Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-25
To. BECOME A BISHOP
DR.. O'ConneII Will Be Conse-
Grated at Baltimore May 3.
AN ELABORATE CEREMONY
Prelates From Throughout the Coun-
try Will Attend.
HIGH MASS BY THE CARDINAL
Long and Distinguished Career of
the Rector of the Catholic Uni
versity Of America.
AN ELABORATE CEREMONY
HIGH MASS BY THE CARDINAL
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

| BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
| Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
! The conservation of the Ri. Rev. Den
mis- Joseph O'Connell. MA, DID,. thirG
| rector of the Catholic University of Amer
lea. who has been recently elevated to the
rank Of Bishop of Sebaste, will occur al
the cathedral at Baltimore lat 1873
o'clock Sunday. May B.
There will be large attendance of prel
ates and priests from all parts of this
| country for DR.. O'Connell has the uni
versal confidence and affection of the
| American hierarchy and clergy. 1t is ex-
expected that several foreign prelates OF
distinction will also be present High
| mass will he celebrated by his eminence
Cardinal Gibbons. assisted by Archbishops
Keane of Dubuque and MOeller of Cincin-
natl Cardinal Gibbons will act as con-
| secratOr and the other sacred offices will
| be performed by personal friends. The
sermon will be preached by the Rev Dr.
Shahan. professor of church history in
| the faculty of the university. The cere-
monies will be solemn and impressive and
attended with more pomp and magnfi-
cence than is customary upon such occa-
sions. large number of personal
friends of the new bishop are coming from
different parts of the country to witness
the ceremony, and after their congratu-
lations.
Recognition Of Services.
Mgr. O'Connell was advanced to the
| rank of bishop by his holiness Pope Plus
x directly as a recognition of his emil
hence as scholar and his valuable serv-
ices to the church. 1t is titular bishop
rio of great antiquity. Sebaste being a
town of Phrygia. In Asia Minor and the
assignment will not interfere with the
| reelection of Bishop O'Connell to fec-
ond term of six years rector Of the
university over which he has presided
with SO much distinction and success
since January. 1903. His term of Office
expires next April, but he may be re-
elected for another six years by the
| trustees board, which is composed of the
several archbishOps of the United States.
The matter will probably be settled at the
annual meeting of the board in June.
The announcement that the pope had
made a bishop of the rector for whom he
has fatherly affection. came last De-
cember. and the papal brief. large sheet
Of parchment inscribed in Latin with the
commission and sealed with the pontifical
seal. was received in February. The cere-
mony OF conservation has been postponed
| until now at the desire of Cardinal Glib
bons. who has arranged the program and
looked after the preparations for the cere
mony personally in order to accommo-
date several distinguished foreign pref
ates who wish to be present and to at
tend the centennial celebration of the
diocese of New York at the same time.
Cardinal Gibbons has always taken deep
| personal interest in the welfare of Bishop
OConnell. because the latter in the early
part Of his career was for several years
with brilliant success several important
| missions and other duties which have
been intrusted to him from time to time
| by the primate of the Roman Catholic
| Church in America
Bishop O'Connell comes from family
| OF clergymen. His great-greatuncle was
John England. the first Roman Catholic
| Bishop of South Carolina, who was a
| famous man in his day. and leader in
| the extension and organization of the
| Bishop OConnell had three uncles in the
| ministry. Two of them are dead and a
| third continues in charge Of a parish in
| Brooklyn. One of his sisters is a nun be-
| longing to an educat Onal order. and is
now teaching in a missionary school at
Tientsin. China. His ancestors came
| from Ireland to South Carolina shortly
after the revolution. and ever since have
exercised a wide influence and have &C.
cupied prominent positions there.
Sent to the College in Rome.
Dennis Joseph O'Connell was born in
| Charleston. was educated in the public
schools of that city. prepared for college
at st. Mary's Academy in Columbia and
entered st. Charles College. Nd. In 1868.
When he graduated in 1871 he was sent
| to Rome to complete his preparations for
the ministry in the American College.
where the body of students is composed
Of the most promising young men from
the theological schools of the United
States. Nearly all the great nations of
the earth have similar colleges there,
which afford the brilliant young minds
an opportunity of completing their stud
les In the atmosphere Of the Vatican and
under the influence of the college of car
dinals.
College in Rome with all the opportunities
that are offered q student in the Etc .lal
city. and received the degree of STD
Doctor of Sacred Theology-from the
propaganda. He then returned to the
United States and was assigned to the
care of the various missions along the
James river in Virginia. He served for
a while in Richmond parish and then
at Winchester. and built a church at
Front Royal through the generosity of the
Jenkins family of Baltimore.
He then became private secretary to
Cardinal Gibbons. and in 1877 was sent
'pAllium." an ecclesiastical insignia
which consists of a collar of lambs wool
worn by certain archbishops to indicate
that they have jurisdiction In the Ro-
man Catholic Church when a bishop or
archbishop is elected or translated to a
see of metropolitan rank he receives it
after taking the oath of allegiance to the
pope and wears 1t on certain great feasts
The pope wears "pallium" whenever he
oficiates.
Third Plenary Council.
In October. 1883. he was sent to
Rome again to prepare for the third
2lenary council of Baltimore. which was
undoubtedly the most important assembly
of Roman Catholic prelates ever held in
America. He returned in January, 1854,
and was constantly employed during the
several months following in assisting Car
dinal Gibbons to arrange the program of
the council for its PRONUNCIATION, and max
ing promises for its sittings. After it's
adjournment. in company with several
distinguished theolOgians, he formulated
the DEGREES of that body, which was COM
Of the United States. Two previous pie
nary councils had been held. one in the
forties and the other In 1866, but none has
been held since. On that occasion tn.
hierarchy of America undertook to ad-
lust the Roman Catholic Church to the
changed conditions in this country caused
by the great influx of foreign immigrants
and the various features Of our national
development The council considered and
solved the new problems that these con-
ditions produced. pertaining to discipline,
canon law, education. missions. and other
details of church work The Catholic
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