CARDINAL LOGUE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 20, 21 May 1908, Page 12

CARDINAL LOGUE

A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE

Cardinal Logue, Archbishop Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, is just now very much in the public eye of Australia and New Zealand. The eminent Prelate has been pushed into the Australasian limelight owing to a cable message from New York which credits him with predicting the approaching dissolution of the British Empire, and basing

his prophecy on the practical independence of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and the spread of serious dis- _ content in India.

Cardinal Logue is at present on a visit to the United States in connection with the centenary celebrations of the Church in that country. He was born on October" 1, 1840, at Carrigart, near Letterkenny, in the Diocese of Kaphoe,

and within a few miles of the place where his predecessor, the late Archbishop MeGettigan, first saw the light of day. Showing a disposition to study for the priesthood, his preliminary education was carefully looked after, and in 1857, when he was in his 17th year, he was sent to St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. There he soon displayed abilities and qualities of mind and heart which betokened that his career would be a singularly successful and brilliant one. In 1865 ho won a place in the Dunboyne Establishment, one of the most coveted prizes at Maynooth ; and his reputation for scholarship was so large that when, in 1866, he was "ordained to the priesthood, the Irish Bishops unanimously elected him to the chair of theology in the Irish College at Paris, which was 'then vacant. Father Logue filled this post with remarkable distinction and success for the following eight years, during which time he not only imparted his own learning, to his students, but also increased his store of sacred lore by continual study.

In 1874, however, his Bishop, Dr. McDevitt, recalled him to Baphoe, and appointed him to the charge as administrator of the parish of G-lenswilly. For two years Dr. Logue acquitted himself illustriously of the duties which devolved upon him at G-lenswilly, and then the trustees of St. Patrick 's College, at Maynooth, drafted him into the service of his alma mater, and made him professor of Irish at that institution. In 1878 another promotion came to the future Cardinal, when he was chosen professor of theology at Maynooth ; but he was hardly installed in that position when Borne called him higher still — to the See of Baphoe, left vacant by the death of Bishop MeDevitt. His consecration took place in the Letterkenny Cathedral on July 20, 1879, the consecrating prelate being Archbishop MeGettigan, of Armagh. Bishop Logue remained at the head of the Baphoe Diocese for nearly eight years, during which time he accomplished, in his own quiet and unostentatious way, a vast amount of good in his jurisdiction. In 1887 Archbishop MeGettigan, of Armagh, feeling the need of a coadjutor, asked for one, and when Rome's choice was announced it was found that its selection had fallen upon the scholarly Bishop of Baphoe, Dr. Logue, who was accordingly transferred April 30, 1887, to a titular see, named coadjutor, with the rights of succession to Archbishop MeGettigan, and who then quitted Letterkenny to take up his residence at Armagh. From the outset of his removal to St. Patrick's episcopal city, Dr. Logue may be said to have been entrusted with the burden of the administration of the Armagh Archdiocese. Archbishop MeGettigan was in poor health, and practically incapacitated for any heavy work. In fact, he did not live long after securing Dr. Logue as his coadjutor. His death took place December 3, 1887, less than eight months after Dr. Logue 's coming to Armagh, and then the present Prelate, by virtue of his rights of succession, became the Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland. Of his administration of the archdiocese it is unnecessary to speak here. That talks for itself. In what estimation the Primate is held at Borne was fully illustrated in 1893, when Leo XIII. selected him as the member of the Irish hierarchy on whom to bestow a red hat. He was created a Cardinal priest in the consistory held January 16, 1893, being, strange as it may seem, the first occupant of St. Patrick's See to have a seat in the Sacred College.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh has all his life en* deavoured to avoid publicity, and he has generally succeeded in doing that. He kept out of the political field in those years when agitation was the order of the day throughout all Ireland, but it was a well-known fact, nevertheless, that all his sympathies were with the national aspirations of his oppressed countrymen.