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ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, MELBOURNE.

THE MARTYR NATION OF HOLY CHURCH

i in: w \:t wai.lii ijv mil; ruoru-Ti.vr PUobi;!ATiKjiits,

Til 33 OPENING CEREMONY.

CROWNING A GREAT WORK OF FAITH.

(Condensed from the Melbourne Advocate?) THE CONSECP.ATION. ALTHOUGH generally believed that the cathedral was to be consecrated on Sunday last, that important function had, in reality, been performed on the 27th October, with minutest detail, as prescribed by the Roman ritual. It is not necessary to enter into a full description of what the consecration of a Cathedral is like, but a few particulars will, doubtless, prove of interest to the readers of the Advocate. At (5 am. on the day appointed for the funcion the consecrator (the Bishop of Sale), who was assisted by the Archbishop of Melbourne and by the Bishop of Dunedin and the clergy attached to the cathedral, began the function, which occupied nearly seven hours — that is, from six until nearly one o'clock. A remarkable feature of the ceremony was a cross marked by ashes, which extended the f .11 length of the nave and transepts — a sign that the entire building was to be henceforth entirely dedicated to the services of the Almighty. At intervals were placed twelve •' consecration crosses," from which projected brackets for holding candles. These were lighted during the ceremony, and allowed to burn on until consumed, so resembling the old Catholic custom of lighting candles on Christmas Eve and allowing them to usher in the birthday of our Lord. No one not actually engaged in the function was allowed within the cathedral, and everything was made as bare as possible. The ceremonies concluded with Pontifical High Mass by the consecrator (the Most Rev. Dr. Corbett), who thus had the pt ivilege of offering the '"first Mass" at the high altar in the completed cathedral. The law of compensation, they say, goes on in an unceasing and unvarying courso, and it can be said in truth that the Bishop of Sale was richly compensated for the unusual fatigue his Lordship must have undergone during the seven hours the important function lasted.

THE OPENING- CEREMONIES,

So great was the anxiety of people to get a glimpse of the interior of the cathedral tint the early Masses from 7 till 9 a.m. were crowded on Sunday, the celebrants being visiting prelates. The cathedral during the previous week was jealously guarded from the curious. And, indeed, there was good reason for that course, as much of the finishing up of the chapels, etc., had to be pushed on, so as to he ready for the opening day.

OUTSIDE THE BUILDING.

So den«e was the crowd which began to gather in the vicinity of the cathedral, even as early as i) a m., that the gates were closed and precautions taken to observe complete order in the admission of ticiiet-hol lers. th>se holding white tickets entering by the w.-stern or main gateway and sev ing themselves in the nave and the transepts, and those with blue tickets entering by the Albertstreet corner gate-, and occupying seats in the chancel and side ehapuk. From ev«ry diivjution crowds were to be seen wending their way in the direction of th» c ithedr.il. Special facilities were afforded the travelling public by the railway department and the tramway company. L'ut the owners ot '"hansoms" and cabs did a thriving trade, as they delnered their living ln.igh.ts outride the cathedral and hurried back for re-loading. The assemblage around the cathedral was augmented at the rate of about 1000 every quarter of an hour, and when the Pontifical High Mass commenced its numbers must have reached fully 10,000, while a crowd about half as largo as this Lad passe I on through the gateo into the cathedral itself. In order to keep a cle »r route for the tramcars through the mass of human beings out-ide the building a force of 120 ioot police and a squad of mounted eon-tables were present at the scene. A couple of score of the former w^re ported at the main entrance to the cathedral and at the various gates to prevent the crush extendto the cathe iral.

THE PROCESSION OF PKEL VTEg AND PRIESTS.

Shortly after 11 o'clock a merry chime pealed forth from the cathedral bells, and a procession, whiuh. from its august purpose and the number and eminence of those taking p-in in it, riveted the attention of the thousands .assembled in eager expectancy around the precincts of thes icred edifice. The following oider was observed in the procewon from the Archbishop's r. sidetice : — Dr. A. L. Kenny, and Messrs. Slatte r y, Cooghliiu and An her. Papal Knight.-*, the Cross bearer and acolytes, the Cardinal-ArL-hiii-hop of Sidney, attdiidel by his private secretary (Veiy Rev. Denis F. O'llamn). the Archbishop of Melbourne (Most Hey. 1 Jr. Carrj, the Archbishop of Wellington (the Most Rev. Dr. Redwood, S.M.), the Archbishop of Adelaide (the Most Dr. O'Reilly), ihe Bi^lum of Ballarat (the Most Rev. Dr. Moore), the coadjutor-B.shop of Sandhurst (the i\lo-t Rev. Dr. Reville. O.S A.), the Hi-hop of M u'lluid (the Most R;v. L'r. Murray), the Bi-hop of Goulbum (ihe Mv-^t Rev. Dr. Lan-gan), the Bishop of Armid Je (ihe Jlo-t, Hew Dr. Torreggiani), the Bishop of lkrimrst (the Most Rev. Dv JjyiMe), t!;e Bishop of Graf ton (the Mo.-t Hey. Dr. Doyle), the Bishop ot Wilcannia (the Most Rev. Dr. Dunne), the coadjutor- Bi-hop of Guulburn (the Most Rev. Dr. Gallagher), the coadjutor-Bishop of M.iitlaud (the Most Rev. Dr Dwyei), the Bishop or' Perth (_the Mo.-t Rev. Dr. Gibney). the Bishop ot Port A'igusta (tlie Mu-t Rev. Dr. Maher), the B.shop of Auckland (the Must Rev. Dr. Leuihan), the Bishop of Dunedin (the Mo-t Rev. Dr. Verdon). The v\ht>le of the province of New South Wales was represented, but the venerable Archbishop of Hobart, Tubinauia, and his < oadjntor were unable to attend the ceremony, owing to illness. The '■ tight little island"

was, however, represented by the R'-vr. M. J. Beeohinor and J Murphy. The Must Rev. Monsignor O'Hea, a geuerous benefactor of the cathedral, and the Very Piev. Father Duhdah, representing the Assyrian Catholics of the Colony, wire also present. The religious Orders weie very largely represented and amongst the clergy who took part in the prncd^iou were the Very Rev. Father Devoy, V.G., Wellington. Rev. Father MclCenna of Masterton, and Rev. Father Lewis of T;ui..ru. It was computed thot over 200 priests t ok part in the procension. A large number of the Christian Brothers and a number oi' the Marist Brothers were seated near the clergy in the chan el.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS.

Amongst the visitors present were the following : — From Government House, his Kxoellercy the Governor and Lady Brassey, Captain and Mrs. Fre* man Thomas, Mr. Albert Braesey, the two Misse3 Brassey, Captain v allingtoi, Captain Pelham, Mr. Lv as, Miss Cox, Lord Richard Nuvill, :md Mr. Osborne, Lady Turner and Miss Turner, Lady Will iams, Sir John Madden (the Chief Justice), Sir Hartley Williams. Mr Justice Holroyd, Mr. Justice A'Beckett. Judge Casey, Judge (jaunt. Tao G ivernmsnt was represented by the Attorney-General, the lion. I. Isaacs ; the Solicitor-General, the Hon. H. Cuthberb ; the Hon. Chief Secretary, the non. A. Peacook ; the Minister oi Mines, the Hon. W. Foster the Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. G. Duffy ; the Hon. A • MLean. The Legislature was represented by the President of the Legislative Council, and a large number of M.L C.'s and M.P. s Consulates were represented by the following Consuls : — Consul for Austria, C. A. Pinohoff, in consular uniform ; Consul for Russia, Baron Sternberg ; Consul for Belgium, Mr. E. Pollet ; Consul for Turkey, Dr. C. Ryan ; Consul for Spain. Mr. F.B. Freehill (Sydney) ; Acting Consul for Fiance ; Consul for Italy, Cavaliere Corte ; the Consul for Denmark, Mr. F. Were ; the Consul for Netherlands, Mr. J. Reelfs ; the Consul for Greece, Mr. Curtain. The Munioipal bodies were represented by the Mayor elect of Melbourne, about a score of councillors, and nearly all the suburban mayors and presidents. As thb imposing procession of prelates and priests entered by the main door the resounding notes of the grand " Ecce Sacerdoa Magnus" (Behold a Great Priest) burst forth from 250 picked vocalists, supported by a powerful orchestra of 25 performers. All eyes were strained in the direction of the western door. The stately figure of the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, in his bright scarlet robes, was the object of first and chief attention. Immediately after his Eminence came his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne (wearing the pallium, the symbol of archiepiscopal jurisdiction,) to whose labours, after that of the late Dr. Goold and his worthy Vicar-General, the Catholic body of this colony is indebted for the completion, at a cost of L 50,000, of a Cathedral which compares worthily w ith her sisters of Europe and America. To return to the procession. All having entered the sanctuary, with the exception of the greater body of the clergy, who had reserved places in the cbancel and chapels, the celebrant of the Pontifical High Mass (the BUhop of Sale), who had entered from the vestry some minutes previously, was vtsted at the altir, with the assistance of hi . mtm-t. r<. The cuotoin for a bishop, not in his own diocese, is to occupy -a f.tll chair in the sanctuary, but in the case of a prelate, in this connection, of cardin.ilatial rank, precedence is given to him ; consequently his Eminence occupied the throne, the Archbishop of Melbourne being seated on the opposite side in an episcopal chair. The prelates f.ioert each other as lollows : — On the Gospel side of the suictuary — The Cardin.il. the Archbishop of Adelaide, the Bishop 3 of Maitland, Dumdin, Au\i]i.ny c f Sydney, Arniidale, Port Augusta, Perth, and Auckland. On the Epistle side — The Archbishops of Melbourne and Wellington, the Bishops of Goulburn, Bathurst, Wilcaunia, and Graftci, the C-iad jut. >r- Bishops of Sandhurst, Goulburn, and Maitland, and Very R>. j v. Fr. Dahdah. Several of the permanent rectors sat behind the prelates. The celebrant of the Pontifical Mass was the Most Rev. Dr. Corbett. who possesses a rich voiue of much volume, which could be distinctly heard in every part of the great building. And how fitting was th it hymn taken up by the distant choir on such a day, when glory was, iiiileod, being given to God on high ! It had be^n printed on the order of the ceremonies of the day that the sermon would follow the first Gospel, but that arrangement was departed from. Pa^bis gon to the " Preface," how beautiful and soul-stirring are the words immediately preceding that grand soul-inspiring hymn resembling, as it does, some of those composed by the " Angelic Doctor " (St. Thomas Aquinas), of whom a famous writer says th.it '• even in a single antiphou the saint unlocks whole abjst.es of J-cripture," and adds that "his com-po-aiions are more like angelic music, made audible to human ears ti.ni mere poetry of earth.' Then come thoe'e magnetic words •• Sur.-um Corda !" (Lilt up jour hearts), and iiibtantly came forth I h-' response, " H ibemus ad bo'iiinum " (We have lifted them up to tho Lord). The " Kanctus" hushes the vast congregation into deep silence, and from that moment until the awful words of consecration are pronounced, and the pi ople are given the opportunity of looking upon the Crucified One. lace to luce at the " Elevation," not a movement is heard, all pouring torth praise, supplication, and rhanksgiv mg to the " Great White Throne." And after the lt Agnus Dei," how soothing is the si^ht ot the prelates and priests giving Die ki-s of peace (''pax vobiV ) lv each other, after the custom of the Hat.t. by placing bnth hand- on the shoulders of the recipient I After the Communion the Cardinal delivered the opening sermon.

