The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-13
FATHER GALLAND'S MONUMENT BLESSED Very Impressive Ceremonies in
 Catholic Cemetery MANY PERSONS PRESENT Gather o'Grady Delivers Sermon on the Priestly office-order of
 Men Apart-Tribute to De-
 ceased Priest.
MANY PERSONS PRESENT

The beautiful marble monument recently
 placed over the grave of the Rev Louis | Galland in the Catholic cemetery was
 blessed yesterday afternoon in the pres
 ence of large number of persons who
 knew and esteemed the deceased The
 following clergy were In attendance: Fath-
 CT Kelly, Father Doyle, Father Denis
 Father Coyle, Father Kitrick, Father
 Duffy and Father O'Grady.
 The ceremonies were singularly impress
 sive. They began with the Miserere re-
 cited by Father Kelly, answered by the
 clergy. Then came the blessing of the
 monument by Father Kelly; then a ser mon by Father O'Grady of Pratt City.
 After the discourse the priests chanted the l Benedictus and the exercises closed with 1 three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys."
 Father OGrady spoke in part as fol- | lows:
 'The Lord hath sworn and He will not repent thou art a priest forever accord
 ing to the order of Melchizedeck =
 Psalm cix.
 The priest is a mystery to unbelievers.
 to the student of history, even to his own 1 family.
 l The average priest Is a mystery to non-
 Catholics. Their own teachers are an ex-
 plicable class. They preach the gospel
 or the rules of right conduct at their | pleasure and failing to achieve real suc- | cess, or seeing higher honor In other
 ways, they retire to more suitable labors l The priest is a priest forever. The av-
 craze man sees him on the street and turns to look at him again. He has heard of him as the devoted attendant of Cath ollie people. Stories of his fidelity in l sickness and trouble and disaster have reached him. He is known to hear the private confessions of sinners. Secrets pour into his ear that no other may
 know until judgment. Even students of
 social and religious ideas and forms are puzzled to account for him.
 The more closely they study his course
 the more are they amazed and bewildered. They follow him among the people, watch him baptizing, confessing, offering up the mass, feeding the people with divine bread performing the marriage ceremony and anointing, preaching with authority, admonshing, warning, condemning. They see him a part of an immense system, be-
 ginning with the Pope and ending with
 the subdeacon, bound by vows never to be broken. He is even a mystery to the household in which he was born and bred. From the beginning he seems to have been set apart from his brethren. | He might have had no mental or phyical superiority over them; might have been | inferior in fact. His childhood and youth
 were as theirs in the natural order. He
 was as merry, as sportlve, as headlong l but for him the things of God had q | stronger attraction. What others saw | to respect and admire he saw to love | and long for. Little by little he drfted | away from them. and they saw him go- | ing with tears and joy. as Mary the | Mother saw her beautiful Son go forth l f.N IfaY ,f-rfT ( To AnI so honored and was leaving forever Still
 with all this the priest is no more. no less than a human being. He has the faults of his race and the limitations of the
 training are strong In him. As his fam fly which gove him to the church was
 good or indifferent, course or refined, clever or heavy witted, so will he proba bly be. As his school. college, seminary and diocese influenced him, these infu-
 ences he will display in his work. But we can not adopt a better method
 for showing forth the dignity of the
 priest than by enumerating some of the principal titles by which he Is honored in the sacred scriptures. He is called the salt of the earth. "Ye are says
 Our Lord. the salt of the earth; but if
 the salt lose it's savor. wherewith shall
 1t be salted?" Matt V: 14
 The priest is called the man of God,
 Tim. VI: II. The priest is the friend of Christ. "I will not now call you serv-
 ants for the servant knoweth not what
 hls lord doeth; but I have called you
 friends because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father l have made
 known to you" John KY: 15 The priest
 is the brother of Jesus. After his resur-
 rectiou Our Lord sent by Mary Mazda l len this touching and gracious message l to his apostles Go to my brothers and
 say to them l ascend to my Father and
 to your Father to my God and to your
 God" John XIX: '.
 The priest bears the tender name of | father, a title which he shares with his
 eternal Father, from whom all paternity ! in heaven and on earth is named. Eph. 1 iii: 15
 The priest becomes the spiritual father
 of his flock whom he has brought forth
 to a new life in the regenerating waters
 of baptism whom he nourishes with the
 bread of heaven
 The priest renounces all carnal father
 hood that his affections may be concen-
 trated on his spiritual offspring. Some days before his death Archbishop | Bayley was heard saying: Father Bay | ley, Bishop Bayley Archbishop Bayley.
 prefer the title of Father Bayley."
 Of ale the designations given to a min
 ister of religion the title of a priest is
 manifestly the most sacred and honor I
 offer sacrifice. For every high priest
 taken from among men Is ordained for
 men in the things that appertain to God,
 that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices | for sin. Heb. vi
 The priest Is called the minister of reconciliation. The priest stands between
 the summer and God.
 In these words dear friends, l have
 endeavored to picture for you what a | true priest of God is Great is the re- | sponsibility of a priest Awful will be
 the accounting. As much as been given,
 so much will be expected. We have gath
 cred today in this sacred spot to honor l the memory of a devoted priest. | 1 do not think 1t is too much for me l to say that all the characteristics of a | good faithful priest could be found m | the life of Father Galland He began his | preparation for the priesthood at a very early age, before he was influenced by | the spirit of the world. He was the true | priest under all circumstances. How well l remember the day of his ordinationl | What peace and happiness it brought to 1 the young candidate and his devoted
 mother. For the first two years of his l priestly life he labored in the city of l Montgomery assistant to Father Savage | His name will ever be held in benediction l in the Capital City. In January, 1897, ! Father Galland was sent as the first resi- | dent priest to Pratt City. and there he l spent nearly ten years of his sacredotal | life. The convent schools and rectory | stand as monuments to his zeal in the l cause of religion. It will be many d | day before Father Galland is forgotten | in Pratt. year ago last March the 1 Right Rev. Bishop called on him to take | charge of the congregation of Our Lady of Sorrows, made vacant by the death