The Newtown bee., 1891-05-29
Dedication of St Stephens Chapel
at Stepney


 The postponed dedication ot St Stt Il phen's chapel occurred at Stepney, Sur !, day, 24th. The fine weather brough crowds of people from Newtown, Bridge t port and surrounding towns to witnes o the impressive ceremonies. On accoun s of the bishops absence in Europe, the ceI I emony was performed by Vicar Genera
 Hughes, assisted by seven priests. Tn
 clerical procession formed at the chape :, altar about II 30 m and, with lighted |. candles, slowly proceeded down the aisle burning incense and chanting the beauti {, ful service of dedication. After proceed :. ing around the chapel, the procession O g priests returned again to the altar, ,wher ) the ceremony was completed. The cler r gy present were Vicar General Hughes 5 of Hartford; Fathers Nihil of St Pat rick's, Bridgeport; Kennedy of Brming l ham; Creigh of Ansonia, formerly o.
 Newtown; Synnott of Hazardville ;O'Bri
 an of Bridgeport; Fox of NewtOwn; Dl Maher of Hartford, private secretary o1 Bishop McMahon. Immediately after , the dedicatory services, mass was cele brated by Father Creigh. Miss Annie
 Leonard's mass was well rendered by the
 senior choir of St Rose, ably assisted by , members from St Patrick choir, Bridge
 port. The orator of the occasion was
 Father Synnott, formerly of Bridgeport, who was the first Catholic priest to cele- , brate mass in Stepney. After relating some interesting history of the movement
 that finally resulted iu the establishment
 of the chapel and paying a compliment
 to the executive ability of Father Dono-
 hue, through whose efforts the chapel
 was built, the speaker devoted his atten- tion chiefly to an explanation of the ho- ly sacrifice of the mass and the use of the Latin language by the church of Rome. The following are not the speak CTS exact words, but they contain the substance of his remarks:
 Sacrifice is the highest act of religion, be- cause other acts by which we worship God may also be used, though in a limited sense, in honoring the angels, saints, kings and oth- CT high personages, while sacrifice is ex- cusiVely due to God that it can only be offer cd to Him; for theInatnral end of sacrifice is to show by the destruction Of or notable change in the victim, the sovereign dominion over creation which belongs to Cod alone. From the beginning of the world the servants ot God were accustomed to offer sacrifice to the Most High God. And in all ancient relig ions, true or false, this worship of sacrifice was always looked upon as the most solemn act Ot religion. It was therefore proper that, as in the law Of nature and in the Mosaic law, there were sacrifices instituted by the All mighty, there should also be in the law of grace a continual sacrifice whereby to wor- ship God in g manner worthy of Him, besides the One Sacrifice offered by our Lord Jesus
 
 rihces of the old law were figures of the rifce offered by Christ on Calvary with the shedding of His Most Precious Blood, so those sacrifices of the old law that were without the shedding of blood were types of another sac without blood shedding. The Prophet MaIa- chias toretold in plain words this daily sacri- flee of the new law when he said: "FOr from the rising of the sun even until the going down my name is great among the GentileS; and in every place there is sacrifice and there is of- tered to my name clean oblatiOn; tor my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."- Malachi I, H. That which it was reasonable we should have, that which was toreshadowed by the figures Of the old Testament and moreover, even tOretOld, our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished at the Last Supper, For the Holy Eucharist, which he then instituted, is not only a sacrament, but also true sacrifice, offered up then by the same Jesus Christ to His Eternal Father, and offered now daily by Himself through the min istry of the Priest wherever the Priest cele- who are present. uniting in the oblation. The Holy Sacrifice Ot the Mass is a commemora- tive sacrifice, regarded as q true sacrifice by the Apostles and their successors, and by the whole Catholic church in all centuries. It is likewise so regarded even by all ancient schis- nautical churches, who separated themselves from the Catholic church between the fifth and ninth centuries and who have up to the present preserved among them the Sacrifice of the Mass ns an institution of Christi To complete a commemorative sacrifice, the act ual putting to death of the victim is not nee cssary, but only the real presence of the vic tim, accompanied by n mystical death, or by such a notable change in the thing offered as
 
