The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-09-05
SERMON PREACHED BY ARCH.
BISHOP IRELAND IN THE OLD
CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL ON
SUNDAY, AUGUST 80, coMMEMo-
RATING THE FINAL DAY.


most holy: plead not the love which
tens of thousands vowed to thee, as
year after year beneath thy. roof they
won to themselves the favors an6
graces of Heaven: plead not the
streaming tears that bedew the chesks
of the throngs now come together tc
chant thy parting dirge. 1t is all in
vain. The hammer of The demolisher
is lifted: tomorrow it will strike the
fatal blow: tomorrow thou shalt cease
to live. We are assembled to speak
the saddening word, farewell
Lovers of the old Cathedral, honor
it-honor it by filling to the brim your
souls with the rich and rare memories
that spring from every stone in its
walls, from every board of it's floors,
from the thresholds of it's doorways
and the affairs of its sanctuaries. The
poet of humanity bids us find tongues
in trees, books in running brooks,
sermons in stones" Assuredly, mys-
tic tongues there are, and books, and
sermons, in the old Cathedral of ST..
Paul. Together, we shall hearken
to the music OF their echoings, and
sink deeply into our souls the sweet
and valuable lessons they impart, to
be often in future years remembered
and acted upon. 1t is the tribute the
Cathedral merits: it is the tribute we
shall render unto it.
The Old CathedraI-And Its Predeces-
sors.
Fifty-eight years is the age of the
old Cathedral We date it's birth
from the day of the laying in place of
the cornerstone. | read it's baptismal
certificate-a copy of the original
document deposited within the corner
stone: I'm the year of our Lord
1856; during the reign of Plus TX,
Pope; in the presence of the Right
Reverend Joseph Cretin, first Bishop
of the Diocese of st. Paul, Minnesota,
in the United States OF America; the
Right Reverend John Timon, Bishop
of Buffalo, being the officiating pre-
late; Franklin Pierce being the Presi-
dent of the United States, and Willis
tory of Minnesota; on the eleventh
Sunday after Pentecost, the twenty
seventh day of July, at the close of
the Solemn Mass, about midday, the
cornerstone of the Cathedral of st.
Paul was put in place, with due cere-
monial according to the Roman Ritual,
under the invocation of the Blessed
Paul the Apostle"
The twenty-seventh day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1856! Few they
are, present within the Cathedral, on
this thirtieth day Of August, in the
year of our Lord, 1914, privileged to
have witnessed the scene of fifty-eight
years ago. Death has swept the multi
tude from the land of the living.
Cretin and Timon are gone: Ravoux,
Keller, Caillet and Oster are gone:
the multitude of devoted spectators
are gone. The few alone survive.
Those few | salute with respect and
fondness. Their right is undisputed
to honored seats as we ring out the
closing hour of the dear old Cathe-
dral And piously and lovingly |
salute those that are gone, whose
spirits are now descending from the
skies to be with us on this meaningful
occasion, led hither, l am confident
by the two heroes. to whose zeal the
Cathedral in very especial manner
owes it's creation, whose hearts were
wont, as those of none others, to go
out to it in love, in sacrifice-Cretin
and RavouX.
The Cathedral that we honor today
is not the first Cathedral of st. Paul
This included, three there Were-each
one entertaining to itself memorable
associations, each one epochal in the
annals of city and of diocese.
On November the first, 1S41, Father
Lucian Galtier dedicated the chapel
from which the city of today has it's
name. 1t was built of roughly-hewn
trunks of tamarack trees: it was
eighteen feet in length and sixteen il
breadth: two small windows brought
light to it's nave and sanctuary: tht
cost, outside the free labor of tht
workmen, totalled the sum of seventy
eight dollars. In size and poverty i
was the fitting symbol of the village
that clustered around it. In the yea
1S47, the village, growing, the chape
grew in length, though scarcely il
comeliness; and as then fashioned,
became the first Cathedral of st. Paul
July the second, 1851, when Josepl
Cretin read from its altar-step tn
apostolic letters, appointing him frs
Bishop of st. Paul.
The village meanwhile increased i
population. A new Cathedral wa
built. This was the edifice constructe
of brick, situated on Wabasha an
Sixth Streets-so shaped as to hous
church, schoolrooms and residence Q
bishop and priests. 1t was the wor
der and the delight of the village a
it rose into it's three-fold staging
though here and there, we have bee
told, mutterings were heard that
was too remote from the center c
population. 1t was begun soon afte
the arrival of Bishop Cretin. Thoug
yet unfurnished and upholstered,