The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-27
Catholic Mission of
Last Year
TO BE CONTINUED.
Rev, Fir. Sigl Opens With a
Powerful Sermon.

A special season of religious fervor
opened for the parishioners of st.
Johns Catholic Church yesterday. 1t
is the renewal by a band of missiona-
ries of the Redemptorst order of the
mission which was begun in that
church year ago Coming as it does
during the penitential season of Lent,
it greatly increases the religious fervor
of the people.
| The mission is remarkable for several
things. 1t will be four weeks in dura-
ton, the longest mission ever conduct
ed in Worcester. The band is COM
posed of five missionaries. the largest
band that,ever conducted a mission
/ here. The success of the mission a
year ago is sufficient reason to predict
| that the number of communicates dur
| ing the four weeks Of the mission will
be larger by hundreds than at any pre-
vious mission. Plans have been laid
| for the most thorough revival ever
| witnessed in Worcester. Special serv-
ices will be held regularly for children,
something never before attempted in
a mission.
The mission began yesterday at the
10. 30 o'clock mass, which was of the
solemn high order. in honor of the
opening of the mission. The celebrant
was Rev. Joseph Hamel, c. IS. r., one
of the mission fathers. He was assist
ed by Rev. G. A. Sullivan as deacon,
Rev. ]. A. Hurley as sub deacon and
Rev. NJ. T. O'Brien as master Of oere-
monies. The sermon was preached by
Rev. Charles Sigl, @. IS. r., leader of
the band. The other members of the
band are Rev. John B. Lynch, c. IS. r.,
Rev. Henry Bergman, c. IS. r., and
Rev Joseph Bloom, c. SIS. r.
Rev FIR Sigl made announcement of
the program of services of the mission.
The first week will be for married
women and widows. The second for sin
gle women, the third for married men
and the last week for unmarried men.
The boys mission began yesterday at
ternoon and the girls mission will be-
gin two weeks hence.
There will be services every evening,
including Sundays, the regular after
noon services of that day being omit
ted. The services will consist of in
struction, recitation Of the rosary, ser
mon and benediction of the blessed
sacrament. There will be two masses
each morning, one at o'clock and one
at o'clock There will be a mass al
80 o'clock this morning for the chill
dren. All services will be exclusively
for the portion Of the congregation de-
signated except the 1870 o'clock high
mass on Sundays, which will be fol
the entire congregation, regardless OF
sex.
The celebration of the mass yester-
day was attended with all the dignity
and solemnity of the Catholic church
service. FIR. Hamel's voice intoned the
mass forcibly and sweetly, and the re-
sponses were sung by the sanctuary
choir. The church choir sang
specially arranged program, the solos
of which were of particular excellence
Rev. FIR Sigl made a strong plea t.
the congregation to attend to the du
ties of the renewal Of the mission. HI
opened by a gentle suggestion that pos
sibly all who had made the mission Of
last year had not remained true to thell
promises. Closing his talk, he drew
the inference that among such large
congregation some had fallen back int
their old ways, and his remarks became
more direct and forcible.
He opened by calling attention to tht
mission of last year, likening the bant
to the apostles who were commanded
by Christ to teach all nations. The re
turn for a renewal of that mission Is
the fulfilling of that command. OF th'
band which was at the church last veal
all are in various sections of the coun
try only one being left to send to the
renewal But the band which will con
duct the renewal is made up of fellow
soldiers in the army of Christ.
I'VE have" continued the preacher
the same solictude for your souls
We have no other object in view thar
| the glory of God and your spiritual pro-
gress. Why do we come back so soor
after the mission? We know you made
! the mission we'll. We feel certain that
you kept the promises which you made
to the mission fathers. The work OF
that mission was good but in one or two
short weeks we could not tell you all
that is necessary to make you become
good practical Catholics. The renewal
is necessary.
During the time of the mission our
main endeavor was TO impress on you
the Importance of the fear of Gods
last judgment For that reason the
fathers preached on the importance oil
the frightful truths. They showed you
the sinner at the judgment seat of Goo
and tried to make you think of the
: fearful punishment in store for him
The renewal of the mission is to tel
you of the love of God. We are told
in the holy scripture that the fulfill
ment of the law is love. A sincere af-
lection and love of God is what mus
be striven after. In the renewal we are
anxious to make you say that you are
sorry for offending God on account Of
the love you bear for him. Even if yot
have kept the promises you made al
the mission the renewal is important tC
you.
"If you have committed no morta
sin, you may be on the road to it. YOU
may have grown careless. You know
how easy it is to turn back in youl
course Even If you have persevered
since the mission, you should work tC
gain a higher position. Every honest
Catholic tries to take advantage oil
every opportunity to improve his spirit
ual life. You have no right to say thai
, inasmuoh as you made the mission 6
year ago it is not necessary for you
to make the renewal
"There were some who did not make
the mission rightly. They did not put
their heart and soul into it. 1t would
be surprising if such did not go back
If you find that you did not make the
mission sincerely, make it right now
You broke promises that you made tC
the missionaries. They laid specia
stress on the fact that the devil woulC
try to tempt you. You promised, but
you neglected your prayers. The mis-.
sionaries insisted with particular ear
nestness on the reception of the sacra-
ments. You promised to attend them
But you forgot when the month OF
three months came around,