THE COADJUTOR-ARCHBISHOP OF WELLINGTON
IMPRESSIVE CONSECRATION CEREMONY
i__ ' ‘ CONVERSAZIONE IN THE TOWN HALL PRESENTATION OP ADDRESSES “ , ft (From our own correspondent.)
The Most Rev. Dr. O’Shea, S.M., was consecrated Coadjutor-Archbishop of Wellington on Sunday morning, August 17, in the Sacred Heart Basilica by his Grace Archbishop Redwood, who was assisted by the Right Rev. Dr. Verdon, Bishop of Dunedin, and the Right Rev. Dr. Cleary, Bishop of Auckland. The church was crowded, and amongst those present was a large number of visiting clergy. I now supplement the telegraphed report of the impressive ceremony by the following further particulars: THE OCCASIONAL SERMON The Very Rev. Father Ryan, S.J., Superior of the Jesuit Order in Australasia, preached the occasional sermon from the text, We are the ambassadors of Christ, God, as it were, exhorting through us (2 Cor. v., 20). Our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven to found a Spiritual Kingdom, which should extend to all the nations of the earth, and should last to the end of time. This was clearly foretold by the Prophets. Six hundred years before the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Prophet Daniel, interpreting the famous dream of Nabuchodonosor, told the king that, after the destruction of the four great empires of antiquity, a new kingdom should take their placea kingdom founded by God Himself, and which should never have an end. ‘ The God of heaven (says the Prophet) will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand forever.’ And again in the seventh chapter he clearly indicates that this kingdom is the Kingdom of the Messiah: ‘ I beheld in the vision of the night, and 10, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven even to the Ancient of Days, and He gave Him power and glory and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him. His power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.’ The Royal Psalmist in like manner has frequent references to the Kingdom of the Messiah, which shall extend throughout the nations— ‘ All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight; for the Kingdom is the Lord’s, and He shall have dominion, over the nations.’ In fact, as St. Augustine points out, it may be said the whole of the Old Testament is full of references to Christ and His Kingdom — gravida erat Christo, And, coming to the New Testament, the references to the Kingdom of Christ are, as might be expected, still more numerous and more definite. When ■the Angel Gabriel announced to our Lady that she was to be the Mother of the Messiah, he foretold, at the same time, that He would found a kingdom that would last for ever. ‘ The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David, His Father, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.’ The Baptist, when preparing the Jews for the coming of the Messiah, exhorts them to do penance ‘ for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’ As for ,our Lord Himself, the great work of His life On earth was to found this Kingdom. Nearly all His discourses are about it. After the forty days’ fast in
the desert .‘ Jesus „ began to preach and to say: Do penance for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand . . . and Jesus went about all Galilee, 5 teachingin their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.’ His first great sermon on the Mount—that sermon which for nineteen, hundred years has formed the conscience of the civilised world, — all about this Kingdom. He gives; an outline draft of its constitution and of the laws by which His subjects are to be governed, and one of the petitions of the Prayer which He taught them is for the extension of this Kingdom into the hearts of all men. A whole set of His parables is about this. Kingdom, which He sometimes calls the Kingdom of Heaven, and sometimes the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a sower, the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed ;'the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a treasure hid in a field the Kingdom of Heaven, is like to a. net; the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking for good pearls* and so on. When He stood before Pilate one of the chief charges against Him was that He made Himself King. ‘Art thou a King?’ demanded Pilate. * Yes; I am a King, but my Kingdom is not of this world.’ Even after His Resurrection, during those forty days, all His discourses to His disciples were about the' Kingdom of God, which they were to —loquens de regno Dei Its Constitution. Now, the very idea of a kingdom implies that there must be one supreme head from whom all the authority of the subordinate officials is derived.. Ho must have judges and magistrates to administer the laws in his name. If his kingdom is extensive and embraces other lands, he must have governors to represent him, and to rule in his name; he must have ambassadors to bear his messages to other nations. , The respective powers of these officers of state are given by commission from the king, and are clearly defined; and as long as these officials keep within the terms of their commission, they act in the name and by the authority of the king, and the king is responsible for their acts. In fact, it is the king that acts through them.: If a treaty has to be arranged the ambassador is commissioned ,in the name of the king to settle the terms and to seal it with the royal seal. In the Spiritual Kingdom, founded by Christ, it is exactly the same. There is one Supreme Head,' the centre and source of all authority. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the invisible Head. But as His Kingdom, though not of this world, is in this world; as it is; a visible society consisting of men, He has appointed a visible head to rule in His place and in His name. • As it is not .confined by the limits of any country, but embraces all nations, He has ’ appointed His representatives to rule those distant provinces. Each diocese has its bishop, corresponding to our state governors, and each province, or collection of dioceses, has its archbishop corresponding to the governor-general. Then we have the various magistrates of this Kingdom —namely, the priests, to administer its laws, and see that 1 they are observed. But these officials, from the highest to .. the lowest, are
subject to the one Supreme Head, the Vicar of Christ, and all of them derive all their power and authority • from' the Supreme Invisible Head, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. They can say in the words of St. Paul, For Christ we are ambassadors, God, as it Were, exhorting through us.’ ‘ The Great Commission. . ■ And what are the terms of the commission which He has given them? We are so accustomed to the Words that we find it difficult to* realise their meaning. In the Gospel we are told that after the Resurrection' of our Lord, the eleven Apostles went into Galilee unto? the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and Jesus coming spoke to them,, saying‘ All power is given Me in heaven and on earth, going therefore teach ye all nations, teaching them to observe all things what- , soever I have commanded you, and behold I am with, you all days even to the consummation of the world.’ Here we have the nature and terms of their commission most clearly defined. Everything is indicated—place, the time, the persons, the object of the commission, the extent of the powers conferred, and , the promise of His divine assistance in the fulfilment of this: commission. The place is a mountain, in Galilee where: our Lord had told the Apostles to meet Him. The time was after His Resurrection before He ascended into heaven. . The persons who received the commission were, not all. the followers of our Lord, but the eleven Apostles. : The object of ’the commission was the teaching of all nations in all things whatsoever He had commanded. The extent of their power is unlimited. It is divine. It is the same power which He Himself : possessed, ‘ All power is given Me in heaven and on earth. As the Father sent Me I also send you. He that heareth you heareth Me.’ It is unlimited as to space for they are to go into the whole world, to all the nations. It is unlimited as to time, for it is to continue in their successors to the consummation of the world. He promises that He will be with them, not merely at first, not merely for a few centuries, not merely from time to time, but all days even to. the end of the world. Finally, He commands all men to accept their teaching for ‘he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned.’ Obstacles. ' Fortified by this divine commission, the Apostles went forth as tlie ambassadors of Christ to convert the nations, and to found the Kingdom of God. To the ©yes of human wisdom' no undertaking could be more foolish. Who were those men that were sent to accomplish this gigantic work? What qualifications had they What means at their disposal? They had absolutely nothing at all to recommend them in the eyes of the world. They had no human learning. . They had no armies or fleets to support them. They had not even the necessaries of life. They were sent , without scrip or staff. They had left all things to follow their Divine Master. They lived on alms. Their only weapon was truth, their only defence, meekness. They were sent as lambs among ravening wolves, and when smitten on one cheek they were told to present the other. Truly, the foolish things of this world hath God chosen to confound the wise, and the weak things to confound the strong. Such were the ambassadors sent by Christ to teach the nations, and the nations, at that time, were not in a mood to accept the teaching of such men. It was the Augustine age of literature. It was the age of Virgil and Horace, and Livy and Cicero. Moreover, the doctrine they had to teach was most repugnant to the refined and cultured Greek, and to the proud and luxurious Roman, The idea of a crucified God was to them the sheerest nonsense, ‘We- preach Christ Crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles folly/ are the words of St. Paul. Besides the doctrine of the Crucified proclaimed a universal war against all the fostered passions of those proud and luxurious peoples. It commanded absolute purity, even in thought, to a generation that had temples erected everywhere to the goddess of impure love. It proclaimed that all men were equal before God in an. age when the vast majority of the human race were abject slaves, who had no more rights than the cattle of the field, and
