Evening star., 1925-07-20
CARDINAL BEGIN
| DIES AT AGE OF 81
Rose to Be Prince of Church
i From Son of Humble
Farmer.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
QUEBEC, July 20.-The body of
Cardinal Begin, Archbishop OF que.
bee and Primate of Canada, who dled
yesterday, lay in state today In the
chapel of the archbishop's palace.
Next Saturday the son OF humple
farmer, who became a prince OF the
Roman Catholic Church, Will De
buried in the crypt of the palace.
Despite his S5 years the cardinal
had resisted with fortitude an attack
of uremia with which he was strick-
en- a week ago. On Saturday - SUI
fered a relapse. Louis NaZaire Besln'
ordained 60 years ago, had been Arch
bishop of Quebec for % years ana
cardinal for IL years.
Rise Without Parallel.
The romantic rise of Cardinal Be-
gin from the unpretentlous sur
roundings of a Lewis farmhouse
where he was born, to membership
in the Sacred College of the Roman
Catholic Church, is without parallel
in the religious history of Canada.
II Is doubtful if the venerable pref
ate. when in youth he consecrated
his life to the service of his church,
ever dreamed of or hoped Tor tne
honors that were later to come TO
him. ,,,s;
Prepa ring for his orOnatlon, Cdlui
nal Begin apparently had In nina
teaching career, for after he became
a priest he spent several years IN
further studies of special courses TO
fit him for a place on the faculty OF
Laval University, Montreal, where ne
earned his B. A. degree.
During 81 years of teaching Father
Begin. as he was then, by his devotion
to his duty and to his church won
favor at the Vatican and In 1883 was
rewarded with appointment as Blsnop
of Chicoutimi. After three years as
head of that see he was appointed
bishop coadjutor to the late Cardinal
Taschereau, Archbishop of Quebec, and
became titular Archbishop of Cyrene.
In 1894 he was made administrators Oh
the archdiocese of Quebec.
Visited Every Parish.
Cardinal Begin succeeded to the
archbishopric of Quebec upon the
death in April, 1888, or Cardinal
Taschereau AS head Of the diocese
he worked energetically to promote
the interests of the church and made
a practice of visiting annually every
parish in the archdiocese, one Of the
largest territorially in America. Be-
ginning his parish visits early IN the
Spring 1t was necessary for him to
travel almost continually until the
end of September to cover all the ter
ritory He did most of his travelling
by automobile or carriage, using trains
and boats only when absolutely neces-
sary.
From the death of Cardinal Tas-
chereau in 1898, the first Canadian
prelate to be elevated to the College of
Cardinals, his successor as Arch
bishop of Quebec had been mentioned
several times as a possible candidate
for the red hat, but it was not until
1914 that the honor was conferred
upon Cardinal Begin by Pope Plus x.
While an able administrator of his
archdiocese, Cardinal Begin attracted
more attention by his strictness as an
ecclesiastical disciplinarian and rigid
ly enforced the regulations of the
Catholic Church. Likewise, in his
later years he was a sturdy and active
antagonist of social modernism and a
vigorous opponent of modern dancing
and jazz. His stand against these was
officially indorsed in Rome by an ar
ticle in Osservatore Romano, the Or
gan of the Vatican.