CARDINAL WISEMAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1397, 9 May 1865, Page 3

CARDINAL WISEMAN.

(From the Home News.)

The long illness of his eminence Cardinal Wiseman has at length reached a fatal termination. He died on Feb. 15, at the comparatively early age of 62.

Nicholas Wiseman was the son of the late Mr. James Wiseman, merchant, of Waterford and of Seville, in which latter city the late cardinal was bom on Aug 2, 1802. The family of Wiseman is one of considerable antiquity, and they appear to hare had lands in the county of Essex since the reign of Edward IV. Soon after the Reformation Sir John Wiseman, who had been one of the auditors of the Exchequer under Henry VIII., and was knighted for his bravery at the battle of Spurs, acquired by purchase Much Candfield park in that county. His grandson, William, who married into the noble family of Capel, afterwards Earla of Essex, was created a baronet by King Charles I. in 1628, and a younger brother of the second Imronet was Lord Bishop of Drontore. The title has continued in a direct line of succession down to the present time, miniscenoes of the Four last Popes;" " A Letter on and is now represented by Sir William Saltonstall Wiseman, eighth baronet, who is a captain in the royal navy. From a younger branch of this family the late cardinal traditionally claimed descent. His eminence's mother, w!-ose maiden name was Strange, and whose family, in <pite of large confiscations of their property under Oliver Cromwell, is still seated at Aylward's Town Castle, in the county of Kilkenny, lived to see her son elevated to a cardinal's hat, and died full of years in 1851. Though born upon Spanish soil, young Nicholas Wiseman, when he was little more than five years old, was sent to England. He arrived at Portsmouth in January, 1808, in the Melpomene frigate, Captain Parker, and was sent, while still very young, to a boarding school at Waterford. In March, 1810, he was transferred thence to the Roman Catholic College of St. Cuthbert, at Ushaw, near Durham, where he remained until 1818. In that year he obtained I leave to quit Ushaw for Home, where he arrived in the December of that year, and became one of the first members of the English i ollege, then recently founded at Rome. In the next year he had the honour of preaching before the then Pope, Pius VII, and, having pursued with diligence the usual course of philosophical and theological studies, he maintained a public disputation on theology, and was created a Doctor in Divioity, -July 7, 1824, shortly before the completion of his 22nd year. In the following spring he received holy orders, arid in 1827 was nominated Professor of Oriental languages in the Roman university, being at that time vice-rector of the English College, to the rectorship of which he was promoted in the year 1829. He had already distinguished himself, not merely as a theologian, but also as a scholar, for in 1827 he composed and printed a learned work, entitled " Horn Syriacffi," chiefly drawn from Oriental manuscripts in the library of the Vatican.

