Evening star., 1944-12-10
BY James Waldo Fawcett.,

day next the Roman Catholic Church
in America will make one of her most
widely known, distinguished and we'll
beloved priests a member Of the episco-
pate. The service Of conservation which
will raise him to the status OF bishop
and prince will be pageant of inspiring
sacred beauty, reproducing all the grand
hturgical and rituaistic tradition of the
Christian religion accumulated through
the centuries since its founding.
To understand the solemn rite it is
necessary for lay spectator to appre-
ciate the fact that every detail is SYM
bolic and historic.
The Bishop-elect is the Most Rev.
Michael Joseph Ready, D. D., native
Of New Haven, Conn.,, born April g.,
1885, the son of Michael T. and the
late Mary Ellis Ready. He accompanied
his parents to Ohio when he was small
child and was educated in the local
parochial schools of that State, at St.
Vincent's College, Latrobe, Pa; st.
Bernard's Seminary, Rochester, N. Y,
and st. Mary's Seminary, Cleveland.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1918, he
performed parish duties in several Ohio
cities, then taught in the Cathedral
Latin School in Cleveland and, finally,
in 1927, was appointed director of the
Pontiflcal Society for the Propagation
of the Faith in the Cleveland diocese.
He came to Washington as assistant
general secretary of the National Cath
olic Welfare Conference, the central
agency of the Catholic bishops of the
United States, in 1881; was made gen.
eral secretary in 1886, papal chamberlain
in 1884 and domestic prelate in 1887.
Bishop-Elect's Honors
His work as the principal executive
officer of the NCWC has taken Msgr
Ready to every part of his own
country. 1t likewise repeatedly has sent
him to Europe. He attended the Inter
governmental Committee for Political
Refugees at Evian, France in 1888. His
relief activities led to his appointment
to President Roosevelts Advisory Com
mittee on Political Refugees. He also
was q iliCulOCl VI tAic IS1V WIIeC 11OtoC
Conference on Children in Democracy,
is secretary of the Board of Trustees
of the National Catholic Community
Service, secretary of the Board of War
Relief Services, member of the Board
of National Refugee Service, Inc, aid
president of the Board of the National
Catholic School of Social Service. Hon
orary LII. D. degrees have been awarded
him by Villanova College and Notre
Dame and Duquesne Universities. The
announcement of his appointment to
be Bishop of Columbus was made by
the Apostolic Delegation in behalf of
His Holiness Pope Plus XII on Novem-
ber 18. 1t was recognized both within
and without the church as a distinction
merited by a life of sacriicial devotion.
Specifically, Msgr. Ready has been a
force for progress in education, social
action, legislation and sociological CO.
operation during periods of economic
depression, labor strife, war and revo-
luton. He has been a frequent speaker,
representing Catholic humanitarian and
religious ideals before congressional
committees, conventions. civic meet
ings and radio discussion groups. BY
invitation, he gave the benediction at
the Inauguration of President Roosevelt
at the Capitol in January, 1941. A
monument of a sort to his labors is
the new NCWC building on Massa-
chusetts avenue near Thirteenth street
NV, constructed during his term as
secretary.
Distinguished Consecrators
The consecrator of the new Bishop
elect will be the Most Rev. Anleto
Giovanni Cicognani, D. D., Archbishop
of Laodicea, Apostolic Delegate to the
United States, and the assistant conse-
orators the Most Rev. John T.
McNicholas, o. P, S. T. M, Archbishop
of Cincinnati, and the Most Rev. Ed
ward F. Hoban, D. D., Coadjutor Bishop
of Cleveland. To the Most Rev. Ed
ward Mooney, D. D., Archbishop of De-
troit, has been assigned the high privi-
lege of preaching the conservation
sermon.
Many other honored ecclesiastics also
will participate in the sacred rites of
induction. The representatives of the
priests, religious and laity of the Diocese
of Columbus naturally are assured of
an especial welcome. A great number
of the clergy of the archdiocese of
Baltimore and Washington likewise will
attend. the occasion being for some, if
not all of them, farewell in the sense
that it marks the close of Msgr. Readys
residence in the District of Columbia.
The ritual for the conservation is set
forth in a beautiful old book written
and printed in classic Latin under the
title: "Pontiflcale Romanun. Summon
UNI Pontif1cum Jussu Editum Benedicto
XIV ct Leone XIII, Pont. Max" pub
lished by Frederick Pustet at Ratisben,
New York and Cincinnati in 1891.
Preparations for the Service
According to the provisions thus au-
thorized, "at the appointed hour, the
consecrator, the Bishop-elect, the as
sistant consecrators and the others who
are to be present at the conservation,
proceed to the church, and the con-
secrator, having prayed before the altar,
ascends to his throne near the Gospel
corner and there is vested as usual.
The Bishop-elect, with the assistant
conSecrators, goes to his chapel and
there puts on the necessary vestments,
namely: The amice, alb, cincture, the
Stnle cr0Ssed as II is worn nv nrieStS
and the cope. The assistant consecra-
tors, meanwhile, put on their vestments.
All being ready, the consecrator goes to