Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1911-10-20
CARDINAL GIBBONS DUAL CELE.
BRATION.


double jubilee as priest and Cardinal, but
one as well to the great American, who,
while serving his church with apostolic
zeal, has served his nation too, and whose
services to his country have added lustre
to the records Of his church.
This was the significant feature of the
celebration. the dominant note in all the
great chorus of congratulation and praise
that was bestowed upon him. This idea
was well expressed by Archbishop GlennOn
in his sermon at the mass. He pointed
out that the position of Cardinal Gibbons
was unique. not only in church history, but
world history as well,
There have been great Cardinals, he
said, lin the centuries that have gone be-
fore Woolsey and Richelieu but the op-
portunities for their greatness arose at
least in part from the conditions of their
times they were officials of the state as
well as princes of the church. and it did
appear that at times they served their
kings with far more zeal than they served
their God. There have been, too, great
| Cardinals in modern times Wiseman. Man
ming and Newman but some of their great
ness was due to the positions in which they
were placed-their task was to put the
church back in the position from which it
had been thrown by persecution.
But, unlike any member of either group,
our Cardinal stands for the same devotion
to his country as Richelieu had for France,
cultivating a citizenship as unstained as
that of Newman. While reaching out to a
broader democracy than even Manning, he
still retains prominence in his unques-
toned devotion to Holy Church.
This tribute was the significant feature
of his sermon. AS it was uttered thrill
went over the vast congregation. Priest,
parishioner and archbishop nodded their
heads in approval, while the Cardinal
bowed his mitered head and rested it upon
his hand.
At vespers in the evening Archbishop
Blenk, of New Orleans. sounded the same
note. exclaiming:
He belongs to the whole country. Many,
indeed, outside the church listen to him
as to the Voice of Religion, for prejudice
disarms when the Cardinal speaks.
And again:
ut is a grand thing for any nation when
a man thoroughly possessed of its true
genius is put in a position of national
prominence, and Cardinal Gibbons simply
by being the thorough American that he is
has been one of the strongest forces for
true Americanism in our land. His in
fluence is incredibly great"
Thus it was that the celebration took
the broader aspect that the honors heaped
on the Cardinal by his loving friends and
the leaders of Catholicism in America
were honors not simply to the man pre-
eminent in his church, but to the man
whose civic virtues are so manifest that
no man in the nation is too great to pay
him tribute.
And what celebration ii was Not
since the centennial of the hierarchy in
1889 has there been one to compare with
it in significance, and there has been none
to excel it in impressiveness. The eleva-
ton of Archbishop Satolli to the cardna-
late in 1895 and the centenary of the
Cathedral in 1906 we're events attended
perhaps. by as many dignitaries of the
church but neither attracted the wide
spread interest or were so truly significant
as that of Sunday. The streets of Balti-
more through which the procession marched
were crowded, the people being massed
almost sOlidly from house line TO curb line.
Banners futtered from Calvert Hall College,
the Cathedral school and other buildings
in the neighbOrhOod. and in spite of the
lowering clouds gave an air of festivity to
| the scene.
Slowly the line emerged from Calvert
Hall and passed out Cathedral street to
Mulberry street, the students from st.
Charles College leading. followed by the
the Cathedral sanctuary boys. bright faced
youngsters in their robes of red then the
black -cassOcked seminarians in their sim
pie surplices, next the regular clergy in
the habits Of their order. the Dominicans
in white. the Passionists in the sombre
/ black Of course texture, the stern-faced
Franciscan. Godfrey Schilling, superior of
the BroOkland Monastery. bearded and in
his robe of brown. and so on.
Then came another touch of red color,
/ the professors Of the Catholic University,
some with hoods Of blue and gold with
black velvet mortar boards, others in black
robes and hoods edged with crimson and
with black velvet birettas also edged with
crimson, while Mgr. Thomas j. Shahan,
rear.
/ Next in order were the purple-rObed
monsignOri and the bishops, and in this
line there were many familiar faces There
was bishop John s Foley, Of Detroit. Mich.
changed with the years and not so hand
some as he was when he was pastor Of St.
Martins Church in Baltimore, and then
considered the best-lookine priest in the
diocese, yet he was easily recognized and
was greeted by hundreds as in the old
days. as Father Foley"
Another easily picked out in the throng
was Bishop r. j. Donahue, Of Wheeling.
/ formerly rector Of the Cathedral. somewhat
grayer and little stouter than when he
was one Of the most familiar figures in
! Baltimore, but otherwise little changed.
There was the serious and bearded faced
Bishop Had, the vicar apostolic Of North
I Carolina. and there was also the alert and
able Bishop Allen. Of Mobile, former presi-
dent of Mount St. Mary's College.
Swinging around by way Of Mulberry
and Charles streets to the Cardinals resi-
dence. the procession went by, and as il
passed the doors were thrown open and