The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-11-10

\ crossed the Atlantic to administer the
I rites Of religion to his countrymen in
\ America, offer the Holy Sacrifice and
announce the. gospel in our tongue.
M Thus Catholicity came from the land
4 of q St. Anselm, st. Thomas Of Can
{ terbury, a St. John of Beverly, whose
N Church in the next century. while
crushed like the primitive church by
the State power Of unbelieving rulers,
u extended her limits to the shores OF
the Chesapeake, the Church of Catho-
lie England reviving the work of the
earlier Spanish pioneers Of the faith.
Close on Cabot came the French
explorers. Cartier sailed with the bless
sing Of the Bishop of st. Malo, and
with priests to whom he gave tacul-
ties, and in after years Champlain
founded Quebec. where affairs were
raised, and priests began their min
4 istry, acknowledging as their ecc1es-
iastical Superior the Archbishop OF
Rouen, who for years governed Cam
ada as part of his diocese, through
Wears General appointed by him, and
even towards the close OF the century
gave powers to priests under which
they offered the Sacrifice of the Mass
and ministered to colonists in Texas.
The Church knew no limits to her
ronquests. Her jurisdiction was ex-
tended as by a natural instinct over the
whole land. 1t was never bounded by
the mere limits of white settlements.
Father Padilla, dying alone near the
banks Of the Missouri, to which he
had penetrated, was still in the do
cese OF Mexico: Hennepin, at the Falls
Of st: Anthony, Marquette at the Ar
kansas, Douay at the mouth of the
Mississippi, were in the diocese Of Que
bee. The first Catholic settlers in Or
egon were from Canada, and the priest
sent to minister to them went as Vic
ar-General of Quebec, to become In
time Bishop and Archbishop of the
distant flock lie crossed the continent
to serve.
The Church has thus a continu-
Gus existence in this country, con-
tinuous in episcopal jurisdiction, in
priestly work, In the. faithful who
chung to their affairs.
In tho earlier period, where three
great European nations laid claim to
different portions of her territory, the
history of the Church is to be traced
in three different channels, descending
from England, France and Spain. No
greater contrast could be found than
that Of the colonial spirit of the three
nations. Spain, by her governing I'M
der the vast system inaugurated by
Philip H., planned, directed, controlled
every department of colonial admin
istration. Every new colonization was
settled III detail in Spain. -4e
Portions of the royal revenue were
assigned by Philip II. to great relig-
ious works, and churches, converts,
universities and schools arose without
direct contribution of the people.
France was Catholic, but the Church
and the missions in the territory she
controlled in America were not sup
ported by any governmental plan. The
zeal and piety Of individuals contrib
uted far more than the monarch to
maintain and carry on the work, and
the colonists shared the feeling Of the
mother country and willingly paid the
tithes, and aided to support tho re-
lisious. bodies which had been active
agents in bringing in settlers and
clearing the land for cultivation.
In the English colonies, except for
two brief seasons. Catholics were OPP
pressed by laws copied from the APP
palling penal code OF England. The
Church was prescribed, her worship
forbidden, her adherents visited with
every form of degradation, insult, and
extortion, and when 10 mere human
eyes the cause OF the Catholic Church
throughout the land seemed hopeless.
Thus strangely different wehe the
circumstances under which the Church
grew in Florida, in Michigan, in Mary
land. Yet in the designs Of God il
was that which seemed least favored
that was to develop most wonderfully
till the episcopate starting from d
threefold source and blending into
the hierarchy Of the United States with
the faithful sprung from those lands
and from Ireland, Germany, Switzer-
land, Poland, Italy, Portugal, and from
the native tribes, presented at the
close Of the nineteenth century a spec.
tacle full Of consolation and hope
exercising the highest moral influence
stimulating education, unfolding the
aancitay Of marriages, and intoxicating
charity to all.