The Irish standard., 1898-01-01
CHRISTMAS DAY IN ST. PAUL
Bishop O'Gorman, of Sioux Falls,
breaches the Sermon.
MOST IMPRESSIVE DISCOURSE
An Eloquent Pulpit Orator on the
Divinity of Christ.

Mgr. Martinelli, the apostolic dele
gate, celebrated pontifical high mass in
the Cathedral at St. Paul on Christmas
Gay. The sacred ediice was filled to
Its utmost capacity, The regular quar-
tet choir Of the Cathedral and Danz'
orchestra were at their best. The altar
was bank of evergreens and flowers
and was brilliantly illuminated. The
sanctuary contained two thrones-.one
for Mgr. Martinelli and the other for
Archbishop Ireland. The apostolic del
egate wore magnificent robe of err
mine, and the archbishop his purple
vestment. Seated in the sanctuary be-
side the" archbishop were the ven
cradle Mgr. Ravoux, and Rev. DR.. Pace,
of the Catholic University at Washing
ton, D. G. Rev. DR.. Schaeffcr was the
master of ceremonies. Rev. ]. J. Law
ler was assistant to Mgr Martinelli in
the celebration Of the pontifical high
mass, and Rev. VIM. Colbert and Rev.
]. H. Brannon officiated as the deacons
of honor Bishop Thomas O'Gorman,
OF Sioux Falls, S. D., preached an elo-
luent and impressive sermon, and said
in part:
That almost nineteen hundred years
ago in Judea, there was born, lived and
died one who was known then and has
been known since as Jesus Christ can
not be denied, unless we make a bon
fire OF history and assert that there
never was anything or anybody in this
world before we came into it, When
we take up the life of Jesus as re-
corded in the gospels and real it atten-
lively, we must come 70 the conclusion
that, while being man, he was more
than human. The human race furn-
ishes no standard by which to measure
Him. Before Him there has been no
one like Him, and after Him no one
has equaled Him, though He has had
numberless imitators. When we would
reach the beautiful and the sublime, we
turn from the real and look to the
ideal. In Jesus the real is greater than
any ideal. Art has even despair,i of
reproducing Him in marble or canvas,
in poetry OF melody, In history or elo-
Quence. Great men are of their time:
indeed, it is being of their time makes
them great This statement is true not
only of the men Of action, but also of
the men of thought. Through their
song or speech you detect the voice of
their age and nation. Homer is an in
carnation of Greece, Job of Arabia,
Isaiah of Judea, Virgil of Rome, Dante
OF the middle ages, Shakespeare of An
glo-Saxon civilization. The personality
of Christ has no limits of time or
place. He stands for no epoch, for no
nationality. All classes of men find in
Him their model, as if He had come
purposely for each one. He has an
answer to the question Of every age, Of
every nation, of every child of Adam:
and as time gees on there are ever we'll
ing up to sight out Of the depth of His
words and actions things old and new.
The more man rises on the accumulat-
ed traditions and Inheritance Of pre-
ceding centuries the more looms lin
over against him the evergrowing fig
ure of Christ. AS we fix our glance on
His mind and teaching we are blinded,
not by His absence, but the intensity
of the light that comes from Him and
plays about Him. He scars to heights
whittier we cannot follow; He descends
to depths over which the ages have
leaned, peering intently and discover
ing continually new treasures and
truths, and they have confessed that
He is inexhaustible, and by that con-
fession have acknowledged that tlis
mind is more than human.
He had superhuman power as His
miracles prove. 1t is only to the unbe-
lever and sceptic that He held up His
miracles as evidences Of his veracity
and mission, to all others they were
evidences of love. Through physical
evil He saw moral evil and mental sor.
row; while healing the body He healed
the soul and soothed the heart. 1t was
not so much the miracle as the manner
Of performing it, as the love, the dis
cretion, the tenderness that accompan-
led the miracles; it was not so lruch
1t that won Him the hearts OF men and
the miracle, ] say, as the manner If
and drew after Him the crowds thirst
ing for physical and spiritual relief.
His fellow men came to understand that
He was not to be feared for all His
superhuman powers, that He should be
discussed, contradicted, revlled, even
be done to death; they believed Him
disarmed by his own will, and that love
had bound His might. His disciples