 no more" (Romans VI, 9 and yet He offers IIimselfto His Eternal Father as one dead, though alive, 'a Lamb standing it were slain" Apocalypse or ReYelatlon Y, 6) show ing continually to God the Father His five most tion on Calvary. In like manner, His having died once, never to die again, does not pre- vent Jesus Christ from being offered true Victim in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as an with only mystical death. Some of the sacrifices of the old law were of this kind, as, for example, the typical sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham; and in inc offering of the sparrow. Moreover, there are sacrifices Ot lifeless things, which serve to support animal lite, in which therefore actual death is not possible. Such were the lOaves fproposition or shew bread, called in Leviticus (XXIY, 9 ''mOst holy of the sacrifices of the Lord by perpetual right" Such likewise were the sac ritices described in the 2d chapter of Levitt a handful of the flour offered by the people should be offered by the Priest in sacrifice up. on the Altar and there burned by the Priest Aaron or his sons. This sort of sacrifice was regarded by the Jews a true sacrifice, call ed Mincha, which word is translated by the Seventy Interpreters Gin the Greek version called the SeptuaglnD and by the Latin Nul- gate, simply Sacrifice. Now, it is clear thatin this kind of sacrifice neither an actual nor even a mystical death took place, but only d very notable change, which is enough for the nature of a sacrifc, In the Holy Eucharist, the Victim, namely, Jesus Christ, is truly pre- sent, therefore He can be offered up,and He is truly offered up, as an Oblation to His Etern- al Father; and although the death ot the vict- i'm does not occur in reality, yet it takes place mystically; the Body Of Christ being made
 
 since, by the power ot the consecratng words, first, the Body of Christ is caused to be pre- sent under the species Cor what appears to the senses) of bread, and then His Blood is caused to be present under the species of wine. This mystical death, by seeming sepa- ration of the Blood from Christ's Body, join ed with the true offering ot Jesus Christ, who is truly present, living and entire under each species, can and does constitute real sacri- flee commemorative of that of the Cross. This twotold cOnseeratiOn is by Christ'S institution so essential to the sacrificial ct that if there nIn1N a Ot ha n ly cousecration of the wine, our Lord would be present, but not as Sacrifice, because in not be complete. Jesus Christ is called by the Royal Psalmist "A Priest forever accord ing to the order of Melchisedec" (Psalm cix. 4), because the sacrifice which Melchisedec offered, as "the Priest of the Most High God'' Genesis xiv. lS), was that of bread and wine, which was not a direct figure of the sacrlhce offered up on Calvary with spilling of blood, but ot the sacrifice of the Mass, which is offer ed under the species of bread and wine with out the shedding ot blood, and offered for ever; "the clean oblation" spoken of by the it is also in reference to the Sacrifice of the Mass that mention is made by St. Paul of Altar as belonging to the Christian Dispensa- brews xiii. 10. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass does not differ in it's essence from the sacri- flee offered up upon Mount Calvary. As find on Calvary and in the Mass the same identical Victim, and the same principal Off sentally the same. The two sacrifices only differ in non-e essentials, because only the man ner or OH6r1nS IS QlI6r0nU. one was OHGTeu by Christ personally, the other is offered by Him through His ministers. The former was offered with real suffering, real shedding ot blood, and real death of the Victim; the latter with only a mystical suffering, a mystical shedding of blood and mystical death ot the same Victim. Therefore the Priest, at the time of the consecration, does notsay "This is the Body of Christ" but, acting in the person ot Christ, says ''This is my Body" according to words might be rendered, "Offer up this" It is on account of this Sacrifice offered daily on llN,.iSf fINlt Priest for ever according to the order of Mel chisedec" (PsaIm cix. 4; Hebrews vii. ID