whom the'master- could torture or - put' to death at his will., It proclaimed the forgiveness of injuries in i an age -when vengeance was regarded, as . one of the principal virtues. It proclaimed universal charity in an age when those of all other nations were regarded as enemies. It preached humility to men who had not the slightest idea of the meaning' of the word,: and regarded / all manifestations of it 'as abject baseness. Yet it was to these very peoples that , the ambassadors of Christ were sent to teach them,the Gospel virtues, to cleanse them "form the leprosy of sin and luxury in which they were steeped, and to mould them into a universal empire under the standard of the Cross. History tells us that universal empire has been the dream of the mightiest nations of the earth. In the ancient world Nineveh and Babylon attempted it. For a time each seemed to have succeeded, but for centuries the sands of the desert have covered their ruins; and it is only quite recently that their sites have, been identified. Alexander the Great attempted it. His mighty army conquered nation after nation so that the whole 'known world lay at his feet, or as Holy Scripture says: ‘The earth was quiet before him.’ He is said to have wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. He advanced his conquering legions even to the Banks, of the Ganges. But his hour had struck. He returned to Babylon, where he died in a drunken debauch, and the vast empire he had founded was shattered into fragments. Imperial Rome attempted it, and held universal sway for some time ‘ over the nations of the earth. But the rude barbarians from the steppes of Asia and the northern forests of Europe burst upon .her like a deluge, overwhelmed her armies, and laid waste the Imperial City,- so that, as St. Jerome writes, ‘ the howling of foxes could be heard at night amid the ruins of the golden palace of the Caesars.’ Napoleon the First attempted it. It was the dream of his life and the goal of his ambition. The monarchs of Europe trembled before him, ‘ the bend of his eye did aw© the world.’ He even laid hands on the Vicar of Christ, made him a prisoner, and despoiled : him of his territory. But his , hour came also,. and the conqueror of kings and emporers, despoiled of everything, died a dishonored prisoner on the lone island of St. Helena, and the memory of his conquests only serves as a theme for school boys. Such, were the results of the mightiest nations and conquerors that strove to found a universal empire. ; All their victories, glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk: into abject disaster. . They passed like a vision of the night, and their place knows them no more at all for ever. But the wonder of wonders is that where all those mighty powers, backed up by all the resources the world could supply,’failed so signally, the humble ambassadors of Christ have succeeded. The fishermen of Galilee, with absolutely nothing but their divine commission to support them, did. actually found a universal empire, and after, nineteen centuries that empire stands to-day in spite of all the powers of earth and hell arrayed against it, and what increases the wonder is that this empire rules, not merely over the bodies of men but over their hearts, and souls, and consciences. The struggles they and their followers had to endure in fulfilling their commission were appalling. For three hundred years the Roman Empire endeavoured by every means to crush them. The vilest calumnies were circulated about them. They were looked on, according to Tacitus as ‘the enemies of the human race.’ The hatred of the people was inflamed against them. They were despoiled of their property, they were subjected to the cruellest tortures. They were covered with tar, tied to iron stakes, and lighted as torches in the gardensof Nero. They were devoured by wild beasts in the Flavian Amphitheatre. And all this went on for three hundred years, and instead of exterminating them only increased their numbers. ‘ The blood of martyrs became the seed of Christians.’ Triumph. At length the triumph came. We are this year celebrating the sixteenth centenary of .that triumph. In the year 313 Maxentius, a cruel tyrant and bitter persecutor of the Christians, ruled at Rome. Constantine, yet a pagan, marched to Rome to dispute his title as Roman Emperor, As he'was approaching the Im-
perial City,- a little after midday he saw-in the heavens above the sun a brilliant cross, and with it were the words i:'ln'hoc By this sign thou wilt conquer. '..,.-;'.. That same night our Lord appeared to him bearing a cross of the same kind, and told him to make a' standard like it, and to have : it borne before his army, promising - him victory if he would do so. Constantine obeyed, and though his army "was far inferior in numbers il to .:,; that '■; of' Maxentius; he; completely triumphed .at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, a few
man on the banks of the Tiber, and having ... won over the ; countries bordering 'on ,the 'Mediterranean,,"; the ambassadors-of Christ crossed the Alps, the Danube, and the-Rhine, and the nations of the north received them with open arms. They established the Empire of Christ in Gaul, in Germany, in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. " They planted the Cross on the banks of the Thames, in the Isles of lona, on the Hill of i Tara. And down along through the centuries, as new worlds were discovered, they extended the bounds of the great
miles from Rome. Constantine was converted, and the three hundred years persecution came to an end. And the first Church of St. Peter was built hy Constantin© in those same gardens of Nero where the Christians had been subjected to the most cruel tortures. Expansion. But the work of the ambassadors of Christ did not end here. Having set up the Throne of the Fisher-
Empire. They rounded the Cape of Good Hope with Vasco da Gama, and established themselves in the gorgeous countries of Ormuz and Ind, whose kings were arrayed in barbaric pearls and gold. They landed on the forbidden shores of Japan with Francis Xavier, and soaked the hill of Nagasaki with their blood and with the blood of thousands of their followers. They crossed the impassable wall of China with Father Ricci, and set Up telescopes in* the Imperial Observatory of Pekin.
They landed in America with Columbus, and, "with their sacred hymns, and music, charmed the red Indian warriors on the banks of the Mississippi and the St. Law- , rence. They landed at Botany Bay with La Perouse, and sowed the tiny mustard seed which has developed, within a century, into the glorious Church of Australia. They landed. at Hokianga with Bishop Pom-; pallier, the pioneer of the illustrious Society of-Mary, and laid the foundations-of a Church which within, a couple of- generations has developed into an Ecclesiastical Province that bids fair to rival in time the most flourishing portions of Christendom. And in the Missionaries of the Society of Mary they are steadily gathering in the isles of the South Pacific, and rescuing from barbarism , and cannibalism the inhabitants of those islands with a zeal and heroism that forms one of the most interesting and glorious chapters in the history of Christian Missions. Civilization., * But not only have the ambassadors of Christ converted the nations of the pagan world, they have also been the chief agents in bringing about the civilization of which the modern world is so proud. They tamed the savage warriors of the north, and formed them into the civilized nations of Europe. * They knocked the fetters from the hands of the slave, they elevated woman, they guarded the sanctity of the marriage bond, they restrained the rapacity, and cruelty of the warlike baron, they withstood the unjust laws of kings, and wrested from them the Magna Chartas of individual freedom. They protected the weak, they succored the unfortunate, they filled the cities with hospitals, orphanages, and charitable institutions, which were never thought of in pagan times. They rescued the masterpieces of the classic languages from utter destruction. They copied out and multiplied those masterpieces for the benefit of an ungrateful posterity. Cardinal Newman has said that those who now rail so eloquently at the monkish ignorance of the middle ages owe it to labors of those very monks that they are now able to write their names. The Protestant historian Guizot does not hesitate to say that the monks have educated Europe; and we have it on the authority of the infidel Gibbon that even one monastery of the Benedictine Order has done more for learning than the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. During the formation of the nations of modern Europe, the ambassadors of Christ held the chief offices of State. They were the Lord Chancellors, and guarded the nations’ treasures. They were the custodians of the royal seal. They were the chief advisers of kings and emperors. They were the preceptors of the royal princes and history shows that they used their extraordinary powers for the benefit of the people. It is to them the world ■ owes its great universities. There are at present about one hundred universities in Europe. Before the Reformation no less than sixty-eight of them existed in a flourishing condition, and every one of those sixty-eight universities were either directly or indirectly founded and supported by the ambassadors of Christ. ‘ Those famous schools survey through Europe .wide: From Albion’s plains where Cham and Isis glide, And’ name but one from Scythia to the West By priests unfounded or by priests unblessed.’ But I should never have done were I to recount all that the world owes to the labors of the ambassadors of Christ. Take away from our civilization what they have done, and you would have nothing left but darkness, ruin, and chaos. Listen to the eloquent words of Mr. Gladstone on the influence of the Church on civilization;— ‘Since the first three centuries of persecution, the Roman Catholic Church has marched for fifteen hundred years at the head of human civilization, and has driven harnessed to its chariot, as the horses of a triumphal car, the chief intellectual and material forces of the world; its art, the art of the world; its genius, the genius of the world ; its greatness and glory and majesty have been almost, though not absolutely, all that in these respects the world has had to boast of.’