Tim cardinal's discourse.

" Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hito liiin fiee froji before His lace. God is wonderful in His saints ; the (iod of Israel is fie who will give power and strength to His people. Bless d be God." (First and last verse of 07th Psalm.) The heavens proclaim the priory of the Moßt High. The firmament with its countless gems ot light, the sun in the brightness of

its radiance, the earth with all its varied richness and beauty, the ocean in its measureless expanse, all nature in its fixed, unchanging course, are faint images of the infinite perfections of the Creator. And yet that Creator, all perfect and omnipotent, accepts as a gift at the hands of man a dwelling in which His glory may abide, an altar where the pure oblation ever pleasing in His sight shall be offered up, and where His blessings upon His children shall abound. Such a privileged gift you have offered to God to-day. This beautiful cathedral, so grand in its design, so solid in its structure, so perfect in its architecture, so rich in its ornamentation, so complete in its minutest details, is a gift worthy of your traditional piety and your devotedness to religion, a gift than which none other more precious, morj perfect, more complete, has throughout this southern hemisphere been offered to the glory of God. From this commanding position, which was so befittingly chosen for the sacred edifice, your cathedral shall cast its cegis around your queenly capital of Victoria. The crops glittering on its summit, as a beaoon light, shall be hailed with joy by the pilgrim from distant lands. At these altars the heart, wejry by the hardships and burdens of life, shall find consolation and repose, and the religious soul, ardent, in its piety, shall renew its vigour and strength to fight the good combat and win the eternal prize. That your gift may be the more pleasing in the sight of heaven you clothe it with the mantle of a great saint, you invest it with the splendour of his sanctity, you impart to it the halo of his apostolate, that thus the very name under which it is dedicated to God may lift up men's minds from earthly things, and may attract hither their hearts in fervent affection, that the choicest blessings of the Most nigh may be poured out upon this fair Australian land.

A GLORIOUS NAME.

What name is it that I see emblazoned on the portals of this grand cathedral? What saint is it whose heroism of virtue shall here be commemorated from year to year, the lessons of whose sanctity shall be inscribed upon your banners, and whose memory, enbalmed in tbe hearts of a faithful people, shall for ages to come edify Holy Church and give glory to the Most High ? Oh ! it is the bright name of Erin's Apostle, the glorious St. Patrick, whose zeal and sanctity gave joy to heaven, and whose deeds of piety merited countless blessings for those whom he evangelised, a saint whose apostolate is set as a sacred seal on the heart of the Irish race, and which, as fresh and as life-giving today as it was in the golden ages of Ireland's faith, continues to impart to many nations the divine blessings of religion, and to people heaven with saints. What shall I say of St. Patrick's sanctity, or of the glorious apostolate with which that sanctity was crowned 1 In his youth we see him carried off as a slave to Ireland. There, torn away from home and friends, he spent seven years keeping watch over his master's flock on a cold, bleak hillside in County Antrim, amid all the privations and hardships of cruel slavery, and yet the fire of piety never ceased to glow in his fervent soul. He himself, in after times, looking back upon those days of his captivity, relates that the fire of divine love burned brightly in his heart — " On coming to Ireland," he says, " I was daily tending sheep, and many times in the day I prayed, and more and more the love of God and His faith and fear grew in me, and the spirit was strengthened, so that in a single day I have prayed a hundred times, and in the night nearly the same, and I dwelt in the woods and on the mountain, and before the dawn I was summoned to pr.iyor by the snow, and the ice, and the rain, and 1 did not suffer tiom them, nor was there any sloth in me, because then the Spirit was burning within me." Freed from captivity, the fervent youth was led by the hand of God to the great sanctuaries of piety and the centres of religious life in Gaul and Italy, there to be perfected in the paths of holiness, and to bo prepared for the apostolate that awaited him. We meet with him at Marmoutier, the beautiful valley on the banks of the Loire, which his illustrious kinsman, St. Martin of Tours, bad transformed into an encampment of piety, where the noblest sons of France, practising all the virtues of a heavenly life, emulated the heroism of pen.mcc and perfection of their holy founder. We find him also, under the guidance of St. Germanus of Auxerre, the great restorer of religious discipline in France, drawing from his ricb treasures of wisdom ami experience, and learning from him the science of the saints. ]*,ut it was above all at the Island sohool of Lerins, presided over by its holy founder. St. Honoratus, thit his heart was fashioned to become a meet instrument in the ways of God, for the salvation of the Irish race. Lerins, hitherto a desert and. rocky isle, had in those days become the paradise of southern France. An eloquent French writer of the present century has faithfully sketched this island monastery, which for many years was the chosen abode of Ireland's future Apostle — " The face of the isle was changed, the desert became a paradise ; a country bordered with deep woods, watered by refreshing streams, rich with verdure, enamelled with flowers, embalmed by their perfumes, revealed the fertilising presence there of a new race. The west had no longer reason to envy the east ; and very soon that retreat, destined in the intentions of its founder to renew upon the coasts of Provence the austerities of the Thobaid. became a celebrated school of theology and Christian philo3hphy. a citadel inaccessible to the waves of barbarian invasion, an asylum for literature and science, which had fled from Italy, invaded by thp Goths, in short, a nursery of bishops and saints, who were destined to spread over the whole of Gaul the knowledge of the Gospel and the glory of Lerins. In that island paradise, and under the care of puch a pastor, Ht. Honoratus, the perfume of life breathed everywhere. The monks who had sought happine»s by renouncing secular life felt and proclaimed that they had found it ; to see their serene and modest joy. their union, their gentleness, and their firm hope, one could have believed oneself in presence of a battalion of Angels at rest." At length the time arrived for St. Patrick to enter upon the mission divinely m:\rked out for him. Looking towards Rome to the succes>orof St. I'e.ter, the visible centre of Christian unity, fron which all spiritual authority must come, he breathed tbe fervent prayer, '• Ob, Lord

Jesus Christ, lead me, I beseech Thee to the See of the Holy Roman Church, that I may there receive authority to preach with confidence Thy sacred truths to the Irish race, that through my humble ministry that pagan land may be gathered into Thy saving fold." Equipped with the desired commission from Pope Celestine, he hastened to Erin, herald of the heavenly blessing of redemption, and on that gladsome day when he landed on Erin's shore how the Guardian Angels of that favoured land rejoiced before God's throne, and exultingrly entoned the anthem of thanksgiving. " How beautiful on the mountains are the footprints of him who evangeliseth peace." I need not dwrdl on the details of his apostolate among the tribes of Ireland. lie evangelised every part of the island. At every stage of his thrice-blessed career, the heroism of piety shone forth in his sacred ministry. Prayer and penance were the arms with which he triumphed, and the heavenly fragrance of Christian virtues and the blessings of religion were diffused throughout the length and breadth of the land. The same prodigious piety, sustained by divine power, which from the outset had overcome the Druidical opposition R,nd broken the tyranny of paganism, preserved harmony and unity and peace among those who were led to the Faith, and the fold of St. Patrick in the remote isle of the west became a faithful picture of the infant Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles, '' The multitude of believers were of one heart and one mind." The saint loved to retire from time to time to the summit of a lofty mountain bordering on the western coast there to dwell in solitude for forty days and nights in uninterrupted communion with heaven. A little while before he was summoned to his reward, he from this silent and penitential retreat imparted a last blessing to Erin, and in response to his prayer the angelic message was conveyed to him that the light of the Faith would never be lost to the beloved nation whom he had evangelised.

A WONDROUS CHANGE.

