The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-04-01
Continued from pageI)
LETTER OF THE MOST REVEREND
ARCHBISHOP.

LE ETA 80 IT. WIS 49, IT, EREiND
ARCHBISHOP.
To this solemn First Communion all
children in the parish will be con-
voked-those who previously will have
been admitted to private First Com
munion, as, also, those who, for one
reason or another, will not heretofore
have approached the Holy Table. To
those two classes should be added the
children who attended for the first
time solemn First Communion the pre-
ceding year.
AS a condition of admission to
solemn First Communion, children
must have been two years pupils in
Catholic school, or, at least, must have
followed for two years the lessons in
the Catechism classes which every pas
tor is careful to organize and direct.
A few weeks of instruction before
solemn First Communion, or before
Confirmation, must be considered as
utterly insufficient to the proper re-
ligious training of children, and of no
value beyond affording an occasion for
rehearsal of what had been pre-
viously learnt What is required is a
continuous teaching of religion during
at least two years. 1t should be added
the obligation to seek religious in
struction does not cease with solemn
First Communion; religious, instruc-
ton should be prolonged as prepare
ton for Confirmation, and later still in
the form of Perseverance classes.
Before solemn First Communion, as
before Confirmation, there will be a
somewhat exacting examination in the
Catechism, after which diplomas of
proficiency will be distributed to de.
serving pupils
Further Observations.
Once admitted to First Communion,
children will be encouraged to ap.
proach the Holy Table at frequent in
tervals. This is the command of the
Holy Father.
Children arrived at the age of dis
erection, without having made their
First Communion, must, in case OF
4 dangerous illness, be specially pre-
pared and made to receive the Sacra
ment. In case of doubt as to whether
they are fitted to receive Communion
they should at least be brought, as
best as it is possible, to confess thei1
sins and receive dissolution, though il
were sub-conditione.
All children in the parish should be
brought to confession several times 9
year, even when they are not to re
ceive Holy Communion. The times SCI
aside by Diocesan statutes for The
hearing of confessions of children are
the Ember-days-four times year.
Nor must 7 forget to call the atten
ton of pastors to the special injunction
of the Holy Father, as stated in the
concluding paragraphs of the Decree o
, the Sacred Congregation: "The Hol,
Father has commanded all the Ordi
naries that the present decree be mad.
known not only to the pastors and tn,
clergy, but also to the people, to whom
/. it shall be read yearly, at Easter time
! in the vernacular language
r Wisdom of the Decree of the sacre,
Congregation.
!, Properly understood and explaine
and properly applied, the Decree o
the Sacred Congregation on the ad
mission of children to First Holy Com
munion cannot but be welcomed b
Y pastors of souls who have at heart tn
!? spiritual welfare of the little ones @
+ the flock. The more the Decree i
n perused, the more apparent become tn
r. fruits of grace it is destined to brin
r. forth.
The gifts of God through the Hol
Eucharist are precious and most abur
: dant. Why should the child be d.
> prived Of those blessings, once it flu
/ fills the conditions for worthy recel
e ton of the Sacrament? Through it
l. earlier communions it will have store
Ii up for itself spiritual forces that wi
IS serve it well amid the trials Of late
) years. Nor should the fact be owe
4 looked that in its first stepping
: through life the child feels the risin
= ebb of passion and is exposed more {
!, L less to temptation and sin. Th
q strength to resist evil should not /
st taken from it. Too often in the pa.
|. this strength was offered, when 81
/ had already discolored and scared th
n SOUL Moreover, habits formed in il
n fancy and youth endure through late
= years: it is Of the utmost importanc
/ that the child be used, in its earle
: years, to those practices of religion
which the Christian of more matul
" age should seek safety for faith an
20 morals. To postpone the reception
Is First Communion until the formatio
t. of habit is more difficult, until, pc
a. haps, evil habits have already bee
Is formed, is doing the child harm, fro
% which it may never afterwards full
! recover.
! The hope Of religion is in the CHI