, More Flourishing Than Ever. ■ . Nineteen centuries have passed since^the j Fisher- \ men of Galilee commenced the mighty task of founding this universal; empire. The powers of .- this world, during those long, ages, have ever been opposed to j her, as they are at the present day, and as they will be. to the end' of time. !. Wonder not if the world hate you (said her Divine Founder), for it hath hated Me before you.’ She is the source of all the blessings, temporal as well as spiritual, that the civilized world enjoys, and yet she receives nothing but ingratitude in return. Every century, every generation, has- new methods of attack, still she survives them all. She has seem empires, kingdoms, and republics rise . and flourish and decay. All other institutions grow old as a garment, and as a vesture they are changed, but she remains ever the self-same, and her years fail not. It is safe, to say that never in her long history was she more flourishing than she is at the present day. The number of her children was never greater, her power of expansion never more manifest, the unity of their faith never more striking. She embraces peoples of every nation, of every color, of every language, but in; matters of faith all are absolutely one. The hundreds of millions of her children are all subject to. their priests, the priests to their bishops, and bishops, priests, and people—subject to Christ’s Vicar on earth. Where is the king or emperor that has such wonderful power over his subjects? There on the banks of the-. Tiber is an old man seated on the Chair of Peter. Not one in ©very million of his subjects has ever seen him, yet all not only obey him, but love him with filial love. He speaks, and his words, repeated in every language, go forth to the ends of the earth.. He issues a decree, and it is obeyed to the letter. He gives a decision, and the cause is ended— Roma, locufa est causa ; finifa: est. He sends forth bishops, . and they are received with open arms as the ambassadors of Christ: Though the powers of earth are arrayed against him, they cannot restrain his influence. Oceans, mountain barriers, difference of climate, difference of language, difference of customs, are no impediment to his .universal sway over the minds and hearts of his children. Is it any wonder that even the enemies of the Church acknowledge that there is not and never was on this earth such another institution O glorious Kingdom of Christ, blessed are thy children that know thee and love thee as their mother ! Blessed are they that are nourished in thy bosom! Blessed are they that are ready to stand by thee through evil report and good report, and, if necessary, to shed their blood, like the martyrs of old, rather than renounce a tittle of their Divine inheritance.- - We have assembled here to-day to witness the conferring or the Divine commission of ambassador of Christ on your Coadjutor-Archbishop. As a priest of this diocese he has for many years labored amongst you in a subordinate position. He* has preached to you the Gospel of Christ. He has administered the Sacraments, and offered for you the Adorable Sacrifice of the Mass by the power and in the name of Christ. His life has been as an open book to you. You know his coming in and his going out. In season and out of season he was always at-your disposal in the discharge of his sacred duties. He was not only your friend and counsellor, but your Father. He fostered with special care the tender lambs of the flock. In sickness and sorrow he was at your side to console and comfort you. He ever had an open purse and a ready hand for the poor and destitute. He was an ©ye to the blind, an ear to the deaf, and he did not let the widow and the orphan wait. He was, in a word, ‘ The soggarth aroon .’ And now that the Holy Father, the successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, has chosen him for the highest position in the priesthood, I feel sure your hearts go out to him with all the affection of devoted friends and loving children. You will pray that, like the Apostles, he may be filled-with the gift of the Holy Ghost, so that he may be able to fulfil the divine commission imposed upon him to-day to the greater glory of God and the benefit of the souls entrusted to his pastoral charge. In entering on his new duties your
Coadjutor-Archbishop ■ has had a singular advantage. He has had before his eyes for years the example of bile of the most illustrious prelates 'of the Southern Hemisphere prelate who is revered and respected not - only - throughout the Dominion of New Zealand, but throughout the vast Commonwealth of Australia, a' prelate whose learning and eloquence have earned for hiqa the title of the Chrysostom of , Australasia, and whose gentleness and kindness have endeared him to the hearts of all who have come in contact with him. And I am sure I am only voicing the heartfelt sentiments of all " presentbishops, priests, and people ; — when I say that we congratulate the venerable prelate in having obtained a Coadjutor after his own heart, a Coadjutor who will follow faithfully in his footsteps, who will be the staff of his declining years, and whose chief endeavor will be to emulate the noble example of the first Archbishop of Wellington. THE LUNCHEON , At the conclusion of the ceremony of the consecration the prelates, clergy, and committee were photographed, after which they were entertained at luncheon by his Grace Archbishop O’Shea, who presided over , the gathering. The toast of the Pope and the King ’ was proposed by Archbishop O’Shea. : ■ His: Grace Archbishop Redwood in proposing the toast of ‘Archbishop O’Shea,’ said that it was a pleasant - duty on his part to propose Archbishop O’Shea’s health, . and at the same time a somewhat difficult task to do justice to. He did not think it was advisable to praise a man to his face, but he was going to do it on this occasion. He said that Archbishop O ’ Shea was well known all over New Zealand' for yehrs before he was elevated to his new dignity. All knew of his sterling worth, of his solid virtues, and . of his deep and untiring zeal, and of his indelibly high character. He felt sure that everyone would intensely rejoice in his elevation. He had known him from far back, previous to the days he entered St. Patrick’s College. ‘ It was about 38 years ago,’ said. Archbsihop Redwood, ‘ when, travelling in the Taranaki district on my first episcopal visit. I was sitting on the box seat of a coach on the principal road to Hawera, when a good lady came out with her children, the eldest just five years old, stopped the coach, and in the presence of the, passengers, among whom were several Protestants and others, asked my blessing for herself and her children. ‘I said to myself,’ continued the Archbishop, ‘ that there is something great about this person—such good faith deserves some remarkable reward. I gave them my heartiest blessing. I always considered that the blessing I gave to that good lady and her children was the heartiest I ever gave, especially after such an example of such real good old Irish faith. The faith of that family was rewarded, mi© of her girls Becoming a nun and her son becoming the Archbishop I consecrated to-day.’ And now, he said, we were all proud of his elevation. . And he added that Archbishop O’Shea had not the slightest or the faintest knowledge -that such a great dignity was to be bestowed on him until the word came through from Rome. We are all proud of him. The Dominion is proud of him. Mary is proud of him because ho is especially her child. Born in San Francisco, he came 8 to New Zealand a baby in arms when he was dedicated entirely to the Society of Maryin her schools, in her colleges. As one of the flock of the Society of Mary elevated to this high dignity Mary is proud of him. I congratulate him particularly on having received from the Holy See the episcopate of Gortyna, one of the sixteen oldest sees in the world. Gortyna is in Crete, and I congratulate his Grace on not having to go to that place. In conclusion he trusted that Archbishop O’Shea would have before him a very glorious and successful career. His Grace Archbishop O’Shea, who was received with long-continued applause, said; —‘Your Grace, my - Lords, Right Rev. and Rev. Fathers, ladies and gentlemen,- thank you very sincerely for the kind manner in which you have received the last toast. I confess that several times since my appointment was
made I have felt frightened of the great responsibility which has been imposed upon me. For, notwithstand- - ing what his Grace has said so kindly of me, I am only a very ordinary man,, but was greatly encouraged and consoled some little time ago by a consideration which was put before me very forcibly and very clearly by a valued friend. It was said to me on that occasion that when a man is selected by the Holy See for such a high dignity, when- he had no wish or desire for it, the law forcibly requires by rule of the Holy Father that such a one should be made a Bishop, then any man might reasonably conclude that such is the will of God, and it was in this spirit that I took up the responsibility of the dignity which has been imposed upon me .this morning. I realise that my own personality is now less in my representative character, and so I will try my best to do God’s holy will. The Society of Mary, in which I have been for so many years, can no longer claim me as her exclusive property.’ Archbishop O’Bhea went on, to say that although such was the case, all his people would have a very deep claim upon him. ‘ You realise, my dear brethren, that I cannot say very much this afternoon. I thank you most sincerely for your great kindness to me. I thank his Grace very sincerely for his kind words. I also thank the Bishops of Ejunedin and Auckland. I have to thank in a special way the Rev. Father Ryan, distinguished son of the Society of Jesus. He came all the way from Australia to honor me and to preach that splendid sermon we had this morning. I thank all the other, clergy from the other dioceses who came here to-day to honor meDean Hills from Christchurch: and —whose names are so numerous that I cannot remember them for the moment. I have to thank especially Archbishop Redwood, who has always been so kind and considerate to me, and also' the. other Bishops, who have always been so helpful to me. I do not know if I should single out any amongst those present, but my sincere thanks, are due to Dean Regnault, who has taken infinite care to make this function a success. I must also thank the masters of ceremonies to-day, and also the priests of my own parish, who have always labored well. My sincere thanks are due to my many lay_ friends, who have done so much for me during the time I have been in Wellington. And now, your Grace, I have to thank you particularly. I know your sterling worth and the vast amount of work you have to perform. The assistance you have always rendered me assures me that you will still further aid me with your long experience in my new and responsible position. I thank you once more, your Grace, my Lords, Rev. Fathers, ladies and gentlemen, from my heart. The Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., Provincial of the Marist Order, in proposing the toast of ‘The Hierarchy,’ said;—l appreciate highly the honor of being asked to propose the toast of * The Hierarchy.’ We New Zealanders-are proud of our hierarchy, and we have ample cause for honest pride. It has been said that what we know well cannot be easily and succinctly expressed. For close on thirty, years I have witnessed the work done by the hierarchy in New Zealand, yet that work is so vast, so comprehensive, that had I the eloquent tongue of his Grace: Archbishop Redwood and the facile pen of , his Lordship of Auckland, I would still find it well nigh impossible to do justice to the toast, for I would find it difficult to express in a few words and in a limited space of time what I know and what I have seen. It is said of Ireland that in the lifetime of its first apostle, St. Patrick, there was no mountain side so bleak; no spot, no,corner, no hiding place so remote, which, through the exertions and zeal of St. Patrick was not peopled by priests and nuns. Here we have seen the same marvellous growth and progress. What is.the secret of it? Here the faithful belong to the same race; they have come here with the same lively faith, the same generosity, the same devotion for their religion. Our bishops emulate St. Patrick in his eloquence, in his zeal, and his energetic defence of Catholic interests. The result is the marvellous growth of the Church in these islands. It seems but a few years ago since our first apostle, Bishop Pompallier, set foot on these shores, and already these
