The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-09-20
THE ARcHB1sHoP OF NEW ORLEANS.

A correspondent of the Baltimore Catho-
Tic Mirror, writing from Virginia, furnishes
the following, relative to our beloved Arch
bishop, Jean Marie Odin:
I am now going through the process Of
acclimatiOn, and while the long hours OF
the day with a volume which, in my jour
neys and recreations, l always make my
vade mecunp. 1t is the Rerue du Monde o.
tholique for 1868. / have just read a page
dedicated to the labors and sanctity of that
holy servant of God, Archbishop Odin,
which am tempted to put into English for
the readers of the Mirror.
T. Mgr. Odin, Archbishop of New Orleans,
who, in obedience to the wishes of the Holy
Father, and to give new evidence of his
pious devotion, lately visited Europe, has
returned to his cruelty desolated diocese.
oh! could that long journey have been
quickly accomplished, and without lmpos-
ing on himself and his travelling COM
panions severe and exceptional hardships
During many long years has this venerable
prelate been spreading the Gospel in Amer
lea. He was the first bishop and one of the
first missionaries in Texas, when that vast
country was almost wilderness. His eyes,
SO to speak, have seen the birth OF that
flourishing Church which we admire there
to day, and by the apostolic labors of more
than twenty years, he has raised it from the
cradle to its present vigorous manhood.
His labors date even farther back than that,
for it is more than forty years since Mgr.
Odin forsoOk his family and his country/to
consecrate himself to the missions. During
his earlier days and for many long years
when he had occasion to visit his Christian
flcck, scattered through the wilderness, he
often travelled six or eight days without
meeting with dwelling house. He preached
to Europeans and to savages, outlawed and
ignorant; and he preached IN the desert.
But the desert is now Inhabited, and
0Iin has n time realized the
truth of the expression which declares that
God can change the stones themselves into
children of Abraham. We have ourselves
oftentimes seen and heard Mgr. Odin, and
we have learned in listening to him how
great are the consultations, or rather the
existence entirely devoted to the privatlons,
sufferings, fatigges of every kind which the
service of the cross requires.
| We have also learned fully what is the
heart of bishop. Mgr. Odin has realized
in himself, during his travels in France,
resourceshof the priestly devotion of which
he is SO noble an exemplar. He and his
suffragan, the new Bishop of Galveston,
Texas, brought back with them fifty priests
and twelve religious Sisters, whom they
obtained at the Eurre DIES Missions. To
gain these generous souls, they truthfully
represented to them the hard life that was
before them. No other eloquence was
4 necessary. And as the perils are now
greater than at any time heretofore, and
the difficulties more pressing than ever, the
harvest has been rich beyond all natura
calculations. In the course of a year, Other
priests and other religious sisters will leave
France to unite themselves with the mis-
sionaries, who, to-day, confront yellow
fever, war, Professionalism, infidelity, lsoia
Church fights; it is thus Jesus Christ tri
umphs. Confdete, ego cici mumdum.