The San Francisco call., 1910-06-05

most unknown to the great world
about her.
We are sometimes told Of the lack
of effort among Catholics as a body to
properly care for their boys and young
men and to provide them with institu-
tions similar to the Y. M. c. A, for
instance. It is we'll on such occasions
TO bear in mind that much work of this
sort is being done among Catholics
of which we hear littleeor nothing. 1t
would be well, indeed, did we take
closer notice of this fact, and allow 1t
TO stimulate us to initiate the exam
pie thus set before us, of zeal for the
protecting and training of our young
men and boys.
One signal instance of this sort of
work is brought to light by the recent
death of Don Rua, the superior general
of the Salesian congregation of priests
established by Don Bosco in Italy some
years ago.
In 1S45 Don Bosco ventured TO open
night schools for homeless boys. He
had begun his work among boys with
one pupil in 1871. In 1912 he had 20
boys to care for, then 30; and in a
few years more the number had risen
to 400. There is now, in the same
city of Turin, Italy. the first Salesfan
1000 boys. Don Bosco established the
Salesian congregation of priests to
carry on the good work. At his death
this society numbered 5000 priests de-
voted to the care of homeless boys.
And now his successor, as head of the
congregation. has been buried in Turin
with funeral services attended by 100,-
600 persons. The houses of the eongre-
cation had increased under his admin
istration from ESQ to 500; and they are
now found in almost every country
of the globe Nowhere, perhaps, are
they doing better work than in South
America, from Central America in the
north to Terra del Fuego in the ex-
treme south.
The Salesians make a speciality of
industrial training in all their institu-
tions. and their young men go out into
/ the world equipped with a trade and a
thorough religious training, to enable
them to meet the eXigencies of daily
life as they arise.
Such examples should put heart into
all of US to do what we can, each in his
own humble sphere, to encourage SINH
lar work in our own cities and towns,
! thus closing the much discussed leak
age" which has existed among Catho-
1 lies in these United States in the past
and which is not yet checked as it
might be by determined, united effort;
by "a long pull and strong pull all
! together
! The conservation OF six Catholic
bishops in st. Paul, Mimi, last month
was perhaps the most solemn. sacred
and significant ceremony ever wit
I messed in America.
1t was solemn, inasmuch as it COM
bined all the beauty. magnifcence and
grandeur that military pomp, elaborate
| ritual, brilliant coloring, solemn music,
stirring eloquence and the presence OF
! the papal delegate, of the governor and
! his staff and of the st. Thomas cadets
! could contribute to make it solemn and
! impressive. In the words of the
! preacher. 'rThe majesty of Rome over
shadowed the scene
1t was sacred, inasmueh as the sac
ring of bishop is more sacred and
/ holy than the sacring even of king,
/ the ritual of the latter being borrowed
largely from the former The anoint-
ing of the monarch prepares him for
the temporal government of mortal
men; the amounting of a bishop pre-
pares him for the spiritual government
of immortal souls. Episcopal conse-
Grafton confers the plenitude of priestiy
power, including that of perpetuating
the apostolic succession or the per-
petuity promised by Christ to his
apostles, when he appointed them to
lnelf WOriuWlue mission. saying. Be
hold, I am with you all days. even to
the consummation of the world
The ceremony was deeply significant
in its manifestation of the rapid ex-
pansion of Christianity in the new
world. Where Halley's comet or its
previous visit, found only vast will
derness inhabited by the Indian and
the buffalo it found on its present visit
the city of St. Paul. with a population
more than so per cent Catholic. an
archbishop of worldwide renown, nine
suffragan bishops, $50 priests and
sos. 900 Catholics, all in one province.
Such rapid growth in the same space
of time has not been equaled in 1000
years.
Finally, it was most significant in