OPENING OF ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 26 November 1897, Page 4

OPENING OF ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL.

ARCHBISHOP BED WOOD'S DISCOURSE.

At the conclusion of the Magnificat and the Antiphon*, at Pontifical Vespers, his Grace the Mo^tllev. Hr. lied wood. S.M. (Archbishop of Wellington, K.Z ), delivered the sermon.

" This is the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." — (John v., 4). The preacher said: — These inspire! words of the Apo-t'e St. John seem appropriate to this grand and unique colubracion. Whenever the mind of man stands in the presence of some great I event, pome vast result, some splendid achievement, it is invariably led by its own nature to seek out an adequate cause for that even, result or achievement. Thus, in the proem eot the publiuii' spectacle of the starry heavens the astronomer somjlit foi cnturio, with patient, untiring observation, study, and calculation, to discover the cause of the harmonious and majestic revolutions of the stars in their respective orbits, until at last ho jubilantly lound it in the world-wide and all-pervading force of f>ra\iutiou. Comparing small things with greater, I, too, have asked mjscll A\intis th<' adequate and linal cause of the erection ot ihis noble jiilu — this splendid structure to the honour and glmy of God/ To my mind undoubtedly that caus-e is your faith. Thib great uithudrul of St. Patrick, the architectural pride of Melbourne v.ud Victoria, now brought to so advanced a stage of completion, stands a ulorious and enduring monument of your faith. Accordingly my theme th s evening shall be of Christian faith ; but, at the outcct, I muse limit

and define my subject. lam addressing you, not on the nature and properties of faith, not on its necessity, not on its duties, but on its victories. " This the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." N"o doubt the truths believed by faith are sublime and beautiful, and admirably adapted to the needs of man ; and I would fain ha.ye time to feet before you in grand outline that gigantio (structure of Catholic dogma, compared with which all the noblest creations of human genius on religious matters sink into insignificance. I have often compared the productions of unaided human reason in regard to our origin and destiny with the intellectual fabric reared by God, and the effect on my mind has invariably been this : I seemed to behold a vast field covered with sorry hovels, huts, ruins, unfinished and distorted structures, and in the midst of all a stately temple of marvellous proportions and incomparable beauty — Catholic dogma, the contents ot our holy faith, rising proud and triumphant over the dreary -waste of human pyplems ; and, scanning it from foundation to summit, I have been compelled to exclaim, '• It is divine, it is divine !"' Faith with such a creed deserved to conquer. Its transcendent excellence was au earnest and a means of victory ; but bet ore that excellence could be known and appreciated by man's, intellect, accepted by man's heart, and practiced by man's weakness, it met with fierce and widespread opposition from the pride, ignorance, ;ind passions of men, both singly and in society. [ The magnitude of the victory was in keeping with the magnitude of the conflict. The gigantic task before it was the spiritual conquest of the world. It had been poured into the souls of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, it had been photographed on their minds by the light of the Holy Gho&t, typified by the parted tongues of fire on their foreheads, and at the command of Christ it went forth to discharge its grand commission : '• Going therefore, teach ye all nations." To human weakness the task was utterly impossible. The Apostle St. John, perceiving the grandeur of the enterprise, and viewing with prophetic eye the establishment of God's kingdom upon earth, and already a witness of its first conquests, cried out in admiration at the cause, " This is the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." Its first victory was its marvellously rapid spread throughout the then known world. It is an historical fact clearly and emphatically attested by every source of reliable information, both Christian and heathen, that the Christian faith was, in the space of a few years, propagated through the length and breadth ot the Roman Empire, and that Christians were counted by thousands and millions in every land under the sun. Now, this fact, in the face of the countless difficulties and obstacles barring the way of its propagation, is a divine marvel and victory. Christian faith required its adherents to adore a crucified Jew, when no nation was so despised as the Jewish nation, no punishment or death so ignominious as that of the cross. It required belief in doctrines sublime indeed, but impervious to reason, and involving the most tremendous practical consequences. It assailed all the favourite vices and tastes of the day. It said to the avaricious, '• Hoard not treasures upon earth. ' It said to the lewd, "He who soweth in the flcah,of the fie-sh shall nap corruption ; but he who so weth in the spirit, shall reap ot the spint life everlasting." It said to the proud, "He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." It