The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-07
Bishop Brondel's Interesting Letter
Of His Impressions Of the
Holy Land.
Rev. Mr.. Berry Discusses the Har-
vest From q Religious
Point Of View.
Rev. Mr.. Broadus, of Boonville, MO-,
breaches an Interesting ser-
men ut the Baptist Church.


Sentinel at Portland:
In company with the English pilgrims.
We arrived at Nazareth on the first of the
month of Mary, last Thursday evening. We
had seen Bethulia where Judith cut of the
place of Esther, but here We see the place
whore the Angel Of God, Gabriel, said to
Mary: Hail. full of grace; the Lord is
with thee, blessed art thou among woman
It is here that the second Eve answered her
humble submission to the will of God:
"Let it be done to me according to thy
word" and she conceived here of the Holy
Ghost, and here the Word was made flesh.
Here then God became man, and Mary be-
came the mother of God. We live in the
Casa Nova, and went to see the spot where
Mary was when the Angel Gabriel
appeared. The Franciscans have
built q decent church over the
grotto. We descend a flight of steps in
the middle of the church to reach the grot-
to, we see, as we go down; on the walls is a
slab of black marble, marking where stood
by the angels to Loretto in Italy in the 18th
century; that is the place where the angel
stood. Mary was kneeling on the spot in
the cavern adjoining the house, where the
altar stands. Here We read the words: "Hic
verbum caro- factum est" Back of the al
Joseph leading the ass on which is seated
Mary with the divine Infant, and the words
"Hic erat subditus ills" A flight of steps
brings you to another cavern, which is COM
monty called the kitchen of the Blessed
Virgin. In one place you can see that fire
is about six feet high and fifteen feet long
by nine in width. One wonders how God
became man and lived in such place, but
then all the words of God surpass our un-
derstanding. As we are living in an age
when the pride of the mind browns the sub
mission of the will, have prayed most
fervently in this spot that all of us may
may ever be submissive to the will of God,
as manifested by the will of our superiors,
and have thought if God obeyed his Great
ures to teach obedience, how much more
reason have we to those who direct us in
the name of God.
went to see the carpenter shop of st.
Joseph, after assisting in the litanies which
were sung yesterday afternoon, the first
Saturday in the month of Mary. How that
litany took meanings which never
dreamed of before!
gels, yes, here Gabriel, one of the highest,
saluted her with submission, Queen of Pa
triarchs; we saw the tomb of Joseph, and
the land of Jacob and the we'll he built for
himself, his children and his cattle; here
lived the Queen of all the Patriarchs, Queen
tectress OF these of the past, may she be
the same to those of the present. But
am giving too much of my thoughts. let us
describe the carpenter shop of st. Joseph.
The churches have been enlarged and beau
titled on the spot where Jesus acted as the
that 80 many workingmen now take st.
Joseph as their patron saint in order to
preserve the Christian spirit.i,aIp this coun-
try we see how low civilized people may
fall when lost to the guidance of the
church. This land of milk and honey,
whose VI elor;ss Of the past are known
poorer and harder country to travel through
than our new state of Montana, which only
twenty-five years ago was the hunting
ground of the savage. All the children you
meet will cry out for bakshish, that is
money. The towns are like mud holes on
the sides of the hills, SO that you can hardly
distinguish the villages from the rocks Of
the hills on which they are built. You see
race of people here who seem as if they
we're tired of working, sitting around the
gates on the roofs. The streets in the town
are narrow, dirty and shrinking. You see
ruins everywhere, and the truth strikes you
stronger than ever: here man killed the
Savior and the curse of God is on the land.
The true religion was banished and misery
stares you in the face everywhere. For
tunately we travel through in tents and in
the principal places the Franciscan Faith ers
offer shelter and food which make the trim
and stay delightful.
OF the carpenter shop nothing remains,
but the church is built on the spot. From
there went to the we'll of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary, five minutes off. This is the only
we'll in Nazareth, and as saw the women
carrying their pots with water half inclined
on their heads, thought of Mary who
thousands of times did the same thing here,
carrying the water on her head from the
we'll through the streets to her house.
From Mary's we'll I went to the Mensa
Christi. This is stone ON which Our Lord
took meal with His apostles after the res
direction. The Franciscan Fathers have
built church over it. It is large rock
twelve feet long by six in width, standing
about three feet above the floor. From the
Mensa Christa we went to the synagogue,
which is now a Maronite Catholic church.
st. Luke, c. Nv. relates what happened there.
From my room as write, can see the
place where the Mother of Jesus ran and
had tremors when in the vicinity the
Nazareites were going to precipitate her
Son from the rock, as described by the
Evangelist.
We intend leaving Nazareth next Tues
day for Caipha, thence to Alexandria,
where l intend taking ship for Naples
and Rome.