The Nevada County picayune., 1907-03-01

| | BISHOP EDWARD FITZGERALD. | o. Edward Fitzgerald entered the
 Seminary of Barrens, in Perry county. | Missouri. in the year 1850, and two years later transferred himself to Mt. | St, Mary's of the West, at Cincin- | nati, where he remained until 1855 He
 then attended Mt. St. Marys Semi
 nary at Emmitsburg, Md, where upon | completing his ecclesiastical studies | he received holy orders, August P, | 1857. He was assigned to a church
 in Columbus, O., where he remained
 until 1867, when he was consecrated | bishop on February of that year. He
 was then assigned to the | diocese of Little Rock. which
 was made vacant ythe death of Bish- op Andrew Byrne in 1862 and
 which had remained so on account
 of disruptions caused by the Civil
 war.
 On reaching Little Rock March F. | Bishop Fitzgerald found the diocese in great Restitution, with membership
 of little more than a thousand, scat. tered over large and almost inacces- | sible territory, then considered ths | border of American civilization, with | only five priests nd three religious in | stitutions.
 Bishop Fitzgerald visited Rome | twice, once in 1870 and again in 1883. | On his first visit to Rome he was | present at the Vatican Council. He
 was again in Rome in 1883, to assist
 as the representative of Archbishop
 Leroy, who was in feeble health, at | the meeting of the archbishops of the United States, in the presence of
 Pope Leo XIII, to prepare the schedule of work for the third council of Bal. | timore
 Bishop Fitzgerald suffered a stroke | of paralysis seven years ago. His en | tire left side was paralyzed. After | that time he was forced to remain In l coors the greater part of the time | conducting his work in his study and home with the aid of secretary. His | condition grew worse until John B. | Morris of Nashville, Tenn, was ap | pointed bishop coadjutor of the Arkan | sas diocese to take up the heavier | part of the work. Since that time | Bishop Fitzgerald has been spending his time at Hot Springs endeavoring | to regain his lost health.
 At the time Bishop Fitzgerald as | sNmed charge of the diocese of Little | Rock it embraced the state of Arkan
 sss and Indian Territory. A careful | enumeration of the whole diocese in l 1867 revealed the presence of scarcely 1,G00 souls. These 1,60o were scat | tered far apart. Little Rock, with a | frame cathedral, had probably not
 more than 400 communicants. There
 were but two schools, both conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, one at Fort | Smith and the other at Little Rock The habit of giving personal at tention to things pertaining to his dio
 cese made the bishop a constant trav elcr and during the first years of his | life in Arkansas he travelled by horse back. At the time he celebrated his silver jubilee, it was commonly ac ccpted he had travelled more miles
 than any other bishop in the United States.
 By his wise administration and sys temutic and persistent efforts, he sue
 ceeded In building up the church to the position of wealth and importance
 that 1t had occupied previous to the
 war. He established a house of the
 Fathers of the Holy Ghost at Marien stadt introduced the monks and nuns of the Benedictine order and founded asylums and schools, which he placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity
 and tie Sisters of St. Joseph. Bishop Fitzgerald attended the vatican coun ell at Rome and the third plenary council held in Baltimore in 1884.