said to the vindictive, '• If one strike thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other." It said to the quarrelsome. '• Love your enemies ; do good to them that hate you."' it said to tue superstitious, " The kingdom or heaven is within you." It said to the cunou\ '• Seek not the things which are seen, but the things which arc not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, bui the things which me not seen are eternal." It said to all 111 general, " Love not the world nor the things which are in the world, because all lluit is in the world is the lust of the flesh, or the lu^t of the iy< s, or the pride of lite." It encountered the most deeply-roofcsd prejudice-* and the most inveterate idolatry and superstition. To tne Jew s. who expected a Messiah to come with great worldly pomp, splendour, majesty, and state — a second Solomon, but immeasurably superior as conqueror, sage, and king — ie represented a crucified malefactor as the true Messiah, claiming their adoration, the renunciation of their cherished dreams and national glory, and the abolition of the Mosaic rites to which they clung with unparalleled tenacity. To the Iloman, proud of his worldwide empire, his brilliant but utterly corrupt civilisation, it held up the folly of the cross, the acceptance of a religiun sprung lro_n a Jt\v. teeming with mysteries, contrary to his passions, condemnatory ot the lust tor bloodshed in the murderous games of the amphitheatre, and destructive of the woiship of lus gods, to whom he attributed the success of his conquest and the spread of his name, it met with the unrelenting opposition of the powerful and the wealthy, of the idolatrous heathen priesthood, ot the philosophers, poets, orators, and, above all, of the despotic emperors who were the soared embodiment of the idolatry, pride, and appalling vices of the age. To bring this more vividly home to your minds, allow me an illustration. Transport yourseives in fancy to the banks of the Tibtr eighteen hundred years ago. Sue that fisherman of Galilee, ju^L armed at OstLi with a lew Jewish companions on their way to Koine, and ascending the river in a boat suggestive of his former calling. m him strikes the eye save his pale visjge, his curly beard, his wayworn garments, and poor sandals. On reaching the ii J orta .Navalis, iic sits tor a uionient on a milestone and descries tne CapiUil, that compendium ot ancient Home, aud the golden pal.tee, that gorgeous mansion of the power, pleasure, and crimes of the Oaesu's. .-v pagan approaches. " Stranger," he says. '• may I ask what errand Lrmgs j ou to Home ? " "I come to announce the true God. and tho true God is a crucified .lew." "Indeed! a God bojon.e Jew — well, that is a novelty. You belong, then, to that strange r«ce which lives down along the Tiber, and which we have lauulud at so long. \\ hat is your rank or station'/" '"I have neitncr gnld, nor silver, nor eloquence, nor credit, and I come to teach men to despise, as I do, riches, philosophy, power, and death." '• What a str.iuge school ! {Surely the rich will scout you ! " "I come to wean them from those treasures which rust and tbieves destroy. The rich and the poor will alike believe me." '• But the

philosophers will jeer and mock you." " I come to bend their understanding to the yoke of mysteries, and teach them to quell their passions. The philosophers will be my docile disciples." " But Caesar will not suffer a change in the religion and morals of the empire."' " I come to strip Cae«ar of the sovereign pontificate, and I will degrade his ancestors from the rank they have assumed among the gods. I will destroy the temples where, in the name of so many gods, you adore so many vices." " And you believe that Caesar will tamely bear your injuries/" " Caesar will put me to death, but another Caesar will embrace my religion." " What ! you pretend to create a race and have successors/" "'That race shall spread over the world, and my successors shall be enthroned in the Capitol." "And for many a day no doubt?" "For all ages." " The poor idiot ! " exclaims the Roman, as he proudly walks away, '' would any man have ever thought that folly could couie to this ? lie feiucorely believes v>hat he says." That lowly, despised Galilean is St. Peter, the first Pope, and the message he brings to the world is Christian faith. And that faith has overcome the world, for '• this is the victory which overcomeih the world — our faith." Faith in the person of Peter and such as he, came to the foot of the Capitol. She accowtt d the slave, not with the sword of Spartacus, but with the gospel and the cross, saying to him — " Obey your masters." She met the ruthless slave-owner in the fcrum, and said to him — •' Be just and humane to your slaves, for they are your own flesh and blood, and you have a master who hears their groans and will avenge their cruel treatment." She met the crowds issuing from the circus, and she preached charity to barbarous men and women, and boys and girls, who had just been gloating for hours on human bloodshed, and frantically applauding lions and tigers and panthers, gorged with the reeking flesh of gladiators. She preached purity to human brutes that the mere representation of vices was unable to satisfy, and that required to see them in action on the