THE CENTENARY OF THE AMERICAN HIERARCHY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 38, 10 January 1890, Page 5

THE CENTENARY OF THE AMERICAN HIERARCHY.

(The Nation, November 16.)

THE Catholics of the United States, and more especially those of them who are of Irish birth or descent, have good reason to be proud of ihe facts which juaiiiy tbe proceeds g* which have ren iered tbe present week a> noi able in tbe annals of the Republic. Bven the London Tivies has to admit the importance and the significance of the celebrations at Baltimore. It is safe tj assert that no hing h s ever occurred m the whole history of Am-nca s > well calculated to place Catholicism in its proper and legitimate position iv the c timaUon of the people of that Continent as the events of the last few d*} s. The story of the growth and progress of Cabolicity in tbe United States is a marvellous one. It in one which, under God, the pi )pld of tbis country have had a prom nem place in the nuking of. JB >»ely • century ago, when, on tbe 6cb November, 1789, his Holiness Pope Pius the 6th appointed the Rev. John Carroll fiist Bishop of Bait - more, the condition of the Catholic Cburcb in the United States was vastly different from what it is to-day. Then the entire population of the infant Republic was a little less thsn four million, counting •laves as well as freemen. Of these the Catholics numbered some forty thousand. Their priesthood was composed of thirty priests, almost all members of the Society of Jesus. Aa Cardinal Gibbons, wbsn recen ly describing tbe state of things at the period in question, wrote :— " Thore was not a singh hospital or asylum throughout the lanj. Churches there were none, unless we dt-eignate by ihut title the few modest hous s of worship erecied in Catholic settlements, chiefly in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Georgetown College, just then fous.ded, was the only Catho ie seat of learning in tbe country." infiQ CoDtraßt which exißls between the state of affairs in 1789 and in 1889 is as we have said, marvellous. Now, as Cardinal Gibbons has just recalled, there is to be found within the territory of the United bUtes a Catholic populate nof about nine millions. There are thirteen Archbishops aud seventy-one BUhops, 8 000 priests, 10,500 churches and compels, twenty-seven semioHnes exclusively devoted to the training of candidates for the priesthood ; there are 650 colleges *s"* * cad(jmieß ' or lhe hl * her education of children and young people of both sexes, and 3 100 parish schools, i'tiere are 520 hospitals and orphan asylums, where eveiy form of humtn misery and infirmity is alleviated, «>nd where children of both Bexes are rescued from t.pi;itual and temporal wietchedness, and are reared to become useful and Honourable members of society. This is surely a glorious record to look upon. B I. must have been hard on the Times to have been compelled to admit thai nearly the whole of this wonderful progress has been due to the people of this country. The first Catholic fl.sbop of tbe United States, Dr. Carroll, was of Irish blood. Like every other Irishman, who has ever been an American citizen, he was a loyal and faithful upholder of the National rights of that country. Me played no insignificant part in tne securing of its freedom. He helped to make the Oaihohc Church of the United States one of tue lypical and most glorious institutions of the Republic. As Cardinal Gibbons has pointed out, « Archbishop Carroll united in his person .«! P i v l ? r . of an arleDt Patriot, a zealous prelate, and an accomplished Christian gentleman. His devotion to his country's cause gained for him the confidence of the revolutionary leaders ; his apostoUc i labours command* d the love and veneration of the faithful ; nk . - n c . * and gentle manner won the hearts of all bis fellow-cmee 8 with whom he came in contact." It was n.> m rely verbal aid whict. Dr. Carroll was willing to tive those who were leading the American people unto f r. edoro. He was not dismayed wheu he found th*t their path necessarily led across the field or battle, With bis friend, Benjamin Franklin, with tis celebrated

cousin Charles Carroll, of Carrolltowo, tbe first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Samuel Chase, he visited Canada during the war against the British to carry out a dangerous and difficult mission. It has been mainly owin,j to the patriotic wisdom of prelates such as tbis great and lovable man that Catholicity occupies the position it does to-day in the States. His successor, the great Cardinal Archbishop, from whom we have already quoted, says :— "The calm judgment of posterity recognises John Carroll as a providen ial agent in moulding the diverse elements in the United States into an organised Cnurch. He did not wish the Church to vegetate as a delicate exotic plant : he wished it to become a sturdy tree, deep-rooted in the soil, to grow with the growth and bloom with tbe development of the country, inured to its climate, braving its storms and invigorated by them, anrt yielding abundantly the fruits of sanctificatlon. Knowing, as he did, the mischief bred by national rivalries, his aim was (hat the clergy and people— no matter from what country they sprung — should be thoroughly identified with the land in which their lot was cast ; that they should study its laws and its political constitution and be in harmony with its spirit ; in a word, that they should become as soon as possible assimilated to tbe social body in all things appertaining to the domain of civil life." Most fittingly and properly the proceedings of the present week were brought to a close by a deputation of leading Catholic prelates, clergymen and lay people waiting on the president. It every land wherein it exists Catholicity is the bulwark and defence of legitimate government, of pood laws, and of that public order and tranquility which the maintenance of such laws alone ensures. The growth of the strength and power of the Catholic Church within the Republic is, therefore, a matter'at which its rulers may well rejoice. There are in America, as in every other country at the present day, certain elements of danger that have to be combatted and crushed out. The evil theories of Anarchists have already produced lamentable results. Against the mischievous propaganda carried on by the emissaries of tbe organisations which produced the atrocities of Chicago, Catholicity, wuh its constant inculcation of the Divine virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, of the neccessity for the reciprocal rendering of justice between man and man, between class and class, ig tbe surest safeguard. The thinking portion of the American community is not, like y to forget the fact that whenever tbe independeuce, peace, or order of the Kepumic have been tbreatene I, those who hare been foremost and most valiant in their defence have been of the race which in the Uuifc-d (States, as elsewhere, has achieve! more for th; diffusion and maintenance of tbe tenets of Catholicity within its borders than any oiher.