FROM THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 93, 13 January 1908, Page 10

FROM THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.

! —: » ■ - • ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN ' AFRICA. 'The Rev'.' D. J; O'Silllivaii, : o'f Cairo, Egypt, 'whoso name .has .for some tiino. past been considerably befftre .the.Australian puolic' ih; connection with 7 tlio'"African missions, which.he represents,, arrived ill Wellington from Sydney by the s.s. ;Marama on Wednesday last, and preached in tho Basilica of the Sacred Heart yesterday. Father O'Sullivan the. gaeisfc of ..his.. Grace the .Archbishop. (i>h,Redwood)-.'. Hb is; a i.lljAr 'of ';..nnd' represents ■ the .'feocibty. of 'iitrioai Missions, ali qrdbr of I'nissionary .priests whr. dcvbl'D.th'bnis'elvcs .exclusively. to Afribi; aiid who liavb prominently identified tlieriiseives foV: the past fifty y6a:rs .with ; British Wi'ir. Africa and with Egypt. . The .object of liis mission "to the' 'Antipodes is '■• to'"enlist t!i« syihpatli'y and 'ijenoVoiifiit ja'.aifl'< df ;'<the.. gre'ai .j-worlp. of liiunahitv 'and 'civilisation among the pagans'. and Moilenis, of Africa, in which his society is cngii&kil. Tli.o .financial a'ssistuiice, needed is not .sdiight through ' collccti.imk, but' ~ solely . through Fathbr, O'Sullivan's public; lectures! oii jAfrica, ;wliicli/havd. attracted lar]»e audieiiccs' in Atistriilia. • ;■ ■ >■' ; •; • The morning .sermon yesterday .dealt with the work of his society during, the past, fifty years for the sbeial and botterinent of tho licfifbes of the Giiiiiea Coast. It Was a story of sniJoring and sacrifice graphically aiid interestingly tbld, cqn'ipbseil as it rtas of facts and figurps of striking significance.. The ravages of tlib deadly climate in West Africa among tlie ranks. ot, tlio liiissionariei Were shown by. the death of tho founder of the society .and_ four of liis nlis'sioharies at Freetown, in Sierra Leone, in. the liiontli of June, 1859, only six weeks after thd' date of their landing, and the terrible mortality amongst thdir successors. In forty-nine, ybars more than 400 members of the Order, priests and., sisters, had fallen victims to the fevers of the Guinea Const, after an average mission lifo of little more than three' years. .. In, spiti! of tho difficulties which thus opposed the .progress of tho Work, the results to-day were represented in West Africa by 30,000 negro Christians, .3 bishoprics, 200 priosta, 100 sisters, 63 churches; 50 colleges and schools, ■17 orphanages and 2 Jeper .houses, and other, .minor institutions, ...together with 80 "liiissibh stations,' attended to by non-residing .priests. .. ■, The 'evening sermon dealt' interestingly with Egypt, and with tho ' preacher's personal experiences in the Land of tho Pharaohs, during a connection of twenty-ono. years\witli tho missions of his Ordor on the blink of tho Nile. A salient feature of the address war, a description, of the great work of. humanity accomplished by the African Mission Sisters jn the dispensaries for the sick and suffering poor, of. whom a daily avfciagd.of-1600. received 'gratuitous medical treatment in tlioso institutions. The preacher gav.e his impressions of some of. Egypt's sacred places, among tlicrn the hallowed spot marked by the historic; tree bi. Matarieh, near .the ruins df Holiopolis;where, accordirig to tho. Coptic traditions, the Infant Saviour .passed his Egyptian exile of' seven year's. Tho' Moslem Egypt' of'tho present day was contrasted .with the Christian Egypt of St. Athanasius and of Origeri. Father O'Sullivan will preach next, Sunday morning and evening in St. Joseph's Church. On the following Monday night, he will deliver a lecture on Kg.vpt in the iSluliicijMil Concert Hall.. The lecture .will ho illustrated-, with limelight views. - Pictures froth Central and.West Africa will also be.shown. f