stage, ashamed of its own abominations. She approached the wealthy, whose morals, parties, banquets, spectacles, were the horror of Nature, and she announced to them that "it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle." She sat beneath the chair of the conceited philosophers — Roman, Greek, Oriental — who busied themselves in gathering into one eclectic system all the errors of the Old World — that is, the maxims of pride, pleasure, and selfish interest, and she said to them — '"Cease your vain efforts ; now you must believe what you cannot understand — the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption — you must crucify your pampered flesh, and humbly bend your knee to a crucified Jew." She entered the veiy palace of the Crcsars, trampled on their altars, degraded them from the rank of gods, and told them that they must soon die and he judged for weal or woe eternal by an all-holy and all-powerful Judge. With concentrated rage they answered — " No ; thou shalt die, and all the base sectaries of thy vile superstition." " Die thou shalt," echoed the unanimous voice of slaves, masters, rich men, philosophers, and emperors. Mind and might were leagued against faith. Celsus and Porphyrius attacked it in the name of philosophy and criticism ; Tacitus branded it in the name of history as the enemy of the human race : Pliny w iekled the sword to slay it and the pen to defend his dealings with it in the eyes of his master, the Emperor Trajan. But a^ regards the iaith. Trajan was a Nero The current literature which stigmatised it was but the expression of society which condemned and scouted it For throe centuries the empire was deluded with Christian blond. and Rome put forth all her might, genius, wealth and craft to drown faith in a sea of blood. It was pursued in town and country and desert — it hid itself in the dreary gloom of the Catacombs. All the woes of the empire were laid to its charge. If an earthquake occurred, if the lightning smote a temple or a theatre, the cry was. " To the lions with the Christians 1" and frightful tortures followed. Nay, Christians were commonly known by the name of the instruments of their torture— men called them '• wretches of the rack, or the gibbet, or the pile " (Tertullian). Neither age, nor sex, nor rank, nor services rendered to the commonwealth, found mercy before the tyrants. Twelve million Christian^ are said, on the best authority, to have died martyrs for their faith during the 10 chief persecutions in the space of 'MM years. At length in thi- tremendou-. struggle faith seemed conquered, and the triumph of heathenism secured. The Emperor Diocletian had medals struck, and pill.irs erected with the inscription, •' Christiano nomine deleto."' (•' The Christian name abolished. ') Vain illusion ! Absurd flattery ! Why. it was paganism which fell, while faith shouted victory. Ten years after Diocletian's miserable death, faith rose triumphant from the Catacombs, and, in the person of Constantino, sat crowned with victory — immortal victory — on the throne of the converted Ca2sar^. "This is the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." And what instruments did faith use for so glorious an achievement / Men such as I have described St. Peter, men without any adequate human means. Poor, weak, illiterate, meek, humble, despised men — '• lambs among wolves." as their Master called them — rich in nothing but in faith, and in hope and charity which springs from faith, rich in a living faith which " workcth by charity." rich in faith able to work stupendous miracles, rich in iaith which the Apostle calls " an admirable light," rich in charity which is strong unto martyrdom and death, they went forth, at their Master's com-

mand, to be "the light of the world " in the darkness of error, and

tbe "salt of the earth" in its deepest corruption. There was | no natural proportion between the work undertaken l»y faith and its immense result, and, therefore, the spread of Christianity, the victory of faith, was entirely Divine. Because, unless the Apostles had known for certain that God had sent them, their attempt at the conversion of the world would have been the height of folly, and, therefore, an impossible supposition ; and because the conversion of the world could be determined by no other motive than the certain and evident apprehension of truth, since prejudice, custom, passion, interest, everything was against it. Evidence alone could induce assent, the evidence of miracles such as none could gainsay. And, finally, because God's subdued and illumined the hearts of men ; for even miracles do not

