A COADJUTOR BISHOP.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 20, 5 September 1884, Page 29

A COADJUTOR BISHOP.

(Special Borne correspondence of tbe Pilot.') Borne, Jnne 12. The appointment of the Very Bey. Father Thomas A. O'Callaghan, Prior of the College of the Irish Dominicans at Borne, to the position of auxiliary Bishop of Cork, with the right of succession, has been looked forward to for some months past. The fact became known to several persons in Borne on June 9, although it was already determined on and sanctioned by His Holiness on Thursday, June 5. In this appointment the Holy Father has given a new sign of his special affection towards Ireland. From the great majority of the clergy in the diocese of Cork, strong representations were sent to His Holiness in favour of Father O'Callaghan, and numerous petitions to the same effect were sent by the laity. On the other hand, powerful English influence was brought to bear on the authorities in Rome and on the Holy Father against such appointment. Active efforts were employed, and even what seemed to be political reasons were urged by persons here against the raising of Father O'Callaghan to this dignity. But all this failed to move the Sovereign Pontiff. He took into consideration and gave due value and weight to the almost unanimous wi9h expressed by the clergy and laity in favour of the Irish Dominican, and chose him accordingly. As he remained unmoved by the many and powerful representations made to him by English persons in "high position against selecting Mgr. Moran for Archbishop of Sydney, so has he turned a deaf ear to the representations made to him in a like spirit on the presentoccasion. It isevident from this, and indeed from the very words used by the Holy Father on several occasions, that he has a deep affection for Ireland, and that he regards English influence exerted unfavourably to Irish interests with great suspicion. In fact it seems as if he never loses an opportunity of showing or of expressing his love for Ireland. The new auxiliary Bishop of Cork was born in that city on May 9, 1839. At the age of eighteen he entered upon his novitiate at the Dominican Monastery of Tallajjht, County Dublin. He soon afterwards went to Rome, where he studied and taught. On returning to Ireland he laboured successfully in the missions of his Order at Tallaght, Cork, Galway and Newry, in which place he began the construction of a church which is one of the architectural gems of Ireland. From here he was sent again to Borne to his old residence of St. Clement's, and on the death of the late Father Mullooly in 1881, he was appointed Prior of this Convent. In 1876 he visile I the United States, where he remained for a few months. P. L. CONNELLAN.

The N. 0. Picayune does not sustain tbe opinion that Butler would be unpopular in the South when it says : — " Ben Bntler is the broadest American in America, and a constant and unchanging friend of the woikingman. His vilifiers and slanderers have always been monopolists and aristocrats. With him in the White House no one anywhere will dare insalt American citizens or put them in prison without a hearing. A national unification of the labouring classes will make Butler President."