The Irish standard., 1892-12-10

MlNNE E.AP(
geria in the exeroise and enjoyment Of
their rights" because, forsooth, he op.
posed the renewal Of certain abominable
ard inhuman feaste and sacrifices. The
Emporer espoused General McMahon's
side OF the case, but the intrepid prelate
persisted and fought both. Claiming his
right to exercise charity toward all, es-
pecially toward the children whom his
opponents wished him to abandon to
certain death, Monsignor Lavigerie said:
''Theee children belong to me, because it
is who have preserved to them the life
that still anlmates them. Force only
will take them from their asylunae; and
if they are thus dragged away, | will
utter such cries from my heart of a
bishop as will excite against the perpe-
traitors of this violence the Indignation
OF all those that deserve the pane of men
and of Christians" The government,
wisely declining to court such appro-
brium, allowed the intrepid bishop to
follow his own policy, the wisdom OF
which was not long in demonstrating it.
self even to it's antagonists.
In 1868 the lamented cardinal founded
his famous missionary society whose
members are known as the White Faith
ers, or the priests OF the Algerian mis-
sion. Six years later he Undertook to
evangelize the Sahara and the Soudan,
but his first missionaries, Father Paul
mier, Menoret and Bouchaud, we're slain
by the fanatical Touaregs while on their
wa, to Timbuctoo. The archbishop then
sent three other priests, Fathers Richard,
Pouplard and Morat, through Trlpoli to
the Sahara, where they succeeded in es-
tablishing missionary station at Cha
danes. Plus TX urged the archbishop
to found four great central missions in
the Soudan, and in furtheranee of that
plan he located priests on the two Lakes
Nyanza, Tanganika and at the most
northern point attainable on the banks
of the Congo, from which centres have
since spread the fourishing missionary
stations which are now to be found in
equatorial Africa. The late Pore Schynse,
whose death took place last year and
who accompanied Stanley back to the
seacoast on his memorable voyage, was
one of Cardinal Lavigerie's African mis-
sionaries; another is Father Ohrwalder,
whose work, "Ten Years Captivity in
Mandi's Camp" is just now creating
such a sensation in London and other
European cities, and the order counts
nearly score of martyrs among it's men,
bers, notwithstanding that tits not yet
in existence quarter of a century. It
already has missionary colleges at Tri-
poll, Jerusalem, Malta and Rome, and
it's jealous founder has spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars, collected by his
own energetic efforts or denoted by the
Society for the Propagation Of the Faith,
in the promotion of Christianity in the
Dark Continent.
The suppression of the slave trace was
something that enlisted Monsignor Lavi-
gerie's best efforts almost as soon as he
began his African mission, and all the
world knows how diligently he has la
bored for that purpose. Not alone in the
land whore the infamous traffic rules did
he oppose it, but his zeal carried him to
Europe, to denounce it in the principal
cities, and to enlist the aid of the several
powers for it's destruction. Paris, Rome,
Brussels, London and other places lis
tened to his denunciations of the slave
trade and his appeals for means to. fight
the wretches who persisted in carrying
it on. international assemblies, with
the suppression of this slavery for their
chief aim, have been attended by him
again and again, and il to-day the horril
traffic is on it's wane in Central Africa,
it's decay has been hastened by no one
man more than by Cardinal Lavigerie,
who never ceased his attacks upon the
infamous system. OF late years Cardinal
Lavigerie won new prominence by the
staunch allegiance which he gave to the
existing government of France, an allegi-
ance which drew upon him the criticism
and censure of several of the monarchi-
oally inclined prelates Of the repub-
lie.
In personal appearance Monsignor
Lavigerie was the beau-ideal of an apos-
tolic churchman. Over six feet in sta
tnre, built in proportion, his massive
shoulders supported q finely shaped head,
whose face glowed at once with inteli-
Qence OF the loftiest character and kind
illness Of the most genial nature. He
wore his beard flowing, after the manner
of eastern missionaries, and although his
days were ones Of great physical. pain
and sufferings, he never lost his good
temper, but was always given to jesting
on his weakness and failing strength.
N