The Irish standard., 1892-12-10
AFRICAN APOSTLE.
The Remarkable Career and Chief
Characteristics Of the Late
Cardinal Lavigerie.
AN INDUSTRIOUS CHURCHMAN

Founder Of the White Fathers and
the Armed Brothers of the
Sahara Desert.
An apostolic character has dropped out
of the ranks Of the Catholic hierarchy
the sacred college misses one of it's mos,
llustrious members; France mourns 70,
q citizen whose loyalty depended not or
the maintenance Of effete monarchical in.
stitutie ns, and Africa laments the death
Of sphilanthropist who did more in hie
day to free her from the horrors of the
slave traffic than any other man of his
time, Charles Martial Cardinal Lavigerie
Archbishop of Carthage aud superior.
general of the Missionary Society Of AL.
Qiers.
This lamented prelate, whose death il
widely deplored not only in Catholic Cir.
oles, but throughout all christen dom, was
born in 1925 at Bayonne, his parents be-
ing worthy members OF an old Bour-
geois family. Taken under the especial
patronage OF the famous Monsignor Du.
panloup, the prelate of Orleans, and sent
by him to st. Sulpice, at Paris, for his
ecclesiastical training, young Lavigerie,
who had for confessor the eloquent and
pious Pere de Ravignan, was ushered
into the sacred ministry under the most
promising auspices. He graduated from
the universities with the highest honors,
and became, first, a professor in the Sor.
bonne, where the merits of his lessons
are yet the traditions with the pupils who
attend that famous school. Academic
\ honors were not destined to content the
! future cardinal, albeit early in his career
g surfeit Of such dignities came to
him. In 1860, after the terrible massa-
ores Of the Maronites by the Mussulmans
in Syria, he was sent to that country to
distribute the aid which certain charita-
ble Partisan societies had collected for
I t.4eir relief; and there his future destiny,
which has been described as an effort "to
prove to materiAlism the superiority of
christian charity-to make men love
Christ before asking them to adore Him.
was revealed to him, and to it thence.
forth he devoted the best energies of his
great mind and large heart.
While still very young ecclesiastic,
Abbe Lavigerle's learning and piety had
won him an important pastorate in his
native diocese In 1861 the Holy See
named him auditor of the rota for France,
which appointment entailed on him many
difficult and delicate duties, in the dis
charge OF which he displayed astonieh-
ing zeal and tact. He became the bishop
Of Nancy and primate of Lorraine in his
38th year, and it was while he held these
importat trusts that he heard the Mace
donian cry Of the Algerians calling upon
him to cross over to their country and,
while combating the evils of the slave
trade, to restore the ancient glories of
their church. Lazarus, come forth p
said he, in the pastoral he issued in 1866,
when he took possession of the new see.
"Let thy children, learning thy history
over again, know that we come to them
toarestore to them the light, the greatness,
the honor Of the past; and let thy an
cient conquerers themselves understand
that we Wish to avenge thee only by
benefits
As bishop Of Algiers, Monsignor Lavi-
gerie had the honor of calling together
and presiding over the first provincial
council held in that land since the sup
preston therein of Catholicity; and in
opening that assemblage he made mag
nifcent address to the prelates who had
gathered at his bidding, urged them to
put their focks on their guard against
the insidious errors which masked then1-
selves under the cloak of liberalism and
conoiliation. WHITTIER" queried he,
"do these pretended cancellations lead?
And whence comes the abyss Of evils
into which Europe is plunged, except
from such weakness which is never prof
liable except to evil? We have heard
proclaimed as . political axiom the IA
mons saying, g free church in q free
late, ]" Famous Catholics have sup-
ported i. Italy. Rome, Switzerland,
Spain ENJOY this pretended ideal, and
the church finds therein only two things
q. eryitude and spoliation under the
yoke of 4 state which is made q persecu-
Tor. 81 s #
81 s1n a The exercise of his authority il Al
Bishop Laviigseriie came into CON
aa sith Mahon, then gov5
u = q md the soldier, with
G. thsn disc es|ttiion rushed into
g. tthe of 'troubl-
l. H. e. iIss 4 ion "A q Is u pnlation Is Az