islands are studded with churches and schools, charitable institutions, colleges, and seminaries. They can boast of many native born clergy, the flower of 'which we .honor to-day in the person of our Coadjutor-Arch-bishop. To your Grace of Wellington, I need say little more than to tender you our heartiest congratulations on the event of this day. To judge by your appearance and activity, you might have been consecrated yesterday, yet history tells us that you came here forty years ago as the Bishop of the Diocese of Wellington; the rejoicings of last year proclaimed the fact that you had been twenty-five years Archbishop. Your Pastoral Letters and sermons are witness to your - eloquence the many institutions which adorn your archdiocese are a tribute to your zeal and to your administration; whilst the esteem and affection in which you are held by both priests and people are indicative of your noble qualities of heart and mind. May you long reign over us. , I salute in your person, my Lord Bishop of Dunedin,;; a worthy - successor to the ; late revered Bishop Moran. The progressive state of religion in your diocese, with its countless churches and schools, its institutions of learning and of charity, is a testimony to your zeal, tireless energy, and-prudent administration. We have all admired the provision you have made for the education of children in your primary schools, but the work which will appeal in a special manner to future generations is the national seminary for the education of secular priests, which you have been instrumental in founding. At first, tho undertaking was viewed with mingled feelings, because of the difficulties to be overcome, and the limited resources, available. But with unfaltering faith, and with the confidence of one whose life had been, spent in preparing youths for the priesthood, you set to work. One by one, the difficulties, seemingly insuperable, vanished, magnificent buildings arose, students flocked to these halls, since their , number has: increased from six to forty-five, success was assured. It is but eighteen years since you put your hand to the plough, and already some of the students educated within the walls of Mosgiel Seminary are doing yeoman service in the sublime ministry of Christ’s priesthood; side by side with their fellow New Zealanders, .educated in the Marist House of Studies at Meeanee, with the zeal of the missionaries of their race, who in every age, have • left the shores of Ireland to carry the blessings of faith and of civilisation to every, corner Cf the earth. For this, your name will ever be remembered with admiration and gratitude by the Catholic people of New Zealand. ‘ May you be long spared to guide the destinies of your diocese and of the Holy Cross Seminary. It was stated some little time ago that if St. Paul lived in the twentieth century he would be a motorist; he would be the editor of a newspaper and a lecturer. We cannot have St. Paul with us, but we are privileged and we rejoice to have you, my Lord Bishop of Auckland. With the help of your motor car you are everywhere, you are ail to all ; by your pen and your,voice you reach the ears of men from one end of the island to the other. As editor of the N.Z. Tablet you expounded and defended Catholic truth and Catholic 'interests with conspicuous zeal and ability. If an attack was made on our faith or on Ireland in the secular press, in any part of the Dominion, you were there ready to strike a blow in defence of truth and of justice. St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, carried the sword. Your pen is your sword ; the blows it deals are so well directed that the enemies of Church or country rarely expose themselves a second time to your steel. Your appointment to the See of Auckland has placed you higher on the watchtowers of Israel ; it has given you a larger battlefield, and we, on the plain below, feel safe with you as our sentinel. May you long be allowed to remain at your post. • His Lordship of Christchurch would be with us today did he happen to be within a thousand miles of New Zealand, so high the esteem, so deep the affection, which he entertains for our Coadjutor-Archbishop that it is a great sacrifice for him to be unable to take part in to-day’s ceremonies. We have before us his work, which is as gratifying as it is inspiring and encouraging. We hail him in the person of his • representative, the
Very Rev. Dean Hills. To your Grace, my Lord Coad Archbishop, I wish, in the name of the SuperiorGeneral of the Society of Mary, and; in my own, -many long years of happiness, of fruitful labors in- the; high position'which by the grace of God and the will of the Holy See you have been called upon to occupy His Grace Archbishop Redwood, in responding to the toast of ‘ The Hierarchy,’ thanked Dean Regnault for all the kind things he had said about him. The apointment of the Coadjutor-Archbishop would take off a certain amount of the responsibility which had previously been on his own shoulders, and he hoped that when he was dead and gone Archbishop O’Shea would bear the great responsibility better than his-predecessor had done, and that he would live to a good old age. His Lordship Bishop Vercjpn thanked Dean Regnault for all the kind things he had said about him and about the Diocese of Dunedin. It had been his privilege, and important privilege, to be in charge of the Dunedin diocese, and during the long years he had held that position, he had received every help and encouragement from Archbishop Redwood He had always found him to be a good friend of his, ever; since he - (Bishop Verdon) came to New Zealand. He- thanked his Grace very sincerely and whole-heartedly for the many kindnesses he had shown. Archbishop Redwood, he went on to say, was now advancing in years—-he was now nearing the end of the seventies, and he hoped now that the Coadjutor-Archbishop had been appointed, he would receive renewed strength and* vigor and live for many a year yet. He it was who had borne the heat and burden of the day, and he now required assistance in his old age in administering the affairs of New Zealand. He congratulated the Coadjutor-Archbishop very sincerely. He congratulated Archbishop Redwood on having secured for his Coadjutor such - a ‘capable personage as Archbishop O’Shea. He hoped that the new Archbishop would live for very many years indeed, and that he would do great work in the place where God had placed him. His Lordship Bishop Cleary thanked Dean Regnault for all the kind words spoken, and for the way in which the toast has been proposed. He pointed out the loneliness of a Bishop’s life from the time he enters the seminary as a boy, when he has to give up father and mother and all relations until he becomes a priest of long service. Self-denial is the most striking thing in every direction. Now to-day (continued his Lordship), we have taken one of our priests from the ranks, and we have separated him a second time, and we have placed him in a still lonelier life than ever. His Lordship referred to the vast possibilities that now rested on the shoulders of Archbishop O’Shea, but he would have the assistance of his Grace Archbishop Redwood, and he trusted that his great work would be well and truly carried out. • In congratulating Archbishop O’Shea he prayed that he would be endowed with special grace to bear all the troubles and trials that might come in the course of his great work. Very Rev. Dean Hills, in the course of his reply, said : ‘ I have to thank Dean Regnault for the kind things he has said about the Christchurch diocese, and have to apologise for the absence of his Lordship Bishop Grimes, who is at present in the Old Country endeavouring to secure sufficient Catholic nurses and Sisters for the great Catholic institutions in Christchurch, particularly for the Catholic hospital.’ Dean Hills then referred to the excellent work that had been done by these institutions in Christchurch, especially by the good Sisters at Mount Magdala. He added, his congratulations to those of the previous speakers on behalf of the Christchurch diocese on the great distinction that had been conferred upon Archbishop O’Shea. Very Rev. Dean Power, of Hawera, proposed the toast of the Distinguished visitors.’ Referring to the central figure of the day’s celebrations, he said that he wished the new Archbishop his own wish : that for many years to come he might retain the title of Archbishop of Gortyna. There is an Archbishop of Wellington, who has ruled this diocese in mildness and in grace for close upon forty years; and if fairy tales were true', and the genius of Tir-na-Nogue were wafted to these islands, there is not a priest here, who would
not take r; the magic wand from her: fair fingers and wave it round his beloved head, and impart to him the secret of perpetual youth. But fairy tales are not true, and ;i the realms of Tir-na-Nogue"are beyond the most distant stars, but the angels' tales : are true, and they are ever hovering round us,- and we shall therefore have recourse to the guardian angel of this Metropolitan See, and beg them to prolong the years of a life that has: been a blessing to all of us. But, your •Grace of Gortyna, when after the lapse of years you come into t your inheritance, it is ; our fondest prayer that your episcopate will be productive of much good that will long survive your name and memory. And if an obscure monk of Cluny could advise even the Supreme Head of • the Church, it may be permitted an obscure country priest, who is speaking in the name
thus in correlated greatness the little faded scroll becomes mighty through its mighty habitants. Beneath a pile of lumber in some second-hand dealer's shop a dust-covered : canvas r is found, and the whole world of art is excited. Man vies with man and nation with nation to become its possessor, because poor arid dusty,, and' tattered and torn as it is, it assumes greatness from the greatness of the lines which some master Has traced upon it , Have we not heard of a;little, scrap of paper discovered : beneath the ruin of the ancient monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, and which is now preserved as a priceless treasure, because some dear old Irish ■ monk of the fifth century made upon it some little dots and lines, which interpreted, reveal the grandeur and the sweetness of an angel's song ? Now what greatness shall we discover in the new -Bishop;
of the priests, to suggest to you wherein, in his opinion, the secret of episcopal success lies. The seat of your authority is fixed indeed by Him Who built the unshakable Throne of the Fisherman, but no feudal circumstance surrounds it, no feudal pomp lends splendour to it, no feudal power supports it. It is guarded* only by the shepherd's simple crook, and is buttressed only by the veneration of the people, and the unpurchasable love of the priests. Bub these are more than pomp and circumstance, and they -spring to life only at the call of native worth and native greatness. Wherein, then, lies the native greatness that can call this love to life? You know that in the order of nature and in the order of Providence greatness is with greatness sweetly correlated. A learned de Ross or a Maspero burrowing into the mysterious depths of some Roman catacomb or Egyptian tomb, brings forth to light a yellow scroll It is not much to look at, it may not be handled, lest its moth-like texture crumble into dust, but hieroglyphic characters are discovered upon it, and in each character a thought lies enshrined, and
correlated with the greatness of the dignity to which he has been raised? There are those who think that the solid dignity of learning is the chief characteristic of a bishop; that the choicest gifts of heaven are manifested in powers of mind and in scale of culture; and something may be said for the contention of these, something may be said particularly now, when the need of intellectual qualities seems, to be so pressing. But although he, who has been raised to the rank of Bishop, is a man of deep learning, of matured wisdom, and of skilful leadership, yet I know that these are not the qualities that will most surely lead the reverence arid affection of priests and people to buttress the authority of his chair. There is something more essential to a bishop than power of intellect and skill in organising, and this something I am confident the new Bishop will manifest in a high degree. I am convinced that the chief essential quality in a bishop is large-heartedness. This is the grandeur that should be correlated in him with the grandeur of his dignity ; this is the grace that should sweetly harmonise with that of his exalted state.
