CARDINAL PECCI AND THE IRISH COLLEGE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 360, 12 March 1880, Page 11

CARDINAL PECCI AND THE IRISH COLLEGE.

(From the London Tablet .) The ancient church of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, now the Church of the Irish College, was the scene on Saturday (Dec. 27), of a most interesting ceremony, namely, the taking solemn possession of the church of his title by His Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Pecci, brother of the reigning Pontiff. The church itself was magnificently decorated and looked to great advantage, the antique columns being draped in crimson and gold, and the chancel being richly arrayed in hangings of the same material?. On the right of the high altar a lofty throne was erected for the Cardinal, and facing it was a tribune for the accommodation of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. The functions were announced to commence at half -past 2 p.m., but long before that time the church was filled with visitors. The Cardinal, on his arrival, was received at the principal entrance by Monsignor Kirby and the students of the college, who all knelt reverently. The rector then presented his Eminence with a crucifix, which he blessed, and which was carried on a rich salver covered with silver cloth embroidered in gold. The Cardinal blessed the incense, and, receiving the asperges, he blessed the assistant bishops and prelates and the people with holy water. Mgr. Kirby then incensed the Cardinal three times, and his Eminence advanced to the chapel of the Sacrament, preceded by cross bearers, acolytes, thunfer, and students, one of whom bore the crucifix lately blessed. After some time spent in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, a procession was formed to the high altar, the choir chanting Fldelis servtis and the Benedictm gui venit (by Webb). The prescribed prayers, sniper Cardinalem, were read by Mgr. Kirby, and the Bulls of appointment were lead by Mgr. Nocella, Secretary bf Latin Letters to the Pope, the Cardinal being the while seated on his throne with Monsignor Cataldi, Pontifical Master of Ceremonies, standing at his right hand. Monsignor Kirby, Rector of the College, then advanced before the throne and delivered in Italian a congratulatory speech of which I attempt a translation. " Eminence (he said), our church, which was erected in the time of Constantine the Great, dedicated to St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, and made a Cardinal's title by Pope Honorius 111., lays aside to-day the mourning of her widowhood, and exults with joy at receiving j our Eminence for her new Spouse and Titular. The glorious martyrs Hyppolitus and his comrade, who sealed their faith in Christ by their blood under the Emperor Valerianus, and whose sacred relics repose beneath the altar, share in this joy. And must not the heart of the famous Daniel O'Connel, which is deposited near your Eminence's throne, exult also at beholding the brother of the great Pontiff Leo XIII. titular of the national church of his beloved country, in behalf of whose faith and emancipation he, for half a century, armed solely with the weapons of reason, truth, and legality, valiantly combated and conquered ? " But the Irish College must especially exult on this so joyful an occasion, while it recognises in your Eminence not only a golden eardinc, which will give support and glory to its church, but also a model of all Christian and ecclesiastical virtues, and a shining light of profound science to enkindle in the hearts of its young Levites a lively desire of acquiring by constant prayer and study similar treasures, and of imitating, albeit at a long distance, the virtues of their national ancestral saints, such as St. Fregidianus, Archbishop of Lucca, St. Cataldus, Archbishop of Taranto, Donatus, Bishop of Fiesole, Columbanus, founder of the monastery of Bobbio, who was styled by Bellarmine the luminary of his century, and many other illustrious Irishmen, who in past ages, urged on by the love of Christ, left their native shores, and poured themselves, to use the expression of St. Bernard, like an inundation, over all the countries of Europe, flooding them, as it were, with the sweat of their Apostolic labours and adorning them with their examples and doctrines. " But what crowns our contentment under these happy circumstances is the knowledge that we shall have in your Eminence a living image of Leo XIII., who was given as a light in heaven of the Church militant, a light to chase away by the brilliancy of his teaching, by his infallible authority, and by his dissemination of the angelic doctrine of St. Thomas, the dark errors of that lurid and deceptive philosophy which in these latter days has invaded the minds of so many foolish and corrupt men, perverting or cancelling the most necessary truths of natural as well as of revealed religion. In you, Eminence, we acquire a near reflection of the lofty wisdom and integrity of heart of the Pontiff, and an expressive picture of his august and venerated person, a picture which is for us the best gift which could be sent to us by the Apostolic See. And after the deacon Palladius, whom Pope Celestine sent to Ireland as precursor to St. Patrick, you, as Cardinal Deacon of the national church of Ireland in Rome, have special rights to our respect, obedience, and veneration. From the unvanquished martyr to whom this historic temple is dedicated, from the Apostle of Ireland, Protector of our Collcjre, we implore for you length of years and felicity of every kind, spiritual and temporal, and the same blessings as were announced on the natal day of Christ to men of good-will by the angelic messengers of joy and salvation. And to the Pontiff, your brother, to whom we are debtors for so illustrious a titular, we wish the same blessings and the age and graces of the beloved Apostle St. John, on whose festival this act of your titular possession is completed. Say to him, in our name, that we Irishmen, who like our fathers are devoted, to the shedding of our blood, to the chair of St. Peter, ardently desire to see him in triumph, as once Gregory the Great was seen triumphant, when, after the profanations of the Arians, he reconsecrated St. Agatha's amid prodigies from heaven and applause from his Romans." Cardinal Pecci's reply to the speech of Mgr. Kirby was a truly eloquent oration, and 1 trust to be enabled to procure a full and accurate version of it, and to forward a translation to the Tablet. His Eminence spoke with a clear and musical intonation, and in measured sentences, evidently carefully prepared, although delivered fluently and without the slightest hesitation. He commenced by alluding to the terrible torments and sufferings endured by St, i

