Philip Mauro
Those whom are familiar with Hans R. Waldvogel will recognize the bread of life Mag. and the Ridgewood Pentecostal Church, Brooklyn, NY as being the church of which Waldvogel pastored.
Bread of Life magazine June 1959, volume 8, number 6 Published by Ridgewood Pentecostal Church, Brooklyn, NY Posted with the kind permission of Tessie Knaupp and the Ridgewood Pentecostal Church. Abridged and edited by Timothy Trower
Champion of the Kingdom
The Story of Philip Mauro
How an Internationally Famous Patent Lawyer Was Converted to Christ and Then Devoted His Life to “Persuading the Things Concerning The Kingdom of God”
By Gordon P. Gardiner
Part VI
When Philip Mauro left New York on the S.S. Carpathia, April 11, 1912, bound for Genoa, Italy, he had been converted to Christ for almost nine years. Mr. Mauro was still carrying on a limited legal practice, but his main occupation was ministering the Word of God from pulpit and by means of the printed page. It was through a disarrangement of their personal plans that he and his daughter Margaret, now returning to their home in Rapullo, Italy, had been forced to take passage on the Carpathia and thus, by the providence of God, were on the ship which rescued the survivors of the ill-fated Titanic.
“The Titanic has gone down with every one on board!” This was the first word to read the ears of the crew of the Carpathia when it reached the position of that now sunken vessel and had dropped anchor just at dawn, about four a.m. of Monday, April 15, 1912. The world’s largest ship which had been pronounced as unsinkable had gone down about an hour and forty minutes before the rescue ship arrived.
Philip Mauro, always an early riser, very soon learned why the Carpathia was at a standstill. Immediately he went to Margaret’s cabin and awakened her. With little or no explanation he told her to dress and come to the deck immediately. Hurriedly he then proceeded to the scene of action.
“The scene that greeted our eyes when we went on deck . . . yesterday (Monday) morning is indescribable,” wrote Mr. Mauro to his daughter, Isabel. “We were lying a few thousand yards from a perfect continent of ice, which stretched as far as the eye could reach, with here and there huge ice peaks sticking up into the air. And all around us in the sea were detached icebergs glistening in the sun. It was a perfect, polar scene, and although it was only yesterday, and although we remained for hours skirting along the icefield looking for boats and bodies, it seems already like a dream—so unreal and strange does it appear. Surely the hand of God is most manifestly appearing in the affairs of men.”
This “vast continent of ice” was, according to subsequent measurements, from seventy to ninety miles long. Of the Titanic’s passengers and crew of upwards of 2,300, there were only “about 745 persons in all, mostly women,” who survived the tragedy and were taken aboard the Carpathia. “After remaining on the spot until the prospect of further rescues was extinguished, the Carpathia headed for New York.”
(This rightabout-face of the Carpathia had special interest for Margaret. For personal reasons she had not desired to leave New York when she did. There had seemingly been no other course to pursue, however, but still she was unreconciled. Therefore, when she had gone to bed the previous night, her sleeping thought had been: God is so wonderful that He could turn this ship around and head it back to New York. Now that sleeping thought was being actually fulfilled!)
“You can imagine the depression and discomfort pervading this boat, with such a cargo of concentrated abjectness and misery added to the rather full passenger list that we had at the start,” Mauro continued in his letter to Isabel. “There are more Titanic passengers than Carpathians, and, of course, there are no accommodations for them in the ordinary sense.
“I gave up my room which has four bunks and spent the night in a steamer chair. Do not expect to take any clothes off till we reach New York. The first- and second-class dining rooms and the writing room were filled with women lying on the floors, tables, and sofas. The smoking rooms were allotted to the men. I tried one but could not stand it. Possibly by tonight things will be better arranged.
“Margaret has given away most of her things (underwear, etc.). There has been [no great demand] for masculine apparel—but I quickly parted with some stockings, pajamas, and handkerchiefs, besides the nice, felt slippers my dear Charlie gave me. The dozen toothbrushes I had were most acceptable. Of course the people had absolutely nothing but what was on their persons—not even hand togs. They were told up to the last few moments that there was no danger of the ship’s going down.”