The mission of St. Patrick was crowned with glorious results. It was not only that his sixty years of missionary toil gathered the whole Irish race into the fold of Christ, but furthermore the fruitfulness of the blessings of his own sanctity seemed to be imparted to those whom he had instructed. Ere he went to his reward, the sacred tree of Faith had put forth its fairest blossoms, and all Erin rejoiced in the vigour and richness of ita comeliness. Churches, schools, institutions of piety, sanctuaries of religion were multiplied on her green hills and smiling valleys, and the whole island was gradually transformed into a hive of learning and sanctity. When St. Patrick landed in Ireland, it was as yet a pagan wilderness. When he went to plead for his people to heaven, it had become God's garden. A historian no wise partial to Ireland's religion or Ireland's people thus attests the wondrous change :—": — " While in all other countries the introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been resisted by either Government or people, and seldom effected without a lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence of one humble but zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of the toil by other hands Christianity burst forth at the first ray of Apostolic light, and with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves among the ranks of the c inverted, saw their sons and daughters joining in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed in meeting bene.ith the Christian banner, and the proud Druid and Bard lnid their suppositions meekly at the toot of the Cross." Bt. Patrick himself tells us of the marvellous change thus effected by the power of God — " Wherefore now in Ireland," he says, " they, who never had the knowledge of God, find hitherto had worshipped idols and unclean things, in these latter times have been made the people of the Lord, and are called the sons of God. The sons of the Irish and the danghtcis of princes are seen as monks and virgins of Christ." Entering on his mission in Ireland, the saint had prayed that the land assigned to his apostolate mi^ht become a light to the nations, and a fruitful mother of saints. His prayer was heard, and well might hi* heart rejoice, During the sixty years through which his apostolate was prolonged, he had consecrated SUM bishops, and ten times that number of priests. A native clerzy ministered everywhere at the altar, fervent nuns were keeping alive the flame f>f piety in countless san.-tu iries, and the fathers and mothers of Erin were training up th?ir children to walk in the paths. of sanctity marked out for them by their great Apo-tle. This was, indeed, a wondrous change. A nation hitherto hold captive in the bendh of superstition and paganism, and sp 11-bound in darkness and wintry cold, was lit up to its remo'est diatiicts with the light of divine truth. Ro-plendent with the radiance of piety, it seemed in all its vast extent to be transformed into a sanctuary, at whose altnrs an uncasing anthem of thanksgiving and praise and glory to the Mo^t llij;h a,si ended from earth to Heaven. The array of sanctity that adorned the wide-spreading plums of Erin during St. Patrick's life-time was destined to he something more than a passing phase of his ylorio'is Apostolate. The Angel of God had pr Jinised that that piety would be an abiding heritage perpetuated from age to age among his spiritual children. Ilis'ory is witness that the promise has been fulfilled, and from the days Oi St. Patrick to the present hour the heroism of Catholic faith and the practice of Catholic virtue have been preserved ever fr t-h and unconquerable in the hearts of Ireland's son^. How many changes has the world •witnessed daring tho«o 1 1O() years sine St. Patrick attained his heavenly reward .' Countless heresies have arisen and wagered war against the Church, and are now forgotten. Innumerable systems of philosophy have had their votariss, and in turn have been consign* d to the tomb. Dynasties and thrones and empires have arisen and run their course, and disappeared. But the Church of Erin has remained ever pure, without taint of heresy or schism, and no power of earth or hell could rob her of the sacred heritage of heaven's ble-singn r ceived from her Ay.ostle. United in the closest bonds of religious iinily with Home, the citadel of her faith, she has never forfeited her lieim nly birthright, and Cathelic piety has never ceased to imp;irt the ble.-r.inep of its enlightenment and consolation to the hearts of her tons,

The illustrious Irish ohronicler Marianua Scotus, describing the condition of the Irish Church about a hundred years after St. Patrick's demise cries out : " Ireland, the Island of Saints, was to a sublime degree repleted with holy men and full of innumerable wonders." This outpouring of sanctity upon Erin may be said to have continued for seven centuries. From the fifth to the twelfth century all Christendom resounded with the eulogies of her piety, whilst the grateful nations of Europe saluted her as the bright star of religion, the home of piety, the sanctuary of knowledge, the island of sages and of saints. Need I recall the great schools, colleges, monasteries, which as brilliant centres of virtue and wisdom handed on the traducism of sanctity from age to age, diffusing around them on every side the blessings of learning and of | Christian enlightenment? Need I mention Armagh, with its 7000 scholars, or Bangor, no less populous, no less renowned, or Inibkelta in Lough Derg famed for its love of sacred writ ? What shall I say of Clonard in Meath, illustrious for patristic studies, of Clonmacnoise and its school of history on the bank of the Shannon, of Lisuiore on the pleasant banks of the Blackwater in Munster, intent on classical studies and sacred melody, of Gaugane-Barra so attractive to pilgrims from the favoured land of Italy, of Clonfert rich in theological lore, of the Arran Isles, the paradise of the West, of Glendalough amid the solitary glens and unrivalled scenery of Wicklow, of Aghabhoe of wide spread scientific fame, of Derry Durrow, and Kells, hallowed by the teaching of St. Columba and a hundred other great scholastic centres where earnestness in the paths of piety and devotedness to the pursuits of learning ever went hand in hand ? Such was the bright fame of those schools of Erin that numerous bands of pilgrims journeyed even from distant Egypt to satiate their religious thirst at these fountains of knowledge. Slany also came from Italy and Gaul, but it was, above all, from the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the neighbouring isles that students hastened to receive instruction alike in virtue and in science. Venerable Bede, who attested this fact, takes care to add that in the true spirit of genuine Christian benevolence the Irish schools imparted to all those scholars " gratuitously their daily food, the books of which, they stood in need, and free instruction." St. Aldhelin relates that in his day troops of scholars were setting out for the Irish coasts, and he adds : " Ireland, rich and blossoming in scholars, is adorned, like the poles of the world, with innumerable bright stars." Other Anglo-Saxons attest with no less enthusiasm the spirit of study, the love of discipline, the boundless geneiosity characteristic of the Irish schools. Dr. Johnston describes Ireland as "' the school of the West, the peaceful habitation of sanctity and learning." Even Ledwich, who has left nothing undone to find out something to censure in the early Irish Church, is constrained to write that " so zealous and disinterested a love of learning as is shown forth in those schools of Ireland is unparalleled in the annals of the world." One feature of the Irish schools has won the special eulogy of the illustrious Montalembert : — " The poor and the rich," he writes, '• the slave as well as the free man, the young and the old, had free access and paid nothing. The Irish schools opened their doors with admirable generosity to strangers from every country and of every condition ; above all, to those who came irom the neighbouring island, England. The liish monks received with kindness all those guests greedy of instruction and gave them books and masters, and the food oi the b.idy as well as ot the mind, without demanding any recompense. The Anglo-Saxons, who were to repay this generosity with ingratitude so cruel, were of all nations the one which derived the most profit from it. From the seventh to the eleventh century English students flocked into Ireland, and for 400 years the monastic schools of the island maintained the gn at reputation which brought so many successive generations to uip dteply there into the living waters of knowledge and faith."

THE SACRED MIsSIOK OF THE IRISH RACE

St. Patrick not only enriched his children with the heritage of his own sanctity, he bequethed to them, moreover, his missionary apostolate, and. faithful to this legacy ot their apostolic love, we see hundreds of devoted sons, century after century, going forth from their native Erin, heralds of the blessings ot redemption, to distant lands. Nature seemed to have prepared them for this work of grace. Michelet and other \\ riters. who have made a study of the Celtic tribes before their conversion to Christianity, tell us that their natural bent was for foreign enterprise. We read of Irish kings in pagan times setting forth in their strong galleys to ravage the coasts of Britain and the Continent, and returning home laden with the spoils of plundered territories. So, too, in time of peace it was their greatest delight to welcome a visitor from afar, and to hear from him the strange tidings of lands which they had not explored. A sacred mission was henceforth to be engrafted on this natural bent of the Irish race. They will go forth in tearch of spiritual conquests, to lay up for themselves rich treasures ot merit, and to win, among peoples who know not G(d, the unfading laurels of the apostoiate ot peace. Need I recall to mind the triumphs of St. Columba, who subdued to the sweet yoke of the Gospel those untamed Picts of Caledonia, whom the armies of Imperial Rome could not vanquish / It is only a few months since pious pilgrims from many lands were seen hastening towards the hallowed shores of lona, the ruggei island which that great Saint chose for his monastic home. They went thither to pay the fervent tribute of their veneration and homage to the Mo»t High in the celebration of St. Columba 's centenary feast, a proof that, despite the co.rse of thirteen centuries, Holy Church has not forgotten the incomparable blessings which, as from a fountain source, flowed forth from his apostolate upon Scotland and all the Scottish Isles. It was no less the privilege of Irish missionaries to sow the Gospel seed iv the furrows first opened by their brother missionaries from Canterbury, and to gather in a rich and abiding harvest throughout Northumbru, and the other kingdoms of England. I will allow a Protestant Bishop who has made a special study of this period of English history to tell of the marvellous lruits of Ireland's apo^tolaie in Great Britain in tho°e days. Jt is thus that Dr. Wordsworth writes :—": — " More than a thousand years ago the Church of Ireland

