THE LATE BISHOP OF TREVES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 183, 29 September 1876, Page 8

THE LATE BISHOP OF TREVES.

The Pittsburgh ' Catholic Journal ' gives the following interesting particulars of the life and death of the late Bishop of Treves, persecuted by tlie Grerman Government even to the death : The diocese of Treves and the Church of Germany has suffered a great loss by the death on Thursday, May 30, of the Bishop Matthias Eberhard. The deceased prelate was born in Treves on November 1, 1815, and was educated altogether in that city, being ordained priest on February 23, 1830. He was for a short time chaplain at Sfc. Castor's, inCoblentz, and then private secretary to Bishop Arnold. In 1842 he was mode professor of dogmatic theology in the Seminary at Treves, and in 1849 president. In 1853 he was appointed a member of the Episcopal Council, and in 1862 Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese. On the death, in 1867 of Bishop Pelldram, he was elected by the chapter to the vacant see, and having been confirmed by the Holy See, he was solemnly enthroned on November 13 of that year. He assisted at the Vatican Council. He was one of the signers of the declaration and protest issued by the German Bishops in 1873 against the May Laws. Having been repeatedly fined for infractions of that code, he was at length committed to prison on March 6, 1874, and after two hundred and ninety-nine days of confinement was released on December 31 of that year. But this long imprisonment had plainly broken his health. His soul was grieved with all the afflictions that befell his diocese — priests banished, from whose zeal he had looked for the greatest good ; p irishes made forcibly vacant, his episcopal seminary closed ; proceedings instituted for his own " deposition." About three weeks before his death, he complained of great oppression on his chest. However, he improved, under treatment, so much that he was able to go out ; and, on the evening of Monday, May 29, he seemed to be in fair spirits. Tory early next morning an attack of the pressure on the chest returned. Those who came to his assistance found the Bishop kneeling by his bedside, and very soou he fell into a state of complete prostration. His chaplain hastened to give him absolution and Extreme Unction, and at half-past five in the morning he expired before any medical assistance had arrived. Tiie affliction of the Catholic people of Treves is, as may be supposed, intense. It was only on the previous Sunday that a solemn ceremony took place at the shrine of the holy apostle St. Matthias, viz., the blessing of the great votive candle of the city of Treves, weighiug one hundred pounds. The church was filled with a devout congregation, although the usual procession was not allowed to take place. The b shop's illness is ascribed to his labors during his recent tour for confirmations in his diocese. While at the head of the seminary he used to inculcate on the young ecclesiastics the importance of receiving each communion as if it were for the last time; and he used to lay stress on the fact that priests a:e j not very unfrequently called suddenly out of life. This has been recalled to memory by the circumstances of his own death. Easter Sunday he preached in his cathedral for the last time, his subject being the Redeemer's triumph over death and hell, and our duty to bear aloft Christ's banner and not to betray his cause. The body, clad in the usual episcopal garments, lay in state in the chapel of his residence, and was visited by thousands. R.I.P.