Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-12-19

of the Hill seminary at Manchester.
To this great enterprise James ]. Hill.
the railroad magnate, donated $780,.
900, supplementing this later with
other liberal gifts. The buildings of
the seminary were completed in 1897
and dedicated with pomp and cere-
mony in the fall of that year, Papal
Delegate Satolli, Bishop Keane, and
many other distinguished prelates be-
ing present Archbishop Ireland pre-
scented to the seminary his private liz
brary, one of the finest in the north
west.
While he seldom mixes in political
life in the sense of delivering address
es and making pleas for one party or
the other, Archbishop Ireland is a man
,of pronounced opinions on all state
and national topics, and exercises his
influence in his own way, but the oc.
casions have been few on which he
felt it his duty to break his rule of
non-interference. One of these occa-
sions, still remembered, came in the
fall of 1896. The campaign between
Mckinley and Bryan had only about
three weeks to run, and twenty of the
leading business men of St Paul sent
him letter asking that he give to the
public in his own way his views re-
garding the great questions then be-
fore the citizens of the republic. On
October - of that year he sent to the
country what was then regarded as
one of the greatest addresses of the
contest, in which he declared unequiv.
ocally against the free silver theory.
For the past quarter of a century
Archbishop Ireland has given much at
tention to charity and the promotion
of enterprises looking to the ameliora-
ton of the condition OF the very poor
He is a moving spirit in all the Cath
Ole charity societies and gives much
in private charity. II is said that he
never turns a beggar away from his |
door absolutely empty handed. He
gives money to them without slight |
questioning. 1t is related of him that
one night in winter a forlorn looking |
man came to his door and asked for |
quarter. Fumbling in his pockets for
a minute the archbishop brought up
$40 gold piece, and, handing it TO the
fellow with smile, said: That is
little more than you need tonight; |
take it, use what you have to, and
make the remainder the nucleus for
the fortune which you have it in your
power to win"
Plainness appears to be the great
prelate's watchword-in the furnish
ings of his home, in his dress, in his
speech, in his acts. He never varies
in his dress. His suit IS lSrin black,
the coat being, an e4traof sifsiss..tl.as, long
Prince Albert. He sticks to the old
fashioned boots, never having worn
a pair of shoes since his early youth.
He has his hair cut to the medium
length, and follows the custom of the
Catholic clergy of wearing the face
beardless.
On a number of occasions Archbish-
op Ireland has been called to Rome to
acquaint the holy see with the exact
condition of ecclesiastical affairs in
the United States. Two years ago,
when the great war now raging be-
tween church and state in France first
reached an acute stage, the St Paul
prelate was summoned to Paris to dis
cuss the situation with the French
archbishops and bishops and to ex-
plain how the church in America man.
aged to remain on such friendly terms
with the government In 1899 the
archbishop accepted an invitation to
deliver the principal address at the
Joan of Arc celebration in the old
French town of Orleans.
Like a majority of the Roman Cath
Ollie prelates in America, especially the
older ones, Archbishop Ireland is a
native of the Emerald Isle, having
been born in County Kilkenny, ireland.
September II, 1888. When he was but
a babe in arms his parents removed to
st. Paul, and his early education was
received in the Catholic school here.
He was sent to France in 1853, and in
September Of that year, when he was
but Is, he entered the Petit seminaire
of Meximeux, finishing the eight-year
course there in four years. He stud
led theology at the Grand seminaire
at Hyeres, returning to St. Paul in
1861 and being ordained a priest when
he was little more than % years old.
Upon the formation OF the Fifth Min
nesota regiment young Ireland was
made its chaplain, and served two
years. Returning from the field he
was appointed rector of Cathedral
parish, the central and largest parish
in St Paul. and continued in that po-
sition until he was named as coad-
jutor bishop.
In 1870 he went to Rome as the &C.