The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-17
CATHOLIC NEWS.
A Iridium OF Thanksgiv-
ing Begins at St. Peters
Tomorrow.
BISHOP WIGGER WILL BE PRESENT
Preachers at st. Lucy's Sunday
and Wednesday-News From
All the Parishes.
BISHOP WIGGER WILL BE PRESENT

thanksgiving for the qualification of Blessed
Anthony Baldinucci, ST., viii begin. The
solemn high mass will be celebrated by
Father O'Carroll, So, assisted by Father
Kelly. ST. as deacon, and Father Zeigler,
ST., as sub-deacon. Father Harper will be
the assistant priest. Rev. Thomas Wallace,
Chancellor of the Diocese, will be master of
ceremonies. Bishop Wigger will be pres
emit, and will be assisted by W deacons OF
honor.
The Right Reverend Bishop will assist in
the celebration of the mass, joining the
officiating clergy at the foot of the altar
during the preparatory prayers, then read
ing from his missal portions of the mass
which the celebrant recltes or sings.
The of pontitical assistance at
holy mass is rather rare in this city.
The sermon at the high mass will be
preached by Father Denny, s. j., of St.
Francis Xavier's Church, New York.
Father Finnigan win preach the sermon to-
New York, on Monday evening. Father
Harpes will conclude the iridium Tuesday
night.
LIFE OF FATHER ANTHONY.
Rev. Anthony Baldinucci, Sd, was born
IN Florence, June IS, 1865. He was named
Anthony in honor of st. Anthony of Padua,
in fnlfllment of a promise made by his father
out of thankfulness for afavor received from
that Saint. He early experienced the pro-
lection of his patron, for shortly after bap-
tism he fell from his nurses arms to the
ground and escaped all injury.
When he was but two years old, and again
when he had reached the age of ten, God
vouchsafed to make known the great destiny
of the boy by two visions granted to a holy
religious concerning him. In the first she
beheld st. Ignatius of Loyola. holding a
child of the Baldinucci in his arms, who told
- - L Ill - It- o,s.r,c ruOr1l1 nnn n IT
become a Jesuit and a great saint. In the
econd, it was made known to her that the
thild's name was Anthony.
The story of his vocation to the religious
life is interesting. He was sixteen when he
thought of embracing the vows of religion,
and then felt a strong bent towards the Order
of st. Dominic. His father, however, with
held his approval because this call did not
tally with the revelations that had been
made concerning him, and insisted that he
should make a retreat In a house OF the So
ciety of Jesus.
Anthony obeyed, and, after going through
the Exercises, received the heavenly impulse
to enter on the life of a Jesuit. He was as
yet but sixteen years of age, but he secured
his fathers consent and entered the novitiate
of San Andrea on the 21st of April, 1851.
His life as a novice was stamped with
feryor and exactness. In due time he pro
nounced his first vows, and went to the Ro-
man College to study philosophy, where
again his manner of life won for him regard
and veneratioa. The term of regency, that
is, of t~eaching-lfe. followed. He made his
theological studies in Rome, and was or
dained in Florence, the place Of his birth.
HIS WORK AS A PRIEST.
After his ordination he was sent to Sabina
as the field of exercise for his priestly zeal.
As the result of his laberS there, he felt anew
the stimulus of grace, and asked for the In
dies and the opportunity OF becoming a mar
tyr. His request was not granted, however,
he being sent to Viterbo instead. Eventu-
ally he was assigned to the missions in the
Roman Campagna, n wore out in them a
weary martyrdom of twenty years.
The objects of his apostolic zeal were as
various as were the conditions OF men in his
day, for he preached alike In village and city
and to all, to the poor and rich, the holy and
the sinful. His power over souls was won
derful. as manifested in the ease with which
he could subdue all the opposition he met
with in preaching the word of God. Thus,
for instance, when he was sent by Clement
XI. to preach the Exercises in the galleys at
Civita Vecchia, he encountered reluctance
s~urliness from the sailors and the galley
slaves: but Father Anthony soon softened
their STONY hearts and won them over to a
gentle hearing of his words.
Yet, Perhaps, his most solid and enduring
fruits of sanctiication were produced among
the villagers near and around Frascatl,
among whom he reaped a goodly harvest that
attested his own apostolic character. The
usual results of his preaching among them
were to be seen in the abuses he stopped, in
the disputes which he healed, and in the long
arrangements to which he put al end.
His life among these simple people was one
encouraging series of triumphs over nature
in overcoming the weaknesses of his health,
and, in the marvels he performed, might be
termed one continual miracle. He used to
travel IN foot from town to town, would
preach -four or five times daily, besides giving
instructions, and to close the round of the
DAYS labors he would discipline himself to
blood in order to excite the sinner to com
junction of heart and sorrow for his sins.
He IN many ways worked real miracles.
A STARTLING A
One of those miracles was so startling and
convincing in character that it has found its
way into every account of Blessed Anthony's
life, and has furnished a theme for the pain
ter's brush. While travelling one day near
Velletre Father Anthony came to the town
of Julinani, where he was asked by the people
to preach to them. Father Anthony assented,
and on account of the great number of his
hearers adjourned from the church to the
open air, preaching to them from under a
leafv elm In the course of his sermou he
alluded to those over-trlsty souls who are
apt to conide in Gods mercy and make light
of His Justice, and, prompted by an interior
IMPULSE. Dis he pointed to the branches above
Hit1. uC Z lCl w. ~ AA4NSiJ 0CtAo AZ y Ot
think are going down into the abyss of hell
at this very minute? l say, as many as there
are leaves now falling from this tree 1t
was April, remember, when the leaf is cling
ing and least likelyto fall, yetthey descended
in a shower and covered the ground beneath.
There were copious tears of sorrow shed that
day in the little town and the Holy Spirit
comforted many a soul that did penance.
PRoPHEsIED his wv DEATH.
Father Anthony's life had been striking
in many ways, and SO was his death to be.
1t had been a puzzllng matter to understand
how one who had weak health and a weak
voice could stand the hardships and the toll
of a missionary lifeA In like name when,
on his last mission and seemingly in the en-
joyment of good health, he babe his hearers
farewell, saying that of all at the time there
present together he should die first, it was
simply impossible to understand him or be-
lieve the truth of his words.
Yet he was shortly afterwards taken, i'll
and from an slight sickness passed into
his mortal agony. He died on November I.
1717, in little village to which he had
~iourneyed to conduct a mission. His body
was buried in the Church of the Franciscans
of Pof, the place where he died, and the
grief and laments of the poor told how
attended on his death and burial, and seven
months later his body was found free from
corruption like the image of one asleep.
The fame of the Blesseis sanctity soon
sxread through Italy. In 1870, investigation
was made concerning the truth of the mir
acles. In 1883, by dispensation, the process
for the discussion of the virtues and the
Facts worth Knowing.