To be sympathetic, to be generous, to be liberal, to be magnanimous; to be careless of self, to be forgetful of self, to be, in. a word, entirely, absolutely, and utterly unselfish, that he may be like a bundle of myrrh or a bunch of heart’s ease in the bosom of those of whom he is shepherd. From this day forth you are a Bishop, an Episkopos, set on an eminence to take large views; the days of little views have gone for ever; your field of vision will no longer be parochial; you will not be called upon to deal intimately with parishioners any more, your dealings will be with those for whom I respond, the parishioners’ priests, and these will love to see your feet all beautiful upon their mountains as you come to them with generous sympathies and large heart. Twenty years of parochial work have tauglit you the priests’ need of a largehearted bishop. There is so much to try them, so much to bring them sorrow, so much to make them weep ; people are so good and yet not so much better, they take so little interest in the active work of the mission, their indolence' and their stupid, though guiltless, opposition, , so often clog the wheels of spiritual progress and mar the beauty of the work of God. You have had intimate personal experience of all this, and when you come into your inheritance the priests will be wellassured that a fellow-feeling will make you wondrous kind towards them. Henceforth priests and people will style you your Grace, may you be graceful in gentleness and illustrious for gentle deeds, for these are the fine flowers and the fragrance of a large heart. SOLEMN PONTIFICAL VESPERS ’ In the evening at St. Joseph’s Church, which was crowded to the doors, his Grace the Coadjutorbishop sang Pontifical Vespers. The interior of the church was 'specially decorated, and nearly all the clergy who were in attendance at the consecration ceremony were present. The service was opened with ‘ The Rosary, p and special music was rendered throughout for the occasion, under the baton of Mr, W. McLaughlin. THE SERMON. An eloquent sermon was preached by the Rev. Father T. J. McCarthy, the Marist Missioner, from the following text: — Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost has placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God, which He has purchased with His own Blood ’ (Acts xx, 28). Assured by _ the Holy Ghost that he should never more return to their midst, the great St. Paul gathered together the Bishops of Ephesus and the surrounding country of Asia Minor, and, in bidding them farewell, addressed to them this final admonition. Though spoken in an age long past, the words of the great Apostle are not now dead, nor is their meaning void. Revealing to us the character and features of the episcopal office, and reanimated into life and vigor by the solemn consecration ceremony we witnessed this morning, they will appropriately form the basis of our reflections this evening on the episcopacy —its nature, its dignity, and its responsibilities. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, cam© from heaven to earth to exercise the sublime ministry the visible and sacramental ministry, of reconciliation between offended God and fallen man ; to rescue man from the thrall of satan, and to restore him to the high estate of which sin had dispossessed him; to make him once more a child of God, an heir to the Kingdom of Heaven. Now this ministry of reconciliation was necessarily a permanent one. For no few chosen souls were the blessings of regeneration acquired. Access to salvation in Christ Jesus was to be gained by not merely the princes of mankind, the leaders of the people, the race from which He sprang. The interior graces of forgiveness, and justification, germinated in the warm blood that drained the Saviour’s body on Calvary, were to be individually applied to the multitude, to the poor, the unlearned, the workers the little children throughout the ages of time. The sacred truths of eternal life, without the knowledge of which it is impossible to pleas© God, were to -continue from generation to generation, even to the consummation of the world, as clear, as
accessible, and as safe, as they were, to the people who heard them from the lips of the Divine Master Himself. And hence, it is the inmost conviction of every Catholic heart that, though Christ ascended on Ascension morn from the heights of Olivet to the Throne of His Eternal Father, yet He is with us still. Though no longer we hear the tones of the voice that stirred the marvelling multitudes as it unfolded in all their grandeur solemn truths and sacred mysteries, which hitherto .had not entered into the minds of , men; though the Divine hands no longer visibly wield the lightning of grace and power; though no longer we can gaze on the torn and mangled form of the dying Christ in his tremendous act of expiation, yet the voice, the hand, the Person bf Christ is with us still, and will be with us to the end. The voice of Christ still speaks to us, declares his revelation, guards it from possibility of error. The hands of Christ, piercing into the inmost soul and infusing therein grace and strength—this hand of power is still extended over us. Aye, the very Person of Christ is with us, and even as John and Mary stood by the Cross of old, so day by day and hour by hour, we stand round the Victim of the Christian " Sacrifice, witness again Christ’s all-atoning expiation, and participate in our souls of its merits— ‘ lam with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.’ Christ is with us in His ambassadors who, delegated by ’ His command and sustained by His infallible guidance, speak to us in His name. Christ is with us in His representatives, who, sanctioned by His authority, and invested with His power, rule and govern the Church of God, which He has purchased with His Own Blood. Christ is with us in His ministers, who, consecrated by participation in His eternal high priesthood, exercise in all its branches Christ’s ministry of reconciliation towards the fallen children of men. But where will be found such ministers, such representatives vested with such princely power in the Kingdom of Christ; privileged to carry the Ark of the New Covenant, chosen to personate the Divine Saviour, elected to lead men from weakness to strength, from shame to glory, from death to life eternal in the fellowship of the Son of God ? Angels, you say, must be appointed to this high office, this sublime dignity. Angels alone, and they the highest, are alone fit (if the terms can be with reverence applied, when speaking of the relationship between the Creator and his creature), to act as Christ’s interpreters, to stand in His stead, to preach His everlasting. Gospel, and dispense its sacred mysteries, to continue, repeat, and apply the appalling Sacrifice of Calvary. Only inhabitants of the blessed realms, where God reigns in glory, were sufficient for such a charge. Yet, As His Vicegerents On Earth, to continue His mission, and apply the merits ofs His Passion and Death to the souls of men, Christ has not sent forth His angels. The ministry of Christ is too human, too closely allied with the wounds of . human nature, for angels to bear. No, the representatives of the Divine Saviour must be —brethren of our own flesh and bone, fashioned out of the same clay as those whom they have to lead to God. Strange anomaly", everything is perfect, heavenly, glorious in the dispensation which Christ has vouchsafed us, yet his ministers are sons of a fallen nature, which, though renewed by grace, they have not put off from them; they are hewn out of the same rock as those who have flung themselves out of the light of God’s countenance, and' have been led captive by sin. Yes, strange in itself, but wonderfully harmonious, when viewed in the light of God’s merciful dealings with men. Christ’s is a ministry of mercy towards the sinner, of compassion towards the sorrow-laden, of patience towards the wayward, of love for all. The weak are to be strengthened, the sick are to be healed, the lost are to be found, that which is broken must be bound up, the blind must see, the deaf hear, the lam© walk, the dead must be raised to life again. v And so every high priest, chosen from amongst men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, who can have compassion on those who are ignorant and that err, even as Christ Himself, whereas He was the Son of God, became like unto us in all things save sin, and learned obedience by the things
which He suffered. Accordingly, we find that on the morning of the Ascension, Jesus gathers about Him on the Mount of Olivet a legion of angels but a band of poor workmen, and solemnly addresses them. V Already. He has mad© these illiterate men partakers of His own eternal priesthood; at the Last Supper He delivered His Sacred Body into their hands; on the evening of the Resurrection, He empowered them to forgive sins in His name; at Capharnaum, he bequeathed to them legislative and coercive power over His mystic bodyto rule and govern His Church, to bind and loose the consciences of men, and now the complement of His ministry He is about to confer upon them. As the Living. Father has sent Me, I send you. Go ye, therefore, teach all nations, teach them to observe all things I have commanded you.’ But how can these untaught fishermen,’ still less their, successors in remote periods and times, hope to retain with accuracy, and preach with unfailing correctness, all their Master taught? How can they, without the force of arms, without wealth or influence, hope to enforce their legislation and rigorous discipline on the subjects of .every nation under heaven ? How can they— creatures of earthhope to personate Christ, and distribute the benefits of Calvary’s sacrifice among the children of men? This three-fold commission is beyond the power of man to execute. Yet still it has to be fulfilled and shall, for Christ has given the assurance of His infallible, assistance, the sanction of His unfailing word: ‘I am with you, all . days even to the consummation of the world.’ Thus did the Apostles receive their jurisdiction, over the Church of Jesus Christ —a jurisdiction, a power which ceased not with their death, but which has gone on for well nigh twenty centuries, concentrated in the episcopacy of the Catholic Church. Christ is with His Church to-day in that body of men called the Catholic episcopate, under the sovereignty of the Pope, as truly as He was in the college of the Apostles under the leadership of St. Peter, the first Vicar of Christ on earth. .True, they are but men, of themselves, frail and fallible, but God can supply for human insufficiency. Even as of old His Godhead, taking possession of a human body and soul, imparted to that human nature the power to do what unaided human nature could never effect, so too must these timid inconstant men of Galilee be imbued with power from on high; and Pentecost came—the day of the giving of strength and power— a new force was added to the powers of the earth, the imparting of the spirit of God to the souls of men, sealed and consecrated for the ministry of Christ. And thus fortified from on high, these princes of the new-born Kingdom of Christ, these witnesses to His Resurrection and Divinity, rush forth to begin the mighty work— The Preaching of the Gospel' of good tidings to men. The people of Judea gather round them, gazing with awe and wonder on these champions of the cause of the Crucified Christ. Under the attraction of their irresistible words, thousands of the very people who with jeers and cruel taunts mocked the Saviour in His dying hour, forgetting the noted
traditions of their race, fall .in submission at the feet of • these heralds, and are added to the Kingdom of Christ Then frorh the soil, pressed by the feet of their divine Saviour, these' coadjutors, of" Christ sweep down upon - the strongholds of paganism to implant, the standard of the Cross on the abandoned temples of heathen worship. They challenge the superstitions of the ages, they break the pride and crush the power of the farthest-flung • empire the world has ever seen; they lead entire nations bound by the golden chains of love and service to the feet of Christ. With their divine commission to preach \ the Gospel to every creature, going forth conquering and to conquer, they parcel out the world between them. They enter not merely the centres of culture and light, of wealth and learning, but penetrate far into the dim and distant Indies, into the forest home of the northern barbarian, over the scorching sands of Arabia, over into the wasted plains of Northern Africa everywhere carrying the voice, the power, the sacrifice of Christ, even to the uttermost, ends of the earth; and everywhere winning fresh conquests for their Divine Master. From bishop to bishop was passed on the fulness of the priest- v hood of Jesus Christ. Each one of these trustees of divine power and reconciliation sets up his chair of teaching and his altar of sacrifice in the place assigned him by the sovereign authority of the Church, the Vicar of .Christ, with his subalterns, his clergy around him, so that the flock committed to his charge might gather at his feet,' and that he might be to them a true overseer, a sentinel on the watch-towers of Israel, guarding them from the wolves of heresythe good shepherd feeding- them with sound doctrine, and leading them into fresh fields of pasture, a pattern of virtue guiding them in the ways of peace. To-day, my brethren, we" rejoice, and the wnole Catholic world rejoices because another has been added to the ranks of that heavenendowed host, that embodies the teaching and the governing element of Christ’s Church. To-day, we rejoice, and the whole Church, rejoices because a man has been exalted to the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, because the Holy Ghost has conferred the plenitude of sacerdotal power upon the soul of your own beloved priest, and ’imprinted on his soul that indelible mark that const! him now in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ — first Bishop and Shepherd of souls, is now a high priest of Jesus Christ with powers extending to all. The Functions of That Sublime Office. Although every priest has the same . power as regards the Blessed Sacrament; although each has the radical power to forgive sins, yet these are but the partial powers of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. . The Orders of a bishop extend to other Sacraments, and to consecrations beyond, the powers of a simple priest. The bishop alone is the ordinary minister of Confirmation. The bishop -alone ordains, and so creates the clergy, thus perpetuating the ministry of Christ. The bishop alone consecrates the sacred —the visible sign of the invisible unction of the Holy Ghostthat mingles with the cleansing waters of Baptism, that seals the brow ✓ of the confirmed Christian, that sanctifies the hands of
