Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-13

as bishop in May, 1896. After a period
Of jealous and uninterrupted service Of
forty years Francis Mora thought he
was entitled to lay down his heavier
labors and to return to his beloved
Spain.
Was Struggle
The Roman Catholic church In Los
Angeles in 1856, when Bishop Mora
was ordained priest, and even in 1873,
when he was consecrated bishop, was
by no means the vigorous and expan-
slve organization which II Is today.
Even at the latter date there were
but two parishes in the town. There
was plenty of hard, solid work cut out
for both bishops and priests.
One of the legends about the Cathe-
dral of st. Vibiana Is that on the very
day of Bishop Morals conservation a
sick call came from Anaheim. There
were no available priests around at
the time, so the new bishop mounted
his horse and rode out the twenty
eight miles which intervened between
himself and his penltent 1 forgot to
| ask Monsignor Harnett, who told me
the story, whether he returned the
same day by the same good nag,
| but 1 have no doubt he did. 1t is
hardly possible to put a limit to the
labors or to the self-denlal of these
indefatigable servants of the Lord In
those days.
n tR
extorted a laugh from the good bishop
at the unexpected pleasantly and led
to his being rallied a good deal by his
brethren of the black robe. The bish-
op was one of the most modest and
unpretentious of men and was notably
plain in his every day attire. OF very
dark complexion, he looked the tradi-
tional Spaniard. Very rarely had he
any occasion to appear in court. On
one of those rare occasions, however,
the bishop was making his way to the
witness chair when the Judge, casual
ly looking UP from a lot of papers and
noticing the dark complexion of the
witness, said: "Call the interpreter"
supposing that he was dealing with a
foreigner who knew no English, and
not realizing that he was addressing
a prelate who was at home in many
languages.
His Own Interpreter
Call no interpreter" said the bishop.
II guess I can act as my own inter-
prefer. Try me-"
II
church did world of good in this city
during his long and active career not
the most bigoted of his religious oppon-
ents will deny. He was unselfish and
indefatigable and has gone to his rest
with the blessings Of thousands.
had but a slight personal acquain-
tance with Bishop Amat. He was
dignified and impressive gentleman, and
his name stood for years and years as
an example of the strenuous religious
life before the gringo amounted to much
in Southern California. Perhaps moth
ing could show more conspicuously the
estimat tion in which ne was held in this
community than the funeral honors ten
dered him. Although the census of
1SS0-taken two years after his death
showed only 10000 people in this Angel
ic city, there seemed to be that many
persons in the funeral procession itself.
1t would have been impressive in Rome
or London or Paris.
His name-Amat, the thid person
singular of the Latin verb Amo--to love
was emblematic of his character.
Rendered into English, 1t signifies "he
loves" and such indeed was his atti-
tude to his vast but slenderly populated
diocese, and they reciprocated it in
heaped measure filled full and flowing
Ger. He left noble reputation behind
him, and laid broad and deep the foun-
dations of his church in Southern Cali
fornia. Amongst those who knew him
well, in addition to his stand as a
churchman, which was recorded high
at the Vatican, he was valued greatly
on the Pacific coast as chivalric gem
tleman.
Once Reigned Here
Few Angelenos, even of the Catholic
population, know that Archbishop Ale
many of San Francisco was ever
bishop of Los Angeles but he was be-
fore he assumed the higher grade. He
was one of the grand, old time Roman