New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-09
PULPIT SKETCHES.
,,oNsIGNoR CApEL, THE CATEsBY OF Lo-
THAR"

,a,tc methods of sermOnzng and pulpit OratOry' Inc
great Dominican, Father Burke Canon Kingsley Dean
stanley and Pere Hyacinthe have each IN turn cohceh
tred the respectful interest of the people long enough
10 usfy II ndee not invite, comparison WIN the
own fayores together with critical consideration VI
such widely conrasted schools of homileucs LATEST ana
not least remarkable among these noted strangers II
n,onsnor Camel now giving several series OF sermons
d Icctpres in this city. at St. AIMS Church, In
al St. Francis Xaver's IN SiXteenth-st ana
ot Cbckering Hall 1t understood that he VIII Visit
other principal cities and find opportunities for meeting
the public in church and lecture ROOM
Monsignor Capel is an Englshnan. and was porn III
1885 He is partly of Irish extraction without social
distinction OF wealth family, he entered the Roman
Catholic priesthood at the of twenty Jour- RECEIVING
ordination from Cardinal Wiseman. The opening OF DIS
professional career was modest and unpromisng IL
was in training school college organized for the ed-
cation of teachers. And yet not unlikely much Oh MS
snbseouent success may he owing to the special ddge
and rdimenal severity this carly work After Few
wears he was driven by failing health TO seek rest III 'he
south of France and in the place of his soourn among
the eisurey visitors from his own country ne opeeu ms
first mission as knght-errant of Cathocty' directing
HE eaorts To the idle Indifferent world OF fasP On III
which he found himself; and with SUCH vigorous anu UNI
expected results that he soon summoheu 10 ho''
where under the auspices of the FTopagahu' ne
lshed mission with conferences among ElgIiSh sPc"A
ing residents and visitors who Always constitute W IN
portant element in Roman society made up as it largely
s NJ artists scholars families of wealth. elegant es-
ure or of hereditary distinction
Uonors fell thick and fast upon him. for he seemed the
manufacturer of the great Wseman himself ana III lso'
ne was made MonsgnOr and Private Chamberlain to the
Pope and in 1872 he received the appointment OF DO
nestie Preate an honor accompanied with the tituar
and ecclesiastical rank Of the Episcopae Thus IN thr
teen years young priest found himself crowned WIN
dicnites which the Vatican usually confers WIN pro
yokng elaboration. Here was developed and matureu
his proyerbia fondness for work among titled and mn-
and nj
hich-bred lordy presence which was by no means 10
the manor born together with that unerrng irreslspe
tact and intuition which constitute the eonsunmate III
fuence and fascination among the cultivated ana pnV-
legged classes the world over
II was signal mastery of social opportunities tnat
drew the admiration of Dsrae and led him TO draw MS
portrait with such brancy and panstaking as Catespy
in Iothair" Indeed, in the world OF English letters
Monsignor Capel is better and more widely known a.
Monsignor Catesby.
rooying the strong currents which at time or an
other are almost sure to bring leaders of European
thought and culture TO the metropolis OF the New "or
this renowned ecclesiastic is domiced temporarily
among u.s. and is easy matter for any one TO look
upon and hear a who has been more generally talked
about perhaps than any living priest in the Roman
Catholic Church.
HOW HE LOOKS AND TALKS.
Tn his forty-eighth year he is yet in his prime ana
physically and intellectually at his best Standing III
group of eccesastics he is at once central ana COM
manding gure-a little taller than the average, with a
erect graceful figure bearing and presence ful OF
courtliness and unstuded elegance, "a well modelled
head solid and symmetrical with broad forehead and
boldly arched brows eyes of steel gray that kndle ana
glow in the heat of delivery, face marked by senslpn
and refinement, with mobile features, eager nexbIe ps
meant for the finer purposes OF Oraory healthy Eng
lish complexion indicating fine physical endurance ana
constitution his unthnned hair freaked with graywon
rather short-these the personal traits that medl
ately arrest command attention. 1t not often that
we look upon such graceful. finely hammered presence
either in the pulpit upon the He not unlike
George vandenho twenty years ago. in personal appear
ance and indeed in his voice AMI elocnton He uses no
notes-reads possibly two as text from small
Bible, indicating his line of thought and with absolute
composure begins his work All personality seems laid
aside all timidtes sefconsciousness-indeed all con
Germ as to what the people may think or say OF the
speaker It's a curious example of spontaneous self
abnecation; sesurrender to the supreme urgency of
official duty. Not that the speaker estrangeS himself
from congregation, or is wanting in sympathy OF Is
hurled in his own intellectually and bewched with his
own graces of speech and fccities Of thinking lie
seems oyermuch lost the people if in trance Of de-
terlnned effort during which he hides himself IL Their
thought and spiritual purposes.
VOICE FULL OF MELODY.
His voice at once ging and imperative, warm and
rich i'm tone with intellectual suavty the perec
ton of social grace and academic discipline He IS at
home in great churches and with crowded throngs, and
he does with a fubreahed, musical, winning melody,
which would of itself and alone easily give him fore
most place pulpit orators. His elOcuon Is simply
delightful fine accomplishment II Is the Vocdlty
and English Of Fanny Kembe Butler, Charlotte Cush-
man George VaudenhOf and John Gilbert The old.
fu-breahed deliberate beauty English speech. with
its melOdlous int0naOn and winning infections, fills the
listener with an mwOnted delight For everybody knows
and aments that this grand classic delivery of English
diving out on the stage in the pulpit, in the Senate
Mo- Of 40 III
ers of the Establishment hardly Ineligible TO the
average American; ptiablc, eheminate aheetaton Of
academic society daintiness, with It's draw ana
drowsiness has nearly swept away with its proyncan
the noble mehuOus speech OF the last generation AT
home few of our gifted and effective preachers have
the slightest ideaOf sound and meOdOus elocuon II
is worth not little any preacher who would study the
secret of legitimate effectiveness to listen TO Monslgnor
Capel. There is such object teaching within reach
The fascination OF eocuton holds out TO the last
word of his discourse There is fear OF exhaus-
ton or of infeicitous cadence or meditation Ana
vet the incest sensitive criticism fails TO detect the
vulgar faint conscious Its charm is its evident
spontaneity Most likely those who meet him in society
hear the same quality of speech and delivery, fitted per
fecty TO time and place One catches more readily the
measure his popular power here in his eocuton and
delivery than when attempts closer analysis OF ms
method OF thought and discourse.
SIMPLE AND DIRECT IN METHOD.
Judged from familiar standards 1t is not altogether
easy to explain or in scholarly way account for Mon
signor Capes uuchallenged distinction as lecturer ana
preacher in England aud indeed throughout Europe In
the sense that Father Burke eloquent Cape is the
tamest Of speakers As a rhetOncian he Is chld com
nared with Dr. Horace Bushnell or Dr. Richard Stoirs
Within the almost binding brilliancy Of Plymouth pulpit
he-seems TO fall into the twilight OF commonplace ana
mcdocrity. Yet perhaps living preacher has faced
more fastidious exactng congregations His methodl Is
so simple and direct that accomplished man finds
almost foolish He indifferent to embellishments
and structural eloauence Even his very dctiOn wears
the hard seryicealle fatigue dress toll and burden
bearing II he illustrates the figure is sure to be prosaic