The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-08
MONTH OF THE DEAD
ARCHBISHOP IRELAND PREACHED
AN APPROPRIATE SERMON AT
CATHEDRAL YESTERDAY.
NOVEMBER UPON CALVARY
WORLD AND IT'S TROUBLES FOR
GOTTEN IN THAT SACRED
RESTING PLACE.
CHRIsT's VICTORY APPEARS
Fveryvvhere in the Sign of the Cross
and the Peace That Prevails
Throughout.
NOVEMBER UPON CALVARY.
APPEARS
CHRIsT's VICTORY a

month of November is devoted 10 the memory
of the dead. On the first day OF the mohtn
we are invited to commune with the Saints ia
in heaven with all the blessed souls that
enjoy as the reward of their WORKS III ne,
the vision of God. On the second day Oh the
month we are asked to remember the Souls ID ia
purgatory; souls agreeable 10 Coo, that nave
not however as yet fully made eHplatlon IUl
faults committed in this life. When tn l. M; noIy
church bids us remember departed Christians,
to honor those in heaven, ana 10 pray Loi
those i'm Durgatory she has in view not mere
" the benefit which accrues to the suHGl-
ing souls or the honor which IS due TO the
friends of God in heaven, but also tne IN
mediate moral and spiritual ehects WlcH
come to ourselves from our communlhg WIN
tGn deDarted anes 1t is indeed for us
holy and a salutary thought to remember tne
dead The oftener we put ourselves IN the
society of the dead the better 1t is for our
souls, the more our souls are lifted up INTO
the region of a better and hlSher ne
most useful practice at any time, pu' e ESQ
cially during the month Of November Is 10
visit the Christian cemetery, harken 10 thS
inspirations which arise from the graves, anu
live for few moments as one day, When we
shall ourselves rest i'll the cemetery VIZ sll'iI
wish we had lived.
Not long ago | visited Calvary cemetery,
and the moments l spent there were Ihueeu
moments of blessedness TO my sour. was
not a stranger among the occupants AS l
moved from street to street, from grave 10
grave, l found many whom knew, Whoh l
feyered whom l loved | found mySel1 more
among IrleQuS anu dCQudlhCdhSS'
had moved down the streets OF the living city
Of 81 Paul l called out to myself from grave
to grave the names Of the depared ones. l
found I'm the cemetery more Of the men ana
women who in the days of my young priest
hood listened to me in this cathedral than are
now living to come again to listen TO me.
found those who had passed away twenty
and thirty years ago, and those VINO Ad9
passed away but little while ago. 1ound
the bishops who had sat in my episcopal chalr
and priests who had ministered at THIS altar
-g,,l nc mil n
and preached to the faith1u! from thls pulpit
/ was no stranger surely in Calvary Gene
terry. And what peace, what sweet peace
reigned over the cemetery. 1t was PHEASANT
autumn day; the leaves of the trees had put
on their golden hue, and the BIRDS OIL the ar
sang their chant of joy. But of the human
world, of this world of care and sorrow and
agitation and warfare, there was naught save
q few distant echoings coming to me across
the plains from the city hard by over the
graves OF nv friends that has gone all was
peace. They cared nothing, they spoke MOTH
Ing of the strifes and heartburnings OF the
living world. 1t was all the same 10 LHen
how things went on amid the vanities and the
DaubIes of life. I felt that there among the
graves was the proper place to Judge the out
Side world. When we are IN that Worla we
are carried away In spite of ourselves by It's
Sreams of thought and action, and we bel1eYe
with the world that there is nothing suoStah-
hal save what we can grasp with the hand
and turn to the service of our pleasures or
our ambitions. We believe that we must
esteem and strive for things which the world
.steems and strives for The world does not
appear before us in its proper perspective
when we are ourselves amidst its battllngs.
Ne must withdraw from it into the cemetery;
hence we survey it and see it exactly for
What it is worth. We understand it as it
.eallv is. No doubt so long as our friends
were in the world it was their duty to live IN
II and obtain what was needed to i've IN It
rom their silent graves they do not tell US 10
withdraw into the desert and close our eyes
lpOn our fellow men and the living world,
but they say to us: While i'll it remember mat
is vanity and vanity of vanities; remember
hat its sunshine is but the ray of moment;
remember that it's most precious offerings are
rs Dead sea apples crumbling into dust so
loon as you hold them in your hand; remem-
Der that if you give yourselves totally to the
world nothing remains to you when the world
s taken from you; remember that the things
If the world are of value only as means to
he supreme end of life, and the supreme end
VI life-ah keep it well before your eyes.
