Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-09-26

v.s hut a babe his parents removed
20 G. paul. MINI, and his early ed
,,cation was received in the cathed.
ra1 school in that city. He was sent
~ france in 1853 and in September
~ that year, when he was but Is he
entered the Petit Seminaire of Mox-
;meaux. finishing the eiph, 20
course there in four years. He stud.
led theology at the Grand seminiar 80
at Hyeres. returning to St. Paul IN
1851 ana being ordained a priest
wneh ne was little more than %
sea's OF age Upon the formation of
.ne flfth Minnesota regiment voun,
eiaiio was made it's chaplain, and
served two years in the Civil u,r
Neturning from the field he was ~
poihsed rector of Cathedra, na-;sh
t,ie eeesyal and largest parish in ST
au,' ana continued in that position
% ui.,il ne "~s named as coadiutor
In 1870 he went to Rome as Tho
credited represepetive 80 ne So. 'c
Grace at the Fatics, ei,p
February, 1875, he wa e, IN
succeed Bishop O'Gormal.' '1seh 10
vicariate of Nebraska. but ~ the
the efforts of Bishop Grace tn
pointment was cancelled. and he "
then nominated coadjutor bishop OF
st. Paul and was consecrated De-
cember u. 1873, In 1883 he was ell
evated to the head of the archdiocese
of St. Paul
Archbishop Ireland was a man of
great personal magnetism. a CONVEX
sationalist of unvarying interest and
/ OF remarkable versatility. In church
, matters he was a liberal. About 1883
/ he conceived the idea of having the
public and parochial schools merged,
| both Catholic and Protestant teach
ers being employed, and the school
moneys divided. This was what was
| known in Minnesota as the "Fari-
hault plan" and was put into op-
GRAFTON under the direction of the
archbishop. 1t was tried at both
| Faribault and Saltwater The plan
worked fairly we'll for time. as
much from its novelty as anything
else. but there was soon friction
( ProteStants objected to teachers in
structlng children in the garb Of
any church. Next the trouble came
over the Bible. the Catholics want
ing to use it in part as a textbook.
and the Protestants asking that it
be read only at the beginning of the
day or abolished altogether The
controversy grew in bitterness till
both parties to il were glad to go
back to the old regime
The crowning educational work Of
Archbishop Ireland was the building
Of the Hill seminary at Macaiester
Mimi. To this great enterprise James
j. Hill, the railroad magnate. donat-
ed S50o,0o0. The building Of the sem
mary was completed in 1897 The
school in in The NAN ,:eVp ell 20 the
education Of young men for the
priesthood. Archbishop Ireland was
also very active in securing the es-
adjustment Of the Catholic Univer.
sity at Washington. and on his visit
to Rome in 1887 was engaged. in con-
Junction with Bishop Dean, in draw
ing report ON this subject for the
Pope.
While he seldom mixed in political
life in the sense of delivering ad-
dresses and making pleas for one
party or the other, he was a nan of
pronounced opinions on all state and
national topics. and exercised his in
fuence in his own way, but the oc-
casions were few on which he felt it
his duty to break his rule Of non
interference. One of these occasions
came in the fall Of 1896. The cam
paign between Mckinley and Bryan
had only about three weeks to run,
and 20 the leading business men Of
ST. Paul sent him letter asking
that he give to the public in mis- own
way his views regarding the great
question then before the citizens of
the republic. On Oct. IL Of that year
he sent to the country what was then
regarded as one Of the great address
es of the contest, which later ended
so overwhelmingly for Mckinley. In
this address he came out strongly
for the gold standard.
Ten years later. in 1906, the name
Of Archbishop Ireland was again
drawn into a public controversy that
atu acted widespread attention. This
was the controversy between Presi-
dtHt RooSt'tit iotlldIny StOTeT,
which ended IN the latter being dis
missed from his post as amba 5sador
to Austria because. as alleged. of
the misdirected zeal of Mrs. Storer
in endeavoring to secure the eleva-
tion of Archbishop Ireland to the
cardinalate. Amba Ssador Storer de-
Clared that the endeavors to secure
the red hat for the St. Paul Srelate
had the approval of President
Roosevelt and that the plan vas in
pursuance of an understanding with
the late President Mckinley, who
was said to have desired to reward
Archbishop Ireland for his help in
the campaign. The statements Of
Mr.. and Mrs. Storer were fatty de-
nicd by PresideH. Roosevelt and the
controversy ended in the summary
dismissal Of Mr. Storer from the
diplomatic service. Throughout the
controversy Archbishop ireland
maintained dignfied silence and
the general impression gained ground
that he had been the innocent VIC
tim of his too Jealous friends.
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