Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-27
PAPAL REQUIEM OFFERED AT
ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL


toned the efforts of the Pope in be-
half of Catholic journals, declaring
That Plus x thoroughly realized the
sFeat innuence of the modern news
paper in behalf of religion.
Monsignor Mackers sermon was as
follows:
II would be presumptuous in me
10 address you on an occasion of such
unusual solemnity were 1t not for the
command of the bishop, who has di-
rected me to place before YOU the
reasons why we gather at this ser
vice of commemoration for our Holy
Father, Plus x.
THE reasons are chiefly three:
First, because it Is a holy and a
wholesome thought to pray for the
dead that they may be loosed from
their sins; secondly, because we wish
to manifest our love and loyalty to
the Holy See, the source of authority
and the bond of union for the univer-
sal Church of Christ; thirdly. be-
cause he for whom we mourn and
pray was eminently deserving of our
gratitude and esteem.
A fundamental truth of our reIig-
ION is that God the Creator has given
TO every human being a spiritual and
immortal soul, made in His own image
and likeness and destined to live
forever Over that soul death and
the grave have no power. Death is
but the setting free of the soul, which
returns to God who gave it. After
death comes Judgment or the render
ing to God of an account of our
stewardship, of every thought. word
and deed OF our earthly life. After
Judgment comes either heaven or hell,
with this distinction, that for the
9o1 ~ 30
worthy of heaven there will be
period of expiation in purgatory TO
be undergone before the soul is ad-
mitted to the enjoyment of the bea-
tinc vision which eye hath not seen
nor ear heard nor hath it entered
into the heart of man to conceive.
Because of the communion of saints
tits in our power to aid the Ayuis in
purgatory by our prayers and espe-
cially by that highest and holiest of
all prayers. the holy sacrifice of the
mass Thus to pray for those who
nave gone before us through the por-
tails of the grave is a holy and whole
some thought. 1t is a duty of piety,
charity and gratitude. The higher the
Office departed friend has held dur
ing life, the more likely is he to need
the aid OF our prayers, because his
responsibilities have been greater his
task heavier, his faults and failines
more serious in their consequences.
1t is therefore peculiarly fitting
that We gather to offer our PRAYERS
and the holy sacrifice for one who
has gone before God to render an
account of his stewardship as a, man,
a priest, a bishop and a pope. More
over. in performing tnrs duty or cnar-
ity and filial piety we show our graf
ltude to Plus x. for the innumerab bic
services he has conferred on each one
OF us; we display our appreciation OF
the virtues which distinguished his
life, and We derive from the recol->
lection of his good deeds renewed
courage and inspiration to follow in
his footsteps in those respects which
alone are of value to him now, his
devotion to duty, his personal Holt
ness, his faith, his hope, his true and
sincere love of Jesus Christ and of the
church which Christ established to
continue his mission among men.
The second reason for this solemn
service OF prayer and supplication is
that thereby we testify our undyin6
love and loyalty toward the Holy
See, our personal and intimate union
with the incumbent of that see dur
ing his life, and our grateful remem-
brance of him after his DEATH Distant
as we are by thousands of miles from
the city of st. Peter, in which Plus x.
died, we gather in spirit around his
tomb today mourning as his spiritual
children bereft of kind and loving
father. For the past eleven years we
have looked upon him az the success
sor of st. Peter, the Vicar of Christ,
the possessor of that plenitude of
spiritual authority conferred on st.
Peter by Christ. the true and eternal
Son of God, when He said to Simon
Bar iona: 81 say to thee that thou
art Peter (the rock), and upon this
rock l will build My Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. And I will give to thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and what
soever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven" or again when
Christ said to Peter: Satan hath de-
sired to sift you all as wheat, but /
have prayed for thee that thy faith
fail not, and thou being once corr
verted confirm thy brethren" or
again: Feed my lambs, feed my
sheep" The authority of Plus was
the authority of Peter, and in honor
ing Plus we testify to our belief in
that authority and to our obedience
and submission to that authority as
I to the authority of Christ.
His Personal Character.
"A third reason why we are here
today is because he for whom we
mourn and pray was in his personal
character and achievements eminent
ly worthy of our gratitude and es-
TEEN. 1t is needless to recall the
events of his life, SO fully described
in the daily press. In all those events
the personality of the man shines
forth clear and bright. What it was
in the curate and pastor of an obscure
parish, it remained in the rector of
seminary, vicar-general. bishop, patri-
arch, cardinal, Pope. In his character
from the day when as boy he won