was the burning and shining light of the Western world. Her candlestick was seen from afar, diffusing its rays like the luminous beacon of some lofty lighthouso, planted on a rook amid the foaming surge of the ocean and casting its lighifc over the dark sea to * guide the mariner in his course. Such was the Church of Ireland then. Such she was especially for England. We, on this land. must not conceal our obligations to her. We must not be ashamed to cod f ess that with regard to learning, anl especially with regard to sacred learning, Ireland was in advance of England at that time. The sons of our nobles and gentry were sent for education thither. Ireland was the university of the West. She was rich in libraries, colleges, and schools. She was famous, as now, for hospitality. She received those who came to her with affectionate generosity, ai.d provided them with books and instructors. She trained them in sound learning, especially in the Wo id of God. Nor is this all. We are bound to remember that the Christianity of England and of Scotland was, in a great measure, reflected upon them from the West by the instrumentality of Irish missionaries, especially of those who came from lona. That school was founded in the sixth century by St. Columba. He is justly regarded as the apostle of the Highlands and western islands of Scotland. Many, doubtless, who are here present have stood on the sea girt cliff of lona, and have viewed with religious interest and veneration the mouldering remains of ancient Christianity which still survive on the solitary shore. The name of lona has been coupled with that of Marathon by one of our most celebrated writers in a passage familiar to all, and they who are versed in the history of Christianity in their own land will gladly and gratefully confess that the peaceful conquests achieved in our country by the saintly armies of lona were far more beneficent and glorious than any that were gained on fields like that of Marathon, for the names of those who fought for these victories of the Gospel are inscribed, not in perishable records, but in the pages of the Book of Life. The happy effects of the mission from lona were felt throughout England, from the River H umber to the Thames. Churches were built ; the people flocked with joy to hear the Word of God ; the heavenly dove— the Holy Spirit of God— brooded invisibly over the heads of thousands baptised by these Irish missionaries in the faith of Christ in our own land. Multitudes, wearied by the storm and finding no rest for the soles of their feet on the wilderness of the waters of this life, took refuge in the ark of the Church. But it was not on Scotland and England alone that the light of faioh was reflected from the bright sanctuaries of Erin. Armies of her missionaries went forth to every part of Europe, They were welcomed by the brave, but as yet untutored Franks, and Burgundians who had conquered Gaul. They threw themselves among the pagan Allemanni beyond the Rhine. They penetrated into the Black Forest and advanced the frontiers of religion to the banks of the Danube. They evangelised the fierce tribes of Switzerland. By their preaching Lombardy was won back from the Arian heresy. Luxeuil, founded by St. Columbanus, became the mother-house of countless schools of piety and literature. The monastery of St Gall, in Switzerland, was for centuries a citadel of Christian enlightenment. Under the benign influence of the martyred Kilian, Franconia was transformed into a nursery of saints. St. Fursey t-anctified central France. St. Colman became the patron of Austria, t^t, Rotr.oald brought the cross to Brabant. The whole Belgic Church was ennobled by the piety and heroism of SS. Dyrnpna and Livinus and their companion saints.

ERIN AND EUUOI'K.

Someone will ask, perhaps, how was it that the fairest territories of Europe stood in need of such religious help from the missionaries of distant Erin ? If we /o back in thought to those days we will see that the garden of Europe had been well-nigh reduced to a desert waste. Myriad hordes of barbarians issuing from the forests of the north and from the east had trampled out almost every trace of civilisation and of religion in those once most favoured lands. Orosius, writing in the sth century, declares that " if the waters of the deluge had swept over these once flourishing and populous regions the desolation would not be more complete." We have read at times how, by the sudden upheaval of earthquake or volcano, some smiling district, rich in its cultivation and its adornments of architecture and art, has been on a sudden reduced to ruin and covered with unsightly heaps of mud and ashes. Even so, the most flouiishing tern tc lies of Europe, overwhelmed with a seething mass of savage barbarism, were despoiled of every monument ot their former civilisation, robbed of their institution, laws, liberty and religion, and as a rule the whole population was carried off to slavery or put to the sword. Thus it was that throughout a great part of Europe barbarism was triumphant. All piety, all learning, all civilisation, were submerged beneath the moral deluge. But G<d had, through St. Patrick, prepaied an ark to preserve His blessings for a new world. Christian Erm would guard as religious treasures all that was best iv the enlightenment of the past, and from her shores would go forth missionary doves bearing the olive branch of peace, harbingers of renewed life, and messengers to a new world of the blessings of redemption. It was no easy task that devolved on the sons of St. Patrick. The rude barbarians were to be transformed into virtuous citizens, and regenerated Christian nations were to be summoned to life. The seeds of religious enlightenment had to be sown broadcast. — sacred se-ds destined to yield the richest harvest of every blessing. Fearlessly the Celtic missionaries entered on the task which Providence had marked out for the.n, the blessing of hraven was on their mission, paganism and heresy were vanquished, and a glorious enduring" triumph was achieved. Europe stood amazed at the migration of Erin's countless missionaries to her shores solely in search of spiritual conquests. One contemporary writer compares them to swarms of bees quitting their parent hives to enrich the continent with the honeyed stores of religion and literature. Another contemporary writes that all Erin teemed to have become

(Continued on j'age 25.)

pilgrims and soldiers of Christ. St. Bernard attests that the Irish missionaries poured like a rushing torrent on the European nations. Ajpodern writer, though bitterly hostile to the Catholic Church, is, ■^J^'ctheless, filled with enthusiasm contemplating what he styles "'the endless flood of self-denying and devoted men who were pouring out of the Celtic churches, and carrying the Gospel from the north to every point at which European heathendom could be reached. even up to and over the Alps themselves." Gesta Dei pn- Franco* became a proverbial expression in the age of the crusaders. In thore earlier ages of the spiritual crusade, (ie?ta Del per Jfifn'nuts and the eulogy of the missonary heroes, on whom St. Patrick had set the seal of his apostolate resounded through every fairest district of Europe. An eloquent French Bishop, Monweigenur Dupanloup, in one of his beautitul discourses on Ireland, does not hesitate to say : " Verily, the nations of Europe and humanity itself, have just reason to be proud of the Irish race. I know no people," he adds, " around whom their patriotism, their pure morals, the courageous faith, their unconquerable fidelity, their bravery, their ardour, whose mission is conquest and civilisation, their disinterestedness, their patient endurance of wrong, their poetry, their eloquence, and all those noble qualities, ever elevated, never cast down, exalted and crowned by misfortune, have thrown a halo more captivating and more sorrowful." And then he tells us that it was Ireland's mission "to preach the Gospel to the infidel ; to reanimate Christians crushed under barbarian invasions ; to arouse to nobleness degenerate souls ; to raise up powerful races ; to rekindle the extinguishing torch of arts and letters to carry everywhere the light of science and of faith." Another no less eloquent writer to whom I have already referred, the illustrious Montalembert, cries out : "It has been with me for some years a source of wonder why so little is known, even by scholarly men, of the great debt which many of the nations of Europe owe to Ireland for the priceless gift of Christianity." He eulogises the Irish missionaries in that whereever they planted the cross, new centres of piety sprang up, great monasteries arose, various other institutions were organised, and fidelity to the Church took permanent root." He adds that in the Irish schools " there were trained an entire population of philosophers, of writers, of architects, of carvers, of painters, of caligraphers, of musicians, of poets and historians ; but, above all, of missionaries destined to spread the light of the Gospel and of Christian education throughout Europe. Thus sprung up those armies of saints who were more numerous, more national, more popular, and, it must be added, more marvellous in Ireland than in any other Christian land.

Bright was the renown thus won by Ireland among the nations of Europe during the cages of her missionary fruitfulness. We see her saluted by a grateful Christendom as a lamp of wisdom, a pharos of science, an ark of civilisation, a garden of sanctity, a hive of missionaries, a home of sages, an island of Saint-;. One wreath was yet wanting to her triumph, one peerless gem should be added to her crown. The red rose distinctive of martj'rdom was yet to bloom and shed its fragrance in that garden ot God. and Ireland was to become the Mother of Martyis, the Martyr Nation of Holy Cnureh In the mysterious ways of God. some of the most favoured Churches of the early ages forfeited the Sacred inheritance of the faith. S\na and the East, lit up by the sanctity and eloquence of th-" 1 I'a-ils. a>id Gregories, and Chrysostoms. were devastated by the Sancvn^. and lost the faith, and have been for a thousand years submerged in the depths and darkness of superstition. Alexandria an 1 Africa. adorned by the genius and learning of Origen and Athanasius. ot Cyprian and Augustine, were lost to the Church through the invasion of Genseric and his Vandal hordes. Yet Ireland was privileged never to forfeit her prized inheritance, and the light of Divine Faith shines as brightly to-day on her green hills and valleys a? it did in the days of St. Patrick. Someone perchance may say that no Saracen hordes landed on the coast of Ireland, and that no tyrant like Genseric steeped his sword in Irish blood. Would that it were so. But to the glory of God be it com tested that no Cliulvli of Asia. no Church of Africa, no Church of any land has been overwhelmed with a fiercer persecution than that which for centuries swept over Ireland, and which Irish faith bravely met and conquered. When the storm of heresy was stirred up by the arts of Satan and thy? pride of false teachers and the lust and greed of tyrant ruler- in the Kith century, Scotland and England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and a great part of Germany, were torn away from the Church. Yet. as Lord Macaulay remarks, ' Alone among the northern nation*. Ireland adhered to the ancient faith." For :suO years all the terrors and cruelty of the 10 general persecutions were renewed throu«h the length and breadth of Ireland. To the sword of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth succeeded the confiscations under the Stuarts, and then came the deluge of desolation and destruction under the Puritan Commonwealth. An eye-witness of the sufferings of Ireland in those days cries out : " All the cruelty inflicted on the city of Rome by Nero and Attila, by the Greeks on Troy, by the Moors on Spain. by Vespasian on Jerusalem, all has been inflicted on Ireland by the Puritans." And that bitter agony was perpetuated by the Penal Laws, which have been so fitly described as " a complete system, a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degradation of a people, and the k debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man." The moss-grown ruins which you meet on every side as you travel through Ireland, the broken arches, the ivy-clad towers, are abiding records of the work of destruction of sanctuary and of cloister so recklessly carried on. Yet was not the light of Ireland's faith -extinguished, nor quenched the ardour <if her piety. The faithful people, driven from the altars of thoil fathers, worshipped in the sand-pits and the boys and mountains. Devoted bishops and priests were ever with them, and took refuse in the caves of the earth, or at times in the very sepulchres of their ancestors. The whole nation treaded the dolorous way of the cross and drank to the very dregs the cup of humiliations and sufferings.