Dr. Wiseman returned to England in 1835, and in the winter of that year delivered a series of lectures, during the season of Advent, at the Sardinian Chapel in Lyicoln's-inn-fields. In the Lent of the following year, at the request of the late Bishop Bramston, then Vicar-Apostolic of the London district he delivered at St. Mary's, Moorfields, another course of lectures, in which he vindicated, at considerable length, the principal doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and with such success, that the Roman Catholics of the metropolis presented him with a gold medal, commemorative of their gratitude and of their high legard for his talents and acquirements. These " Lectures ' were speedily followed by a " Treatise on the Holy Eucharist," which occasioned a theological controversy with Dr. Turton, the late Bishop of Ely, and by another work, in two volumes, entitled " Lectures on the Connectiou between Science and Revealed Religion." In the Lent of the year 1837, when he happened to be in Rome, he delivered four lectures on the "Offices and Ceremonies of Holy Week, which were afterwards given to the world as a separate publication. In 1840, the late Pope Gregory XVI. increased the number of his Vicars Apostolic in England from four to eight, and Dr. Wiseman was appointed coadjutor to the late Bishop Walsh, then ViearApostolic of the Midland District, being at the same time elevated to the Presidency of St. Mary s College, Oscott, near Birmingham. While there he took the deepest interest in the • theological movement at Oxford which is associated with the names of Dr. Newman and Dr. Pusey, and which has furnished Rome with such an abundant store ot recruits. In 1848, on the death of Bishop Griffiths, Dr Wiseman became Pro-Vicar-Apostolic of the London district, and subsequently was nominated coadjutor to Dr. Walsh, cum jure successions, on the translation of that prelate to ndo "; Bl^ op Walsh survived his translation but a short time, and on his death, in 1849, Bishop Wiseman succeeded him as Vicar-Apostolic. The next stage in Dr. Wiseman's life is that which, as it has been more controverted than any other, so also is that by which his name will be longest remembered In August, 1850, Bishop Wiseman was summoned to Rome, to the;' threshold of t' by his Holiness Pope Pius IX., who, on <■<> 29th of the following Sept., issued his celebrated - cal Letter," re-establishing Roman / hierarchy in England and Wales, at the same tiuK issufng 'a "Bifef," elevating Dr. Wiseman to the "Archbishopric of Westminster." In a pnvateconsistory, held the following day, the new Archbishop " was raised by the Sovereign Pontiff to the dignity of a cardinal priest, the ancient church of St. Pudentiana, at Rome, m confornntywithte ecclesiastical custom, being selected by h j as his title. His eminence was the seventh E%luhuuui who has been elevated to the hat of a cardinal since the Reformation, his predecessors i» tllis having been Cardinal Pole, Cardinal Allen, Cardinal .Howard, Cardinal York, Cardinal Weld, and Cardinal A The name of Cardinal Wiseman was well known in that portion of the literary world which interests itself in controversy, as one of the most frequtnt and able contributors to the Dublin ' lie was for some years the joint editor. Among other productions of his pen which appeared m that periodical we may name his " Strictures on the Church Movement in Oxford," which were reprinted by the Catholic Institute about 20 years ago ior circulation in a cheap form, under the attractive titlt of 41 High Church Claims." His eminence s « Essays and Contributions to the Dublin Review weie collected and published, with a preface by thea«thor ln 8 volumes Bvo. in 1853. It is that he contributed to the I enm; Cyclopaedia the artiolo which treats on the "Catholic Church. Among the best known of his eminence s other controversial and miscellaneous publications are his « Fnbiola," a tale of the Early Christians; his ReCatholic Unity," addressed to the toe Earl of <4hrpwsbnrv "A Letter to the Rev. J. H. Newman, on the Controversy relating to the Oxford Tracts for the Times;" and "A Letter addressed to John Poynder, Esq., upon his Work entitled 'Popery in Alliance with Heathenism." To t^8 e Je added his " Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling 5 the People of England," respecting the Papa i agression, in which he endeavoured to prove that the matter at issue was merely a question re'atingto the internal and spiritual organisation of the English Roman Catholics, and in no sense a temporal

measure, or one which involved any practical assault on the freedom of Protestants.

To the London world and to the public at large Cardinal Wiseman'sname was rendered most familiar by his frequent appearance upon the platform as a public lecturer upon a wide range of subjects connected with education, history, art and science; and in this capacity his eminence always found an attentive and eager audience, even among those who were most conscientiously opposed to his spiritual claims and pretensions, and who most thoroughly ignored him as " Archbishop of Westminster."

The illness of which his eminence has died has been of long standing, and when he left England far Home in the spring of 1860, there were many of his friends who feared that they would see his face no more. But he lived to return to England, and to recover some portion of his former health. It is almost superfluous to add that his eminence's loss will be severely felt among the English Roman Catholics, both lay and clerical, as he was nearly the only member of their body who had earned for himself a wide and lasting reputation for ability and learning.

The funeral of Cardinal Wiseman took place on Feb. 23. The body had lain in state for the space of three days at his residence in York-place. A great number of persons of the Unman Catholic faith visited the house of death to take a last look at the remains of the celebrated man before their consignment to the tomb. The body was clothed in the cardinal's robes, and on the fingers were several valuable rings. During the night of Feb. 21 the body was removed to St. Mary's Church, Moorflelds. Arrived at the church, it was carried into the middle of that sacred building, and was pi teed upon a bier, draped with violet cloth, the border of which was richly embroidered with gold lace. A few priests and acolytes stood by, and candles were held aloft, and a crucifix was also raised, but no religious service was then performed. The head of the corpse was turned towards the altar, this position denoting the high ecclesiastical dignity of the deceased. Over the coffin was spread the " Bowyer pall," a rich covering belonging to Sir George Bowyer. The cardinal's red hat was placed near the foot, and its long silken appendages fell down low on either side. Thousands of persons, under the direction of the police, continued to visit the chapel during the entire day of the 22nd. The announcement that a " solemn mass of requiem " was to be celebrated at the chapel on the 23rd, brought together one of the most distinguished and diversified congregations which have, perhaps, for centuries assembled in the metropolis. The admission to the church was obtained exclusively by tickets, and the number of noblemen, members of Parliament, and other distinguished personages, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, English and foreign, who applied for this favour, left but little space available for the general public. Not less than between 300 and 400 clergymen were also present; and as a large portion of the church was set aside for their accommodation, the whole building, which is but a small and unimposing one for its employment as a " pro-cathedral," presented an unusually solemn and orderly appearance. Its pillars and all its other main projections were draped in black, variegated by yellow twisted bands ; and the daylight was excluded from every portion of it with the exception of the altar and the semi-circular space behind it.

