The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-04-12


found of aiding him through the preliminary
studies. Those stuiies,-what are they. Latin,
Greek, theology and whatever else cultivates
tho imagination and assists faith. With pinched
cheeks and sunken eyes, and souls ON fire, the
young men kneel to receive ordination, while
all good Catholics who look upon the scene are
filed NJ with y feeling that wonld be compassion
if it were not triumphant joy, "We believe"
says convert, who witnessed the ceremony
lately, :" there We're few dry eyes in that base
ment chapel when the long ceremony came to
had been given to the newly cOnsecrated priests
| by the uplifted hands of the bishop; and cold
| and selfish must have been the heart which did
not linger to send up n fervent petition that
God would give perseverance to those youthful
| and self-devOted labOrers i'll his vineyard. But
| never shall we forget the zeal and eagerness
with which the first mass of each new priest WAS
attended, or how the crowd, mcn, women, chill
dren, pressed forward Mt it's close to receive the
benedictiOn from those innocent and now same
| tilted palms. So precious is this first blessing
| from a newly ordained priest, that old priests
and even bishops come eagerly forward, and
bow their heads under the. freshly anointed
hands,"
Sincere! The sincerest believers in the world
! are our Roman Catholic brethren. Faith, like
every other faculty or habit, grows strong by
| exercise. Every time Catholic attends mass,
he is required to perform the most tremendous
act of faith ever attempted by the human mind
since it's creation. Whatever may be weak or
wanting in Catholics they abound in faith.
Our Roman Catholic brethren are acquiring
SO great an estate in the United States, and ac-
| quiring it SO rapidly, that it becomes matter
of public concern how they get it, what they do
with 1T, and, especially, what they sciU do with
it by and by, when it shall have become the
largest property held i'll the country by or for
| an organization. Other organizations usually
live from hand to mouth; but, somehow, the
Catholics always cOntrive to have a little money
ahead, to invest for the future. The Catholic
Church, seven tenths of whose members are ex-
empt from the income tax because their income
is under thousand dollars year. is capitalist
and has the advantage over other organizations
which man has over his fellows who, besides
earning his livelihood, has thousand dollars
to operate with. There are spots i'll the West
ern country, over which the prairie winds nov
sweep without obstruction, that will one day h+,
| the sites of great cities. Our Roman Catholic
brethren mark those spots, and construct maps
| upon which, not existing towns alone indi-
Gated but probable towns also. professor OF
one of orr Western colleges saw, two years ago
Mt ROnle a better map OF the country west ct
the Mississippi than he ever saw at home; upon
which the line of the Pacific railroad was
traced. and every spot was dotted where q
settlement would naturally gather. and IL con-
lecture recorded to it's probable Importance
Five hundred dollars judiciOusly invested in
certain localities now will buy land which, in
fifty years, OF i'll twenty, may be WORTH one hun
tlred millions. Thrty-seven years ago the best
Thousand OF acres of the site OF Chicago could
have been bought for dollar and quarter an
acre; and there ia Il man now III Chicago who
owns a lot worth twenty Thousand dollars
which he bought of the government for fifteen
cents and five cights. Now, there in the
Roman Catholic Church men whose business it
liz to tnrn such facts to the advantage of the
church. and there is also Systematic provision
of money for them to expend for the purpose.
Look at our island of Manhattan! Sixty-seven
years ago there were but one or two small Catll1-
lie churches upon it. 1t was not until 1eOs that
there was such Il parsonage M a Roman Cattle"
lie bishop of New York. Run oyer the diocese
now and what do wei find! Churches eighty
eight chapels attached to institutions. twenty.
nine; colleges and theological scnlinarics, four;
academies and select schools. twenty-three !;
parochial schools, one to nearly every church,:
charitable ylums and hospitals eleven; rcligi-
ous communities of men, six of women, ten. Bat
this enumeration, every New Yorker knows,
conveys no idea of the facts. Everything which
our Roman Catholic brethren by build is
bought or built with two objects in view.-tlu-
ration and growth. Hence massive structures
and plenty OF land! Wherever on this island
OF the lovely waters near it, ynu observe a
spot upon which nature and circumstances have
assembled every charm and every advantage
there the foresight and enterprise of this woil-
derful organization have placed. placing
| something enormous and solid with cross over
it. The marble cathedral which is to contain
ton thousand persons is going up on the precise
| spot o1rthe Fifth Avenue which will be the
very best Tor the purpose long the city
stands. Yet when that site was selected. sew
eral years ago, i'll the rocky wilds beyond the
cattle-market. no one would have felt its value
except Il John Jacob Ast0r or a Roman Catholic
archbishop. This marvellous church 10 pos
sesses itself of its members that Catholic priests
are AS wise and acute and pushing for the
Church the cOnSulnmate man of business ia
for his own estate. Our excellent and Jealous
friends, the Paulist Fathers, when they planted
themselves on the Ninth Avenue opposite Wee
| hnwken, bought u whole block; and thus for
| less money than one house lot will be worth in
five years, secured room enough for the expan-
sion OF their community and its operations for
ten centuries! And there is the Convent of the
Sacred Heart. in the upper part ofthe island
the old Lorillard country seat and the great
establishment of the Sisters of Charity the
Hudson where Edwin Forrest built his toy
castle,-were ever sites better chosen /! Mark,
too, the extent of the grounds, the solidity of
the buildings, and the torethought and good
sense which have presided over Mi the arrange
ments.
All these things cost money, though bought
and built with most admirable economy. Fifty
million dollars worth of land and buildings the
Church probably owns in the diocese of New