the priest, that consecrates the head of the bishop, that ✓ makes holy unto God the altar 1 and the chalice; of the Christian sacrifice, These .and similar powers tlie'bishop, receives from the Sacrament of Holy Orders. But suchis the marvellous unity of the Church of God that a bishop can neither put fqrth the graces of his ministry, nor exercise the powers of his ruling,'until a see or diocese has been assigned to him by the Vicar of Christ, where his ministry can be exercised. A striking illustration of the permanence of episcopal sees, as also a proof of especial favor on the part of his Holiness, the illustrious Pontiff who now sits on the Chair of Peter, is the appointment of the present Coadjutor-Archbishop to the venerable see of Gortyna, one of the oldest in the Churchthe see, created by St. Paul and assigned to Titus as the diocese in which he was to exercise the powers of his consecration. Once vested with his jurisdiction the bishop, in his own name and by his own inherent right, as succesor to the Apostles, is the _ ruler of his diocese, the guardian of revealed truth, the father of the clergy, the pastor of the people, the chief preacher of the Word of God, the first guide of souls. All other minister are exercised, in dependence upon him, and hence St. Cyprian spoke with truth 1500 years ago, when he said : ‘ The Church is in the bishop, , and should the dire necessity arise, it is the bishop who cuts off the faithless and unbelieving member from his communionwhich is, communion with the Catholic Church.’ All these powers are beautifully symbolised in the ceremony of consecration and the insignia of episcopal office. (Here follows a description of the ceremonies.) Thus clothed in the armor of a lieutenant of Christ, a new bishop goes forth to-day to engage in a battle of giants. He goes forth to join issue with the subtle forces of materialism, of scepticism, of godlessness, so ceaselessly attacking the Kingdom of God. In the Early Days of the Church the bishop had to be first in suffering and martyrdom. He then personates Christ as priest asd victim. In the Middle Ages, when the people were oppressed by kings and nobles, they looked to their bishop for redress. He then represented his Master in His Sovereignty. This is an age of unbelief, of godless teaching. In science, in education, in government, man is held to be all sufficient for himself. The age is striving to do without God. And has God no witness left ? Is there no prophet any more to voice the mind of God and to enunciate the divine principles of guidance, that alone can save the world? Yes; the bishop is the mouthpiece of God, arid represents to-day the prophetic character of Jesus Christ, Thus divinely commissioned,” a new bishop goes forth to-day. Bearing aloft the standard of the Cross, he goes forth to defend the citadel of Christ’s Church, to defend the lambs of the flock from the godless secularism of this age of materialism, with its false theories regarding God and the immortal 'soul. With the full consciousness of his high office, and putting forth into life and action every atom and every spark of the divine energy that now fills his soul, he . sets out to lead his people across the desert of life unto the Holy Mount of God, Let Christ remember his promise and be ever with him. This dignity he has not taken upon himself. To it, he has been called as was Aaron of old. Christ has spoken through Pius, and in obedience to that supreme authority he has assumed the responsibilities of his exalted charge. In a like spirit of obedience we hasten to his feet to express our congratulations, to pledge our loyalty and faithful services. His 'now to command, his now to lead, ours to follow with alacrity, ours to, obey with submission of will and judgment. But in the present consecration ceremony there is to the people of this parish something of a unique character. Your bishop comes not into your midst ,a stranger, comes not from afar: If he did,- the same Catholic spirit of submission to the representatives of Jesus Christ would prompt' whole-hearted expressions of loyalty and devotedness. But the one who has been exalted to the chief pastorate of this vast archdiocese is your own Father. Nearly 20 years ago many of us saw him ordained, in this very church, a priest of the Most High God. Since then, one year excepted, he has been your priest. Day by
day he has offered the Holy Sacrifice in your midst —the Mass you often assisted at, Iso often had the privilege of serving. He has preached to you the word of life; waited in the tribunal of mercy to absolve you from your sins, watched over your spiritual interests: with a constancy that never wavered, with a zeal that never flagged. And what. a priest ! If ever a foundation was laid for the responsibilities of the episcopal office in solid piety, in the spirit of prayer, in deep learning, and in zeal for the advancement of the Church of God—and such alone count with God. Money, influence, human eloquence, such , alone cannot advance the Kingdom of Christ. . , ' Personal Sanctity is what God looks to in those to whom He entrusts his mission. And if ever a foundation was laid in the soul of anyone in the virtues of the hidden life, so dear to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, so meet in a Knight of Heaven’s Queen, for twenty years they have been well and truly laid in the priestly soul of him who to-day becomes your archbishop. These have been his preparations for the sacramental graces, which must in such abundance have streamed into his soul this , morning, and they are an augury of success— of brilliant successin the higher ministrations to which God has called him. Yes, it is our own priest who has been exalted, and so honored with all the congratulations of friends, and the loyalty of all true subjects of the diocese; there is within the hearts of ; the people of this parish, exuberant joy and filial pride in , the honor done to our parish, and the well-merited promotion of our Father, " ' ' Your Grace, you are now our Archbishop, and as such we offer you our congratulations ; we assure you of our loyalty. But you will ever be our Father; your dignity will not dismay us, will not estrange us from you. We will come to you for advice in our difficulties, for encouragement in our trial, for comfort in our sorrows. We congratulate you from our hearts, and we do pray, as we have prayed, that your ministry may be an eminently exalted one, that the difficulties that may beset your path may but plume your courage, that the pressure of. the conflict you wage for the Church of God against the powers of darkness may but bring out in bold relief the sacred characters of your divine office, and that with priest and people United to their bishop and archbishop, priest and people closely welded together in close adhesion to the Vicar of Christ, the fruit of the prayer of the dying Saviour, under your able guidance may the Kingdom of Christ be far advanced in this southern land, may the graces of regeneration and reconciliation be carried to innumerable souls, and may a countless host be brought to sanctification and eternal salvation through the faith and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. THE ARCHBISHOP’S THANKS. At the conclusion of the sermon Archbishop O’Shea spoke a few words of thanks. He said: -‘ My dear brethren, I cannot allow this great event in my life to pass without first of all thanking with all my heart the preacher for the very beautiful and touching sermon which he has delivered here this evening. , It is particularly gratifying to me to have Father McCarthy preaching here this night, because, as he has told us, he is a son of this parish. He belonged to this parish when one of our altar boys, not very long ago. I also want to express gratification to the clergy who have come to Wellington at great personal inconvenience,’ to honor me by being present at this ceremony. I must express a deep feeling of gratification to all for their kindness to me. since this news became known and to thank them for their congratulations, and above all to thank you yourselves for your prayers, Masses, and Communions during the last few weeks. I am still to be your pastor, and I hope that the same feeling of affection that has existed for years past will be assured. I ask you to continue and render to me the same assistance since this greater load has been placed on my shoulders. I will never forget your sympathy during the last few months. It encouraged me in the great responsibilities which have been placed upon me. I
Fisher, of Rochester, and Oliver Plunket; of Armagh, ; but he was convinced that the more refined age would use its refinement to invent means of torturing mind, body, and heart. They would need skilful heads to guide them out of the dark night of persecution. The poor sailor, lashed by the fury of the waves and trembling to hear the groaning of his little craft, would find poor comfort in a dancing meteor or in a nightfire on a naked hill, but would■= look with hope and assurance to the Polar Star. His Grace would be their star of hope in the storm, and well would it be for them, if they reposed in him their trust and confidence in their hour of need. The Dean then read and handed to his Grace a handsome illuminated address , from the clergy of the archdiocese of Wellington, which was as follows: May it please your Grace.—On behalf of the clergy, secular and regular, of the archdiocese of Wellington, we beg to congratulate your Grace on the signal mark of favor bestowed on you by the Holy See in selecting, you as Coadjutor with right of succession to our beloved Archbishop, who for so many years has presided over the spiritual destinies of this the Metropolitan See of New Zealand. His Grace’s solicitude for the ever-increasing needs of this fast-growing diocese urged him to apply to the Holy Father for a Coadjutor with right of succession, and we rejoice that your Grace has been chosen for the honor. And while congratulating your Grace on your elevation to the episcopate we desire at the same time to felicitate the Archbishop on the success of his efforts which have resulted so happily in obtaining as his Coadjutor one in whom he reposes so much confidence,. and who has been associated with him for the past six years in the rule of the archdiocese. To those who have had the privilege of knowing your Grace as have many of us for the nineteen years of your work in the ministry, and more particularly during the years you have occupied with such conspicuous ability and success the responsible office of Vicar-General, your Grace’s appointment comes as no surprise. The confidence reposed in you by the Archbishop, and your masterly administration of the archdiocese during his Grace’s absence from New Zealand, your wisdom, prudence, sound judgment, and business capacity, combined with eminent priestly and religious virtues mark you out as worthy of the confidence of his Grace and of the choice of the Holy See. We\take this occasion, while offering you our most heartfelt congratulations, to assure your Grace of our devoted loyalty and support; and we pray that the strong bonds of respect, affection, and obedience, which have ever characterised the relations of the clergy with their bishop in this young land, may never be weakened or severed. on you His choicest blessings, to guard and direct you in your responsible office, and to grgnt you many full years of labor and success in guiding the spiritual destinies of the archdiocese of Wellington. ‘ James McKenna. ‘ Patrick J. Power. * Edward Duffy. * Thomas Roche, C.SS.R, ‘Thomas Devoy, S.M., Archdeacon. ‘David Kennedy, S.M. ‘P. Regnault, S.M., Provincial.’ ADDRESS FROM THE LAITY. Mr. J. J. L. Burke, on behalf of the laity, then addressed the gathering as follows:—As & New Zealander, a fellow-student with his Grace Archbishop O’Shea, and one who in recent years has been intimately associated with him, I . have been asked to say a few words on this most auspicious occasion. ’Looking back over the years, I find it is just a quarter of a century ago when I, a youngster, came to Wellington to study at St. Patrick’s College. One of my earliest recollections of that fine old institution which most impressed me was the fact that Ave possessed a champion football team ; and very soon the skipper of that team became for me, as well as for others of my own
