that pines oversee the Tarheel Apostle’s prayers in this portrait. 

 #drawingexistedfirst #thetarheelapostle #fatherthomasfrederickprice #maryknoll #divineoffice #breviary #liturgyofthehours 

Father Price and the Shipwreck of the Rebecca Clyde in 1876

I had to come to a stopping point because the iPad was at 5% but feeling great about the potential for these illustrations of Father Price’s life. I played around with some blurring too here. At about 16 years of age Father Price was leaving for college seminary in Baltimore on board a steamer, the Rebecca Clyde, from his hometown of Wilmington, NC. Unbeknownst to all onboard, Hurricane Felipe was headed their way. The hurricane caught the vessel off of Ocracoke Inlet and tore it to pieces. Young Freddie Price was praying in his cabin so long that no life preservers were available when he got to the deck. He clung to the rail and then to the mast with other passengers, until the ship finally broke apart and flung him into the sea. Freddie never learned to swim, and was sinking. He cried out “save me Lord or I perish!” After Father Price’s death, a Bishop and former classmate of the Tarheel Apostle shared that he had been able to hear the story directly from Freddie while they were both in seminary at Saint Charles: "Keeping his head as best he could, with all his physical strength, above the furious waters, he cried again, ‘Lord Jesus, save me or I perish.' Like a flash the sky seemed to open, and out of a speck of blue came the clearest vision, as clear as he saw the howling waves about him, Mary, the Mother of Christ, appeared before his eyes. Upon her face was a smile, and, gently stretching forth her hand she pointed to a great floating plank, which had been washed overboard from the sinking ship. Strengthened superhumanly by the perfect confidence of safety, he gained the plank, pulled himself upon it, threw himself face forward upon it and grasping a great ring on its upper surface, he swung, now up, now down, in the great waves about him, feeling nothing and now and then of the vision, which would always remain indelibly imprinted on his soul. He began the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, and as he said, 'In my joy I almost sang

it.' "  #fatherprice #thetarheelapostle #drawingexistedfirst #maryknoll #starofthesea 

Current Project: Father Thomas Frederick Price, The Tarheel Apostle

It’s been a long time since I have posted, and I hope to remedy that. Much of my work of the past several years is available for review on my instagram dmyers1977 for those who are interested.

I am spending my Lent this year re-familiarizing myself with The Tarheel Apostle, Father Thomas Frederick Price, the first native-borne North Carolinian to be ordained a Catholic priest, and co-founder of the first Catholic foreign missionary society, Maryknoll. God willing, he will one day be recognized as a saint. In any case, his story yields inspiration and edification with every reading. 

This is the rough draft of the first of what I hope will be many illustrations of scenes from the life of Father Price. I’m making these to go with some reflections on the virtues of the Tarheel Apostle. This illustration is from a reported exchange between Bishop Leo Haid and Father Price. The reflection is on the reckless generosity of Father Price. He came to Raleigh to found a school for Catholic missionaries, but immediately found that Raleigh had many children living in the streets. He is said to have told a fellow priest “I will have an orphanage.” He repeated that refrain to every pragmatic objection raised by his fellow priest. Bishop Haid is said to have often asked Fr Price where he would find the funds for his various ambitious projects, and Father Price’s reply was always the same. He trusted that if it was the work of God it could not fail. From this aspect of his character, I am reminded that there are good things we are called to say yes to on impulse, with reckless generosity, because they are good, without overmuch concern for the practical means by which they will be carried out over time. I am pursuing this work because I have always wanted other NC Catholics to know more about Fr Price, and whether he is eventually canonized a Saint or not, his story is worth knowing and gaining from. The story of a good person, a heroic person, encourages those who read it to “go and do likewise.” #drawingexistedfirst #thetarheelapostle #fatherthomasfrederickprice #maryknoll