The age-herald., 1900-03-04

over two years ago. The sermon was one of peculiar power.
 - Archbishop Corrigan
 Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan, of New York, has been distinguished for years as the leading Ultramontane in the United States. He is a very shrewd man of af- fairs and quite bold withal; but of his preaching not much has been said outside of his archdiocese. He will never be a pull pit celebrity And yet he is man of re- markable ability in the pulpit. The first and only time ever heard Corrigan was in the fall of 1898. He preached in his cathedral. I sat well to the front else would not have caught the preachers words. for his voice was not strong. I did not know the archbishop by sight. I knew from his colors that the preacher had episcopal rank, but supposed he was visit ing bishop. We'll, the sermon was on the miracles. It was most original. The entire scheme of the discourse was ingen- ious. The speakers mind showed powerful insight and much subtle refinement The five thousand people who sat in the pews gave rapt attention maybe but the dis course better suited to the university class room than to an ordinary Sunday congregation. "Who was the preacher?" I inquired of a man after the service. "That, sir, was Archbishop Corrigan, one of the most intellectual men in this coun- try" was the reply.
 In Washington I listened often to the Rev. Dr. D. J. Stafford, assistant pastor of St. Patrick's church. He is one of the younger priests and is equally great as a preached and a platform speaker. Dr. Staff ford has distinguished himself as Shake- speare scholar and lecturer. As a preacher he is much given to close, logical reasoning. He is thoroughly trained in dialectics And his English Is classic-a model for young n Ia told me that he never wrote his lectures or sermons: that he simply chose A line of thought the day before featuring or preach ing and then shut himself up with Shake speare for ten hours He said that if public speaker would only saturate himself with the English of Shakespeare and other old worthies he would have no trouble in 'italking off, well rounded sentences.
 Cardinal Gibbons
 It was my good fortune years ago to come often in contact with Cardinal Gibbons. I knew him well in Richmond when he filled that see. He was only little more than forty years old when he was trans lated" to the archsee of Baltimore; have seen hfm frequently in his greater office, and have met him two or three times since his elevation to the cardinalate. His emil hence is the same gentle, kindly prelate now that he was when I first saw him In the seventies. Cardinal Gibbons is not counted with the big preachers. He is not an impassioned orator. He lacks the voice and style of the orator. But he is an ex- cellent sermon writer. Everything from his pen reads well. He is a man of un- feigned piety and charming urbanity; and as statesman 1t may be doubted if he has his equal in the Catholic church in America,
 Of the noted Methodists whom have heard preach Bishop A. W. Wilson is the strongest. Every time I have listened to him he has preached considerably over an hour and his audience was always sorry when he stopped.
 He never uses a smile, never introduces poerty, never tells an anecdote. His ser- mons are severely logical but so fervid, so forceful, so robust in thought Is the bishop that the effect is that of eloquence And eloquent Bishop Wilson is, although tested by the usual rules he would not measure up to certain preachers much in-