It would seem as if a nid the terrible scenes which brought the last century to a close, the Irish Church was to be for ever consigned to the tomb. And yet through the merciful dispositions of Providence we are witnesses to-day that all those humiliations and sorrows and sufferings have been followed by a resurrection glorious, resplendent, and destined, we trust, to bo immortal. We are accustomed to prize things according to their cost. The price we pay betokens the value we set on the article which we purchase. At what price' did the Itish CathoUci pri'-t,rve the inheritance of the Catholic Faith .' Home and laud-., a 1!-.,! 1 - and schools, enlightenment and educ tion, ill hope of i nthly advancenn nt and prosperity, everything that the -ft oi Id holds dear wn* wxcriiiec* i. The whole people oii'ond themselves it exil. o- ti< shed their blood. Tens of thousands of marivrs irave tin ir lives, 1> it, they would not surrender their faith. If the frass i* grten on Erin's hill-, if the triple leaf of the little shamrock yet hparklns in tho morning dow. it is that the roots are nourished by the blood of martyrs, and it baa been well said that the very dust on which you tread in holy Ireland is the dust of saints. The accurate histoiiau, Mr. Matthew O'Connor, writes that " the ardent zeal, the fortitude and calm res-ig nation of the Catholic clergy during this direful persecution, might stand a comparison with the constancy of Christians during the first ages of the Church. Sooner than abandon their flocks altogether, they fled from the communion of men, concealed them°elves in woods and caverns, from whence they issued, whenever the pursuit of their enemies abated, to preach to the people, to comfort them in their afflictions, to encourage them in their trials ; their haunts were objects of indefatigable search ; bloodhounds, the last device of human cruelty, were employed for tho purpose, and tho same price was set on the head of a priest as on that of a wolf.'" Another later historian styles the persecution to which Ireland was subjected, ''the most exterminating attack ever endured by a Christian Church. The fanatical followers of Mahomet, in the seventh century, propagated their faith by the sword ; but the hordes of Cromwell abandoned the attempt to make the Irish converts, and turned all their energies to blotting out Catholicity in Ireland by the destruction of the Irish race ; the Irish were recognised as ineradicably Catholic, and were slain or banished to wildernesses where it was believed they must become extinct." And then he applies to Ireland's martyred priests the words of a venerable writer : " Let us strew a few flowers on the tombs of our martyrs. Hail, venerable priests of the Roman Catholic Church. O glorious confessor of our God and His Christ, to whom it was given not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him ; you who endured so much ignominy, who as exiles trod the narrow way of the Cro-<s amidst the applause of heaven and the wonder of the earth, behold Me at your iect. How beautiful are the feet of those who were witnesses to God even, unto the ends of the earth ! And you, who, contemning the tcaipc^l and the swelling waves, ceased not intrepidly to cast your net--, you who, placed as it were in the fiery turnancc, continued to ble-s God. to do good to men. to guard your flocks, you. burning and hhitimty liuht-;. who. when you might no longer be a-* a lijjht plaeu.l on a candlestick to shine to all in the house, sought to "ather as many a- you ini«ht under the bushel where you were hidden : "-acred leaven vvhioli preserved the whole body liom coirnptinn. you blc -ul pii '-ts to whom the Lord ua\.' '-pint of )v ioic ond'irir-c 1 in the midst of dangers, hail ! true sol her- o[ ( h•; t ' Jlail ' holy priests, worth)' of honour. Praise b'j to Go I, Wild •, ivo to yo i t is victoiy, thr"unh Christ our Lord. Happy pi"--eui!loii winch brought yua s-uch a reward. Happy pusuns tnr. .ui>h w huh you rtached tlu heavenly p daces ! Happy ill. a! h which gave you eternal life." Oh ' irom those harrowing" scenes of persecution may wo not lilt up our thoughts to the courts of Heaven ' Is there to be found there ra-ound the golden throne of our blessed Lord, a more numerous or brighter band of glorious martyrs and hrruie conies -ors of the Faith than those, who have St. Patrick for tlu-u* leader, and may w r e not rest assured joyously they wear their palms of victory, afsooiated with their Apostle in the li muipli of our holy faith m the ceremony at which woaasi.st hcie to-daj '

There was one other pha>-c of persecution to which I have not reiVired. and vv l leh nevcitVu k-s had an intensity and bitterness and humiliation nil it-- own. Tins was the persecution carried on by the pivixflyti'-er^. the rel- nl los war wa^ed by the wealth and intrigues ot I'lote-fan ism a\ain->t tho--e vv ho vcro poor and famine-stricken in the old laud. 1 w ill allow an Iri-h prelate of the United (States to tdl the iv'-ull ot the conflict. In 1 lie year lSiil the Bishop of Pitt-bunr thus wrote . " I'pon the partial abandonment of this lorm of oppression (open persecution), a system of proselytism was adopted, and is yet in full vigour (for it has become an institution, and the best-supported institution in Ireland), which, by bribes to the high and the low. appeals to every base hisiinct to draw men away from the faith. Yet neither confiscation of property, nor famine, nor disgrace, nor death in ii< most hideous forms, could make Ireland waver in that faith which our forefathers received from St. Patrick. The rich allowed their property to be torn from them, and they willingly became poor ; the poor bore hunger and all other consequences of wretched poverty; and though every earthly good was arrayed temporarily before thorn, they scorned to purchase comfort at a price ot' apostacy. During the tour years from IX IO to 1.550, nearly two millions cither perished from hunger or its attendant pestilence, or were forced to leave their native land to escape both. In the midst of the dead and the dj inn proselytisers showed themselves everywhere, well provided with food and money and Bibles, and everyone ot the sufferers felt, and was made to feel, that all his sufferings might have been spared had he been willing to barter his faith for bread. Yet the masses could bear hunger and face pestilence, or tly from their native land ; but they would not eat the broad of upostacy. Thoy died or they ti.'d. but they clung to the faith. In vain, T think, will history be searched for another example of snoh vast numbers, <-eiier;ition after generation, calmly, silently facing an rmhonouml death, without any support on earth but the approving voice of conscience.''

THE GLORIOUS DESTINY OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

The tree of Ireland's faith, whose fruitful branches had extended a salutary shade to so many lands, remained unmoved truid the tempests of persecution that be.it against it. But it was -*horn of the comeliness which adorned it of old, and many of its fairest branches were torn from the parent stem. Shall it be clothed anew with comeliness, shall it put forth once more its leaves and branches, its blossoms and its fruit ? We have only to look around us through the Christian world to day to have an answer to these queries. A faith which never allowed itself to be tarnished by heresy or schism, a faith which proved itself ever strong and enduring alike in storm as in sunshine, could not but be blessed by God. Sr.. Patrick's years of bondage were a preparation in the way of Providence for a heavenly mission and for a sacred apostolate the grandest that could be allotted to a Christian missionary. Even so, the seven centuries of Erin's hardships and sufferings appear to have been permitted in the mysterious ways of heaven to prepare her for a glorious and privileged mission and for a destiny the most exalted that could be conferred upon a privileged people. Look to Ireland herself. No sooner has the perioi of persecution closed than we see her cities and towns, her hills and her plains clothed once more with religious splendour. It ba3 been calculated that during the past 50 years ten millions of money have been spent in Ireland in the erection of cathedrals and parochial churches, of colleges and schools, of convents, hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions of religion and charity, and all this has been accomplished through the generous contributions of the sons and daughters of St. Patrick at ho.ne and abroad. And this marvellous material splendour of the Irish Church, what is it but the reflex of the spiritual blessings of heaven which abound among her people ? We see on every side piety and virtue in the family circles, the fervent exercise of mercy and charity in the religious communities, a heroism of sacrifice and devotedness in the ranks of the clergy. It is not to the columns of the public press that we are to look for the records of the people's piety, but to their daily routine of a virtuous life. On one occasion, many years ago, when conversing with the venerable pastor of a large parochial district in my former See of Ossory, he remarked to me that his parishioners were most fervent, and that not one of them was known to die without the Sacraments, and he added, " I am confident that every one of them goes to heaven." Many a devoted priest throughout the length and breadth of Ireland could give the same consoling assurance regarding his faithful flock. But this grand renewal of the ancient splendour of the Irish Church must not be restricted to the hills and valleys of Ireland. The missionary apostolate of winning nations to Christ, bequeathed by St. Patrick to his people, has been revived in a singular manner among his spiritual children in our own day. Their piety, as in the days of yare, shining brightly from the rising to the setting sun has brought the light of the Catholic faith tc many lands. This mission of Catholic Ireland, so pregnant with the blessings and consolations of heaven, stands out prominently amid all the vicissitudes and harrowing scenes of the 19th century. And whether men will it or not, the faith of Ireland's sons, like a golden chain, bin ds the whole English-speaking world to God. It was remarked of Greece of old that though subdued by Home, yet by her literature she led captive her conquerors. In some like way it may in truth be said thac Ireland, by her religion and her faith. has vanquished her persecutors and led many of them captive tc Divine Truth. In Scotland, within the present century, the missionary triumphs of St. Columba have been repeated, and where a hundred years ago the Church reckoned ouly a few scattered congregations, we see to-day, through the tipostolate of Ireland's sons, a fully-organised episcopate, and nioie than half a million of faithful souls. A second spring has clothed England with gladne-;-in our own times, and ha-, ushered in the fairest prospects and brightest hopes for the future. Jn the joys and hopes of that springtime the fervent congregations of devoted worshippers of Irish birth or Irish descent have had no little part, la Canada a fruitful branch from Erin has been engrafted on the old Celtic stem from France, and has already yielded abundant iruit. In the United States the Church has grown with giant growth, and it i-. mainly due to Irish fervour that religion has put forth an energy and vigour worthy of the early ages of Ireland's faith, and worthy. too, of the spirit of freedom and of the glorious destiny ot that great people. In the Argentine Republic, in Chili, and in mo-t other lands many a Catholic family will be found that look:towards Erin with filial love, and salutes St. Patrick as the father of its faith. THE CHURCH IX AUSTRALIA. What shall I say of our own Australian Church, young in years, but vigorous in its growth, and already diffusing around it through the length and breadth of this fair land the blessings and consolations of Catholic charity and Catholic truth I Has not the tree ot faith, transplanted from Erin to these shores, found here a genial soil, and has it not cast deep its roots and put forth its branches in gladness, and is it not already clothed with comeliness and yielding joyous fruit? At the Royal Jubilee celebrations a few months ago, the marvellous expansion of the Anglo-Celtic ernph-e in our own day was the theme of general admiration and eulogy. But far beyond the limits of the Empire the English language has won a widespread domain, and those who study the peaceful triumphs of Great Britain and the United States in the paths of commercial enterprise, foresee for it an ever-widening and unique position among the languages of the world. If the English language, thus chartered for the future, be not exclusively the language of hersy, to whom does the merit belong ? Is it not the merit of the sons ot St. Patrick that wherever that language is lisped you will find fervent congregatiens offering to the Most High their pious anthems of thanksgiving and praise ? Wheresoever the English language holds sway, thither, through the Celtic Soldiers of the Cross, the Catholic Church extends her corquests. If the domain of that language encircles the globe, we may also in truth affirm that the sun never sets on the spiritual empire which exaults in St. Patrick's aposto-

