The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-12-24

tolic poverty and struggle with the comparative
wealth and artistic surroundings of the Church
here today exclaims: Give back the mission
airy church-the church of yesterday"
Yes, the church of the missionary period, which
has not yet all vanished from many border regions
of the republic has materials for splendid r--
lgious epic which might well dazzle and amal.
the thoughtful mind. Those apostolic men. robe,
in their religious garbs of Jesuit black. Dominion
white, and Franciscan brown. were veritabe heroes
of the Cross which they bore in triumph through
untrodden forest and in frail canoe over storm,
lake and rushing river. They were other Pau- and
Xaviers who hungered for the qualification of th,
grand passion that devourcd them-the cou0ua.t
of souls to lay al the Masters feet.
For this thev left home and friend, and aH
when life was fair and sweet; and suffered with
intense JOY hunger and thirst and heat and cold
and nakedness; perils and privation- ON land aut
wave; and not seldom direst torture from savage
ingenuity and even death itself from the fierce,
tomahawk.
Oh yes. They were not unworthy desccuda
of the chosen twelve. From the Penobscor to- tho
Mohawk and from the Mohawk to the Mississippi.
they have Evangelical the aborigines and were
not for the rapacity of the cruel invader backed
BY the envy of bgotry. they would eventually have
civilized them. too along the paths Of peace
Those missionary days were marvelously supple
mented by band OF really great biThops-vho-a
apostolic lives were an inspiration near and far
and who, in the might of the Holy Ghost, accom-
plished wondrous results. They were men c,pa-
cially fitted by Providence for their great mission
in the New World; for they were cminentlv gentle
men, noble by nature Of varied accomplishments
whose lips were inspired by the angel of coqueurc
and whose example shonc like a star amid the sur
rounding gloom of prejudice and misrepresenta-
ton.
Those prelates, like the CAROLS, the Cheveru-.
the Flagets and the Englands were the Paus of the
New World. They nobly supplemented the work
of the religious missionaries of our wilderness and
have cultivated the gospel mustard seed planted by
these until it has grown to towering tree whose
green branches have extended over all the CONT
uent-
But with the marvellous growth Of the Church
in America conditions have risen. She has
dotted her missionary trappings without losing i'm
aught her missionary spirit. She no longer calls
her children to poor shanty churches-at least in
city and town. Her sacred structures now raise
the Cross in spiral splendor to the lofty ether
DIM" Music. sculpture and painting lend their
charms TO the establishment of Chri5t's spouse ON
earth; and thus the fine arts lay tributes at the
feet of the Divine Author of the True. the Bcauti-
ful and the Good who hath inspired them.
And so the poor. weakling Church of America.
nursed in the wiewam of the Indian and battling
amid the storm. has at last, through the mercy of
Him who ever giveth the increase, reached degree
of golden splendor phenomenal in the worlds
story She no longer pules like a suffering babe;
but rather stands erect with noble brow-'a daugh-
ter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinelv
fairr