The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-12-24

A plan of such universal C0tuOhC iutos.
was n. naturally In the ,ai r;s tSs ,ins.
j ~ appointed Representative on eartn OF
the Creator and Redeemer of men. HIS
Holiness deigned to point ont how richly
God favors those nations WHO have gath.
cred the blood Of their martyrs abroad, and
the immense advantages which may arise
from such an establishment as the present;
and then looking upon the feeble instru-
| ment who knelt before him, he said :
| Eft ego mitto te, ct Dominus perJicicat opas
| tuum." At a later audience, Nov. 9,
1869, when represented to His Holiness
aims among the English speaking races,
who are building up their churches at
home, He took up his pen and wrote words
which may be rendered thus:
DO your works of charity at home, but
do not neglect this other work of charity
in favor of the Foreign Missions-oporfet
atuns .facere ct aliud non omittere ~ and
then lie blessed all lwho should assist the
work.
A little later received a letter from His
Grace, Cardinal Barnabo, Project of the s.
Congregation do Propaganda Eide, in which
his Eminence wrote as follows:
Believing before God that this proposed
College for Foreign Missions will prove of
great utility to the Church, we beg of the
Bishops and of the Faithful. whom he (the
Rev. Herbert Vaughan, D. d. may .isit in
order to gather the aims necessary for its
establishment, to receive him with kind
ness and to assist him all in their power to
attain the desired end"
Since then all the Bishops of Great Brit
ain, as well as Irish, American and Austria
liam Prelates have written letters generous
~ approving and encouraging this enter
prise, as one OF vital and Catholic interest,
and raised far above all national, local or
narrow prejudices.
If it has any national character it is as
American and as Irish as it is English.
The first aims for its foundation, its first
burses, collected in California in 1864,
and must say that nothing could exceed
the noble generosity with which the Cath
Ole Americans and Irish in San Francisco
accepted the idea, and contributed in faith
and charity towards the establishment of
the college, which then existed only in pro-
ject. I met throughout California and
every where from the Irish, large-minded
appreciation Of the work in hand:
The College now has a substantial exist
ence; IL contains between twenty and
thirty yeang men either actually in orders
! or about to take them, all of whom are
bound to leave Europe for life to labor In
the foreign missionary fields Of the Church.
It is admirably placed at Mill Hill, Lon
don, is accessible to the best recruiting
grounds for vocations, and in easy com,
munication with all parts Of the world.
The first object, therefore, of my present
visit to America 10 to enrol into st. Joseph's
Society Of the Sacred Heart for Foreign
Missions all who deeire to take part in the
apostolic life of the Church, aud to con-
tribute towards the Church's highest work
tho education of .Missioners who shall
be at the disposal of the Holy See to labor
in any fields beyond Europe, especially
among the unevangelized races of the earth.
The second object regards the less
general or particular consideration, which
Ia 1,oa MI hn mi Tn
sign to this Society, as it's frat mission and
first field of operations, the co!ored people
of the United States.
In a letter of instruction to the Presi-
dent of the Second Plenary Council of
Baltimore, the Cardinal Project of .Propa-
gamda desired the RightRev. Fathers to
endeavor to provide for I" the salvation
and Christian instruction Of the colored
people," And among tue DEGREES, which
have since been approved by Rome, there
is one in which occur the following words:
By the bowels of the mercy of God, we
can, to consecrate their strength, their time
and themselves, wholly and entirely, if
possible, to the service of the colored peo-
pie ;" and the Plenary Council then ap-
peafs to Europe to send missioners who
should specially devote themselves to this
work. That appeal has been heard, and 1
have brought over with me the first fruits
of st. Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society.
to attend to the salvation of the colored
people.
This mission is the first, though it will
certainly not be the only one, con6ded to
our Society. 1t is q wholly exceptional
mission as Archbishop Manning observed
in sermon, preached upon the occasion of
the departure of the Missioners. But 80,
also, are the circumstances. England
(said his Grace) bequeathed the sin of.
slavery to it's American Plantations; we
gave this plague spot % the American
Union the negro population exists in our
colonies and in North America through our
sin. We owe reparation in Christian
charity, not only to the negroes as they
now exist through our sin, but also to the
country from which they were carried
away. We owe to Africa a reparation of
Christian charity and Christian ZEAL"
These generous words will not fail to be
responded to by the generous American
people, who will be second to none in
generosity, as they are second to none in
enterprise and energy.
AS proof of the appreciation and of the
potronaue of khis work nv the American