Among the noblemen and gentlemen present were —The Duke of Sutherland, the Marchionesses of Londonderry and of Lothian, 'he Earls of Courtenay, Malmesbury, Kenmare, Orford, and Buchan ; the Dowager Countesses of Buchan and Newbury ; Viscounts Fielding, Campden, Southwell, and Castlerosse; Lords Stafford, l'etre, Lovat, and Herries ; Counts Torre Diaz and Eyre ; Sir G. Bowyer, Bart., Sir Hungerford Pollen, Bart., Lady Catherine Berkeley, Lady Milford, Hon Sirs. Agar Ellis, Hon. Miss Calthorpe, Hon. Montague Mostyn, Mr. Justice Hiee, Mr. O'Reilly, M.P., Mr. Pope Henessv, M.P., Chevalier de Zuluetta, &c. In a tribunal behind the stalls, on the north side of the choir, was seated the Count de Chabannus, who appeared there as the representative of Queen Marie Amelie, the widow of t'.ie late King of the French. The mass did not commence until a quarter to eleven o'clock. It was celebrated pontifically by the Hight Rev. Bishop Morris, formerly vicar apostolic of the Mauritius, assisted by the very Rtv. Dr. Russell, president of the Royal College of Mavnooth. who acted as assistant priest, and by the Rev. Dr. Pius Melia, confessor of the late cardinal, who acted as deacon, and the Rev. T. Gloeg. of the Oratory, who acted as sub-deacon. At one other side of the altar were ranged the Most Rev. Archbishop Cullen, and the right rev, bishops of the English districts. The provost and canons of the diocese occupied their stalls in the choir. The other English, Irish, Scotch, French and Belgian Clergymen, to the number of more than 300, filled a series of benches in front of the catafalque ; and as all those prelates were arrayed in their full canonicals, while all the minor church dignitaries and priests wore their surplices, the whole scene was one of an extremely impressive character. All at once during the principal portion of the ceremony each clergyman carried a lighted taper, and a new and striking effect was produced by this mass of sudden and concentrated light iu the midst of the generally gloomy accompaniments. The very tremulousness or feebleness of the voice of the aged and venerable prelate who performed the chief office of the day, seemed most fittingly to blend with the solemnity andplaintiveness of the occasion. The Gregorian Mass, as arranged by Novello, was that which was throughout chanted ; and it was impossible for the coldest or most cautious intellect to listen amidst such a scene to its earnest strains, without a profound remembrance of our common mortality. At the conclusion of the mass a seruon was preached by the Very Rev. Monsignore Manning. This discourse naturally assumed the character of a review and a eulogy of the late cardinal, with a special notice of his interne longing and his unremitting labours for the "conversion of England. The religious services beiug over, the funeral procession was formed, which was between two and three miles in length, and proceeded to Kensal-green Cemetery, where previous to the interment more prayers were ofEered up. The mortal remains of the late cardinal were thus borne to the grave with a pomp with which the great majority of Englishmen will but imperfectly sympathise. But Cardinal Wiseman was no common personage. He will probably be generally acknowledged to have been the most eminent Roman Catholic Churchman whom England has known for the last three centuries He possessed high capacity and scholarship; he took, at a memorable epoch, a prominent part m the strange scene of our religious contentions; and it is impossible that Englishmen should not for many a day look back on his memory with feelings of curiosity and The three names which Cardinal Wiseman, previous to his death, sent in to the Holy See, as the list from which should be chosen his successor hi the See of Westminster, are those of Dr. Grant, Bishop SsStKEi Dr. Clifford, Bishop of Clifton ; and Dr Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham. It is not likely that any English cardinal will be appointed at cardinal was to have delivered a lecture on Shakespeare,at the Royal Institution,on tebruarv 21 It is said that this lecture had been prepared for delivery at the Tercentary celebration in April, 1864 but that the difficulties which overtook the unhappy promoters of that unfortunate scheme induced his eminence to abandon the idea for a time. On e, when a collegian at Rome, he took part in a performance of the tragedy of Julius Osar,acquit ting himself far better than amateurs usually do _ J hose who knew his eminence intimately affirm that he was an ardent student of the great poet, and that his conversation often took the form of a pleasant comment on the several plays.