MASS FOR DR. CLEARY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 873, 17 January 1930, Page 11

MASS FOR DR. CLEARY

‘‘MONTH’S MIND” AT ST. PATRICK’S SOLEMN CEREMONY The thirty days of prayer for the repose of the soul of the late Bishop Cleary came to a solemn conclusion when the “Month's Mind” was celebrated at St. Patrick’s Cathedral this morning. There was a large attendance of the clergy and laity and representatives of all orders of the church assisted in the celebration of the solemn pontifical requiem mass. As on the former occasion when the Bishop lay in state the altar was draped in black, but where the body had lain in front of the altar rails was now a black-draped catafalque flanked with tall candles. Against the sombre background the purple of the prelates on the altar, the black and gold vestments of the celebrant aud deacons, the white surplices of more than 50 priests and the scarlet frocks of the acolytes provided a relieving splash of colour.

Dr. Whyte. Bishop of Dunedin, was the celebrant and he was assisted by the Rev. Father Spillane, S.M., as deacon, and the Rev. Father O’Docherty, sub-deacon. The Very Rev. Dean Van Dyck, head of the Maori Mission, was assistant priest, and the Rev. Dr. Buxton. Administrator of St. Patrick’s, was Master of Ceremonies, with the Rev. Father McICeefry, as his assistant. The music of the requiem mass was chanted by a choir of priests. Bishop Liston preached the sermon, and also present on the altar was Bishop Brodie, of Christchurch, and Monsignor McKenna, vicar-general of the Arch-diocese of Wellington. Also attending the mass were Mr. R. Cleary, of Melbourne, brother of Bishop Cleary, and Mr. J. Cleary, the Bishop's nephew.

‘•'Fight the good fight; lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called and hast confessed a good confession before many witnesses. I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony before Pontius Pilate, a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, blameless, until the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Dr. Liston took his text from the First Epistle of Paul the Apostle 10 Timothy, chapter vi. In a stirring and eloquent address he sketched for his listeners a picture of the life of the late Bishop—a life consecrated to years of strenuous campaigning for Christ and Christ’s Church, as priest and bishop, editor and controversialist. In the year ISSS, Henry William Cleary, born in the land of saints and scholars, was raised to the dignity of the priesthood. said Dr. Liston. “Pope Leo XIII. had come through his giant struggle with Bismarck in defence of the freedom of the Church and the cause of Christian education, and was facing a world of unbelief in the spiritual order and of deep unrest in the moral, social and political orders. “It was precisely during the first years of Leo’s glorious pontificate that the young Irish student was preparing for the priesthood In St. Sulpico of Paris, Maynooth and Rome. With his alert mind and varied intellectual endowments, he must have followed with keen interest the ‘apologia’ of the Pope to the world, grasped the trend of events and the temper of the times, and taken to his heart the admonition given by St. Paul to his disciple, Timothy: ‘Fight the good fight,’ and vowed that it should be the rule of his life.” THE SECRET OF STRENGTH It has been said that the men who make their mark on history are those who, upon their entrance upon life, have set a goal before them, aud adhere to their one ideal with intense concentration. Dr. Cleary’s strength was concentrated and his purpose never faltered. He felt he had a message for the non-Cathoiic world — and that was, to make the Church of God known to them in all her beauty and glory and holiness, to defend her honour and her interests. la the face of physical infirmities and discouragements that would have crushed a * less resolute soul, he kept on at his task. THE BISHOP AT THE WAR

In 1917, he saw an opportunity of acting as chaplain at the Front, and | with Christ-like zeal and charity he didAvhat in him lay to alleviate the horrors of war for the living and to bring the consolations of religion and the mercies of God to the dying. Again, in 1918, he was stirred into activity when the people of Auckland, still'suffering in common with others from the agonies that war must bring, -were smitten with the dire epidemic. The Bishop, as a faithful disciple of the Good Shepherd, gave himself and his resources —as did hi§ priests and religious—to the service of the citizens of Auckland without distinction of creed or class. NEED FOR PRAYER You have seen the Bishop these many years busy with the work of the Lord, day by day handling sacred 1 things and dispensing the mysteries of Christ. And you may say: Will not God have already received His j faithful servant into His safe keeping and given him the eternal reward? That, we know not The Church makes no exceptions. All, she proclaims to us, need the mercy of God. We are not as those without hope: but there is no exultation, for the time for that is not yet come. This, we do know. He, to whom much was been given, of him much shall be required. And this we know: for each separate child of hers the Church prescribes prayer and penitence. This again we do know. Should he have failed through human weakness, should any stain still mark his soul, our prayers, our offering of the greo-t Sacrifice along with Christ the High Priest, will bring him aid and comfort. Unto us of this diocese, unto all the faithful of New Zealand—for whom he worked so long and so ardently, and who are in so many ways indebted to him —he reaches out helpless hands and asks our prayers that his days in Purgatory may be short, that soon he may be admitted into the glory and happiness of the vision that long held his heart on earth. May the eyes of his soul soon rest on Him who stands amid the candlesticks of Heaven aflame; may ; his ears soon catch iiis own name as 1 it tails trom those Divine lips.