The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-04-12
uorxHa Star AND CATHOLIC M1ss1NGIR.
NEW ORLEANs. SUNDAY, APRIL is. 1865
rArHE1 LAcoRDA1RE.

E,-o,oan country The tributes which
Protestants pay from time to time TO t"e
Church and her holy servants, sho" 'io
;mnressions that are being made on inc
minds of our separate brethren The Lon
don Rerier, u well-knOwn Antagonist VI o"i
faith. thus comments on the above WORK:
Lacortlaire, Ravignan, botn deao-Fe 81
Felix and Ptre Hyacinthe; 1Mese are s.o
names Of me,, whose fame as Christian ora
tors has been heard by lis though they nave
s,,olxen in another language, and have pro-
f!ssed another creed than our own. We
read of them filling the churches OF Parlf.
mot with pious women only, but with men
who have been drawn aside by an ire
s;s,;ble attraction from the frivOlities of q
pleasure seeking capital and the more pow
srful seduction of Il rooted sceptlclsm, 70
come and listen to teaching against which
their inclinations, their habits, their pleas
ures, and their belief, such as it is, revolt:
And these men are the product, not OF
Inherent generations, but Of one. 1t is not
yery long since the lips of LacOrdalre ana
Ravignan were closed. The ears when
listened to them listen to successors only Il
little their juniors; and they are the pro
duct Of an age sceptically inclined, ana OF
country which is but slowly emerging from
n deluse of infdelity. On our side OF the
Channel we have nothing to show like this,
though perhaps we have not less need OF 1T.
We have here and there popular preacher
run after by coterie; but, with the excep-
ton of-Mr. Sphfgeen, there is no Christian
minister amongst us whose fame can be
said tn fiji the corners of the earth, and
even he is the apostle OF IL class, to whom
highly educated men might listen once for
curiosity. Yet in the Church of England
there is not less learning, perhaps there is
some respects more, than amongst french
ecclesiastics; and certainly Nature has not
1,6,p nift pn ~
than in the other. In some degree this con-
trast may he due to the great variety OF
denominations which exist amongst us,
though it would not be unreasonable to
expect that the conflict of scots would pro
tlucc Il different result. But more probably
it is owing to that continued state of war
fare in which the Church of Rome finds
herself with whatever is antagonistic to
her. whether it be Professionalism OF. inf
deity, or the authority of the State, OF the
vices and corruption OF society, or that
waste condition of humanity in which the
heather sits in darkness.
No matter what recognized position she
may gain in this country or that, approach
ing to, or fulfilling, our idea of an estab-
lished church, her aim is still onward,
reaching for more, impelled by an ambition
which is never satisfied, and to whose
attainment obstacle is admitted 20 be
insuperable. The grain OF mustard-se
must cover the whole earth. And for this
warfare che has an army which is absO-
lutely her own. The celibacy of her clergy
Getaches them from affections which divide
their allegiance. vows of poverty and
obedience which, III addition to ceibacy,
are the foundation of her monastic system,
give her body of picked troops still more
separated from the world than the secular
clergy, and ready to undertake amy fOrlor1l
hope, no matter what hardsllips or suffer
ings it may involve. To them there is nc
such thing as self. This or that has to bt
done, and it must be done. When the
Italian monk, who is sent by his superior
into some village to give Il - mission" ha
preached without persuading his hearers t.
come to the tribunal OF penance, he knecl
down, strips his shoulders and uses his dis
cipline till the blood streams before thei
eyes. Then they come, for there is n
preaching without practising in that. Il
our own country, two RedemptOrist monks
some twenty years ago, undertook u mission
in the South of England, so poor that at on
time they were literally starving. But the
persevered, and they have since built sever:
churches and founded flourishing homes
England and Ireland. These are sample
of the zeal which inspires life into tn
matchless organization of the Church
Rome, and which goes far to account IL
her power of re-conquering what she hi
lost, and resisting the fire of that so-calle
enlightenment OF 0Iir-ttime under whiC
other creeds are melting away.
In all human probability the cloquen'
which filled Notre Dame with multitude
that hung upon Lacordaire's lips, and r
claimed hundreds to the Christian fait
would have expanded in promoting his oN
interests at the bar of the Senate. He hi
chosen law for his profession, and he was
little likely to become a preacher that
had, from an early period, laid aside all I
ligious belief. Intidelity was the ment
habit of the intellectual youth of his da
and he perhaps the more eagerly embrace
from his widowed mother, whose singul
destiny it was to see her five sons aband,
their faith, but finally return to it. Reca
ing this early period of his life, Lacordai
says that he made his first communion
the year 1914, being then twelve years
age. 1t was my last religious joy"