The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-04-05
Diocese OF Denver.
DENVER.
Review of Easter Services in Catholic
Churches.
Especial Correspondence.)

Review of Easter Services in Catholic
Churches.
Especial Correspondence)
The usual Holy Week services were
held in the pro cathedral, and were par
ticularly well attended.
! On Holy Thursday solemn pontifical
mass was celebrated b. Bishop Matt
assisted by Fathers Callahan. O'Malley
and White. Father Phillips was master
of ceremonies. The repository in Logan
avenue chapel was one of the most
! beautiful in the city. st. Leo's and the
Sacred Heart We're also very beautiful
The evening service in Logan avenue
chapel were very impressive. Father
O'Malley preached on the institution of
the blessed sacrament.
On Friday morning the bishop again
! ofticiated. In the evening the usual
devotion, known as Alteration of the
Cross" took place.
portion of the true cross, which
was brought from Rome last year by
Bishop Matz, was exposed for adora-
ton. The sermon on The Passion
was preached by the Right Rev. Bishop.
The blessing of the Paschal Candle,
Easter water. etc, took place on Sat
urday. Father Phillips oficiated.
The Easter services in st. Leo's were
the most beautiful ever held in that
church. The affairs were handsomely
decorated with lilies and palms. The
music was very fine. Haydn's mass in
c was rendered by a double quartette
and full chorus. Hundreds of people
We're turned away unable to gain ad-
mittance.
The new pipe organ built expressly
for st. JoSeDh'S church was used for
the first time on Sunday. An excellent
choir sang Gounods 'Messe Qolonelle."
Bishop Matz celebrated mass in Lo-
gan avenue chapel at II o'clock He
was assisted by Fathers Callahan,
Callahan preached the serGon, saying,
in part:
This is the day he Lord hath made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This, my brethren. is the eXhorta-
ton addressed to us by the church on
the great feast which is today cele-
brated. No more narrowing picture
was ever presented to human sympathy
than that of the Manhood so faint and
dying for the sins of his people. The
outrages of the judgment hall, the
agonizing journey to Calvary's mount,
the bleeding form expiring on the glib
furia ted people.
These were scenes that during the
week now passed wrung with sorrow
the Christian heart. But now all is
changed, and the church invites her
children to lay aside the garb of
mourning and to don the vesture of
joy. Her liturgy is a paeon of victory
that stirs the world to its very depths,
with all the choirs of hallelujahs. This
is not surprising, when we reflect that
the resurrection Of Christ is the hinge
on which turns the Christian fate, the
foundation of stone on which rests the
doctrine of the cuhrch. and so true is
this that st. Paul does not hesitate to
say: IF Christ be not risen, then our
preaching is vain, and vain your
faith "
Father Callahan then recounted the
testimony of the apstles and those near
to the Master during the trying hours
which are observed in anniversary in
the Easter celebration.
But why suspect the testimony of
the apostles" continued, who are
they; what were they? They were men
in the first place who cannot be charged
with an over-large imagination. They
were slow Of belief, cautious; men who
refused to believe in the resurrection
themselves until it was forced upon
them by evidence the most overwhelm-
ing. They were, indeed men rude
and illiterate but of common sense and
endowed with minds which best quail
fed them to judge of a matter of fact
like that of the resurrection. In select
ing our jurieS. we are not accustomed
10 choose them exclusively from the
learned professions. but from men of
sound judgment, without any regard to
their literary attachments.
Such as these were the witnesses of
the resurrection.
Nov, what interest, I ask, could
these men have in imposing on the
credulity of their hearers. They had
nothing to gain by deceiving the pub
lie, and everything to lose, for their lot
was hard one. They could each say
with St. Paul: If, in this life alone we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men
the most miserable, even unto this
hour we hunger and thirst, and are
naked and have no fixed abode, and we
labor, we revile and we bless
we are made as the refuse Of this
world
"Of a truth, then. they had no hui
man interest in publishing the resur-
rection of Jsus. They sacrificed every
thing. They devoted themselves to toll, |
gnominy. death Of the 500 ocular wit
nesses of the resurrection. almost all
suffered death, and cruel, agonizing
death. to render testimony to its truth. !
Neither the rod, nor sword, nor gibbet, !
not dungeon, nor the beasts, nor boil |
ing oil. nor burning pitch, nor scorpion |
whips could deter them from proclaim |
ing to the world that Christ had risen. |
'Can any sane man. then, doubt their |
and good faith, or call in |
question their disinterestedness? They !
had as strong belief in the resurrection |
as in their own existence.
Enough has been said to make you |
why ii is that the church !
S 50 Joyous today, for the resurrection |
If Christ is the pledge of her triumph. |
II Christ is risen, then he is God, and |
he church he has founded is divine. |
indeed there is a marked resemblance |
between her career and that of her |
Sponsor. Before his pas |
sion he foretold her: The world will |
hate you. even as they hated me- and |
his words have been too literally full
illed.''
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.
Miss Julia Clifford entertained the |
Aandern club on "Wednesday afternoon