The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-05-09
c.tAalia rhoush.. in wsstuinstsr Asssy!

f-SWhaE grand and magnificent building
is the old venerable abbey How eloquent
! ly it snealzs of the faith and Ipietyi of Ca
tholic times! How much must the minds
Of men have been Allied ana occupied with
religion and zeal for the beauty Of the
honse of God when they devoted So much
time, and skill, and expense to erecting q
church like this to His honor. What a
sublime and instructive example OF piety
and devotion engaged in founding i'll The
desire, like Solomon,s, was to build temple
worthy to be the dwelling place of God
among men, must have deepened and in
tensified the religious convictions and
feelings of men and have given joy totheir
hearts. How pleasant 1t was to enter here
when Catholic worship was celebrated 10
it with all its grand and Instructive cererno-
NAL, when the high altar was here with its
rich ornaments, fts golden crucifix and
candlesticks, its tabernacle sparkling with
precious stones, and shining with FURNISH
ed go M O mark of respect to, and Tor
the purpose Of impressing the minds OF men
with the dignity OF the Divine Victim that
reposed therein for food and life In their
souls, in their pilgrimage through this
world to heaven, when the Lady chapel
was in all its beauty of ornament, with the
precious votive offerings the Virgins clients
suspended in it. Aud ON the glowing
canvas along the wall there breathed, as it
were, forms of saints and angels that dc,
lighted the eye, instructed the mind, and
touched the heart. How edifying it was to
be present when this grand church was
filled with devout kneeling worshippers,
and the high priest, with his attendant
priests, clad in rich vestments OF gold and
silver cloth, offered at the altar the precious
oblatioa, the Divine Victim, to God for the
sins of the people, and the incense in the
swinging censor filled the place with its
sweet odors, and numerous wax tapers shed
their gladness around, and the solemn
strains of the grand Gregorian chant fell
adoring multitude and wOrshipping priests,
and melted away, soft as angels whispers
along the lofty yaulted and gold-fretted
roof Truly then was the temple of God
filled with glory, as holy Simeon said of the
temple of Jerusalem, when he received
into his arms the infant Redeemer in. it.
But the beauty of this place is departed.
at altar, shrine, or crncifix, as in Catholic
Churches, are to be seen here wrapped in
silent prayer, Professionalism, in its blind
prejudice and folly, has taken away the
beautiful paintings of the Redeemer and
His Virgin Mother, of saints End angels
those eloquent sermons and books for the
Ignorant that gfaddened their eyes, en-
ligbtened their minds, and softened their
hearts, land has placed In their steaI the
statues and busts of warriors, and states
men, and poets, perhaps sensual In their
writings On entering the church we see
no symEoi efsman's redemption, no statue
or painting, of the greatest of all heroes,
the Man Godlwho suffered an ignominious
death heroically through boundless love for
man; nor Of His Virgin Mother, the greatest
of all heroines, who, at the foot of the cross,
witnessed the death Of her beloved Son
with an agonizing but resigned sorrow fog
mans sake, too These, on entering the
Isex.se Of avd,s7FUuio subdue, ana soften,
and attune the minds of men to religious
impressions. But these statues of warriors
and statesmen, whose great deeds have
been greatssiae of injustice or inhumanity
to many. of their fellow men; are calculated
to stir up in the mind the thoughts of
ambition, and desire for worldly fame.
Such is the pagan condition in which
Professionalism, in it's self styled enlighten-
ment, keeps one of the greatest and most
beautiful of England's old Catholic cathe-
drals.-E. MICartGM Ss Ulster Examiner.
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