late. Here in Australia we welcome the joyous rays of the rising sun, and with what fervour do Australia's children intone the canticles of benediction to the Most High for the glory conferred upon St. Patrick and on his chosen Church / South Africa takes up the anthem of praise ; Ireland and Great Britain re-echo the joyous tributes of thanksgiving. And ere the sun set in the fardistant West, how eagerly and earnesty the millions of faithful souls in Newfoundland and the United States and Canada pour forth rejoicing their songs of gladness, their hymns of gratitude, to God. We are told that in the Vatican Council, a quarter of a century ago, no saint, after the first great apostles of our Lord, reckoned so rn.iny mitred representatives among hia sons as St. Patrick, and it is calcula'ed that at the present day more than 200 bishops, 16,00!) priests, and 20,000,000 of Catholics look to him as the Father of their faith. Thus has Leaven begun to show forth the grand and privileged destiny for which the Irish Church was prepared and disciplined amid the storms and persecution that for centuries rendered desolate her fair shores. And now if you ask me what was the distinctive feature of the singular piety of Ireland's apostL 1 , what the characteristic devotion of Ireland's saints and martyrs, what, in fine, the source of the fruitful apostolate that has extended its heavenly blessings to so many lands, I should at once reply it was the love of our Redeemer ; it was the realisation in the heart of hearts of Ireland's sons of the great mystery of the incarnation of our blessed Lord. Fro n that as from a source proceeded their boundless love of the altar and of the holy sacrifice which perpetuates the presence of our Saviour amongst us. From that was derived their unconquerable devotion to the Blessed Virgin, who, amid the trials and sorrows which beset their course, was ever to them an anchor of hope, a star of joy. From that came their heroism of martyrdom, the sanctity of life, the fruitf ulness of their missionary zeal. From that also came their unfaltering devotion to the See of St. Peter, the divinely-strengthened rock on which Christ built His Church. No storms of persecution, no arts of Satan, could separate them from that source of their invincible strength. On the banners of their victory to-day are inscribed St. Patrick's words, as vigorous, as far-reaching, as life-giving as when they were first addressed by him to his loving disciples : "As you are children of Christ, so be ye children of Rome."' THE LESSONS OF THE DAY'S FESTIVAL. This love of the Divine Redeemer is a lesson that, I trust, the ceremony which we celebrate this day shall ineli'aceably impress on the heart of each one of us. This shall be the crown of its triumph, the diadem of its joy. The consecration of your grand cathedral is indeed a joyous festival. It is a feast of special joy to your beloved Archbishop, privileged as he is, to see the toil of many years attain its crowning blessing. It is a day of joy to the clergy and faithful people of the archdiocese, who have so strenuously and so persevermgly co-operated with him to attain this grand result. It is a day of joy to the whole Australian Church, for every Catholic amongst us must exult when he looks with legitimate pride to the beauty of this sacred edifice and to the magnificent and enduring monument which your piety and generosity have raided to the glory of the Most High. And, united with us in spirit, the pioneers of the faith who have gone before us, bishops, priests, and people to-day rejoice. In sorrow and sadness, yet zealously and perrtevenngly, they sowed the seed of which we reap the abundant harvest to-day. Exultingly they lift up their hands in blessing before the throne of the Most High, and joyously they intone their canticles of thanksgiving and of praise lor the manifold mercies which (Jod has vouchsafe! His people. And now, dearly beloved in Christ, one word of exhortation to you before I conclude. Let this cathedral, to-day consecrated to God, be henceforth the centre of your si fractions. Around it and its altar be inseparably entwined your faith and piety, your devotion and love. And "\\ ith that love of your cathedral hand on to your children the spiutual loyalty and devotedncss which you have ever shown to Holy Church. The bonds of affection which linked the sons of tit. Patrick and the " S<iji/rirth Aroo/i" were such as no power of earth or hell has ever been able to sever. To it in no small measure is due the neverfailing vitality and energy of Krm's piety. Cherish this spiritual loyalty as a precious and priceless heirloom. Give proof ot it by promoting, within your respectne circks family pie'y. and the exercise of every Christian \ lruie. by "uardiug the religious education ot youth, by encouraging Catholic literature, and by repelling from your homes those immoral and irreligious publications with which, alas ! as with a pestilential deluge, the world is Hooded at the present day. The Catholic Church is on the battlefield in this fair land and fearlessly does she bear the brunt of the combined assault of all God's enemies. She expects all her sons to rally around her. In every combat, in every trial, such loyalty of her children has been to her a prestige of victory, her greatest consolation, her strength, her pride. imcLunixo words. Thus at no very distant time shall be fulfilled the yearning of every faithful heart amongst us, that Australia may become a land of saints. Oh ! may heaven hasten the gladsome day when, through the virtues of her children, Australia may be saluted by the Catholic world as the joy of Christendom, the diadem of Holy Church. This is the one ambition, the one great aim to which are directed the efforts, the aspirations of bishops and priests, and so many faithful souls. This is the great purpose of the religious splendour with which the grand ceremony, at which have just assisted, has been crowned. When that joyous day shall have come, then, indeed, enduring in its radiance, perfect in its brightness, and peerless in its glory shall be the aureola which the voice oi heaven and of earth decrees to the Apostolate of St. Patrick and his people. Addresses and Presentations to the Akciibishop. message and I'rescxt from the s'jvlreign" roxTirt'. The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, having concluded his sermon, assume 1 his gorgeous outer robe, aad accompanied by the

