GOOD TEMPLARY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 422, 17 May 1877, Page 3

GOOD TEMPLARY.

Distkict Lodges : Aric or Safety Lodge, Nascby, meet 9 every Monday night; Hopo of St. Bathans Lodgo, St. Bathane, meets overy Tuesday night; llinorva Lodge, Ulackßtono Hill, meets every alternats Wednesday night; Anchor of (Safety Lodge, Hamilton, meats overy Saturday night; Kycburn Hopo Lodge, Kyoburn, meetH every .Saturday night; Barque of Safety Lodge, Juvenile Templar?, Nascbv, meets every Monday night before the meeting of Subordinate Lodge. The installation of officers of the Hope of St. Bathans Lodge took place by Bro John Eaglo, LD, on the Ist of May, a3 follows: WOT, Bro E Wheeler (re-elected); GWCT, Bro G Hastier; WVT, Sister Prescott (reelected), WS, Bro H Prescott; WES, Bro J M'Kay; WT, Bro W Learrnond; WC, Bro C Mills; WM, Bro E Woods; WIG-, Bro Toomey; WOG, Bro J Malone; RHS, .Sister E Wheeler; LHS, Sister E J Wheeler; WAS, Sister J M'Kay; WDM, Bro J M'Arthur. A vote o! thanks was given to t3io retiring officers for tho able manner in which they had filled their offices for tho last qitarter, Tho WOT thanked the memborn on behalf of himself and hia officers for the kind manner in which they supported him. The following are tho names of the officers of tho Ark of Safety Lodge, Naseby, for the cxirrent quarter :—PWCT, Bro M'Fadyen ; WCT, Bro Bradley; WVT, Sister Donnelly, jr; WS, Bro Mowatt; WFS, Bro Kenny; WT, Bro Allen; WG, Ero the Rov JHobbs; WM, Bro Gilligan; WIG, Bro J Wilson; WOG, Bro Duncan; EHS, Sister Smith; LHS, Sister Allen; WAS, Bro Donaldson; WDM, Bro Craig. Tho following ar6 tho officers of tho Juvonilo Lodge, Naseby :—CT, Bro .T Salmon; VT, Sis E J Thomas; S, Bro A Woodhill; FS, Bro D Woodhill; POT, SiaE A Nicholas; T, Sis E Kirby; C, Sis M Keed; M, Bro 0 Gaaon; IG, Bro H Gason; OG, Bro S J Ash; RHS, Sis E Donnelly; LHS, M Stewart; AB, Bro J Kirby; DM, Sis M E Moore.

CARDINAL CULLEN AND THE O'MAIIONY FUNEKAL. The subjoined is the reply of Cardinal Cullcn to a request made that the remains of O'Mahony, which had been taken from America to Ireland, should be allowed to lay in state in the proCathedral : 59 Eccles-street, 21st Feb. Gentlemen, — In your letter of the 17th inst., which I could not answer until now, you ask me to permit the lying in state in the pro-Cathedral or one of our other churches of the remains of the late John O'Mahony for some brief period previous to the date of interment, which is now announced to..take place on Sunday, March 4th. In replying to this request you will • allow me 1 to delay you with some remarks oa cemeteries, funeral poccssions, and solemn honours awarded to the dead, which will make my answer more intellgiblo. Undoubtedly you are aware that it is the discipline of the Catholic Church to bless and consecrate .cemeteries intended for those who die in her ■■ communion, to raise crosses and other religious emblems in them, to make them places of prayer and serious meditation on death and eternity, and to consider them almost as secred as churches. Hence it is contrary to her intentions to use such hallowed places for amusement, or for any profane, noisy, or merely political demonstrations. Funeral processions participate of the same character as the resting places of tho dead, and should be conducted with religious gravity and sanctified by prayer. It is most improper to make them an occasion for rictousness, quarrelling, drinking, or party exhibitions. It is to be regretted that in the presenttimes, and in opposition to the feelings of all good Christians, cemeteries and funerals are occasionally diverted from their sacred purposes, and that in some countries, if any die professing themselves unbelivers, or Socialists, or Bed Republicans, or if any be killed in duels and die whilst offending their Creator, public processions are organised in their honour, and cemeteries are profaned by speeches delivered over their graves in praise of infidelity, reckless resistance to authority, the unlawful use of brute force, or of secret organisation dangerous to religion and subversive of society. Happily the people of Ireland, so full of faith and of love for their religion, look with horror on such abuses, and are ready to protest against them were profanations so odious attempted among us. Speaking of our churches, it is not necessary to say that we venerate them as consecrated to God a3 the dwellingplace of His Divine Majesty, in which He condescends to receive our sacrifices, our prayers, and the homage of our hearts, and in return imparts to us His mercy, His graces, and other good gifts. Hence it is clear that it would bemost reprehensible, and even sacrilegious, to do anything in them, offensive to God, or to employ them for the purpose of sanctioning approving acts or proceedings undertaken in a spirit of hostility to the Church, of which Christ said, "He who heareth not the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican." Though our sacred edifices are specially dedicated to the service of God, the Catholic Church allows us to use them for the benefit or honour of the dead. In them.occasionally we expose the remains of the "faithful departed, and in their presence we offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with prayers and supplications, for their eternal repose, thus doing hqmage to God and honouring and helping those whose loss we mourn. On some occasions where the merits of the dead have been very signal the greatest honours are paid to them. This occurs in the canonisation and beatifi cation of saints, which are carried on with more than regal pomp, with tho view of stimulating the living to walk in their footsteps. Of St. Patrick we read that his remains were exposed for twelve days after his death, that the people might have an opportunity of testifying their respect for the apostle who had brought them from the darkness of idolatry to the light of the Gospel, and admiring the wonderful virtues which rendered him so dear to God and made his preaching so fruitful. Five or sis centuries afterwards we find that the corpse of the ; brave King Brian Boru, who was killed at the battle of Clontarf, was carried in procession to Armagh, and on the way was exposed in great state in the church of Colurnbkille, at Swords, and in other churches, to testify the gratitude of the nation for the services he had rendered by destroying the power of the pagan Danes in Ireland, and gaining a glorious triumph for the cross.