extort assent, and require for conversion the interior and efficacious prompting and assistance of the Holy Ghost ; so that a miracle of the moral order was Divinely wrought in favour of faith. " This is the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." The rapid spread of Christianity was one victory of faith ; its preservation down to our day is another equally glorious. Catholic faith, as held by the one only Catholic Church, now spread throughout the world, perseveres morally the same for eighteen hundred years. This is bhown positively, from the fact that in this same society of the Catholic Church, we go back from the present generation without interruption unto the Christian era and, negatively, because we have the unimpeachable historic record of the rise and founders of numerous sects, and the exact time of their separation from the Catholic Church, whereas there is not the shadow of a record to inform us of the Catholic Church having been ever separated from a more ancient Christianity. Now, such a preservation is a manifold miracle and a series of victories, First miracle and victory— lts preservation from destruction arising from its own duration and nniversality ; for it is the natural condition of things human to fade and fall away with time, .and to decay the more rapidly in proportion to the rapidity of their rise and extension. But the Catholic faith, so quickly spread throughout the whole world, had no adequate external force to keep the members of its social body together. How, then, could it persevere intact and universal for so many ages ? That was evidently the work of God's right hand, Who, holding all times and places in His all-powerful and provident sway, ordained ( 1) that the constitution of His religion should be perfectly accommodated to all times and places and conditions of mankind, and (2) that in every time and place He would subdue by His grace and assistance the minds and wills of men, although that religion always and everywhere runs counter to man's corrupt nature. Second miracle and victory — Its preservation from destruction, despite the want of those natural means whereby false religions are wont to subsist and continue. As a false religion cannot stand by the weight of its own motives, since falsehood is a weak and rotten foundation, or, rather, no foundation at all, and aa it cannot claim or have the assistance of Divine protection, for the G-od of essential truth cannot favour error, its preservation for a more or less extensive duration must be ascribed only to human means, whether purely so or greatly assisted by unholy spirits. Accordingly it may pander to human passions, or its adherents may be confined to some out-of-the-way region, cut off from wholesome communication with other men ; or it may be held by a stagnant race in which geniua flags, the spirit of inquiry is extinct, and intellectual torpor prevails ; or it may be propped up and fostered by State protection, or maintain its votaries by sheer force ; or it may resort to dissimulation and adulteration, or decline controversy, or sophisticate and quibble, or fraudulently corrupt and deny historical facts ; or, being devoid of solid arguments, may enforce silence by organised coercion. But no such charges can fairly be brought against the Catholic faith of religion. Surely, as everybody knows, it is no pander to human passions ; its followers have free and open intercourse with all nations, exhibit a marvellous intellectual activity, and promote immensely the cultivation of science, arts, and literature ; its means of propagation are persuasion alone, and over and over again it meets -v\ ich no support, but direct persecution from the rulers of the Mate ; it solves objection*, not by dissembling its doctrines, not by bonding them to complacently suit the whim of natural reason, but by a series of solid principles and invincible arguments ; it courts honest inquiry and hona pde discussion, is always ready to give its opponents a reason for its claims, and dreads nothing so much as ignorance : neither does it impose silence on its contradictors by imperious coercion, but readily and patiently hears and weighs every reason of their doubts or misgivings, proving thereby that it is actuated by the pure and sincere love of truth, and has unbounded confidence in its own unfailing life and endurance. Could there be a greater contrast between it and any sect or religion which assails it ? Third miracle and victory : Its preservation irom destruction against the natural peril of its own constitution. Catholic faith, by the divine obscurity of its mysteries, offends the pride of many minds, and constantly atfoids occasion to the lo\ crs 01. novelty to broach all sorts of opinions ending often in a swarm of heresies. Catholic faith, by the inflexible authority of its moral precepts., anger*, and exasperates the wills. oi men impatient of any joke, and hence necessarily arises a multituileof scandals. Catholic faith admits the existence of numbers ot IJishops equal among themselves and subject to the Roman Pontiff ; itadmits ecclesiastical dignities 'vhicli bring withthem great honours and often considerable emoluments, and, moreover, are elective. Hence, as history relates, ambition and cupidity have before now engendered countless factions, intrigues, and rebellions. Airain Catholic faith professes the Church to be a perfect society, independent in spirituals from all authority of civil rulers, and supreme in its own order. Hence a fruitful source of jealousy on the part of the powers that be ' hence their frequent and stubborn endeavours to , usurp the ecclesiastical power and combine it with the temporal ; ! hence no end of storms and struggles, no end of schisms. And yrt despite all these obstacles, the constitution of the Church, the embodiment of Catholic faith has remained substantially inviolate : nay, its rights and prerogatives have become more and more conspicuous ; the spiritual power of