Father Pat, ‘Hero of the Far West’

‘Hero:’ so the Rev. Henry Irwin’s biographer chose to title her biography of the remarkable pioneer known affectionately as Father Pat.

And why not? Didn’t he lead a party of equally brave volunteers to recover bodies from a snow slide?

That was a single, extreme example of the eventful life of this truly remarkable man of god who dedicated and ultimately sacrificed his life as a missionary, a calling he’d set for himself as a child in Ireland.  

Part 2 of the legendary Father Pat’s story in next week’s BC Chronicles.

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PHOTO:  Digging for bodies in one of the many deadly snow slides that bedevilled early B.C. railways in the mountains. —BC Archives