The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-04-14
BISHOP RYAN IN JERUSALEM
An Interesting Letter From the Holy
City of Jerusalem: Written by
the Bishop Of Buffalo.
OFFERING MASS ON MT. CALVARY,
The Many Sights to be Seen During
Visit to the Holy
Land.

Land.
The annexed is q copy Of letter
written by his i.ordship, the Right
Rev. DR.. S. V. Ryan, Bishop of Buffalo,
at Mount Calvary. Jesusalem, ad-
dressed to the Ven. Rev. Father Glea-
son, Administrator Of the Diocese OF
Buffalo.
JERUSALEM, Feb. 16, 1855.
VERy REV. DEAR S1R-The above
heading will tell you that we have at
length reached the Holy City Of Jerusa-
lem and we can truly say, adoravimus
in loco ubi steterunt.
We can hardly realize it. The morn
ing after our arrival, we offered the
Holy Mass Oh Mount Calvary, on the
very spot where His blessed Mother re-
ceived Him on her lap, when taken
down from the cross and within a few
feet from where the Lamb without spot
offered the bloody sacrifice On the altar
OF the cross. You may imagine we
cannot describe our feelings on that
spot, and in offering the tremendous
mysteries renewing the same sacrifice,
ln obedience to Ills own command, III
an unbloody manner on the very spot.
we may say. where the work OF redemp-
tion was accomplished, and where
Jesus offered himself to His heavenly
Rather a victim for the sins Of the
world.
This morning on another altar, quite
close to the same, 1 offered the Holy
Mass Oh the very spot where Jesus was
nailed to the cross, and, after Mass,
kissed the place where the cross was
raised, OH which Jesus hung for three
hours for our redemption.
There is an altar also here, but 1T Is
in possession OF the Greek schismatlcs
and the Mass in the Latin rite cannot
be said there. The crypt Of the Holy
Sepulcilre, over the very tomb OF cur
Lord is common to the Greeks, Armen-
ians and Catholics, and the hours are
fixed for each. In order to be able to
say Mass there I had to 20 the evening
before to sleep II & room adjoining the
sacred Basilca as we can only say Mass
at an early hour before the DOORS are
open for outsiders. The Greeks begin
their services about 1880 ?. m., and the
menians follow them, then our altar
=, .r,,x, ie,13 m
1t seems utterly impossible Tor me to
say what were my feelings of devotion
or how fervently ! prayed for all tue
dear friends at home and al these hal
lowed surroundings.
Then in visiting all the places sancti~
fed by tue presence and the very foot
prints Of our Blessed Lord and Saviour.
[ cannot even enumerate them--the
Cenacle where the last supper and The
descent of the Holy Ghost took place,
the Garden of Getnsemane, the spot
where Our Lord prayed and the Apos-
ties slept, the spot on which st. Stephen
was stoned to death, the House OF An
mas and Caiphas, the via dolorosa te
Calvary, and the place where st. Yer
onica Offered Him a handkerchief and
where He met His Blessed Mother.
Yesterday, on donkeys, we visited all
the surroundings of the city, the val
lev of Gihon and the c,vern OF the
lepers, the tombs of Absalom, Mount
Sion, MI. Olivet, Went down in 0 the
grave of Lazarus, and the Pool of Siloe,
the house of Joachim and Anna where
the Blessed Virgin was born, and the
erotto, where tradition says she was
buried; bethany, where Martha and
Mary lived; Bethphage, to which our
Lord sent His two disciples, and rode
along the very road by which our Lord
returned in triumph into the migrate
full city, pausing at the point where He
wep5 over the city, and many other diff
ferent places hallowed by some event
in our saviour's life.
Tomorrow, Friday, we will make
Stations OF the Cross solemnly through
the city from Pilates house, where He
was condemned to death, to Calvary's
Mount, where He expired on the cross,
through the hard, rough, dirty, narrow
streets of Jerusalem, through which
our Lord bore His heavy cross for our
sins and for our salvation, and to-mor-
row morning, by invitation of the good
religious In charge of the chapel known
as the ''Ecce Homo" l go to say Mass
where rilate presented Jesus to the
people with the exclamation, Ecce
Homo.
l cannot pretend to tell you al. there
is here to be seen and must put off for