Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-04-30
BISHOP DONAHUB
PREACHED HIS FIRST SERMON AT HIGH MASS
YESTERDAY
Upon Devotion TO the Mother Of Gcd-Not to Be
Adorsd, But Worthy Of Love and
Vsnsration.

Bishop Donahue would preach his nrsl
sermon In this city at high mass at st.
Joseph's Cathedral yesterday morning,
was sufficient to attract congregation
which filed all the seats and occupied
all the standing room in the church.
All the services during the day were
full of interest. In the morning at $50
o'clock mass was celebrated by the Ri.
Rev. Bishop, and the members oil
Wheeling Division, A. o. a.. received
communion in a body. The Bishop
spoke briefly, directing his remarks to
the Hibernians.
At 1920 o'clock the Ri. Rev. Bishop
preached the sermon OF the day.
Bishop Donahue spoke from the text
Hail full OF Grace" in substance as
follows:
The advent time is come and gone
when the Church in rapt expectation
looked for the coming Of the sacred
Christmas tide. The Circumcision has
been duly observed when our Holy
Mother pays adoring tribute to the first
blood shed for our redemption. In the
glorious Epiphany, we, the spiritual
descendants Of those who erstwhile sat
In darkness and the shadow of death,
stand erect in the blaze of the light OF
Divine Faith and answering gladly the
appeal of the Church, "Arise, Jerusa-
lem, because thy light is come and the
glory Of the Lord hath arisen upon
thee" Then came the sad and
SOLEMN DAYS OF LENT,
DAYS of mourning and of fasting, lit W
indeed by the bright constellation OF
saints like ST. Thomas Aquinas OF an
gelic intellect; the illustrious Gregory
to whom England owes the faith: our
own st. Patrick beloved Of Irish hearts;
and st. Joseph loved OF every heart in
Christendom. But deepening into the
gloom OF Passiontide and the eclipse OF
Calvary; then the light of the resurrec-
tioa, that has never faded since, but
cheered the path of millions to the
grave; and cast the solemnity of the as
cension, now hard upon US. Then
the church having severing the circle
OF all the events in the life, death, res.
direction and ascension turns with love
and revelation to His Most Blessed
Mother, dedicates TO her the sweet
month Of May, the month OF gentle
rains, soft winds, buds, and leaves and
flowers.
Hail full of grace! There are, my
brethren, two forms OF holiness or Of
grace-one negative, consisting in the
absence OF sin; the other positive, i'm
parting fullneSS Of merit. The speaker
cited the field OF untrodden snow, the
green bank note before the denomina-
ton was printed upon it, the simple
innocence Of a baptized babe, as in
STAGES OF mere freedom from stain; and
the same field crowned with sheaves OF
corn; tho note converted into one Of a
thousand dollar denomination; the babe
grown up with life filed with heroic
deeds Of sacrifice, as symbolic Of the
fullness OF grace.
Now Mary, our Mother, certainly
possessed this negative sanctity, even
from the first moment Of her being.
Catholic instinct so decided for nineteen
centuries, and Catholic authority so de-
aned forty years ago in the great dog
ma of the Immaculate Conception.
Nay, more, Protestant instinct, in its
higher and nober moods, has conceded
il. Hear the noble lines Of England s
Laureate, the words of one "who utter
ed nothing false" Thus writes Words
worth:
Mother whose virgin bosom was increased
With the least shade OF thought 10 sin allied.
Woman! above all women gloriHed,
Our tainted natures solitary boast:
Purer than foam on central ocean tossed,
Brighter than eastern skies at dsybreak
strown
With fancisd roses =
Thine Image falls to EARTH"
But secondly, the mother Of God was
endowed with
POSITIVE HOLINESS
to an ineffable degree. The legend
goes that an Oriental monarch stated
with pleasure, demanded of one Of his
courtiers some new delight. To save
his life the poor dependent cudgeled his
brains, aud evolved the noble game OF
chess. The gratfied ruler of many
principalities named as reward, what
soever his follower should ask. The
smallest coin OF the realm. my liege,"
he replied, "for the first of the sixty
four squares, doubling it as you count
on" When the calculation was at
tempted, it was found that all the
gold in all the treasury could
not satisfy the demand. The
Blessed Virgin received her first
grace through the foreseen merits Of
her Divine Son. She correspondent
with that grace and received yet more.
She correspondent with great grace and
received yet more. That corresponded
with, she received more, and yet more,
and yet more, Till our arithmetic and
brains are dazzled by the enormity Of
the geometric progression. Nay, the
ratio of increase was on an enormous
scale. 1t was after the rule-"Because
thou hast been faithful over few
things will place thee over many"
Who can conceive, much less express,
the utter truth OF the Archangers
words, Hail, full OF grace"
After briefly sketching the further
enormous increase of grace by being the
Sanctuary OF the Incarnate Word, by
nourlshing them at her breast, by the
daily contact OF the long years at Nazs-
reth, by the participation in His glori-
Gus passion, the preacher showed that
Mary, remaining still a creature, still
at an infinite distance from the sanctity
of the ever-liv living God, and by no means
to be adored, was yet
ENTITLED TO OUR LOVE
and venerstion. Thousands because of
her were led to her Divine Son. Indeed
love of her led up inevitably to love Of
that Son, millions OF maidens were more
pure because of her, and thousands i'm
itating her example, gave up their lives
utterly to God. The influence OF her
mighty personality has flowed into
hearts thrnnOhnnt all the Centuries. i'm