the Roman Pontiff has been splendidly exalted, and to-day there exists a union between the Bishops and the faithful and the Pope more close and admirable than in any preceding century. Surely the hand of God is there. Fourth miracle and victory : The preservation of Catholic faith in all its integrity against the assaults of innumerable foes. Early in the first century many able and subtle adversaries strove to prevent it. Gnostics, Marcionites, I'Jjionites.. Manicheans, etc. Posterior to the third century a cloud of heretics arobe — Arians. Donatists, Nestorians, Pelagians, Eutycbians, Monothelites, Iconoclasts, and others without number, to which, later on, succeeded the Albigenses, the Hussites, the Wicklifites, and especially the swarms of Protestant sects in the sixteenth century. Lastly, the Jansenists, Deists, Rationalists. Agnostics, Liberals, and Socialists, who have assailed the Catholic faith by speech and publication, by sophistry, by malignant calumnies and

endless scoffing', by corruption of Scripture and history, by scientific investigations, etc., etc. And yet, instead of the unity of faith being 1 shaken by these indefinitely varied attacks, it has been afforded a happy occasion to set itself forth in a b lighter light by clearer definitions and the victorious unravelling of sophistry to the complete refutation of error. And hence has arisen a marvellous display ot unity of profession on the part of Catholics throughout the universe, despite their numbers, their dispersion, the vast variety of their genius, language, manners, and governments, and their position among heathens, heretics, and schismatics. Fifth miracle ii.d >ict'>ry : The stability of Catholic faith against every kind ot (,v,r-.e utioa. I h.ue aired .y of the ten persecutions ot the first three centuries, but how many o hi-rs has? every p ivt ot the woikl endured in the succeeding ages / What did not Ca holies suHer uiuiur J uhan tho Apostate. uU.I from the Barbarian horde*, fiwiii Mahomet i.is .' — A^y, uLia I fro.n Catholic kings and emperors! What ai the last century from the sanguinary storm of the Fiench Rc\olution ? And who is not aware that, m our day. the toes of Catholic iaith have formed nefarious so' ietios bound by unhallowed oath-, to spare neither means, nor money, nor power, nor craft to utterly subvert the Catholic re.igion? This mystery of iniquity is ever on the forward march, and, with incredible skill, directs every political event of importance to that wicked purpose ; but the great engine, everywhere employed, is State monopoly in education and consequent godless schools. And yet Catholic faith ha 3 triumphantly "weathered all these storms and come out purer, brighter, and stronger than ever ; it continues to spread more and more, and in many respects was never so nourishing as in our time, and, let me add, in our fair Australasian colonies. Nay, these tempests have caused the sanctity of the Church, the zeal and fortitude of the Pontiffs, the love of the faithful towards Christ and His members, the patience and longanimity of the saints to shine forth with additional splendour, w hile the lukewarmness of many has been &haken up, and, by the secession of apostates, pestiferous limbs have been advantageously lopped off, to the greater health, vigour, and strength of the social Catholic body, Sixth and final miracle and victory : The admirable ways in which Divine Providence has opportunely come to the assistance of Catholic faith in every variety of circumstance. Many furious onslaughts have, against all apparent hope, been suddenly arrested either by the death, or the downfall, or the conversion of the persecutors. God has invariably provided the needful and copious supply of learned doctors to refute error, of powerful and devout kings co protect religion, of religious Orders accommodated to the times and necessities of the faithful, of zealous pastors and saintly men and women whose efficacious example has vastly promoted faith and morals. When the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire, God Himself, to prevent the utter destruction of civilisation, prepared all the elements required to tame those rude and fierce tribes, giadunlly imbue them with the spirit of the Gospel, and so create Christian Europe. Like the ocean the Church repairs on the one .side, her lotsas on the other. When she lost certain nations who were torn from her maternal b( bom. like England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, she gained more numerous adherents elsewhere, and so never ceased to b? numerically universal ; and any attentive reader of history has no difficulty to pcrcei\e that JJuine Providence, fulfilling the promise of Christ to be with ilis Church forever, hrs always directed c. try event tow an Is the reL:n ot God upon earth, by the diffusion, preservation, and corroboratiou ot Catholic faith. What a splendid array and reiies of victories, which are the forerunners or v any mou- unto the con* 'animation of the world' It has no parallel in the hist"ry of mankind : it stands 0111 with incomparable magnitude which tin. y who run can ko. This indeed is the " victory which overoometh the woild- — our i.iith." And now has not every Catholic good rta^cn to be proud ot his faith, and you, my brethren, more perhaps