age, and even those of more mature age, a popular hero. Little we thought in those days what a greathonor was in store for our champion who, behind the scrum, captained his side, and time after time led on his men to victory. Not only did his Grace excel on the football field, but, what was of far more importance, he set us an example as a, diligent and successful student, and never neglected his studies for pleasure or pastime. It is unnecessary for me to speak of his sue-, cess in that institution. A glance at his career, since leaving those sacred walls as an ordained ; priest of God, shows unmistakably the , diligence and obedience displayed by him whilst following ■ his theological studies. And now to-night, this vast assemblage has come to do honor to the crowning success in his career. This is a historical moment for the Church in New Zealand, and we New Zealanders feel justly proud to think'that one of us—educated in our own schools—has been selected for the highest rank in the Church. Last of all, is it not to, some extent a recompense to those devoted bands of men and womenmore especially the Marist Fathers for the love of God and no pecuniary reward, year in and year out, labor in our schools to impart to our Catholic youth a good, sound, secular education. I wish to assure your Grace that this address is not so. many idle words, but contains the true and heartfelt feelings of your people to their beloved pastor. In conclusion, from one New Zealander to another, from an old boy of St. Patrick’s College to a fellow-student, and from a Catholic layman to his beloved Archbishop, ’ I wish to convey .to f your Grace- our assurance of loyalty and devotion, and wish you long life, health and strength, and , all God’s choicest blessings to enable you to carry out the arduous duties of your exalted office. Mr. Burke then presented his Grace with the following address, which was splendidly illuminated, being the work of the Rev. Father Schaefer, of St. Patrick’s College: - ‘ May it please your Grace,-On the occasion of your appointment to the exalted office of CoadjutorArchbishop of Wellington, we, the clergy and laity of Wellington, desire respectfully to offer you our warmest congratulations. We desire further to assure you that your appointment has been for us a cause of deep and unfeigned joy. Those before whom your life has been lived, those who have been the objects of your pastoral care, of your daily and hourly solicitude, know most intimately the esteem and love you havi inspired. As a wise and sympathetic guide in matters both spiritual and temporal you have won the fullest confidence of your people. In the city and in the archdiocese your labors as Vicar-General, and on occasions as Administrator, have been marked by prudence, tact, and devotion to duty, and have won from the Holy Father approbation, from your Archbishop commendation, and from every Catholic loyal and unfaltering support. We recognise the foresight that has ever moved you to build and foster our schools. You have realised that the educated Catholic child of to-day is the living hope and assurance of the Church of to-morrow. The knitting together into a Federation of the Catholic people of the Dominion has met with your instant approval and your most zealous care. You have read the signs of the times, and have seen with clear vision that in unity is strength, and that as sands before the wind is severed human might. May we, your Grace, say that we see in your appointment not only a tribute paid by the Holy See to your own personal worth, but also an honor done to the Society of Mary, of which you are a member, and to the native-born and nativetrained clergy of New Zealand. We hope that God will give you many years of health to enable you to assist our beloved Archbishop in his labors for the advancement of religion in this archdiocese. {■' ‘ Signed on behalf of the Catholics of Wellington. —M. Kennedy (chairman), J. J. L. Burke and R. H. Williams (secretaries), B. Doherty, M. O’Connor, P. Mackin, Jas. O’Sullivan, H. A. Parsonage, D. Burke, W. Healy, P. D. Hoskins, J. Gamble, M. F. Burke, R. J. Collins, W. C. Gasquoine, M. Maher, Mesdames B. Sullivan, M. Segrief, E. Gibbs.’
the people the right man in the right place (applause). It was the fitness of his Grace for this high office,, with its great responsibilities, that so encouraged him as to the future, and he (the speaker) hoped to continue to help for some years in their midst. He had been half a century here, and he hoped that with the aid of the tact ' and kindly ways of his Coadjutor, his life would he so happy that he would not know how long it might be prolonged (applause)-. He joined with the many well-wishers in this land and Australia in hoping that Archbishop O’Shea would have a long and fruitful career in the Church of God. HIS LORDSHIP BISHOP CLEARY. ‘ The poet Alfred P. Graves once sang of a country —“lt gave hospitality, all reality; no formality you will ever see," was his Lordship Bishop Cleary’s opening remark. He went on to say that not alone on his own behalf, but on behalf of the numerous visitors, and one at least from Australia, he wanted to thank those present for the ‘ hospitality, all reality, no formality ’ which they had shown. This was one of the days that memory would paint in many colors and that would not fade. Regarding Archbishop O’Shea, he had many virtues, and they had been discovered, and as time went on they would discover even more of his virtues. He would become the joy of the priesthood and the delight of the laity in this archdiocese. Not alone had he been one of the products of the Catholic schools, but also he himself had taken a lively and active interest in this most important work of the Church of God in new lands. He realised, as he (the speaker) took it they all realised, the importance of the work of training the children in religion. This work had been given expressly to parents and to the Christian Church, and in season and out of season his Grace had poured into this work his own personal effort and sacrifice. He would continue in this work, and he knew his efforts would be ably seconded by the Catholic Fathers of New Zealand. In regard to religious education in schools, his Lordship pointed out that neither a Christian minister nor the parents could afford to fling any part of that sacred duty cast upon them on unwilling State officials of all creeds and opinions. They realised still further that the Church of the future was the Church that took care of the chilaren of to-day. They realised, moreover, that the denomination that now neglected its duty to the children was a denomination that would farm out the souls of children to State officials. That denomination had only to wait a little longer and it would see the grass growing at the doors of its churches. Now the great dignity to which Archbishop O’Shea had been raised would bring out his splendid organising talent, and he would find a scope for it no lesser than the boundaries of this great archdiocese. He would not in this position ignore the smallest duty, and when the time of his passing came, the people could put on his tomb what was put on the .tomb of the saviour of India: 7 He tried to do his duty.’ In the meantime, he had as his guide and friend Archbishop Redwood, who had been so long in their midst. Archbishop O’Shea had had his trials, but he had always worn the silver lining of the cloud outside, and in this respect had been a lesson to all. He presumed he had had enough clouds in his life to make a very glorious sun—there could be no glorious sunset without clouds. He was on the sunny side of life, and he hoped the western slope would be a long one, and, at any rate, one that would find little groups of hearts that loved him. He hoped he would have smooth seas and that the sky might be glorious as his barque sailed out into the west. ARCHBISHOP O’SHEA IN REPLY His Grace Archbishop O’Shea on rising to respond drew the great audience to their feet, and they enthusiastically cheered and cheered again, and it was some time before his Grace, who was deeply moved, could respond. Replying to the address of the clergy, he said:— * Very Rev. and Rev. Fathers, —I thank you most sincerely for the beautiful address you have presented to me on the occasion of my consecration as Coadjutor-Arch-bishop of Wellington. The sentiments of loyalty and
devotion it breathes are such as I would expect to hear from a body of priests with whom I have worked for many years, and whose zeal and devotion are so well known. You touch on the happy relations that have always existed between us, and speak of what you are pleased to call my success in administering the affairs of the archdiocese during his Grace’s absence in Eprope.Our relations, indeed, have always been most cordial and happy, largely owing to your kindness and consideration, and if- any success has attended my administration, it has been due chiefly to your generous and loyal co-operation with me, and to your desire to cause me as little worry and anxiety as possible. And now that in the designs of Providence I have been raised to the high dignity of the episcopate, you assure me of your continued devotion and loyalty and of your anxiety to help me in every way to discharge the onerous duties of my high office. I appreciate these sentiments, so worthy of the priests of the archdiocese, far more than I can say, I trust that with God’s assistance we may be able to be a help and a comfort to our venerable Archbishop during the years that we are spared to each other, and that you, dear Rev. Fathers, will ever find in me that sympathy and encouragement that you need in your arduous labors. Our object and aim in life are the samethe glory of God and the salvation of the souls entrusted to our care. If we are zealous and united God will surely crown our labors with success and give us the reward of the good and faithful servant.’ • His reply to the address of the laity was as follows: — c I thank you with all my heart for the address which you have just read to me. I will cherish' it as a token of the affectionate loyalty that you have ever shown me during my residence and work amongst you. It is always a great consolation for ,a priest to find that any efforts of his are appreciated and responded to by his people, and you, my dear friends, have always striven to give me that consolation. You have aTWays rallied round me whenever I have called upon you. Your genuine delight and happiness at my promotion to the episcopate encourages me greatly. Since I have been given to our venerable Archbishop to be his Coadjutor it will be my duty to try and lighten his burden, and the success of my effort will depend upon the union that exists between Bishop, priests, and people. From my past experience of you I do not fear for the future. May God then bless our united endeavors for the cause that we hold so dear, and when the day of our earthly pilgrimage is over, may He send His angels to gather together Bishops, priests, and people into the one fold of the great Pastor of Souls.’ Replying to the address from the members of the Hibernian Society, his Grace said: —‘I ask you to accept my warmest thanks for the kind addresses that you have just presented to me. They contain such beautiful ideas and such good wishes for my future success and happiness that I cannot help feeling touched by them. You speak of my interest in your society during the years that I have been a priest, and of the help that I have been to Hibernianism. I only wish that circumstances permitted me to do more than I have been able to do in this direction, for I consider the welfare and advancement of a Catholic benefit society such as yours of the utmost importance to the Catholic body. At the present day friendly societies are a necessity to people who have to work hard for their living, and for our Catholic people a Catholic friendly society is essential for reasons which I need need not enlarge upon now. The more our Catholic societies flourish the better it is for the Church, since their prosperity is an index of the Church’s prosperity. Moreover I have always found that the leaders of your society were the foremost helpers in every other good work, thus showing that you are animated by the proper Catholic spirit. May that splendid spirit long abide with you, and may you continue to work in harmony with your clergy and with the other Catholic societies for the cause of Faith and Fatherland. And I assure you that your efforts will always have my cordial sympathy and co-operation, and that my interest in your grand society will continue unabated.’