What is the supreme end of life? ASK the
question in Calvary cemetery. Is 1t the at
aiming of wealth? What is all the wealth OF
nations to those lying silently in the Gene
terry? Is the end of life pleasure? Why, pleas
are was dream and the dream mas forever
fanished at the doors of the cemetery. Was
he end of life to obtain a great name, to be
famous in the sight of nations? Why men
md women now in Calvary cemetery at one
time played more or less q great role in life;
)ut who speaks now of them? Who now tells
If their fame? They were in life; they are
aiken away; wave after wave passed over the
Known. Vanity of vanities What is the SUI
oreme end of life? l ask my friends in the
cemetery, and they tell me-see the symbol
lifted up over over the cemetery; see the
symbol carved upon our tombstones; 1T is the
symbol Of the cross; was in the cemetery OF
Christ and at once the sadness of my soul
gave way to hope and joy. On, the blessed
leSS of cemetery where over every grave
IS seen the cross of Christ. In that symbol
here is hope, there is victory; and where that
lymbol is not to be found, where there is
taught but stones and trees and flowers what
is there but earth itself? And earth itself hac
10 comfort to offer to those who lie cold in
The cemetery. 1t was a Christian cemetery,
The cross spoke and it told Of the good news
,nce given forever to the world by Christ,
Ind of the victories gained by Christ. 1t told
If the good news that the supreme end of life
Is to know, love and serve God, and be happy
With Him in heaven forever The cross told
ne the good news as it had told it to ma
lions for 1000 years, that the soul of man,
made to Gods own image and likeness, is i'm
mortal, and that the soul of man is created to
fve forever with God. All, when my eyes
rested upon the cross l saw at once that the
cemetery is not the abode of death; it is the
abode of those who truly live. I saw at once
that l was upon the very threshold of another
world, and as l moved from grave to grave
Ihe spirits of the dead spoke to me- 1 COM
muned with them, and l understood the
plessedness of Christian faith, of our belief in
lhe immortality of the soul. Peace reigned
over the cemetery, the unbeliever would say
The peace OF death, the believer says the peace
or fa1th, OF nope, Of charity.
This is the lesson which the cemetery
teaches. 1t is well to go from time to time
somewhere where the noise of this transitory
world cannot close out from our souls the
voice of the other world. 1t is well from
time to time to look into the next life and
understand that it is the only thing real
substantial, lasting; the only thing for which
man must fight, the only thing necessary to
have, without it all is lost, whatever else we
might have had. The cross in the cemetery
told me of the victories of Christ, and the
memory of those victories shed q light di-
vine over the whole cemetery. The souls Of
the departed ones are living, and the bodies
of the departed ones will be living. A mystery
of Christian faith made evident by clear
est teachings of Christ and His apostles is
this, that even the bodies of the dead will
one day rise into life. 1 saw in fancy the
bodies of my friends and acquaintances of
Calvary cemetery, in the twinkling of an eye
at the sound of the archangels trumpet, ris-
ing up to meet their souls descending from
heaven, and saw, as one day we shall sure
ly see, our friends and relatives living soul
years gone by. And, oh, what a blessed
sight! What was sown in corruption rises
In interruption. what n was sown in weakness
rises rise IN In, power Fr 49,. Did not Christ himself
Therefore, we, too, shall rise. The resur-
rection Of Christ shows how the miracle of
termination of the body is easy to the ON
impotence Of God. If that body taken down
from the cross of Calvary, lifeless and cold
and committed to the grave did rise again
informed with living soul, why cannot our
bodies rise again? 1t is the teaching of
our faith. Let human philosophy say as
1t Will, that the elements of the body are
scattered into the earth and air and cannot
be reunited. Who Is the master of earth and
air? God. When God promises that the body
Shall rise again, 1t will rise again. Calvary
divine power, scene of diyinely given life
The cemetery is indeed, as it was called in