The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-10-31

- Az 60. ''fs'ea In the two is,tiv.,.
OF A" Saints and All Souls, Whit. Avais
place ut that solemn period of ~. AXE
"nen nature puts on, at once, the iD,: year
OF glory and Of gloom. asaia
The sombFe leaves Of Tho
figured into shafts Of gold and s,; s.aa'-
Light, until all Nature is ablase viii =.
but upon the bosom of ouV mOtbs, A0ty;
the dead leaves lie in silent rs.. s.lsn,
to be gathered into her arms one aong
These are fit emblems one of the s,. Io'e'
saints that brighten all the courts Of gs" .0l'
the other, Of the "sinless soulsn who $50,
in silent suffering, the call that bid, ~s
enter into peace. One is q day of reioi,;..
the other is a day Of prayer. On Tho s.'.
the affairs of Religion are decked with a..
ers; on the other they are draped in no,.'
ing hues, 60 that the soul of man is Is.,
nately lifted up in glad petitions 70 -.
saints in Heaven. and then cast down =
humble applications for the dead vta
have indeed died in the Lord.
Sublime antithesis of Gods pover
mercy,-teachiug man q Lesson of =,
couragemen: by the glory which surround,
the tabernacle, while keeping him humEls
by the warning gloom that covers the altar.
and the tombs,
The Catholic Church alone consac-.to,
the affairs of religion and the graves of tina
departed and as her festivals come round
especially these of the golden autumn and
the dying year, we see jews, Protestsuh
and In6dels following her example, lishtin,
tapers upon the altar and stFewing fovsn
upon the tomb. Were it not for the m.
failing memory of the Church, the great
events of Christianity would slowly die ont
of the recollection of man. As learned
prelate said lately in our midst, the world
forgets its heroes in less than HUNDRED
years, while the Church reveres lite saint
through eighteen centuries of time.
The Greeks and Romans, we are told
buried the INDECENT along the public road.
that led into the cities, while they PLACED
their iilustEious dead along the sea shore
The reason of this we do BOT know bat
We may surmise that the one taught hunl.
ity to the poor, the other pride to the reh
for the pagans considered certain traits "a
virtues in the mighty which they looked
upon as vices in the lowly.
The Chinese inter their relatives in The
garden, while some tribes of Indians de-
post their dead in the branches of trees.
all these modes of burial show little respect
for the departed. The Catholic dead alone
are treated as "tempies of the Holy Ghost
they are placed in consecrated ground, Of
ten entrusted to the guardianship of the
Church, and always embalmed with words
of prayer, while above the head Of prinesG
peasant, the same cross rears its proteetig
arms, and guards the sacred dust.
A French writer observes, in reference %
the Egyptian habit of embalming the dead
that perhaps the ancients were apprehea.
sive lest their posterity should come dg
be ignorant what death was, and wen
therefore DESTROYS of transmitting to Dis.
tant ages some specimens of corpses. SiDgu.
lar idea, and one which We are not Obliged
to adopt. The Church also preserves the /
bones of it's martyrs and the bodies of its
but as shrines of that Eternal Spirit which,
by its indwelling, made them worthy to en-.
ter into the glory of God.
All Saints What a countless shroDg pres
ses before the eyes of faith as we repeat
the words. Some are there whose nIuS
shine across the world and are TREASURED
in every Christian heart,-others have no
appellation in our human words but We
know them we'll. The good thief who 81
companied his Master into Heaven is nans.
less here on earth-so also is the poor
woman whose sentence was written on The
sand, and who was hidden by the lipsd
Mercy "to go and sin no more,"-andaU
she whose "faith had made her whole
and the myriad martyrs of those ten long
fearful prosecutions which oppressed The
Church. And all the countless innocens
who have died with their baptismal bloom
upon them /; the heroic missionaries whose
lives were exhaled as fragrant flowers in
the deserts of Africa, the sands of Asia ana
h.