The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-11-05
lMPREs sIVE CEREMONIES.
Three Thousand People Present
at St. Mary's Cemetery,
Wednesday.

At st. Mary's cemetery Wednesday,
in the presence of 5000 people. Arch
bishop Ireland, with the assistance of
the Catholic clergy of the city, blessed
and solemnly dedicated the burial
ground. AS the great throng of people
stood in the sunshine with heads
bowed in reverence and devotion, sex
employing the sweetest and most
beautiful doctrine of the Catholic
church, that of praying for the dead
during the memorial mass, every sound
was hushed and the sacredness of the
scene was one to impress the beholder
deeply. a great tent had been erected
in the newer part of the cemetery, and
within an altar was set up and draped
in black, significant of the day COM
morated, which is that of All Souls.
The ceremony of dedication and bless
ing was set for Wednesday, that the
memorial mass for the dead might be
said in conjunction with it. The solemn
requiem mass preceded the blessing of
the grounds and was characterized by
dignified and impressive fervor. Rev.
L. e. Cullen, pastor of immaculate
Conception church. was the celebrant
of the mass and Rev. J. F. Dolphin and
Rev. ]. G. Byrne as deacon and SUBJ
deacon assisted. All wore the black
robes significant of the nature of the
mass.
Archbishop Ireland was present dur
ing the solemnization of it and at it's
close preached a sermon strongly and
eloquently bearing upon the signifi-
canoe of the gathering and the cere-
monies Of the day.
The archbishop's sermon breathed
hope. He said: "This is to all appear
ances the city of the dead, but in the
eyes of the Christian who has faith it
is the city Of the living. Our faith
teaches us that those whom we call
dead are dead only in the body, but
the souls of our departed live, and
even the body reduced here for the
time being to dust and ashes will one
day rise again and be reunited with
the SOUL
"That is why this is called GENE
terry. The word means a resting place.
The spirits of our departed ones are
with us this morning. They know we
are here and they speak to us. This
is the beautiful teaching of our faith
the communion of saints. God does
not separate those who go from those
who remain. We can pray for them
and they can pray for us. In this
solemn moment when we recall our de-
parted relatives and enter into sweet
communion with them in faith and
hope and speak to them as of yore and
listen to them as of yore what do they
say to us?
'"They tell you they are not dead to
you or themselves. They tell you to
look upon the cross of calvary and
learn the sweet lesson coming from the
cross. The departed ones tell you the
separation is brief, indeed, and tell
you to live on in faith and hope and
not as an unbeliever for whom there
is no hope nor solace. You can assist
the souls detained away from paradise
by slight stains of sin by suffering
with them and for them. That is why
the mass is solemnized here today and
the Savior brought down on the altar
to shower blessings and grace upon
the suffering souls. 1t is not true
Catholic faith to forget the souls of de-
parted ones. Pray for them here to-
day and pray for them often.''
The archbishop continued his sermon
along the same line throughout, urging
the living to remember the dead and
to find in death the beautiful lesson it
teaches.
At the close of his sermon the cere-