New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-26
BISHOP MCDONNELL.

rom ne copyrighted photograph by Anderson Nec Yorko
thec interest various orders OF nuns and sisters,
hOnOred Of all who know their self-sacriicing de-
yotOn; a small army Of priests. regular and
secular; gooIly company OF distinguished pre-
lates, and the Archbishop Of the imperial diocese
Of New-York with his staff Of clergy-all con-
tributed TO make the occasion memorable one
in the history of American Catholicism.
Here and there might he seen a few Protestant
clergymen-for the Archbishop Of the diocese and
the Bishop OF Brooklyn, rigid Churchmen though
they are. number among their friends many Of
their separated clerical brethren. Truth to say.
some of these good brethren found it hard to
understand the religious significance of the august
function which they witncc ed; while Others with
more sympathetic religious outlook and a heener
sense of religious symbolism, strOve to be at once
cathoc-minded and at the time Protestant
in their attitude toward all really essential
Catholic doctrines and practices. To the devout
aud understanding Catholic the spectacle was Q
moving one when the prelates and priests in their
splendid vestments grouped themselve' around the
Archbishop and the Bislop-elect in the sanctuary.
What mattered it to true son of the Church il
he sat so far back that he saw little and heard
less Of the solemn ritual?
NOBLE MEMORIES RECALLED
The magnificent temple of worship, conse-
Grated by the sclf-dcnying devotion of Arch.
bishop Hughes and Cardinal McCloSkey, as
well as the myriads Of unknown Catholics
of the Archdiocese who helped to build it,
spoke 10 him with far more eoquence than
any human words of the faith and aggressive
vitality of the Church And though the service
was no more than dumb show 10 him. so far as
hearing was concerned it brought 70 his memory.
if he were versed in tie history Of his Church what
innumcrable uiumphs and glories the Church
achieved in the dim and distant golden ace of
ITS history, when faith was young and strong. when
saints shed halo of glory on every sacred page
OF It's record, when martyrs died that the truth
might hve, and when countless myrads of plain
neh ana women by their simple faith and by
their valiant deeds, did so much to increase tina
splcndor and the greatness OF the Church.
Those variegated yestments so out of barmonv
with the uttarian, workaday world of today,
curry the mind of tie understanding Churchman
BACK TO those early days of the Church, when its
humble clergy wore the simple smock frock dress
OF tho people, of which dress they are the natural
and orderly evolution, retained at first ont of
reverence for the past, and elaborated according
TO the eXigencies Of The times. The brilliant lights
on the altar brought up picture of the Chris
tiah services held secretly in the catacombs Of
Rome, when candles were first used for necessary
illumination, and afterward retained for their
symbolic teaching And the stately ritual of the
mass and the conservation, with its solemn
litanies. embedded they in the very language
of the past, call up visions of the days Of old when
these and other offices were literally tongue
underStanded of the people"
these venerable formulas, alien TO modern
life and thought, have played large part in the
history of Christianity. Many generations of holy
men and women have repeated them. They have
been intoned on the banks of the Tfbcr and the
Thames in days when modern history was not
yet made. Naughty patrcians OF Rome. holy
pundits of the Orient, and the rude barbarians
who founded the nations Of modern Europe lis
tened to them with bowed head and adoring
heart. Saints whom all the world TODAY.
Protestant ard Catholic alike, delight TO rever.
ence found in them an inspiration and solace.
and martyrs, whose blood freely She'd became
the seed of the Church. murmured their sacred
sentences as they calmly and joyfuly went to
their death. Whatever may be our theological
whatever may be our attitude
toward the grelt communion which acknowledges
It's allegiance TO the Bishop of Rome, there is that
in It's ancient ritual and ceremonies rs well In
its history, running back into the Oblivion of the
past, which must compel at least the respectful
interest of all who would rightly understand ths
SroW I'll anu ucNclOplnenJ Ol InrlStliHlty.
FORCEFUL OBJECr-LEsSoN.
But not only did the ceremony OF yesterday
recall the vicisstudes and victories Of the
Church's past history it was significant object
lesson Of the churchs strength and devotion
to-day 1t was much more than barren cere-
monial. To look upon it as such would be to
take q superficial view of the subject Such
service, characterized by every element Of popu-
lar interest and ZEAL is only. possible because the
Church is alive and is instinct in every part Of
it with aggressive vitality. The growth of the
Church in the Archdiocese of New-York has been
remarkable during the last twenty-five years.
There has been vast increase in the member
ship. many new parishes have been formed, and
large number Of handsome pas, churches have been
in their work they have been faithfully SEQ
onded by the laty, both men and women.
Brooklyn is, next to New-York, the strongest
diocese In the archdiocese. and while its new
Bishop is to be congratulated on his ACCESSION
to it, the diocese is no less to be congratulated