Most Rev. Dr. Moore (Bishop of Ballarafc), descended from the episcopal throne, and approached his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne. His Eminence, in the course of a brief address, asked the Metropolitan of Victoria to accept from the assembled prelates sincere congratulations on the glorious crowning of his labours in connection with the n^Jfl cathedral opened in its completed state that day, and beggeu +£l Grace's acceptance of a cheque for £400 from the hierarchy. The cardinal having returned to the throne, the Archbishop was then presented with another cheque, for £2088 10s, from the clergy of the archdiocese, who deputed the Rev. J. H. O'Connell, P.P. (St. George's, Carlton), to bear their munificent gift to his Grace. The Most Rev. Prelate, having ascended the pulpit, returned thanks for the munificent gifts of the day. To say that the offerings of the assembled prelates and priests to the cathf dral through him were acceptable and most gratefully received was what any person would easily and fully appreciate. He accepted the munificent offerings, not only on his own account, but on account of all living friends of the cathedral, and he accepted them as made in grateful remembrance of the founders and the deceased benefactors of the cathedral. As at the time of the Nativity, the princes had come from afar, and had united with others in offering most precious gifts uiito the chosen home of the Saviour of Man. They had offered gold and frankincense and myrrh, and they offered what was much more precious than material gifts, namely, the love and the friendship of brotherhood, of which, these material gifts were the symbols. All he could say was that the words of the psalmist rose unbidden to his lips, '• Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Not only from the remotest parts of Australasia, from Perth and from Wellington, had favours been showered upon them, but also from the primatial see of St. Patrick, and from the centre of Catholic unity. Their Holy Father, Leo, had sent the following message of sympathy and felicitation. He had also sent a beautiful set of vestments, which he intended should be used that day, but, unfortunately, they had as yet not arrived. The message from His Holiness the Pope, translated into English, was as follows :—: — " With sentiments of heartfelt pleasure we rejoice with you on the occasion of the completion of the magnificent cathedral erected in honour of St. Patrick, and as you are about to dedicate it to God with solemn ceremonial and exuberant joy, we impart most lovingly the Apostolic benediction to the Archbishop and to all the faithful of the diocese, but more particularly to those who have aided in the completion of the magnificent cathedral. " Given at Home, 3rd September, 181)7. LEO XIII., Pope." The Primate of all Ireland had sent a letter full of his own simple and loving nature, and from an exchequer not overflowing with wealth ho had sent a most generous donation. The donations which had been sent during the past few days he wished to personally acknowledge, and acknowledge with sincere gratitude. THE DONATIONS. His Grace the Archbishop then read the list of donations, chiei among which were the following : — The visiting prelates, £-100 ; the R.C. clergy, £2080 KM. The principal donations comprised in the last-named contribution were : — Right Rev. Monsignor O'Hea. £.10 ) ; Rev. W. Quiiter. £100 ; Very Rev. T. Lynch. St. Kilda. CIOO. Rev. E. J. Kelly, D.P.. ClOO ; Very Rev. M. Carey. ClOO ; clerical friend. £100; Jesuit Fathers, £100 ; St. \inccati.m Fathers, C 10; Dean Hegarty, Kyneton. £.".0 ; Key. 11. S. Benson, £40. The Laity. — Minion Collect'ons The principal minion donations were as follows : — St. Kilda. £2(10 ; St. Brigiil's North Fitzroy. £152; St. Francs' £11."> : Collingwood. £102 ; South Var a. C 100: St. John the Baptist's j:'.)l : St. Mary's. Kyneto'i, e?C . South Melbourne, £(17 ; St. M try's. A\ est Melbourne, £<iis , St. Ambro.-e. Brunswick. £.1.1 : Mansfield. £.10 ; lKu.donong. £.',O ; Gtelcmir. £ 12. Carlton, £40 ; Gisborne, £10 ; G'ardons, £10 : E-sendon. £ t> ; St. Kilda VVest. £,;."> ; Kilmore, CM ; Willi.miMxuvn, £;5!5 , Elstemwick, £32. ri.IVATE GIFTS. Among-^ thy? Pr ite djn itions were tho followin ' :—: — Mr. P. >I - iiu n-ies-, Kew, £1.10 ; Mr. Anlrew O'Kuefe. Adeliide Vale, Eeudigo, £10.1; Mr. J. P. Lonergan. P rah ran. Cloi; Mr. Andrew j Tobin, St. Kilda, ClOO ; well-wisher, Cloo, Dr. M. U. O'Sullivan, £100; Sifters of Charity. U.lO ; Mr. T. Kccnan, Grand Hotel. £.10 ; Messrs. Fogarty and Duyle, £.10. In addition to these amounts the Archbishop of Melbouni" made the handsome donation of £1000. The return Irom the wile of tickets ior admission was approximately fixed at Cl.ioo, ;md the collections taken up during the day. including the abovt-nientioni d donations, amount to over £7000. As the great concourse of people filed out of the cathedral, Handel's v Hallelujah (.ho. u-j " was >pleudidly rendered by the choir and the orchestra. CHORAL ARRANGEMENTS. The cathedral choir was augmented by picked voices froir other churches, and numbered 120. An orchestra under Mr. Diorich. numbering 2.1, added greatly to the effect of the Gregorian chant and Beethoven's Mass in C, the Proper of the Mas-, beinsr of the former, and the Ordinary the Litter. The soloists were Madame Gabriella Boema, Miss M. A. Godwin, and Mr. It. Foley, of the cathedral choir, and Herr Rudolf Hi miner (of St. Francis' choir). At the entrance of the procession '• Kcce Sacerdos " (Stehle) was Jfcung with thrilling effect ; Introitus, '• Saeerdotcs tni " (Gregorian) : *tyrie, Gloria (Eejthoven in 0) ; Graduale, " Saecvdotes ejus " (Gregorian). • At the collection — Motett '■ Jubilate Deo " (Aiblinger), organ solo ; Credo (Beethoven in C) ; OftVrtorium, '• Veritas mea " (Gregorian); Motett for solo and chorus, '• Aye verum" (Gounod); Sanctus, Benedicr us, Agnus Dei (Beethoven in C) ; Communio. '■ Beatus servus " (Gregorian). Silence and calm reign supreme till the first note of the Gregorian music falls on the ear as the priest at the foot of the altar proaeeds with the Proper of the Mass by reciting alternately with bia ministers the 42nd psalm. Having ascended the altar platform

the celebrant proceeds to offer " clouds of humble incense," the choir chanting the versicles meanwhile. Approaching the Ordinary of the Mass Beethoven's work in C was heard in its richness, and with inspiring effect. As is well known, his Holiness Leo Xfll. discountenances florid music in the Church, as likewi&e the employment of loud wind instruments. As a middle course, therei'oie, we had a combination of the pla n chant and the work of a master who, whilst preserving the sweetness and pathos to be found in Mozart' Haydn, etc , carefully excludes what may be termed dramatic and sensuous effect. The " Gloria," " Credo," " Sanctus," " Benediotus,'' and the "Angus Dei " were rendered in a satisfactory manner, though it were much to be desired that the choir were moved to the transept, for, although the voices were numerically (strong, at times the parts Licked effect, owing to the distance from the chancel, nearly 1300 foot. Ilerr Steininctz efficiently actud a» conductor, and Mr. Charles Sykes presided at the grand organ in his m-ual masterly manner. ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. Amongst the many that must have felt a more than common satisfaction in the completion of the noble fane was the eminent architect of the cathedral (Mr. W. W. ,Wardell), the apt pupil of tha famous Augustus W. Pugin, one of the leaders in the revival of Gothic architecture in England in the first half of the present century. Upon entering the cathedral at one of the western doors the visitor turns aside into the sacristies, which are three spacious apartments on the south-western side of the nave, set apart for the use respectively of the Archbishop, the clergy and the altar-boys. Returning to the nave, the view of the interior of the cathedral as seen from the western end is extremely imposing. Two rows of massive pillars of great height divide the nave from the aisles, which are carried without interruption right round the interior of the building. The roof of the nave, as also of the transepts, is of open timber-work, but the aisles have groined ceilings in New Zealand fetone, with carved bosses at the intersection of the rib 3. The architecture of the eastern or sanctuary end of the church is very striking, for instead of the square end which usually appears in English Gothic cathedrals, the much more effective form of the apse is adopted, as in some of tha great French cathedrals, notably those of Amien.s and Beauyais. The apse may best be described as a semi-octagonal recess placed at the east end of the choir, beyond the High Altar. A screen of pillars intervenes, and from the aisle beneath are five radiating chapels, in each of which an altar is placed. These side chapels have stone groined rool's, while those of the sanctuary and central tower are groined in wood. The apsidal form of structure affords room for much embellishment, and the carving and decoration of this part of the building are particularly fine. The middle one of the five side chapels is much the largest and is called the Ladye's Chapel. Another is called the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, and in this a stone frame in compartmenis forms a reredos over the altar, and is fixed ready to receive mosaics from the atelier of the Murano Company of Venice. Bo far only one of these compartments is filled, and it contains, on exqui-ile mosaic representing the Crucifixion of Our tta\ iour, with Mary and John. The window is filled with stained gl.i^s from Munich. Adjoining this is the Chapel of the Souls in Pur»dtory. so called becau-c beneath it lie themo)t..l remains of the Lite Archbishop ami of Dr. I'itzpatrick. who-o belosed features look out from tablets, of richly-chased brats upon the worshippers at the shrine between them. The three stained windows o\erhcad tell the story of the Crucifixion. Rcsuitcc ion, and Ascension. Coming to the sanctuary it-cli, facing the i,u\v, the tioor is cons-i lerably elevated, ai:d it ia surrounded by a ma- sue IjiMsb railing. Based on a foundation of brickwork and concrete , the altar proper is wrought of the •■ F.nperor Red" marble of Barcelona, with pillars ot green stone from the Galwny quniiio, anl panelled with mosaic portraits of the Saviour, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Joseph. Upon the altar ib a tabernacle made, of the finest Devonshire alabaster, richly carved in the Gothic design that characterises the whole work. The reredos is of red Ppani: h marble to match the altar and is adorned with crystals and precious stones, while the pinnacle, which rises to a hoiyh't of 2 .lit from the floor of the sanctu.ny, is bcautiiully carved out of alabaster and highly poli-hed. Through the arch of the canopy the rich stained glass window at the back of the aitar throws a softened light, and the general effect of the structure is mo-t, impressive. The High Altar, as well as the altars in the side chapels comes from the ceh bra ted workshops of Messrs. Farmer and' Biindley. of London. The Archbishop's throne and canopy are of bcutilully-i-iirvid bhickwood. The floor of the building lean's httlr to be desired. Mmton's tiles are used evey where. sa\e in the sanctuary and si, 1,,}1 „} chapels, and the-e are laid with mosaic weak. This work is unique, as tar a* the Australian colonies are cor con cd. There are structures with imitation mosaic tiling, but none w ,th tiles approachingthose in the cthedtal. The she of the tiling is from a quarter to halt mi inch, aul is of Maw's first quality of mo.-aic tile pavement*. THE CATIIKDUAL IX T.IK KNIFING. Long before the hour appointed for the commencement of Pontific.d Ye.-per.«, the dthedial v/as crowded m every part, although admi.-bion was by ticket only. For the first time the building w"is illuminated by the electric light, and the effect, especially on ihe richly furnished sanctuary, was grand in the extreme, the 'jewelled High Altar, with its massive furniture, glistening under the strong play of the bright illuminant. The great stained glass, window o\er the eastern door, on whii h electric j^ts reflected, could be s-oeu w iih distinctness from the outside of the caJicdral. The contract f\,r fitting tip the cathedral with the electric li^ht was s itisfactoril" carried out by Mr. Smith, of this city. The cm rent is sw itehcl < n from the vestibule leading to the sacristies, and each part ot the building can be lighted separately. The wiie-; are mn I eneath the tiled flooring, and thence up the massive bluc-btonc pillars whi. h divide the nave and tha chancel from the aisles. A jet is placcel in the centre of the episcopal throne, and 3G jets surround the sanctu-

