Father Edward suffered from a severe gastric illness.  With the encouragement of his Bishop, he took a vacation trip to Ireland and Rome in October and November 1878, and it seemed to restore his health.  But when he returned to Providence just before Thanksgiving 1878, he was stricken again.  The symptoms worsened on Wednesday, November 27th.  He was given the last rites and died on Thanksgiving Day, at 11 AM.  His parish had no inkling of his health problems, and were devastated upon learning of his death.  To read a moving contemporary account of his funeral, proceed to the next page by clicking on "Father Edward's Funeral" at the top right of this page.