The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-05-06

Take heed to yourselves and to the
whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost
hath appointed you Bishops to rule
the Church Of God which he hath
purchased with His own blood
Acts 20, %.
We have come here this morning
to assist at that solemn rite by which
the Church renews her life in her
eptscopate. A new Bishop is to re-
celve the power and to accept the
charge Of the old Bishops who have
laid down their burdens and now
sleep with Christ-whose immemorial
line reaches back to the apostles. To
days ceremony is significant indeed.
because 1t takes place by the authori-
ty and the command of him who, as
the successor of the Prince of the
apostles, is for us Christ's vice-regent
on earth and the custodian of the
Church's venerable traditions. 1t has,
moreover, an added interest because
1t Is the first occasion in the Pontifi-
cate of the Sovereign Pontiff now glo-
riously reigning on which the fullness
of the Sacerdotal office shall have
been impaired to member of our
American hierarchy.
The chastened language of the lit
urgy, the intricate ceremonial, the
elaborated symbolism of the Pontifical
combine to convey to us in the forms
OF antiquity the Church's abiding
sense of the, modes and the means
through which Christ Our Lord con-
tinues to impart His graces to men.
Coming as man to save us and dying
as man to redeem us, He still makes
use of man to perpetuate the work of
redemption. Still as of yore the
Church seeks faithful men to whom
she entrusts the deposit of the faith
whom she charges with the dispensa-
tion of the mysteries of God--whom
she commands to take heed for the
whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost
hath appointed you Bishops to rule
the Church of God which he hath pur
chased with His own blood"
Episcopate is Standard.
The history of the Church is but
the illustration of this amazing pro
gram. In nineteen centuries and more
OF alternating triumph and failure, the
character. the courage, the fidelity and
the freedom of the episcopate have
connoted in every land the progress
or the decline of the Churchs activi
ties. Unity has always been it's bono
of strength-the unity of the Bishops
OF any country with one another, moi
only in matters of faith which, o
ty of plan in common undertaking:
and above all, the unity of all Bishops
with their chief-the Roman Pontif
who even in far Tertullian's day anG
in phrase that was meant to b.
biting but for us sounds like the af
f1rmation of our own loyalties-wa'
known as the episcopus episcoporum-
the Bishop of all Bishops.
The Church, which listened to o
read the gospels for the first time a.
they came from the, hands of the in
spired writer's, was familiar with th
ministry of Bishops, though the wore
is not found in these memorable doc
uments. Corinth-whose membership
in ST. Pauls day included apostles
prophets, doctors, healers, speaker
with tongues and interpreters o
tongues-soon lost the charismata O
hoo IN cyc-cinno tho cnipif nf 10
was to work in the Church of the age
less through the divine compulsion @
miraculous Intervention than throug
the methodical processes of orderl
government. Like the Ephesus whic
the apostle knew, it soon was rule
by Bishops whose type and charat
teristics he described in his unforge
table letter to his beloved discipl
Timothy. Gil. Cap. 81
The Ancient Hierarchy.
It is a church whose central figur
is Bishop which Ignatius, disciple c
the apostles, saluted as he passe
through Asia Minor from Antioch
Rome, where he sealed his faith an
illustrated his Office in the ensal
guined rubrics of martyrdom. Smyrn
and Tralles, Ephesus and Magnesi
and Philadelphia, names far remot
to us after the lapse of eighteen Gel
turtles since he addressed the Chris
tian congregation of these cities, e.
hibit. however, the same faith in tn
Eucharist, the same discipline unde
a fully organized hierarchy OF De-
cons, priests and Bishops as thu
which we preserve today.
Indeed, the outstanding fact OF tn
dim, undocumented early ages
Christianity is the universal prev
lence of an organized hierarchy unde
the presidency of a monarchical BIS
op. The speedy spread of the Churc
throughout the Roman empire and Il
beyond its borders has always Dee
considered one of the most splendl
miracles that followed and confirme
the first authentic Pentecost. Yet Il
nrorress was along definite, unifOrl