The next day Mr. Mauro continued his narrative letter of the events of those momentous days:
“Wednesday. The opportunities are opening out. A splendid one was offered this morning before breakfast. A young man, Albert A. Dick, was saved with his wife (married less than a year ago). The Lord put him in my way. He has made money (three quarters of a million, he told me) and is about quitting business, meaning to devote the rest of his life to ‘doing good.’ Said he was not a Christian, but had been reading the Bible trying to find out if there were a God. Was quite ready to listen, and I gave him the truth for some hours. He was in a state similar to that of the Ethiopian treasurer. I am sure the Lord sent him to me and that He gave me the word for him. He lives way off in Calgary, Alberta. Pray that the Lord may bring him clearly into the light and supply the ministry he needs. Also that his wife may also be saved. She seems disinclined to hear or to allow him to hear. When she appeared, he said ‘My dear, this gentleman is telling me how he came to be a Christian, and I mean to be one too.’
“Margaret has been very busy, ministering in the second cabin and steerage. And all that she has been doing is being discussed, and so is turning into a testimony. The whole shipload (with few exceptions) will have received the testimony of a living Christ.
“Among the rescued passengers is a child of God, a young man named Collett, author of Scripture Truth. Has considerable light.
“Thursday. We are expecting to reach New York this evening. The opportunities that have opened for ministry have been simply wonderful. Most of them care to Margaret. Such a day as she had yesterday! Hope she may be able to write you some of the marvelous doings of the Lord. Now I want you to send a copy of the World and Its God to A. L. Solomon, 345 Broadway, New York. . . . He is a Jew, but his heart is quite tender just now. It might be good to send him The Shepherd of Israel. It’s only 7 a.m. now; but I have already spend more than an hour with another Jew—a wealthy London merchant.
“Thursday night. Another busy day. We are quite fatigued but rejoicing that the Lord is working in His own irresistible way. We are about landing and are told we shall leave again early tomorrow.
“Charlie’s letter was much appreciated. Dearest love to my precious ones and comforting greetings to all the saints. Father”
The Carpathia “docked about nine o’clock . . . Thursday evening. A dense crowd, filling the streets leading to the dock, and estimated at 25,000 persons, awaited the arrival of the vessel in the hope of merely catching a glimpse of some of the survivors.”
Unknown to Mr. Mauro and Margaret, among that vast multitude were Isabel and Charles French, who had come from Boston to meet their own loved ones. As they waited on the wharf, they witnessed the impressive sight of two [sic] little lifeboats (all that remained of the mighty Titanic, whose very name was “a savor of arrogance and presumption, being rowed and moored in a separate place—“). It was all a tremendous object lesson of “what becomes of the great and strong things of man when God puts his finder on them!” Then as survivors and mourning relatives and friends were reunited they witnessed the heart-breading by elegant display of mourning by elaborately crepe-dressed women. They also saw and heard J. Bruce Ismay, the president of the White Star Line, booed and hissed as he came off the ship because he had allowed himself to be rescued instead of going down with the Titanic.
Once the Mauros and Frenches got together, they unitedly praised God that in His providence He had so ordered the steps of Mr. Mauro and Margaret, “through a disarrangement of their own plans”—even against their personal wishes, that they were on the Carpathia and thereby had been given such an unparalleled opportunity “for testimony to the Name which is above every name,” for thereby many of the wealthy and great of this world, who otherwise might not have had a chance to hear the Gospel, had Christ preached unto them. “The unparalleled experiences of the last four days,” wrote Margaret as the boat was nearing New York, “have left me without words to write.—One fact stands forth with luminous clearness: Christ has been glorified.”
As soon as the Carpathia could be gotten in readiness, it once again set forth from New York for Genoa, Mr. Mauro and Margaret aboard. Mr. Mauro finished his work on his book, God’s Pilgrims. . . . Later Mr. Mauro did write two tracts dealing with this world-shaking event: The Life-Boat and the Death-Boat and The Titanic Catastrophe and Its Lessons. . .
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