The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-01-25
The New Cardinals.
ADDRESS OF CARDINAL FRANCHI AND REPLY
OF HIS HOLINESS.

ADDRESS OF CARDINAL FRANCuI AND REPLY
OF HIS HOLINESS.
The following is translation of the
Grafton which His Eminence Cardinal
Franchi, one of the newly created Cardi-
nails, addressed to the Holy Father on the
occasion of the presentation of the scarlet
birettas, thanking his Holiness in the name
of himself and all his most eminent COL
leagues. Cardinal Franchi said:
"Most Holy Father, called as we are nv
an act of your Holiuess's sovereign good
ness to become members of the Sacred
College, our first feeling is one of earnest
desire to testify to yourself our unbounde
devotion. to express to yourself those sem
timents of gratitude which is deeper than
even the conviction we have of our own
insufficiency. 1t is in the days of the
Church's mourning that your Holiness has
raised US to this high dignity; it is in the
midst of the tempest that RACES everywhere
against the Bark of Peter, and it is this
which makes your act of fatberly benevo-
lence doubly precious to US, because you
thereby invite US to share with yourself in
the conflict which you are wagipg against
your inplacable foes, and because YOU
thereby summon ms to fight along with you
the battles of the Lord. Most Holy Father,
if, in ordinary times, the Cardinalitiai
0i8oOy PACo0At6 oO auhuy OuLl0S 10 %
fulfilled, how much more serious are those
which it exacts of us in the unhappy times
in which we are now living!
"Your Holiness knows we'll the senti-
ments which animate each one of us but
you will graciously be pleased to hear us
repeat once again our hearts' Arm and de-
clded protest never to depart from your
side, ready as we are to share with your
Holiness the bitter chalice of persecution
and of calamity, to brave every sort of suf-
fering in the security Of the Catholic faith !;
and, if need be, to shed our blood for the
defence of the eternal principles, and for
conservation of the rights and preroga-
tives of this Apostolic See. To attain this
lofty end, we reckon on the aid of the Lord,
Who, we hope, will not be wanting to His
humble servants and we reckon also on
the example which your Holiness daily
presents for our imitation. Your Holiness,
having become a model of charity and Of
fortitude, is spectacle of sublime virtue
to the world, to angels, and to men. Will
your Holiness deign to accept once more,
together with these professions of our
flial attachment and reverence, the good
wishes which we address to you for the
preservation of your precious life, and for
Church. May God grant that your Holt
ness may soon behold the end of the evils
which now afflict the Spouse of Christ
may you see your erriDg children return
again to the seat of truth, the only harbor
of safety; may you see our holy religion
prosper in all quarters of the globe; and
as this shall be the recompense which God
has in store for His Vicar, 80 shall it be for
us, who have been chosen to be CO opera
tors with him, the greatest of the joys and
Qualifications which we shall have expe-
rienced in the course of our lives"
With visible and deep emotion, the Holy
Father replied as follows
"I thank you for the sentiments which
you have Just expressed to me, aud which
are for me great subject of consolation
and of Joy in the midst of my tribulations
and sorrows. God has been pleased to try
me, but side by side with sufferings He has
put consultations; and strength by the side
of perils. Whilst contemplating the evils
which have weighed down this poor Italy,
We have thought upon the means whereby,
according to the measure of Our strength,
We might apply remedy to them, and
then it was that We determined to make
extraordinary provisions for the vacant
Bishoprics. God has deigned to bless Our
were to Us source of consolation and joy.
The new prelatee were every where received
with the greatest demonstrations of Joy
and respect, not, indeed, by Government
and it's Ministers, but by the whole of the
Catholic populations. Thanks to the ener-
CO operators in Jesus Christ, the faith is
reviving everywhere and energy is equal
to the dangers and the difficulties. We
owe, therefore, to God Our solemn thanks
giving. But it was not to Italy alone that
I had duties to discharge. The wants of
the Universal Church were the object of my
solicitude. It being the will of God that
the burden of Our trials all suld be increas-
ed. He has permitted Us to be deprived, by
their deaths and their infirmities, of the
assistance of a large number of those whom
We had about US TO share in the govern
ment of the, Church Universal. We there
fore implored of God to enliEhten aud to
support Us, and having regard to circum.
stances, We decided on filling up the va
cant places of the Sacred College. We,
therefore, thought of you, whose virtues,
whose intelligence, and whose well-tried
devotedness, under 80 many circumstances,
specially marked you out as fitting objects
for Our choice. And, in using tho word
8 YOu,' would speak not alone of you who
are here present, bat also of those that are
far away. We have called you, then, to
the honor of sharing with US in the govern
ment of Gods Holy Church. Henceforth
you form part of that Sacred College of