In our own days great honors were conferred on the remains of O'Connell, and they were exposed in solemn state in the Cathedral. This mark of respect was paid to the memory of that great man becauso he had made, in the hands of Providence, an instrument for the abolition of the penal laws, for the attainment of Emancipation, and for the liberation of Irish Catholics from the state of servitude to which they had been reduced. O'Connell was a most devoted child of the Church; when he had the misfortune to fight a duel, be wept most bitterly for his offence, and hastened to seek for absolution from the excommunication he had incurred. When he had joined a secret society, as soon as he ascertained that he had transgressed tho ecclesiastical laws, he abandoned tho society and published an important letter justifying the discipline of the Church in condemning secret and dangerous organisations, and afterwards spoke

against and condemned rhem most vigorously, and even exposed his life on some occasions in opposition to them. Catholic Ireland was bound to pay a tribute of esteem to the remains of such a man, and Catholic Ireland showed in 1875, on the centenary of his birth, that the same feelings of respect and gratitude are still sincerely cherished in every truly Irish heart. From what I have written I am sure you must have anticipated the conclusion at which I have arrived. lam not aware that Mr. O'Mahony has contributed any great or signal service to his country, but that rather he provoked hostile legislation against us, and by word and example brought unsuspecting young men into breaches of the law, and serious troubles. I have not been able to learn that he has beea a great benefactor to the Catholic Church ; on tee contrary, he is Raid to have been a very lukewarm Christian, to have been careless about the practices of religion, and to have written papers from time to time in a hostile spirit against the Church or her ministers. It is to be added that ho was a Head Centre of the Fonians—that he collected large, sums to promote their absurd movements in Ireland, and that he continued a member or Head Centre of the body v ev©n after it had been condemned by .the Vicar of Christ. Knowing these facts, were I to allow the remains of Mr. O'Mahony to lie in state in our pro-Cathedral* I would seem to take on myself to approve his religious and public conduct, and his projects in regard to Ireland—a responsibility which I am not at all inclined to assume. I know that as a reason for doing honor to Mr. O'Mahony's remains you state that the newspapers report that he received before his death the help and consolations of religion. I hope that report will be confirmed, and that he has obtained from God the grace of a truly penitent spirit. I always rejoice when I hear of the conversion of a sinner and the salvation of a soul that was in great danger of being lost. But it is not to be expected that the Binner should be honored for the offences over which he had shed abundant tears, or that he should be praised for the deeds which he must have abhorred before he could be absolved.

I regret that this letter has grown to such length, but I hope that it will help to show that I had good grounds for refusing permission to have the remains of Mr. O'Mahony laid in state in the pro-Cathedral or other church in Dublin. At the same time I will add that if he died in the communion of the Church, I hope the priests and the people will pray that Grod may pardon his sins and bring him to eternal happiness.—Wishing you every blessing, Yours faithfully, t Pato.Caed. Ctolebt. Messrs. Jas. O'Connor and Thomas Sexton. —'Nation.'