ary, bathing it in a flood of light, which makes it possible to even distinguish the motto on the throne — " Splendent in nojte." The pulpit is well supplied by two lights, and in its present improved position and dimensions, combines the ornamental with the useful. PONTIFICAL VESPERS. _j/s At 7 p.m., the prelates having taken their places in the sanePontifical Vespers were sung by the Most Rev. Dr. Verdon v^Jishop of Dunedin), the deacons being the Very Rev. M. Carey, P.P. (Elsternwick), and Rev, P. J. Fallon (St. Francis') ; copemen, Revs. M. O'Reilly, C.M. (Malvern), and J. Manly (Foot<*cray). At the conclusion of the anthem of the day, the Archbishop of Wellington, N.Z. (the Most Rev. Dr. Redwood" S.M.), delivered the sermon from these words :— " This is the victory which overcoineLh the world — our faith." — (John v., 4). [The full text of the bemion will appear in ouv next week's issue. Ed. X.Z. Tablet.] Special music was arranged as follows : — Vespers — •' Domine ad adjuvandum " (Vittoria) ; antiphons and psalms for alternate choirs ; Hymnus, " Placare Christe " (Gregorian) ; " Magnificat " (Palestrina) ; Litany; "Aye veruni" (Gounod); "Tantuua ergo" (Ortiz); ''Adoreuius" (harmonised). There were two choirs, the ordinary and a specially trained choir (by the Rev. G. A. Robinson, 8.A..), of 100 of the youth of both sexes, who were located in the nave. Alternate vtrses of the psalms, etc., were taken with excellent effect, the rendition of the " Magnificat " (specially harmonised for the occasion) being very fine. The day's magnificent ceremonial was appropriately concluded with the " Te Deuin " (Witt). THE FEAST OK ALL SAINTS. On Monday, Feast of All Saints, the second day's ceremonies were carried out with the same wealth of liturgical and ceremonial detail as on Sunday. At 1 1 a.m. the cathedral was filled by a congregation numbering about 3000, amongst whom were many nonCatholics. The celebrant of the Pontifical High Mass was the Most Rev. the Bishop of Dunedin, with Fathers Carey and Robinson as deacon and sub-deacon respectively. The Cardinal- Archbishop and the Most Rev. Dr. Carr assisted in the sanctuary, as likewibe the other prelates and clergy, as on the previous day. After the first Gospel, the Most Rev. the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney preached on the festival of the day, taking for his text these words :—": — " And I saw a great multitude, who fell down before the throne, saying : Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisiom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever, Amen" (Rev. vii.. 2—12.).2 — 12.). IN THE EVENING. In the evening there was again a very large congregation, the Most Rev. Dr. Byrne (Bishop of Bathurst) pontificating. The preacher was the Most Rev. Dr. Dwycr (Coadjutor- Bishop of Maitland, cum jure succcessionis), a Most Rev. Prelate whose elevation to the purple was hailed with special pleasure, hi 3 Lordship being the first Australian-born Bishop. His Lordship took for his text the third verse of the 23rd chapter of the Apocalypse. " And I heard a great voice from Heaven saying, Behold the covenant of God . . . and they shall be His people, and He shall be their God." «• FEAST OF ALL SOUL"-. The Office of the Dead was first chanted, the chief chanters being the Revs. G. A. Robinson, 8.A., P. .1. Fallon. J Manly, and M. O'Reilly, C.M. The rendition of the '■ Benedicts "' was> very fine. The Office concluded, the Most Rev. Dr. Byrne celebrated Pontifical Requiem Mass, the Rev. VV. Quilter, assistant priest, and the \ cry Rev. M. Carey, P.P., and Rev. R. S. Benson, acting as deacon and subdeacou respectively. There was no organ accompaniment, according to the rubrics for Requiem Mass. The occasional sermon was delivered by the Very Rev. Vr. O'Farrell, C.S.S.R. (Superior of the Rodcmptoriht Monastery, Ballarat). The preacher selected his text from Eeclesia^tieus \ ii., .')7. ."?s . " A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and retrain not grace from the dead. ... Be not wanting in comforting them that weep, and walk with them that mourn." The function concluded with the Solemn Absolution. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS DEMONSTRATION AT THE EXHIBITION BUILDING, The celebrations in connection with the opening of the cathedral were continued on Tuesday evening, when the Exhibition Building was crowded to the doors by an attendance of the general public of over 10,000 persons to witness a demonstration by the combined Catholic schools of the metropolitan and the suburban area. Shortly before 8 p.m., his Eminence Cardinal Moran, his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne, the visiting prelates, and a large number of priests arrived, and were loudly applauded as they took their seats immediately in front of the spacious platform. There was also a considerable number •of Christian Brothers present. The scene upon the graduated platform in the vicinity of the grand organ was an exceedingly pretty one. Massed in groups, according to the schools they represented, 1500 children of both sexes were seated, and formed a strong argument in favour of Christian education. It is said that the countenance is the mirror of the mind and with their bright, beaming faces of fresh innocence happiness, those hundreds of boys and girls effectually of the sophistry of those v. r ho would make believe that religion has a tendency to put the iron intc the soul of youth. But even from a material standpoint the superiority of the system from all others, which combines religion with secular knowledge, was abundantly apparent on the occasion referred to. It will be enough to say that our Catholic schools are up to date, and more than able to hold their own against all competitors in the scholastic field. As -being altogether disinterebted praise, it is worth while to quote the following from the Age in its

notice of the demonstration : — ' As for the entertainment itself, it was such as to raise the immense audience which assembled to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and at its close the Archbishop of Wellington (Dr. Redwood) declared that there had been everything to feed the mind, to raise the thoughts, to touch the heart and please the fancy. The opening chorus was a song of welcome, rendered by tbf) combined choir in a manner which showed that the children had been most carefully trained. Then followed a drum ni.irch and club exercise bj the pupils of the Christian Brothers' schools. E.icli evolnhcm was well executed, the club drill being c^peoiilly good. The South Yarra and South Melbourne schools combined in singiug '' Oft in the stilly night," and a floral musical drill \v&-> aUo given by the younger pupils, both numbers being well recdived. Pupils from the schools of the Sisters of Mercy, Nicholson street, appeared in a tableau illustrating the Biblical parable ol the live foolinh virgins who failed to have their lnmps trimmed and ready, and were met with the doleful cry of " Too late ! too late ! ye cannot enter now 1" The tableau was well conceivi d and carried out, and the chorus, " Too late," was capably sung by younger scholars from the schools as the five foolish ones wrung their hands in de-pair. The same scholars also gave a very pretty chorus and dance entitled •' Fairy land." Two part songs "We come to thee. Savoy,"' and "Come where the lilies bloom," were well rendered by a fourth group, consisting of pupils of the Sisters of Mercy, North. Melbourne ; St. Mary's, West Melbourne ; and St. Ambrose's, Brunswick. A feature of the entertainment was an original cantata sung by pupils of the schools conducted by the Sisters of Charity, and entitled " A blessed labour crowned." The theme of the cantata was the joyous completion of the cathedral, and it concluded with a message to Erin and a tribute to Archbishop Carr. " The last rose of summer," by St. Patrick's High School was much enjoyed, and was followed by the alphabetical calisthenic and puzzle march. A batch of children, carrying small banners, after going through a number of evolutions, drew up in double file, when it was seen that the letters on the banners read, " Welcome to Cardinal Moran "' and " Cheers for Archbishop Carr." The cheers, needless to say, were given with a heartiness that made the Exhibition Building ring. The Australian National anthem. (> Unfurl the flag," was sung by pupils of St. Ignatius' boys and girls' schools, and the full choir of 1 ,500 voices, waving bannerets and miniature Union Jacks, joined in the chorus. The boys' running drill lent variety to the entertainment, which closed with a bong for the Pope by the combined choir. His Eminence Cardinal Moran, Archbishop Carr and the visiting prelates occupied beats immediately in front of the platform, and evinced deep interest in the proceedings. At the close of the programme the prelates, headed by Archbishop Carr, ascended the platform and Dr. Redwood briefly addressed the children. He said that on behalf of their beloved and illustrious Archbishop and all the visiting prelates he desired to say that they were charmed by the entertainment. There was in it every variety — to feed the mind, to raise the thoughts, to touch the heart and please the fancy. There was harmony of sound and of motion throughout, and it was hard to say where they might put the highest excellence. But, speaking generally, he would say that the entertainment reflected the greatest ctedit on all who prepared, and, of course, on all who p Tformed it. He begged, in the name of the Cardinal, their Archbishop, hi-- own illustrious colleagues and himself, to thank them, and to say tint ho would carry back to New Zealand very pleasant recollections of that e\ening. After cheers hud been given by the scholars for the prelates, the latter a 'corded the gathering their cordial episcopal blessing and the audience dispersed. As the prelates were leaving the platform, vociferous cheers were given for them by the 1 ">()<» children, who afterwards sang with much spirit '• God save Ireland."

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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 29, 19 November 1897, Page 4

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ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, MELBOURNE. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 29, 19 November 1897, Page 4

ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, MELBOURNE. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 29, 19 November 1897, Page 4

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