Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-05-07
Bishop Miohaud Returns.

New L OIk early lHuTsudy morning, On
the Kaiser Wilhelm ii, which sailed from
Genoa for New York April 18th.
Bishop Michaud left New York Janu
airy 9TH, accompanied by the Rev. p. j.
Barrett of Fairhaven. and the Rev. A. j.
Barron of Bennington. The two latter
clergymen returned first after an ex-
tended sOjourn in Egypt, France and
Italy.
Bishop Michaud took the trip partly
for recreation and partly on business.
He has been abroad several times before,
but this trip may be said to have been of
much greater Importance than any of his
| previous visits.
The Bishop was at the house of the
Rev. Edward Mckinley pastor of the
church of st. Rose of Lima, Thursday
afternoon, a very dear friend of the Bish-
ops.
When he was asked about his trip, and
especially about the golden chalice he
has brought from Rome to be presented
| to Archbishop Williams of Boston,
Mass, on his golden jubilee, the Bishop
seemed surprised.
"What do you know about the chal-
ice?"
GAS long as the secret is out, suppose
it will do no harm for me to tell you
about it,, he added, "but it seems odd,
after making an effort to prevent the Sc
cret from leaking out in Rome, to be told
about 1t by newspaper man as soon as
l set foot in my own country.
81 took the trip abroad mainly to Sc
cure the chalice, and l simply combined
| pleasure with business. l visited Alex
andria and Cairo, Egypt, first, and re.
manned there a couple of weeks. l Wis
tied the old Coptic church in Cairo, two
or three rooms of which are said to have
been occupied by Joseph, Mary and the
Holy Child in their flight to Egypt.
81 also drove out of the city some dis
| lance, to tree under which they are
said to have spent the night. l saw the
| pyramids, in fact, everything of any his
torical interest.
"From these points 1 went to Port
Said, Jaffa and Jerusalem, where / re-
manned week, taking in all points of
interest
81 was surprised to find that the city
| of Jerusalem contained more than 10000
| Jews, who of late years have been flock
| ing thither from all points of the com
| pass. Ten or fifteen years ago there was
| hardly Jew in the city, the, population
being composed mostly of Mahometans
and Christians. A most interesting fact
in connection with this is that Mohome-
! tans will not allow the Jews to leave the
city for some peculiar reason. lenjoyed
my stay there very much.
"FrOm Jerusalem | returned to Port
! Said, and from thence to Naples, where
| remained a number of days. From Ma
| pies | went to Rome, and my stay there
| lasted ten weeks. This was partly due
to the fact that l was obliged to wait for
| the chalice, the order for which was
| placed as soon as l arrived"
you of course saw the Pope and
talked with him?'
"Three times. His health is remark
| ably good. He is very old in body, but
| his mind is as clear, bright and active as
! that of any man of fifty years. l was
present at the anniversary celebration of
| his birth. He received the cardinals and
bishops with speech lasting fully forty
minutes. His voice is strong and firm,
and there is no hesitation while he
| speaks. Afterwards he shook hands
! with us all and had word for everyone.
| He is remarkable man."
Did he send by you any special mes
sage to the church in American
mo; but he sent his blessing to my
people"
| About the chalice, may it he SEEM"
| Going to an upper room, the Bishop
| brought down with him fine brown
russia leather case, bearing in blue and
white the papal coat of-arms.
1t contained one of the most beautiful
! chalices ever produced by the celebrated
Roman goldsmiths.
The chaice is about 12t inches in
height, of pure gold and of gothic de-
| sign. The cup is surrounded for nearly
three.quarters of it height by an elabo-
| 1 6 L.
! conception of which is most beautiful.
Between the cup and the base is a four
cornered knob, at the extreme ends of
which are four rare and beautiful special
! Jewels.
All are deeply set in gold. One is a
ruby of remarkably fine color, another a
sapphire, the third an aqua marine, and
| the fourth an amethyst. Each one is
| perfect in color and cut. The knob is
delicately chased in relief.
The browning beauty of the whole
work is the base. This contains, in the
place of the ordinary medallion, eight
pieces of mosaic work in blue and white.
| One represents the annunciatiOn, the
forms being perfect in color and express
sion. Another represents the crucitix-
ion, the cross. Christ nailed to it, with
Mary and st. John at the foot on either
side in prayer. r
| Another is a likeness of the Pope, per-
feet in every detail Another, an en-
blem of the sacrament, contains two
doves, some roses and punches of grapes,
SO perfect that they seem to stand out in
| bas-relief.
The passion is represented by ladder
with roses intertwined
The eighth piece is a clear, white col
umn, scourge and some palm leaves.
The most remarkable thing about
these pieces of work is the fact that the
particles of stone used are almost imper-
cepUible to the human eye, and when
firmly put together present the appear
ance of a solid piece.
The maker of the chalice was A. Tan
FAM of Rome who produced the wonder
full cross of Christ, which Pope Leo pre-
sented to Bismarck some years ago, and
which cost $4,000.
The idea of making such handsome
present to Archbishop Williams origi-
mated some months ago among the bish.
ops of the province of Boston, and took
shape about the first of the year. 1t will
convey to the Archbishop the love, affec-
ton and reverence with which he is held
| in the hearts of his bishops.
The Pope blessed and said Mass with
| the chaliCe on April 18th, the daV before