The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1921. THE PAPAL DELEGATE

New Zealand Tablet, 3 November 1921, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1921. THE PAPAL DELEGATE

S. ROM the earliest ages of the Church the Roman Pontiffs have been accustomed to exercise their supreme and universal jurisdiction whenever the occasion demanded by sending forth special legates for special missions. Formerly legates called in Greek jaw Apocrysarii, or in Latin Responsales, were given special missions to secular princes, and these were temporary or permanent as might be expedient. Sometimes legates were sent to deal with matter concerning doctrine or morals; others? with the maintenance of discipline; others again were commissioned to represent the Pope at general or provincial councils. Thus, we read that St. Leo the Great sent the bishop Julian to Constantinople to combat the errors of Eutychius, and that Cyril of Alexandria presided at the Council of Ephesus as the representative of Pope C'elestine, in the year 431. Papal delegates are received with honor in all parts of Christendom because they come with the authority of the Pope whom they represent. When it happens that a Cardinal is sent on a special mission as Papal vicegerent he is called a Legate a Latere. He is called a NuntiuS) or Internuntius, when sent as a permanent legate to a civil government, and a Delegate Apostolic when he does not stand in any official relation to the government but represents the Pope with respect to ecclesiastical affairs. * The Legate who comes to ns is therefore properly called an Apostolic Delegate, and it is a sign of the development and importance of the Catholic Church in Australasia that such a high representative of the Holy See should now hold permanent office amongst us. Nearly six years ago the first Australasian Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Cerret&i, cam© to us, and was welcomed by our Catholic people as the representative of the Successor of St. Peter. Since then Monsignor Cerretti has been recalled to Rome and is at present Apostolic Nuncio to France, his place here being taken by Monsignor Bartolomeo Cattaneo, formerly Rector of the great Urban College for the Propagation of the Faith. Although Monsignor Cattaneo has now been some years in Australia, every part of which he has visited, his busy life prevented, him from

coming to New Zealand earlier to make the acquaintance of the Catholics of this Dominion; but he is well known to all our bishops who on various occasions have met him, as have also many of our priests, during visits'to the Commonwealth of Australia; and one and all have come back and told us how he has endeared himself to the people beyond the Tasman Sea by his sterling piety and his great kindness and consideration for all. His visit to New Zealand will give many of our people an opportunity of meeting the distinguished Prelate. They will receive him with a wholehearted welcome, for his own sake, and also for the sake of the exalted position he holds among us. And he will have during his too brief stay an opportunity of witnessing for himself what grand work has been done by the Catholic body of the Dominion in a comparatively short space of time. He will see the churches, the convents, the schools, the colleges, and the numerous charitable institutions which a faithful people have founded in co-operation with their wise ecclesiastical superiors; and he will learn how well the foundations of the Church were laid here by the saintly pioneers who have gone to their reward, and how faithfully the Hierarchy and the clergy of the present day have watered and cultivated the vineyard committed to their care. Our fine congregations, our large numbers of frequent communicants, and the wellinstructed children who are being trained so zealously by our devoted Sisters and Brothers will, we venture to say from what we know of him, be the monument that will please and impress him most during his stay in New Zealand. Wherever he goes he will find around him a reverent and affectionate Catholic people, deeply conscious of the honor done them by his presence among them. • & • * i Them is no need for us to encourage our devoted people to make their welcome of the Apostolic Delegate worthy of the distinguished Prelate himself and of the Pope whom he represents. Catholic loyalty will never be found wanting when called on to manifest itself, and in the presence of the Delegate of Christ's Vicar on earth it will flower spontaneously in the hearts of all. While we bid Monsignor Oattaneo a hearty read mile ■ faille among us, we will not lose sight of the fact that for us he is far more than a distinguished visitor. He is a living link with the Throne of St. Peter, the Rock on which the Church is built, and he is a living proof of the greatness and the .unity of that Church which, founded for all time and for all nations, has put forth even at the Antipodes fair branches that are in organic continuity with the seed sowed long ages ago by the early martyrs who in Rome gave their lives that we all might live for Christ. Hundreds of years have gone by since St, Peter was put to death under Nero, and, on the spot where Peter was crucified, to-day a tall obelisk stands proudly in the Roman sunshine, and on it you may read the words, of which Monsignor Cattaneo’s visit is another proof,

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.

Yes, in spite of all that the powers of hell could do the Church is greater now than at any time in her glorious history. More than ever the truth of these words shines forth now: Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands! Our Delegate has seen the standard of the Saviour in Rome, in China, in Australia, in Java, and in New Zealand ; and when he finds himself again in the presence of the Pope he will be able to assure him that he found among us> just as he would find in Italy and in Ireland, bishops, priests, men, women, and children to whom religion is dearer than anything in life; who are proud to remember the traditions of those who sowed where we now reap, as they are zealous to imitate their noble example. And he can also add that we, who have for the greater part derived our faith from the children of Patrick, cannot forget that Patrick taught our forefathers that they must be true to Rome if they would be true Christians: /' , V t Christian*, it aet Romani sitisl . V i