THE MISSION IN CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 43, 13 February 1885, Page 17

THE MISSION IN CHRISTCHURCH.

During the nearly nineteen centuries of the Church's history there has not, perhaps, been founded within her bosom any religious Order so thoroughly imbued with the zeal and spirit of its founder— if we except that glorious army of St. Ignatius of Loyola-— as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. From the day that the great St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, filled with the zeal of the Apostle, gave his first mission at Scala, in 1732, until the very last one given by his children in Christchurcb, in 1885, the burning desire for the salvation of souls which filled and consumed his pure soul has never died out among his children. It is scarcely ninety-eight years since St. Alphonsus, worn down with the fatigues of over half a century of missionary work, went to reap the reward of his labour, and in that v- comparatively short space of time his Order has spread itself almost the world ; his children have established themselves even on the very confines of the globe. There is no country where there are souls to be saved, where " the harvest is ripe for the sickle," but the Redetnptorist Fathers are to be found ; and wherever they are found a marked improvement in the religious character, and in the faith and morals of Catholics attests their presence. A deeper and livelier devotion to the affairs of salvation is awakened in them, and the ever-increasing numbers that attend their services and gather round their confessionals is surest evidence oE the truth of these remarks. They touch the heait, and it responds to the call ; they dig deep, and the ground yields its fruit. The manner in which these good men conduct their missions differs in many .respects from that of other missioners who have visited this diocese, and that they have studied their work as a science is clear to anyone attending their instructions. Everything, during the first week, was done that could be done, and said that could be said to prepare the people for the Sacrament of Penance, and to turn their attention to the consideration of those supremely important truths upon which their salvation hung. As the people sat and listened night after night, and morning After morning, to those instructions, they grew sot only to reverence,

but to love the men who bad come so far, and worked so hard, to bring them back to the path from which many of them had been straying. The second week was devoted to the consideration of the decalogue and to the manner in which the commandments might be broken and kept ; while the last week was given up to those means by which all the good that had been gained through the mission might be preserved, and how best to attain to the great grace of final perseverance. We had but one sermon from the superior, the Rev. Father Vaugban, on the duties apd obligations which we owe to God, aa our Creator, as our Redeemer, and as our Father, and that one sermon, be it marked, was one of the most powerful and eloquent discourses that was ever delivered in the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The mission was opened.on Sunday, the 18th of January, by the Rev. Father O'Neill in a sermon peculiarly touching and beautiful, in which he explained that the time of a mission was one in which God vouchsafed to bestow special graces and favours on the people, and urged upon them the necessity of attending to the one now opened to them, as it probably would be the last for many of those who were listening to him. Father O'Neill has a peculiarly effective way of arresting the attention of his congregation by the calm, earnest, and dignified manner in which he addresses them, and he naturally became a great favourite with many among the congregation. This, indeed, was evidenced at his farewell sermon on " Perseverance," when both priest and people were visibly affected at the leave-taking ; and, Shakspeare notwithstanding, we think that the good he has done will live after him. The first Thursday night of the mission was consecrated to reparation to the Blessed Sacrament, when the high altar was gorgeously decorated with flowers aud wax candles on the occasion. A. very powerful doctrinal and devotional sermon on the Real Preseuce was delivered by the Rev. Father Hegarty, which must have done good to any of the " outsiders " whose minds were open to conviction. On February 3, the Blessed Virgin's altar was similarly decorated, when Father O'Neill solemnly consecrated all the people to the Blessed Virgin. (I may say here parenthetically that the missioners have expressed their great admiration of the fittings and altar furniture of our church, which is now the finest in the Colony. A ciborium of very beantiful workmanship and capable of holding about one thousand particles, as also some very fine standards and a richly - toned gong were used for the first time during this mission.) Father Hegarty is certainly the " Boanerges" o£ the mission, and many is the poor sinner that he has frightened out of his lethargy, aud brought to a sense of hie duty. Other priests may preach to you, but Father Hegarty hammers the Eternal Truths right into your very soul. His great sermons on Death, on Hell, and on Intemperance are things never to be forgotten. However, he is another man entirely off the altar ; full of tendered sympathy for the weakness of erring sinners, he is most affable and courteous to all he comes in contact with, and his friends here part with him with a regret which is real. The mission wa9 somewhat advanced when the Rev. Father Stokes arrived in Christchurch with the Superior, aud this gave additional help at the confessionals as well as at the instructions. The preaching of Father Stokes is sublimely simple, appealing to the heart rather than to the understanding, and his sermoa on the importauce and efficacy of prayer at once endeared him to the people. Other men may have many admirers, but Father Stokes will always have many friends. On last Sunday at four o'clock, the mission closed foi- the women of the parish, and at seven o'clock for the men. It was seen by the Fathers that, from the increasing interest displayed by the people in the work of the mission, the whole parish, so to speak, would be present at the closing service. But as the church is not large enough to accommodate more than about fifteen hundred persons, it was resolved to give the final sermon and the Papal Benediction to the women by F.ither O'Neill at four o'clock in the afternoon, and by Father Hegarty to the men at seven in the evening. Tbere were about eleven hundred women in the church at four o'clock, and the number of men at seven o'clock was between eight and nine hundred, making, at both services, nearly two thousand people. There was never witnessed before in our church so solemn and imposing a ceremony as that which took place on these two occasions. Of Father O'Neill's leave-taking I have said something, but I scarcely know in what language I can tell you about Father Hegarty's. It was hard, indeed, to restrain the tears evoked by the powerful appeal of the praacher to pardon him for his shortcomings, to think of him and to pray for him when he waa far away, as he would ever think of and pray for them. And when he blessed all the senses of the body and the faculties of the soul, and when he gave the blessing of our Holy Father the Pope, many a head was bowed down to hide the hot teara that welled up from a softened heart. He thanked the people for their attendance, and their good parish priest and his curates for the valuable assistance they had rendered to him during the mission, but, above all, he thanked the Bishop of the diocese, Dr. Redwood, to whom the missioners were under special obligations. After the "Te Deuvi " was chanted by the choir. His Lordship addressed a few words to the people in answer to this reference to himself, and said that he took that occasion to thank the missioners who bad so generously responded to his invitation to come to New Zealand, more especially their superior and the Very Rev. Father Vaugban, who not only acceded to his request to allow his priests to come but even came with them himself. He hoped the people would persevere in the love and grace of God, and continue to frequent the sacrament, to practice the devotions they had baen taught, and above all to be regular in their attendance at the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Thus closed the third mission in Christchurch within the last seven years. Raibkealensis.