The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-09
APOSTOLIC DELEGATION
IrNIrrn STATES nE AMEpITA

WASHINGTON D. c., Nov. %, 1889
Rer. and Dear Sir: Your letter OF the 22d
inst. came duly to hand
In reply, we would say with regard to your
undertaking of further extending the light oil
Catholic truth on the Pacific Coast, we have
only words of commentator The more SO
when we recall to mind the recent public
utterance OF our Holy Father, Leo Mi, IN
which he so highly praised the work inaugu-
rated in this country by the Paul1St Fathers;
and we trust that others like you Will be
stimulated to greater efforts in this compare
lively neglected field.
Wishing you, therefore, God speed in your
work and an abundant harvest, remain very
sincerely. yours in the Lord,
FRANCIS ABP. SAToLLI, Apostolic Delegate.
To Rev. Henry II. Wymsn, Superior OF the
Paulists, San Francisco, Cal.
Rev. Father Wyman preached the SER
mon at the mass yesterday from the text:
Il will put enmities between thee and the
woman; she shall crush thy head and thou
shalt lie in wait for her heel Genesis
iii:15.
The doctrine of the immaculate con-
eeption," said Father Wyman, ''gives us q
better understanding of the holiness OF
God, inasmuch as it immeasurably exalts
the incarnation of the second person of the
Holy Trinity, Christ manifested to men
his divinity by saying: If you had known
me you would also know the Father; he
that seeth me seeth the Father Also In
the godhead as we have through the incar-
nation.
Sin is a malady 50 far reaching in its
consequences as to affect all generations.
When our first parents had sinned satan
doubtless knew and rejoiced that not only
two individuals had fallen. but millions of
their descendants. His exultation was,
however, happily cut short, for God, the
omnipotent one, said to him, L will put
O. r0ItjaS hatwapO thee aDd fhn wN 9.
she snail crush thy head and thou shall lie
in wait for her heel
"God revealed the immaculate concep-
ton of the Virgin to Adam before he re-
vealed the incarnation and redemption of
mankind, because the immaculate con-
ceptlon is prelude to the incarnation and
without it the incarnation would be i'm
possible. How, it might be asked, could
Mary have been preserved from the talnt
of original sin? | answer that it is as
easy for omnipotence to prevent one from
mourning the stain of sin as it is for him
to forgive it after evil has been committed
Holy scripture teaches us that the proph-
cts jeremiah and St. John the Baptist
were sanctified before birth.
as it not reasonable then to suppose
that God would confer upon her who was
chosen to be the mother of the incarnate
word greater favor By preventing her
from mourning the stain of original sin ?'
Father Wyman went on to say that
the belief in the Immaculate conception is
the touchstone of the Christian faith in its
integrity.
The Bishops of the Catholic church in
the United States he said, wears ago
petitioned the Holy See to make the feast
of the Immaculate Conception the paternal
feast of the United States, knowing well
that she who first crushed the serpent's
head would preserve the church here in
America free from error and make it active
in zeal for the salvation of souls. This
feast is also our great day, and it seems to
me providential that our mission work
so highly commended by Monsignor Sa-
TOLL, should begin here in San Francisco
on this day"