MISSIONARY EXPERIENCES IN TEXAS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 42, 15 February 1884, Page 9

MISSIONARY EXPERIENCES IN TEXAS.

His Grace the Archbishop o£ Toronto lectured lately on his experiences as a missionary in Texas. He gave an interesting account of his travels among the sparsely settled aad somewhat mixed population that inhabited the Lone Star State at that time, and enabled his hearers to realize very clearly the self-sacrificing devotion which has made the early Roman Catholic missionary so c raspicuou3 a figure in the history of this continent. Though many of the people ■were wild and lawless, and though until his visit they were living destitute of religious ministrations, they were, as a rule, kind and hospitable, and a great many of them were only too glad of an opportunity of renewing their relations to the Church of their youth. His Grace stated that while in some few cases be had been delighted to find that the children of families who had been living in that wild country for many years had been carefully trained in the doctrines of the Chinch, in others there was a painful absence of even the most elementary ideas of moral responsibility. Among the many incidents narrated by His Grace was his introduction to a Mexican camp by a Methodist class leader, and the doubts expressed, in a barely intelligible polyglot, by the lady in charge, as to the possession of priestly f uHctions by her visitor. Being convinced ut last by the exhibition of a very fine cros9, she and all the family manifested much rel : gious fervour and were very gladly baptized. A visit was also paid to an Indian camp, and it was found that the chief of the band had been instructed by the Franciscans in his childhood, but having betaken himself to the roving life of the red man, he bad finally been appointed to the chiefship. A council of his tribe having decided that the rite of baptism might be administered, the young people were all baptised, the chief acting as sponsor for the whole of them. His Grace remarked that in dealing with these Indians he had found it necessary, in order to gain their respect, to clothe himself in the most imposing vestments, as he found that the feeling 3 which these external adornments inspired in the hearts of these untutored savages prepared the way for the admission of the truths of Teligion. He mentioned the case of a young boy who, as his parents said, was possessed of a devil. He would use language utterly horrible in character, and as he had nev<_r heard the words ha made use of he must have learned them by direct Satanic interposition. His Grace stated that he had employed the exorcisms of the Church for Satanic possession, prayed over the child, and sprinkled him with holy water, amid the stoutest resistance at fir3t, but all at once the boy had thrown up his arms and embraced the priest, and ever afterwards he was perfectly tractable and well behaved. His Grace mentioned a number of other interesting incidents, showing the character of the country and its inhabitants. The lecture was heard with close attention, and was loudly applauded at its conclusion. — Globe.