The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-12-12

what was it but the faith in the Cruci-
fed and risen Christ thet made the
world anew. 1t is one of the common
phases of history, how the Church met
those untamed spirits in their wild ca
reer, sent the missionaries of peace
back to their fastnesses bent their
neck to the yoke of the gospel, built
them up as nations, and made the
thrones of their kings bright with cx-
amples of royal sanctity, and this was
not unfrequently the case with the rul-
ers of the Hapsburg thorne. Hence it
was that Prouhon was forced to say:
Theology is at the bottom Of our
laws The dogma Of the gospel sorme:l
for centuries the basis of the juris-
body held the highest places in the ma
tional assemblies the profession Of
faith was deemed essential to legitl-
mize the possession of power and tie
rulers, etc. Among the nations, the
Vicar Of Christ, the Roman pontiff, and
as judge, the father and sovereign ha-
bituating them to the ways of peace
and averting bloodshed wherever he
could. So that if Europe is not the
blighted wilderness Of Asia and North
ern Africa, once splendid in the glories
os their Christian civilization; it is be-
cause there has reigned in it's cel.ter
the power of Hapsburgs throne united
with the Vicar of Christ, upon whose
repeated entreaties the Cin istian
princes of Western Europe mace COM
mon cause and crushed und der the lead
ership of John Of Austria, the power.
OF the Turk at Lepanto who was about
to replace the cross with the crescent
and destroy all Christian civilization
of Western Europe. Hence I venture
TO say that next to the providence of
God, the Christian civilization that is
left is chiefly due to Hapsburg rulers,
and this is true, not only OF Europe,
but Of our own country as well, which
has borrowed it's Christian civilization
and tradition from the same source.
With the belief of the Vicar of Christ,
Columbus set sail in his Santa Maria
to spread the faith in these and other
lands.
The first religious ceremony in our
country was the solemn sacrifice Of the
Ms,oo <,Hf4 ,1,r,I
cross. The most daring explorers were
priests bound by special vow to the
Church Of Rome. There was sac
redotal blood mingled in the waters uf
the Mohawk when the Dutch were in
trenched and Fort Orange was but
stockade, priests were preaching to the
Indians in Maine before the Pilgrims
landed on Plymouth Rock, and our
missionaries We're consecrating The soil
of Virginia by their martyrdoln long
before the Cavaliers entered the James
River. From Pascal Florida to the st.
Lawrence, from st. Mary's Bay to the
Chesapeake, to Sa:l Francisco OIL the
Pacific, there are everywhere on our
lakes and rivers and mountains and
cities, traces which can never be ef-
faced, and claims which can never be
disputed that the faith sent hitl;er by
the See Of st. Peter owes no apology
to anyone, but is above and beyond all
others on born and native soil.
Well for the nation. we'll for the
ruler that enjoys the Christian ctviliza-
tion and the moral law as intended iii
which alone is embodied. by the eternal
I,awgiver in it's fullest sense. They
alone will endure. Generations after
generations and centuries after ce,tur.
les have rolled by, from the first Ru-
dolf of Hapsburg, who gives a most
g;aring demonstration Of deep rooted
Christian charity in adoring his Eu-
charistic Lord while accompanying th,
pi lest to the poor unfortunate sick.
This deep-rooted faith Of his was re-
Warded in being elected ten years later
in 1882. Emperor of the holy Roman
Empire. 1t is the same deep-rooted
faith and tender attachment: to the
Church which is inherited from his an.
cestors and forms one Of the most
sparkling gems in the diadem which
adorns the furrowed brow of our aged