The Irish standard., 1907-02-09
CATHOLIC IDEALS
Are Imperishable, Said the
-: Late Bishop Stang.
His Singing Rebuke~to Btgots
and Falsifiers.

Rt. Rev. Bishop Stang Of Fall River
Mass, who died last week at Roches-
ter, this state, was the principal speak
Ell at a banquet given by the knights
18TH Tie speakers on that occasion
We're Bishup Stang, Hon. Patrick j.
Mccarthy, mayor OF Providence;
Mayor John T. Coughlan, the Rev.
Mortimer Downing. supervisor of
Catholic charities; District Deputy
John Fl. Carroll, .. T.. Buckley, OF
North I;aston, state deputy OF the
Knights; the Rev. James \. Supple,
OF Charlesto~n, Boston, state chap
lain; Joseph c, Pelletier, ESD. of Bos-
ton, ex-state deputy; James E. Kelley
and Charles 2. Ryan.
Bishop Stang made most interest
ing and scholarly address. He said, in
part:
1T should be lrv turn TO blush, but
! have been accustomed to hear such
good things since my arrival in Fab
River that the time for blushing is
past. l was not even moved to vanity
when heard Patrick Joyful Mccarthy,
successor of Roger Willians. He has
described to you that l went around
without A hat, but you saw our Holy
Mother, the Church, rewarded me by
giving mo both hat and mitre.
II recall the incident to which he
alluded and which had forgotten, the
night We marched together TO the
home Of that old colored lady. She
was"1 1870 years old at that time but she
occasion l refused to take her patri-
mony and contented myself with a
coat. and that coat ] sent to the lhr-
scum, for it was the coat of the second
Archbishop Of Baltimore. :: She had
been his housekeeper That Old lady
was present at the Inauguration of
George Washington"
Speaking Of the order Of knights OF
Columbus he said:
"kniElithood ID the creation Of the
Catholic Church. It ~ the flower Of
Catholic: ideals. When Catholic life
was in it's full bloom, that is, when the
Church could exercise her rights ex>
trenely, free from any secular domina-
tion it was then that knighthood flour
ished and ripened into rhivalrous
deeds. 1t died upon the birth of the
so-called reformation. whose poisonous
clutch killed all that was beautiful and
uplifting in Christian Europe.
But who was the last knight known
in history? 1t WAS Emperor Maxmil-
liam, the first, who died two wears
after Martin Luther had thrown the
torch into Christian civilization. That
reformation had very little to do with
religion. II was nothing but a revolu-
ton Of the worst kind of socialism.
: '"The last knight was a most fasci-
hating figure in the history Of the mid
die ages. I would ask you to read Of
his life. but to my horror have found
there is not a. single word written
either by Protestant or Catholic that
gives the correct life Of that last
knight. that excellent representation
of llnishtliood, Emperor Maxnillian
the first.
II have asked myself of late, gentle
mon, has it been granted to Catholic
America to cause the resurrection of
true knighthood? Shall the past re-
vite" Shall you give us a resurrec-
tion? Divine thoughts never die
Catholic ideals are in1peris1lable. They
carry with them the seed of immortal
ity. Planted in different chimes, under
different circumstances, whey must
spring ,rp under different FORM but it
is always the same Catholic work.
This We behold in tho knights of
Columbus and i'll kindred organiza-
tions.
The knights OF the middle ages
We're the militia OF Christendom. the
militia of Christ. The knights Of old
were more thar ordinary soldiers.
They We're. first Of all, intensely Cath
tolic. Their swords were devoted TO
the cause of Christ and His holy
church. Their supreme duty was de-
Tense of the Vicar Of Christ. They
We're the sworn protectors of widows
and orphans, of the poor sick ana
aged. They We're the sacred guardians
of Christian lnaidenhood and woman-
hood. After death deprived one Of
these knights OF old OF his chaste COM
panion, lie must rerilain satisfied with
his first wedock.
Without fear, neither for man nor
devil, they feared God alone Earthly
losses. the battlefield where they
risked their lives, had no terrors for
them. for they walked: iii the light of
the glorious eternal. safeguard Of the
1,n1N- Church