The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-05-19
The ANNUAL COLLECTION, ON
PENTECoST SUNDAY, FOR THE
BENEFIT OF THE HOLY SEE,

annual collection for the benefit OF
the Holy See, to be taken up, in this
year of Grace, 1917, at the severa
Masses in all the churches of the
diocese of st. Paul, on the forth
coming Pentecost Sunday, the twenty
seventh day of May.
A year ago, | addressed to the
Clergy and the Laity of the Diocese
of st. Paul an urgent appeal in favor
of this annual collection. To my ap-
peal there was given an encouraging
response-the offerings going con-
S1derably beyond the sums obtained
IN any preceding year. | must hope
and believe that the contributions to
be made in the year 1917 will not only
be equal to those of the year 1916, but
VIII establish the consoling fact that
devotion to the Holy See and love
Tor the illustrious Sovereign of the
Church, Benedict XIV, become with
the passing of time stronger and more
vivid among the Catholics of the
Diocese of st. Paul, as, fortunately
Tor themselves, their temporal cir
cumstances, enabling them to give
substantial proof of devotion and love,
continue under the beneficent hand
of Providence, to endow them with
higher and more blessed prosperity.
Who, today, the Catholic that is
not proud of the glory encircling the
Throne of Peter through the vast and
far-reaching influence which it's pres.
ent lllustriOuS occupant, Benedict XIV,
mas been able to win to himself among
the nations of the world! On all
sides the voice of Benedict is heark-
ened to with reverential respect. If,
despite his repeated exhortations to
peace, war still desolates so many
fair lands of Europe, it is none the
less true that, in significant instances,
he has been able to assuage the sor-
rows of the conflict, to extend over
many miseries the hand of mercy and
compassion, to awaken to livelier ac-
ton the principles of justice and
humanity that should, even in the
most exceptionable circumstances,
rule the thoughts and the doings of
peoples and of sovereigns Seldom, in
the story of recent centuries has the
Papacy reached the heights of inter-
national splendor and benefcence that
present times are willing to accord to
it. Much of all this, of course, springs
from the inherent spiritual forces of
the See of Peter, where dwells in un-
broken succession the Princedom of
the Incarnate God, the Founder and
abiding Guardian of the Church: but
to no small degree is it the personal
work of the Pontiff who knows we'll
how and when to set those forces in
motion, turning all things to the
greater glory of the Most High and
the greater welfare of men and of
nations. All hail, today, to Benedict
XIV, our Pontiff, our Leader! 1t is
our privilege, our joy, to love him, to
serve him, to give of ourselves and
of our means in order that his labors
be the more efficient, his victories be
the more relucent of the sunshine of
the Heavens-sure as we are that
what he plans and accomplishes tends
to the higher honor of God and to the
richer profit of religion and of human
ity. -..{,.
Appended to this present letter are
the lists of contributions received
from the several parishes of the Dio-
Cese in the year 1915, to the benefit
of the Holy See. The lists should be
read with attention, that parishes
which today deserve praise make effort
to gain yet higher praise in future
lists: that parishes whose smallness
of gift invites reproach make effort
in future opportunities to be more
worthy of their sonship in the Su-
preme Pontificate than heretofore
they have permitted themselves to
appear.
Our special appeal is to our high
minded and Jealous priests. AS the
priest, so the flock. AS the priest
strives to do, so the flock will be led
to do. Let the words of the priest,
in the announcement of the Pente-
costal Collection, vibrate with warm
love for the Holy See: let his very
voice be the signal of loyalty and of
devotion: let it be plain that his pride
in his parish, and what his parish is
willing and able to do for Church and
for Pontifcate, the People will not
fail to respond. .a-
We recall, with very strong insist
ence, the statute of the Diocese OF st.
Paul ordering that the full sums of col
lections taken up at each and every
Mass on Pentecost Sunday be set
aside as belonging to the Holy Sec
no deductions whatever being allowed
for the benefit of local parish treas
uries. In some places, we have had
reason to believe, trustees deduct
from the gross sum of collections an
equivalent of the average Sunday col
lection, to the intent that the parish
treasury lose nothing of it's regular re-
ceipts. This custom, wherever or how
ever introduced, is formally prohibit
ed. The parish as such, no less than
its individual membership, must pay
tribute to the Holy See.
This present letter will be read at
the several Masses in all the churches
of the Diocese. on the Sunday preced-
ing Pentecost Sunday May goth; and
on Pentecost Sunday itself-rMay 9th,