The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-31
Church
Universal
"This is
the victory
which over.
Oometh the
worId...Our
faith"

the first place among the royal womer
| of her time.
We are glad to note that leading
New York daily, the Tribune, pays .
fine tribute to Maria Christina. Here
is an extract from an article published
| in the Tribune last Wednesday:
THE central figure in the weeks au-
! gust festivities at Madrid is nominally
| the young king. He takes precedence
over all others, and, as the man of the
| future, he bears upon himself the hopes
| of the nation. In point of sentiment,
| however, and of approved worth, there
| is to the thoughtful beholder one who
outranks the king. II is the queen re-
gent There is no one living who so
much deserves the gratitude of Spain
as she. There are few public person.
ages in the world who make so strong
an appeal to sympathetic and chivalric
consideration. The kings assumption
of full sovereignty may be the cul-
minating feature of the present ceremo-
malls. The queen regents resignation
of the sovereignty she has so long and
so well exercised is the one which will
be most deeply impressed upon MEM
ory and which will most loftily inspire
Imagination
Maria Christina today leaves the
comparatively commonplace company
OF reigning sovereigns and takes a Sc
cure place among the heroic characters
OF history Her position is secure. and
there are few as high and honorable
in the long annals of Spanish sover-
eighty. For sixteen years she has worn
one of the most onerous crowns in the
world, in circumstances of peculiar and
exceptional difficulty. That She has
succeeded in doing so at all may we'll
excite our surprise. That she has done
so with universally approved discre-
ton and success marks her as worthy
of such fame as history accords to only
a few monarchs. Let us recall the cir
cumstances. She came to Spain as a
not OVerWelcome guest. In tempera-
ment she and her court were as far
asunder as the poles. Her married life
was not felicitous, and at an early date
she was left a widow, alone in sus-
picious and half hostile land, with men
aces abroad and with disaffection and
threats of revolution at home. At al
most any time in these last sixteen
years a calculating gambler would
have given odds in a wager that AL !
fonso XIII would never come to the !
throne. He does now come to the
throne. and the throne is on a more Sc
cure foundation than it has had for |
many a year. For that achievement |
the Spanish nation has Maria Chris |
tina 10 thank more than any other and |
Ill others put together. Her admirable |
her equable temperament. |
her womanly tact. her constancy of |
purpose, her statesmanlike prescience /
and prudence and firmness have all |
been worthy of the highest praise They
nave won that supreme praise which is
embodied in attained success"
The woman of whom such high
praise, with truth, is written, it should
De remembered, has been noted for in
ense devotion to the Catholic faith.
Maria Christina has ever been a faith
ul daughter of the church. and in the
ime of her sorest trials she, no doubt.
ike many Gnother woman, found her
aith to be a tower of strength.