The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-26

Kneeling at the feet of the Catholic
bishop of Salt Lake yesterday morn
ing and receiving the apostolic bene
diction at his hands, Peter Casey.
clerical student of Maynooth uni
versity, Ireland, was ordained a prizes
and received his commission to 81
forth and labor in the diocese of Chey-
enne, Wyo.
Comforting holy orders is an event
of great solemn;ty in the church, bu
it was magnified in Importance yes
terday by reason of the fact that Peter
Casey is the first candidate ordained
in the diocese of Salt Lake, and the
first time that Utah-born Catholics
ever witnessed the ceremonies sur
rounding this sacrament of their faith
Little wonder, then. that St. Mary's
was crowded, or that priests scattered
over the length and breadth of the
largest diocese in area in the republic
should come together at the bidding
of the bishop of Salt Lake.
From beginning to end, from the
! ''Kyrie Eleison" of the choir in the or
| gan loft to the tones of the celebrant
priest imparting benediction at the
conclusion of the mass, from the nitred
bishop in pontifical robes down to the
supplied boy at the altar steps. all
marked the solemnity and grandeur
with which the church of Rome in
vests its ceremonials.
THE CEREMONY.
In the performance of this sacra-
ment of holy orders, Bishop Seaman
was assisted by Very Rev. D. Kelly as
archdeacon; Father Larkin, assistant
priest; Fathers Guinan and Lonergan,
deacon and subdeacon of the mass;
Father keenan, as notary, and Father
Mannion, master of ceremonies.
| In the discipline of the church, the
| times designated by the Latin rite for
comforting holy orders are the four
Sundays of Quarter Tense, the Satur-
day preceding Passion Sunday, and
Holy Saturday. Special dispensation
must be obtained to deviate from this
rule, and the bishop of Salt Lake had
been endowed with this dispensation.
At the conclusion of the epistle the
ceremony of ordination began by read
ing this apostolic mandate granting
dispenSation. The candidate, robed
partly in priestly vestments, then ap-
proched the bishop seated upon a
throne. The reading of the lessons in
the Latin tongue being concluded, the
bishop imposed hands upon the candi-
date, succeeded by the clergy, who did
the same in like manner. After vest
ing the candidate in the robes usually
worn by priests during service of the
mass, the bishop anointed the candi-
dates hands with consecrated oil and
tied them together with linen band.
Next he was presented a chalice, which
he touched with his bound hands, and
this concluded the ceremony.
FATHER KIELY'S SERMON.
After the gospel Father Denis Kelly
and Excellence of the Christian Priest
hood" taking the following text of
Scripture: For every highpriest taken
from among men is ordained for men,
in the things that appertain to God,
that he might offer up gifts and sac
rifices for sins. st. Paul to Hebrews,
V, 1. He said:
The service of ordination which
most of you have witnessed for the
first time and which was the first of it's
kind performed in the diocese. is the
most solemn ceremony in Catholic
liturgy. 4 young man, after years of
aSSduouS and deep study, sewers his
relationship, in a sense, with the world
and becomes a member of that higher
order and life chosen by Christ him
self. This day, in obedience to the
call of the good master: Il have chosen
you and have appointed you that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and
your fruit should remain. John XIV, 16.
He becomes a member of the priest
hood of which Christ was the fountain
head, and through the sacrament of
holy orders shares in that power and
authority which, through the stream
of apostolic succession, has come from
,l,.11 10
the present. The apostles selected by
Christ received from him the plenitude
of his power. "All power is given to
me in heaven and on earth. Going,
therefore, teach We all nations" This
same power they in turn transmitted
to their SUCCESSORS, and for 10
centuries the original command and
commission given by our Lord to his
apostles have come, without a missing
link, down to us, and through this
chain, historically evident, the young
man just ordained is now possessed of
the priesthood of Christ. How sub
lime the dignity and how onerous the
burden to be one with Christ in his
priesthood, and to take part in that
high charge commissioned to him by
his heavenly Father, and which he,
without limit, conferred on his apos-
ties. las the Father hath sent me-
heareth you heareth me, and he who
despiseth you despiseth me-" No dele
cation of power could go beyond this.
The comforting of such power tran
scends all human authority.
Should all the rulers of the world |
meet, select a candidate for the min
istry of the priesthood, and unan-
imously unite in making him a priest. |
their action would be ridiculed and
their counterfeit priest would be ex- |
posed to the vulgar jests of the people. |
For the true priest of God does not |
exist either by the power of the state
or the consent and sanction of the ,
world.
A priest, whose existence is coeval
with the history of the human race,
and who is found in every known
land, is
THE AMOUNTED OF THE LORD,
whose mission is to shed blood, not as |
q soldier, to express bravery nor as the (
administration of the law, to signify |
justice, but as the representative of /
Jesus Christ. to denote love- Here are
the words of the bishop after the i'm
position of hands. vesting the candi-
date in priestly robes, which symbolic
the garments worn by Christ, and
amounting his hands, words sanctioned
by tradition that dates back to the
lays of the apostles: Receive power
TO offer sacrifice to Gcd, and to cele-
orate masses both for the living and /
FOR the dead. In the name of the
Lord" Those authoritative words ut
erred by the legitimate successor of the
apostles makes the priest now or
iained man of sacrifice. His mission