Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-06-03

Of Vaor in Various Periods of Their Country's
CIorou
Preside Washington
Thousand Did Honor o the Ilutrious Dead
Brooklyn Navy-Y

This week has been a memorable
week in the United States for all
Americans. On one day in the week
both North and South decorated the
graves of the soldiers who. had fallen
in defense of American liberty.
Those who wore the gray in the
South or the blue in the North dur
ing the civil war, and those who fell
in the Spanish-American war of
1898, were duly remembered. There
were two celebrations that stand
foremost in all the country, the one
at Washington, the national Capital,
in memory of the patriots who fell
in the Spanish-American war, and
the one at the Brooklyn navy yard,
where all the American soldiers from
Revolutionary times down were hon
ored. Both were Catholic memorials
and attended by military pageants
preceding requiem masses.
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons
was prevented from attending on ac-
count of the stress of other duties,
so that the chief duties of the day
devolved upon the Right Rev. Mon
signor William T. Russell, pastor OF
st. Patrick's church, Washington.
He was assisted by Very Rev. ]. R.
Meagher, o. p, as deacon, and Rev.
Martin Eagan, of Anacosta, as sub
deacon. Rev. w. ]. Carroll, OF
Washington, was master of cere-
monies.
President Taft, his sister-in-law
Mrs. Laughlin, Gen. Edwards and
Major Butt occupied a box close to
the improvised sanctuary. Rev,
Father James Smyth, who had been
assigned to special attendance upon
the President, occupied a seat in his
box. The mass began shortly after
President Taft's arrival. In describ-
ing the event the Washington Herald
said on Monday:
mot even the spacious and lofty
st. Peters dome of Rome could
have held the throng that gathered
near the Monument yesterday to do
honor TO the soldier dead. IN the
closest proximity to the embodiment
of the country for which these pa
triots died. and amid the symbols of
the Christian faith in which nearly
all of them had been reared, when
the first military mass ever known
in Washington was celebrated in
commemoration of the soldiers who
died during the Spanish-American
war. Under the shadow of the
monument erected to the first great
President of the United States, in
the presence Of his illustrious twen-
ty-sixth successor, President Taft,
with all the splendor of ritual, glory
OF liturgy, eloquence and earnest
ness OF its celebrants that the Oldest
OF Christian churches knows so well
how to display. there was paid a
tribute to those who died to help
preserve the civil and religious lib
critics that citizens OF this nation
enjoy, which in all of it's varied as
poets marks a religious event un-
rivalled in the history of the city.
From the black cassock to the
purity OF alb and surplice there
ranged every color and color COM
bination. and the crowd that pressed
tightly to the restraining ropes was
dazzled with the purple garments of
the choir boys. the golden chasubles
of the celebrant and his assistant,
the scarlet of the acolyte, and be-
yond the military uniforms, the
eolors of the civilian dress, while
throughout it all and above it all
waved the restless red, white and
blue from the thousands of flags
that were borne by the patriotic
men, women and children who
marched in kaleidoscope billowings
over the spacious grounds that were