Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-11-01
THE MISSION OF The IRISH
RACE.
Lecture of the Rev. W. II. An
derdon-SkeIch OF Lecture.

From the New York W"rld.I
During the past few years We have
had many opportunities Of becoming ac-
duainted with some of the more important
religious sects of England, through the
presence amongst US of their leading
preachers. Thus. in the person of New
man Hall and divines of his stamp, we
readily arrived at what was just esti-
mate Of the classes amongst their
followers. We have not had similar
facilities in Judging the position of the
Roman Catholic clergy, especially that
portion which originally Of the Protes-
tant belief, by the development of the
High Church and Ritualistic movement,
gravitated into the Roman faith. The
recent arrival in this country of the
very Rev. William Henry Anderdon,
nephew of Archbishop Manning, for
merly conspicuous actor in the Oxford
movement and at present a Catholic
priest, gives US the opportunity of be-
coming personally acquainted with
fair type of the class alluded to. He
lectured last evening in St. Andrews
Church, Duane street, on the " Mission
OF the Irish Race, giving ample evi-
dence of his claims to the reputation
which has preceded him.
There is an interest attached to DR..
Anderdon history which will permit us
to relate it, Born in London of an old
British family, who traced its origin
through the squirearchy of Somerset back
to the days of the Second Richard, he
numbered amongst his ancestors on one
side a Quaker, who, under James Il,
died for his faith, and on the other, the
last Royalist Lieutenant-G Governor
of Massachusetts, Thomas Oliver
alnUugst his immediate kinsmen is
Henry Edward Manning. the r,~~----''
Archbishop Of W estmlnster, and more
remotely the Wilberforee family
member of which is the Anglican Bish-
op of Oxford. Writing of the Wilber-
forces in this connection it may be
mentioned that it was through the sud
den emancipation of the West Indian
slaves DR.. Anderdon's relations lost the
greater bulk of their wealth. Through
family ties connected with the church,
and feeling that there was his mission,
he went to Oxford to study for the min
istry. After the usual course, he re-
ceived the Baccalaureate, afterwards grad
uating NJ. A He received orders in
the Anglican Church, and vicarage in
in the town of Leicester. Contemporary
with him in Oxford, though some years
his senior, were Newman and Pusey.
1t was some two years before his ma
circulation that Newman had published
his famous Church of the Fathers"
The personal fame of the author, his
brilliancy Of diction and incisive style
we're well calculated to attract the atten-
ton of the younger men in the uniyer-
sity, and it is not to be wondered at that
DR.. Anderdon studied deeply the phases
of the controversy which had led New
man from one step to another until at
last he had crossed the Rubicon and was
on Roman ground. In constant per
sonal communication with DR.. Newman,
DR.. Anderdon followed him in this final
step. Converted to the Catholic faith
he went to Rome in company with Lord
Camden, now Lord Gainsborough, and
while there he attended the lectures at
the famous Roman college. Returning
after some years to England he compile
ted his studies in a Dominican convent
in Leicestershire, and was ordained
priest in Oscot lie then devoted few
years to his ministry in England, until
called elsewhere by his old friend and
model John Henry Newman. This en-
insnt scholar had been intrustod by the
present Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal
Cullen, with the task of founding
Catholic University in Ireland. Attach
ed to this institution was church which
had been erected out of the proceeds of
the Achili fund. The charge of this
was intrusted to Father Anderdon. 1t
was an onerous task. Situated in the
handsomest square in Dublin, surround
cd by the most aristocratic mansions in
the city, and with the large and fashion
able suburbs Of Rathmines and Rathgar
Immediately behind it, its congregation
was one of the most fastidious character.
The church was handsomely. decorated,
and its services we're attractive; tolerable
copies of the Cartoons and rich mar
bles adorned the walls, an excellent or
gan, aud choir trained by an organist
from the Pope's Chapel, added to the
beauty of the liturgy. Any preachers
but those of the highest merit would be
singularly out of place. DIR. Newman
felt this, and was always careful to Sc
cure for its pulpit the first orators in
the country. In selecting DR.. Ander-
don as its permanent pastor he rightly
judged that the highest culture of Pro-
testant England, supplemented by a
residence and training in Rome, had
fully prepared him for the position.
That this was so, ten years of trial in
that church amply showed, His labors,
however, were not confined to preaching
before the faculty of the University and
the congregation which attended mis-
church There appears to be something
in Ireland which draws foreigners
strongly to its habits of thought and
associations, and often aliens" resident
there become "more Irish than the
Irish themselves" To this influence it
was not strange that DR.. Anderdon
, should yield and in his devotion to
Ireland he was warm and persistent.