His Grace then went on to say : 'I would indeed be a very unfeeling man if I were not moved by this great demonstration you have made in my honor. Of course, I am hot, I trust, sufficiently presumptious to think that all this is meant for me personally. ".I consider that it is ; rather the great office to which I have been raised in the Church, and your appreciation of the high honor done to New Zealand by the Holy See, that have called forth such a demonstration. The devotion of Catholics to their. Church and her prelates and priests is not a new thing even in this country, and nowhere is it more in evidence than in this city of Wellington. I am, then, grateful in the first place to Almighty God for all that He has done for me during my life—especially my priestly life —for the ■- manjy graces and blessings He has deigned to. shower down upon me. And I would like to say here publicly that whatever success I may have had in the past, and whatever I may appear to have in the future, I.must attribute to Him alone and to the powerful intercession with Him of our Lady, St. Joseph, and : the saints. And now I must thank all who ; have honored me so greatly on this important event in my life. To their Lordships the Bishops I owe my sincere acknowledgments, especially to my own Archbishop, from whom almost ever since he came as Bishop to the archdiocese, I have received mark after mark of kindness and confidence, from the day, when as a little boy of five I received his . first blessing on a country roadside in Taranaki, till yesterday, when at his Grace's hands I received the plenitude of the priesthood. Now that in the dispensations of Providence I have been given to him as his Coadjutor, I will endeavor, with God's help, to aid him in his arduous office, and to be a comfort to him in the down-hill of life, which I trust may not come to him for many long years. Then I have to thank also their Lordships of Dunedin and Auckland for doing me the honor of coming to be the assistants at my consecration. It has been the crowning act of many acts of kindness which I have received at their hands. 'The Bishop of Dunedin has always been most kind oand considerate to me, especially on occasions when I stood in need of his help and advice, and the Bishop of Auckland has indeed been more than a kind friend. The example and encouragement of my own Archbishop, and of the Bishops of New Zealand, will be an incentive to me in the beginning of my career as Archbishop. I am, indeed, fortunate, and we all are, in having such zealous, able, learned, and distinguished prelates to look up to and to try and imitate. Then in the next place I must thank the eloquent son of an illustrious Order, the son of St. Ignatius, Very Rev. Father Ryan, who came all the way from Melbourne to preach that fine scholarly sermon that we all listened to with so much pleasure yesterday morning. Australia has given New Zealand of her best on this occasion, and I personally, and indeed all of us, feel more than grateful to Father Ryan, S.J., for coming to Wellington, and doing what he has done. May his kindness and our sincere, if feeble, appreciation of it, help to strengthen the bond that binds the Church of his land with ours, and the great Society to which he belongs with the Order of which I have the happiness of being a member. Let me thank, also, my dear friend, Father McCarthy, whom I have known since his childhood, and who was one of my altar boys in the days gone by, for the beautiful sermon he preached in St. Joseph's Church yesterday evening. I thank also all the clergy, both of the archdiocese and of the other dioceses, who have honored me by coming here on this occasion. I will not easily forget their affectionate congratulations, nor the consideration they have shown me during these days. And I think it only right on this occasion to refer to the debt we in New Zealand owe to the saintly priests who are gone, and to the present zealous priests who came from the older countries of Europe to lay the foundations of the Church here. By Eheir wisdom, foresight, and zeal they have made it possible for the young men of this country to be received into the ranks of the priesthood, to aid them in doing the work of God, and by their unselfishness they have rendered it possible for us to reach the highest positions in the Church.
, ‘ And now I feel that I must say something in ' addition to the formal reply that I have' mad© to V the .beautiful addresses presented to me by the clergy,' the laity, and the Hibernian Society. What you say in these addresses has touched me very greatly’ indeed. You refer to my interest in Catholic education. Well, I do not deserve any credit for; what has been done here in this respect. , It is to the splendid harmony existing between clergy and laity in Wellington, and throughout the archdiocese, that the success is due. The great work— all important and essential work of the Church in this countryis the work of Catholic education. I have been discharging only my plain and obvious duty in helping it on as much as I was able. . Then comes the work of Catholic organisation, also very necessary, nob for offensive but for defensive pur- ' poses. The Catholic Federation was started to bring about this organisation, and in this again I was merely seconding .the effort's of the Bishops and of our devoted laity, who were so anxious for something of the kind to protect our interests as Catholics and as citizens. Here again it was the splendid spirit of unity between priests and people that has done everything. And now I must say a word about the address presented by the Hibernian Society. It is true that I take a great interest in this grand friendly society. I became an honorary member of it when I first took up work in this city, and I would like to see every one of our people belonging to it. There is one feature about it that deserves consideration. Not only does it give its members all the benefits of an excellent friendly society; not only is it thoroughly Catholic, but it also serves to remind us' of a land to. which we all owe so much. Whether we are Irishmen, or the sons of Irishmen—■' and I am one of these myself—or whether we are the children or other nations, there is no gainsaying the fact that the Church in New Zealand would not hold the strong position it holds to-day were it not for those exiles of Erin, both priests and people, who have been the backbone of .the faith here. Therefore, I think that In addition to its usefulness as a friendly society, the H.A.C.B. Society deserves our gratitude for perpetuating in this far-off country the memory of holy Ireland, for which, thank God, after centuries of persecution and Bad treatment, a brighter future "seems now assured.’ His Grace then thanked the members of the committee, the Catholic societies, and all who had in . any way assisted in making the function such a splendid success.. 1 And now,’ said his Grace in concluding, ‘ I must again thank you with all my heart for this magnificent demonstration, which has touched me so. deeply. May it forge yet another link in the chain of affection that binds ■ together Bishops, priests, and people in this glorious young country.’ Appointment of Vicar-General. His Grace Archbishop Redwood said he had an announcement to make which he felt sure would give all present very great satisfaction, and that was the appointment of the Very Rev. Dean McKenna, of Masterton, as Vicar-General of the archdiocese. He referred to the many excellent qualities of Dean McKenna, saying that he was now in the Old Country endeavoring to get priests for this country. Three cheers were here given for Dean McKenna. Musical Programme. An excellent musical programme was provided. The following contributed items; —‘ Ecce Sacerdos Magnus’ (Staffer), St. Mar}” of the Angels’ Choir ; vocal solo, ‘The enchantress’ (Hatton), Miss Morrison (encored) flute- solo,' ‘ Fantaisie ’ (A. Terschak), Signor Truda (encored) vocal duet, ‘ Venetian boat, song’ (Benedict), Misses, Agnes Segrief and T. McEnroe. The last item was received with much applause, and the singers were called back twice before the audience were satisfied. Mr. C. Hickmott sang the ‘ Queen of Connemara,’ and when encored sang A perfect day.’ This concluded the musical programme. The function terminated with the singing of ‘ Faith of Our Fathers’ by the large audience, accompanied by Mr. W. McLaughlin on the large organ, and under the baton of the Rev, Father Ainsworth* of Nelson,
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19130828.2.21
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Tablet, 28 August 1913, Page 17
Word count
Tapeke kupu
16,790THE COADJUTOR-ARCHBISHOP OF WELLINGTON New Zealand Tablet, 28 August 1913, Page 17
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
See our copyright guide for information on how you may use this title.
Log in