Agatha with unflinching constancy for the love of the faith of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. And this spirit of Christian fortitude of the Virgin Martyr was the same virtue of fortitude which St. Patrick knew so well how to infuse into the hearts of his Irish children The Cardinal next told of his own early interest in the history of Catholic Ireland, a nation which, from the days of his boyhood always had for him a singular attraction. He entered into an elaborate and minute detail of the trials and sufferings endured with persevering courage by the children of St. Patrick in the maintenance of their faith in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and of their loyal attachment to the -Holy bee. He described in forcible and energetic language the tor™??i^ s » confiscations and deaths under various forms, under Henry VIIL, Elizabeth, James, Anne, and the Georges, and the failure of all efforts to break the spirit of Irishmen and compel them to abandon their connection with Rome and embrace the Anglican heresies. After the sanguinary persecution had ceased, which he termed a continuous and slow assassination, he went on to notice the fabrication of a singularly subtle code of laws, and quoted Edmund Burkes denunciation of those penal enactments as the most unjust and inhuman the world had ever seen. He then related the story of O Connell s long and painful exertions to obtain Catholic emancipation, exertions which were at last crowned with triumph. He dwelt on the pious and obedient homage paid by the Liberator to the Apostolic authority centred in the chair of Peter, and the touching termination of the eventful career of that great man, who, after his triumph over the prejudices of England, wished to present himself in person before the Pontiff to evince his perfect loyalty to the Vicar of Christ, and who, dying at Genoa, bequeathed his heart to Rome The palpitations of the heart vibrate, said His Eminence, in every Catholic breast. J m Finally the Cardinal concluded his powerful oration by some friendly and well-deserved compliments to the students of the Irish College, who have proved themselves worthy descendants of the men who in olden times earned for Ireland the title of Island of Saints. W hen the functions in the church were terminated, the Cardinal retired into the sacristy, where he received the congratulations of many of those persons who were present during the ceremony. He was then conducted by Monsignor Kirby to the College apartments, where refreshments on a sumptuous scale were provided. Among those who responded to the invitations issued by Mgr. Kirby to attend the ceremony were Mgr. Ricci, Majordomo to his Holiness ; Mgr. Macchi, Master of the Camera ; Mgr. Cretoni, Sub-Secretary of Staie : Bishop Marinelli, sacristan to his Holiness ; Count Giambattista Pecci, brother of the Pope, and two nephews of the Pontiff ; Archbishop Laurenzi, auditor of his Holiness and Vicar of St. Mary Major • the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta with two great officials of the Order ; Mgr. Nocella, Secretary of Latin Letters ; Mgr. Ciccolini, Private Chamberlain parteci^ante ; Mgr. Milella, Mgr. de Stacpoole, Mgr. Vecchiotti, Mgr Cataldi, Pontifical Master of Ceremonies: Duke Grazioli, Bishop Mackeboeuf, of Colerado ; Bishop Reynolds, of Adelaide; Bishop Manacorda, of Fossano; Bishop Rinaldini, Baroness Keatinge, Mrs. Vansittart, Miss Fane, Miss Ellicombe, Mr and Mrs. Miss Seracold, Count Celani, Marchese Serlupi, Marchese Vittelleschi, Mrs. and Miss Hamill, of Dublin ; Dr. Campbell, Rector of the Scots' College ; Dp. Will, Vice-Rector of the American College ; Mr. Montague Handley, Mr. Butler, the Irish Augustinians of Sta. Maria in Posterula, the Franciscans of St. Isidore, the students of the North American College, the Irish Dominicans of St. Clement's, Lady Gordon, ice, &c.