ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1831, 18 August 1913, Page 6

ARCHBISHOP O'SHEA.

THE CONSECRATION CEREMONY "AMBASSADORS OF CHRIST." The Basilica of the Sacred' Heart, in Hill Streot, could not accommodate nearly

all the people who assembled to .witness the consecration of his Grace CoadiutorArchbishop O'Shea, which took place yesterday.

The impressive ceremony, including tho sermon, occupied nearly three hours, but during the long service the largo congregation evinced the keenest interest. Among tho clergy who were present to aisist at tho ceremony were:—His Giaiw Aichbisliop Redwood (Wellington), his Lordship Bishop Verdoii (LHinedin), and his Lordship Bishop OJeoiry The ceremony began Uvith' a procession into the church. At the altar the Bishopeleot was examined in the faith, anointed, the symbols of dignity conferred upon him (crozier, ring, and Book of Gospels), • the offering n\ade. and the blessing bestowed. Meanwhile Mass was celebrated. The new Bishop moved through the church, blessing the people; after which .the Rev. FatheT llyan, of Melbourne, Principal of the Jesuit Fathers in Australia, preached. The exit of tho procession of bishops and their attendants concluded tho ceremony. Bather interesting are the two Papal briefs—one appointing the Prelate. C'o-adjutor-Archhishop of Wellington, and tho other appointing him Archbishop of Gor-tyn-a, a very old Cretan archdiocese, of which one of the first bishops was St. Titus.

The Rev. Father Ryan then preached a fins sermon from the text: "Wo aro ambassadors, of Christ, God, as it were, operating through us",(Coriutliians, Chap. 5, Verso 20), and in the course of his nddress »ave a glowing account of tlio historical achievements of former ambassadors of Christ throughout the ages. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he said, camo on earth to found the spiritual kingdom for tlio welfare of mankind, a kingdom that was to extend to all the nations of tho earth and last till the end of Time. This kingdom was clearly foretold by the prophets of old. The prophet Daniel, after stating the destruction of the four great empires of antiquity,; sold:- "Tho Lord God of Heaven will set rap a Kingdom that shall never have an 'end, and it shall break, in pieces and subdue all those kingdomsr and it shall last for ever." The angel Gabriel and St. John tho Baptist had made similar prophecies. In that great Sermon on . tho Mount, Christ formed the consciences of tho civilised world. In it ho laid down in bold outline the constitution of that Kingdom, and the laws by which tho subjects of it were to he governed to the end of time. The very idea of a kingdom was that there should bo one suipremo head. That head lied judges and magistrates to administer its laws, and, if it embraced other lands, requiredgovernors. But ail obtained their authority from tho head. So it was wiih tlio Church, whose bishops might be regarded as the mverncrs in tlie case of the Commonwealth of Australia, while the archbishop was os tho Governor-General. No commission, could be clearer than that given by Christ to the Apostles: "Go ye, therefore, teach ye all nations, teacliing thein to observe all thing:;, whatsoever I havo commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even imt-o the consummation of tho world;'' Thus fortified, tJio ambassadors of Christ went forth to convert the world. Of all ihuinan undertakings theirs seemed the most hopeless ever entered upon. The time was the aje of Virgil, Horace, Caesar—in one sense, a most refined age. And to convert these people were sent—who? Fishermen from tlio Lake of Galilee! Men who knew nothing of literature, and probably had- never seen tho inside of a sdhoolroom! Sent to teach the enlightened philosophers and the cultural—these proud, luxurious nations— and mould them into a. spiritual empire. There were foivr attempts made to l'ouud a universal empire, and all. of them ended in absolute disaster. In tlie ancient world,' Babylon and Nineveh seemed nearly to succeed, and now a desea't covered their ruins. Tho great Alexander annexed largo tracts of territory, but his progress was at length staved, and ho went back and died a miserable aeatli -iil a drunken debauch

ill tlio city of Babylon. Rome governed a groat portion of t'no civilised world' for a considerable time,.but her hour, a 150,,001113. The enemy swept down upon her, and laid (he golden palace 'of the Caesars ill ruins, and the bowlings of the wolves couikl be heard, within its walls. Napoleon for a time seemed to succeed. The nations of the earth quivered before him, and' (as Bonaparte himself said) ho disturbed the diigestion of kinps. Napoleon even laid hands npon-the Vicar of Christ, and, defying God. boro him away a prisoner. Napoleon died. The ambassadors of Christ; preaching tho Gospel, had been the chief agents ot bringing about that civilisation of which the world was at present'so proud. They had tamed the savage warrior and formed out of him tho modern nations of Europe. They had knocked tho fetters from tho limbs of tho slave. In the Empire of Some there wera twenty s'laVes to every free man, and now one would not find a single slave in the whole of Christendom. They had guarded Christian marriage, and elevated woman to her lawful dignity as'tho equal of mail. They wero tlio iustituters of hospitals, asylums, and those other things which served to alleviate the sufferings of human kind. It was. the ambassadors of Christ who

rosoued tlio classics. We heard a good deal nowadays of the Church as tho enemy of learning and progress. Why, it was the Church which educated tho world! Take the classics! TVho was it rescued them from utter ruin? Who was it that understood-'tlio value of those masterpieces of the human mind? Again, who saved them, and spread them over Europe? .It was those monks who were called ignorant. As Cardinal Newman said, those who railed Against "monkish ignorance" owed it to those very monks 'that tliev could write their names. Father'Ryan then referred to the newlyconsecrated Bishop, whose merit he extolled; and he spoke of Archbishop Redwood as one of the most illustrious prelates in tho Southern Hemisphere. Ho said that ho v.-as only voicing tho common feeling when ho congratulated tlio Venerable Archbishop in his co-adjutor, Whose aim it would be to emulate tho examplo of tho first Archbishop of elMngton. .., . n j The clergy dined at Archbishop Redwood's palace, and-in tlio evening Archbii%lVoT) o'fihen- pontifical vespers n.. St. Joseph's, Buckle Street. The sermon 1 was preached by tlio Tlev. Father irC'arthy. „ To-ni"ht, in. the Town Hall, there will b-* a presentation to Archbishop 0 Shea. A torchlight procession will march from his Grace's Tcsidcnc© in Patterson otreet to the hall.