than any on this great day of your splendid celebration/ Ah ! you belong, most ot you. to a lace of faith, whose victories lor and by iaith form oue of th brightest pages of Church History. J\o sooner was the Church established in Ireland than the report of its taith. like that of the Romans so p:ai-cd by St. Paul, went out unto all the world. Wonderful was the introduction of the faith by St. Patrick, because it was watend by no martjr'h blood; wonderful was its -pread thioughout Europe when Ireland became the xarfamed Inland ot saints and scholars, and Apostles of the taith ; and the restoration of Christianity in Europe, attcr the fcartul invasions ot the barbarians, was largely the work ot their missionary Zealand heroism. But still more wonderful ha* 1 been the preservation of that tanh amid trials unexampled in the e^ui^e of lu-tovy. You know the glorious story. Patrick's, work w .i*> right wi 11 done. He left his children a touchstone to discern the false lrom the true. "As you are my childicn." he .>aid, "so b.j ye children of Koine." When, therefore, a new-fangled worship en me and preached to them hatred ot Rome, they shrank from it in abhorrence, as from the evil one. It is keenly painful tor an h"nest Englishman to turn o\er tin blood-stained passes ot English History, which m regard to Ireland are the record < f wrong and crime lor :sn<> years. Yet stem impartial truth obliges n c to say, with no excitement ot thought or imagination, with no rhetorical exasperation, that for centuries England treated her sister kingdom with unnatural barbarity. And why.' For this simple reason : England had apostatised from the ancient faith, and she was i\>ol\«.d that Ireland should apo*.t:it">e al-o. Accordingly, she framed the most sanguinary enactments for the destruction of that holy faith wh.ch tor a thousand ycais had been the glury and «.il\ ation ot the Hi ui-h Isle These l,iw swei c directed with e,ilm. quiet, well-pondered det' rmination. to tho extinction oL Ireland & lauh or ih.* extermination ot hvt 1 people. They are without a parallel in any Clin-tian land, ami are matched oinj by the cider- oi Xero and LMoolctiau . '• fit i '■•</ ttnu ad 'cone-.' C!tri.\t uuu llon slH f ! — •■Tluow the ( hristiaii" to the lion-, let Chri -.van- cease t>) lie !" A striknm phenomenon ot this closing l'.ith century is the spnad ol the Ei;;li»:i lon^ue. I'niorainalely. when the Uigb-.h language was foriam/. Prote-tantism niude it its own peculiar po--be-sion. Hence tho wonderful spread ot the English tong. c would naturally have meant the dillusion of Prote&tautibni and a corres-

ponding 1 decline of Catholicism. So sure of this were men 60 years ago that, when bigots were disturbed at Catholics building new chapels in England. Carlyle consoled them thus : '• Popery can build new chapels — welcome to do so at all lengths. Popery cannot come back any more than paganism, which also lingers in some countries. But indeed it is with these things us with the ebbing of the tea ; tor minutes you cannot tell how it is going : look in half an hour, where is it ? — look in half a century where your l'opehoed is ! " Now, look how Provdeuce has belied this inapt prophevy. As in the land of bondage, as in the temptaiiiu thn.ugh ihe wilderness, as in the captivity of Babylon, God formed a people to be His witness in ihe ancient world, so now iv the furnace of persecution God h:<s tried and tampered a j.e^pl'j to be His witness to the faith in ihtt new world which is to be. Driven by misrule from their homco, the Iru-li race, thu children of St. Patrick, have scattered over two hemispheres. They have poured into the large cities of England and Scotland, into ."south Atrica, America, and Australasia. Whitht rsoever they go, their priests accompany them ; wherever they settle the spire and the cross arise hard by the presbytery and the school, convent, and college. In their new homes, despite many drawbacks, God prospers them in behalf of the faith which persecution has knitted into their minds and hearts, and the best th^y haye — God bless them ! — is never too good for God. There is the explanation, of this grand Cathedral. Carlyle, thou cynic, shortsighted scoffer, the half-c ntury is over, and where is our Popehood now ? Look around you, not to the old Catholic countries, nor to the old Catholic races — look to your own people and your own tongue. Never was the Papacy so strong as it is to-day ; all honour to its loyal subjects of every nationality and their noble services to the Church in every clime ; but certainly a large share of this magnificent result is due to the Irish. They have carried their loyalty to the See of Peter over the sev^en seas, and have won respect for it iv the very gates of its enemies. Once more the words of St. Augustine have been verified :—": — " I hear them saying of the Church every day that she soon must die, and every day I see her bury them ; " or, as our great English poet says : " She is doo.ned to death, but fated nob to die." " This is the victory which overcometh the world — our faith." Cast your eyes around and see the contrast. In our day false religions are being found out and are breaking up, dissolved more and more into fragments and dust ; belief is vanishing and rank materialism is the creed of millions.

'• Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we shall die." But God has his trusty witnesses in the midst of Babel confusion and hopeless chaos, and nowhere more so than in the Irish people, to which most of you belong either by birth or descent. You come to this fair land with your belief in the supernatural, and your hope in the future. You build your churches, and your churches remain ; you build your schools, and they remain and prosper ; you build your palatial colleges and convents, and they remain and flourish. And so you arc here to-day, in your thousands, celebrating the completion of this grand monument — this magnificent act of faith. All honour to you ! The work you have done is truly great, and you may ..nd do feel legitimate pride in its completion. The rich with their wealth, the poor with tiie.r hard-earned wages, the widow with her niite — you ha\e reared this splendid edifice, the pride and ornament ol this beau til ul city, to the glory and worship of God, for your-ehcH. lor your children, and for many generations yet unborn. All hon :ur to your faith and devotion! All honour to the noble Archbisl op w ho presides with apostolic dignity, learning, virtues, and success over this great p ovince ! Your presence, my Lord Archbi-hop. fo'bids me to atteu p. elaborate eulogy ; but this much I w ill bay, you are pronct of your people to-day and they are proud of you, and, with them, I congratulate you warmly on the achievement of the urreat object for which you have worked so long and fo well. All honour to your saintly preiU ce-sor, Archbishop G. uhl, the founder of this noble structuie, whose faith was his prompter, and whose reliance on the generosity of his ilock his hope anil support in the arduous commencements) of this vast undertaking. J)oubtlcs& to-day, from the throne of his glory and the s-eat of his rest, he sends a heavenly message of congratulation and love. And what shall I fay of that worthy, unassuming priest, Father Fitzpatrick, whom you all mncmbere I with mingled legret, revtrtnee and affection, whose very lite, tor the third of a century, was identified with the erection ot this liiagnificent cathedral ? The event of this day must thrill his vi ry ashes in the tomb where he reposes so near us, while his glorified houl has additional joy in Heaven at the triumphant result of his life-long exertions, unfailing hope, and unconquerable perseverance. All honour to the excellent and devoted clergy of thi3 Archdiocese — secular and regular — who have so nobly coopcrati'd w ith their great leader to achieve this complete success. All honour to the cleivy of the other d oceses> ot this ecclesiastical pr<>\ ince, who*e generosity deserves an almost equal meed of praioe. All honour to the laity ot Melbourne and Victoria, for without the laity what can the clergy do / All honour to the laity, old and young, rich and poor, male and female ! You are the rank and file of the great Church militant, and to you, under your distinguished leadership, belongs especially the victory of this great day. Nor will I forget to th ink and congratulate all those generous and li'.cr.il pi rtons of other denominations who have helped to erect this imposing monument, and 1 am sure that God will bless them for comiibuting to buihl thin house of prayer, this temple of God, this locus and crn tie of true Christian progress and civilisation. In lino. I congratulate all, without distinction, who have had any share in the c inception, pioseoutioii. and achievemert of this great work — this glorious UiiLhcilr.il of St. Patrick, whose faith it will perpetuate. And do thoa, 0 bluss^d Patrick, who dost enter solemnly into thy full possession to-day, look down with complacency and lo\e, and invoke upon it and its worshippers unto all time the choicest blessings of Heaven !