THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 6, 7 February 1901, Page 5

THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN.

PULPIT REFERENCES.

On the Sunday following the death of her Majesty the Queen feeling: reference waa made to the sad event in the various Catholic churches of the Colony. St. Joseph's Church (writes our Wellington correspondent) was draped in black. At High Mass his Grace Archbishop Redwood addressed a large congregation at some length. He said they were there to a«Buoialc Un^eelves with their felloe citi*«n<> in Px . pression to the very great grief that filled all hearts at the present time of mourning. Their loo* wwoa o a ercat one ; not only hnrt they to mourn the death of an illustrious Sovereign, but of one who as maid, wife, mother, and widow was a noble example to every Christian family. He enlarged upon the admirable qualities and virtues of the deceased lady. The world had lost a great factor for the maintenance of peace. It was an undoubted fact that Queen Victoria b Jove of peace and her vast experience in the ways of European Governments had prevented many bloody wars. Viewed from that point alone, her loss was a great one. He hoped and earnestly pra y e <* tn »* the King, her successor, would follow in her footsteps, and that he would be long spared to reign over the great British Empire. Ab an offertory piece the ' Dies Ira ' was sung, the Rev. father Mahoney and Mr Rowe taking the solos. At the conclusion of the aervioe the organist (Mr Ennis) played the Dead March in Saul. St. Mary's Chapel, Guilford Terrace, Wellington, was draped in black. At the 11 o'clock Mass Rev. Father Holley, S M., referred to the great loss the nation had sustained in the death of the Queen. She had fulfilled the duties of her great role nobly and well. Catholics had special reason to grieve over ncr loss. Towards them she had ever been kindly disposed. It waa only in 1829 that the Emancipation Act was passed. Bigotry waa rampant when she ascended the throne. They could not fail to remember some of her utterances, in which she declared that all religions should have full liberty. Victoria was a good Queen and a noble one. Kind and indulgent, yet always firm, she had a holy horror of impropriety. She had always striven within her limited powers to do what she considered her duty. He concluded by expressing a well-founded hope that their Queen was now in the enjoyment of the reward of her many good deeds, and with a prayer that her successor, King Edward VII., would follow in her ateps. Mr. Cimino played the Dead March in ' Saul ' at the close of the service. At the early Mass for the children the Very Rev. Father Lewis referred in feeling terms to the death of her Majesty, and impressed upon the ohildren the obligation resting on them of loyalty to their sovereign. He hoped the Queen would be nobly and adequately replaced by her son, who, he trusted, would follow in the footsteps of his mother, and be a model to hie subjects, aa Queen Victoria had been. At High Mass at St. Mary of the Angels', the Rev. Father Goggan, S.M., spoke feelingly of the great loss the nation had sustained by the death of her Majesty. She had throughout a long life endeared herself to her subjects by her many great qualities and her admirable virtues. Her acts of kindness in individual cases were enlarged upon. The Empire mourned the logs of a great and illustrious Sovereign, and while offering their allegiance to the new King, the highest tribute they could pay him was to say they felt sure he would emulate the acts and virtues of bis noble parent and be all, in word and work, that the King of a great nation Bhould be. At an offertory the choir gave the ' Die* Irae.' At the conclusion of the service the large congregation stood while the organ and orchestra played the solemn dirge 'The Garland of Flowers.' i Our Nelson correspondent writes : On Sunday last at the 11 o clock Mass the Very Rev. Dean Mahoney made special reference to the death of her late Majesty Queen Victoria, and afterwards preached a very able discourse on death to a large congregation. The Church was suitably draped for the occasion. At St. Joseph's Church, Temuka, Rev. Father Fauvel, preaching on Sunday morning, said that a great and lamentable event had taken place during the past week. One of the greatest and best sovereigns that ever sat upon a throne had passed away in the person of her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria. There was in consequence of this the deepest sorrow throughout the whole empire, and not alone were her own subjects mourning her loss Foreign nations also had given expression to the deepest sorrow at the death of the Queen. Why was it that there was such universal Borrow beoause of her death ? It was because she was a model woman, a religious woman, a woman of prayer, whose heart waa full of compassion for the poor. No wonder that her people loved her ;no wonder that foreign people admired and revered her. They were asked to pray that God may direct her son to walk in her footsteps. At the conclusion of the service the organist played the Dead March in < Saul.' At. St. Mary's at the Bnsh Catholic Church, Geraldine, special reference was made by the Very Rev. Father Bowers to the death of the Queen. He said that he was sure they all deeply regretted the death of a sovereign whom all respected and revered. At the evening service the ' Dead March ' was played by the organist, while the congregation stood. At St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth, the Rev. Father Kimbell referred to the great loss sustained by the nation in the death of her Majesty, and hoped that, through God's guidance, the reign of the new King might be like that of his illustrious mother. The Dead Maroh 'in Saul ' was then played by Miss Hannan, the congregation meanwhile standing. At the evening service, in place of the usual sermon, a solemn funeral service was rendered by the Rev. Father Kimbell on the organ. The selections included MendelaBohn'a Funeral March, two numbers from Gounod's ' Redemption.' and the Dead Maroh in ' Saul.'

Touching references (writes a Hastings correspondent) were made to the death of the Queen at all the services in the Catholic ohurch. The sanctuary was draped in black for the sad occasion, and the Dead March was played both morning and evening. On Sunday, January 27, at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Gore, the Rev. Father P. Donnell made special reference to the death of the Queen. He said that although her late Majesty had been blessed with a life longer than the alloted span she too was mortal and had to see death. Her reign had been a long one and remarkable for peace and prosperity all over the Empire. She had been particularly distinguished for the good inflnpnop her life had upon her people, and when she herself was forgotten her noble example would still remain. At the conclusion of the Mr«<s the Dead March from • Saul ' waß played by the organist, Mrs. Neave. At St. Patrick's Church, Lawrence, on the Sunday after the Queen's death, the Very Rev. Mgr. O'Leary said that the sad event had plunged into grief the people of the British nation. It was a great calamity, and its effect on the people was all the greater because being unexpected. It had been announced a few days before her death that an improvement in her condition had taken place, and the news of her death was therefore unexpected. Consequently, as soon as the wires flashed the sad news, all were shocked and grieved, and the whole country is mourning ; and not only the whole country, but the whole civilised world, and with good reason, because the late Queen was really a good woman, and there was nothing so lovable, so worthy of respect and of esteem, as a good woman. If he were speaking for an hour, he could say nothing more in the way of eulogy of the late Queen than that she was a good woman, and that she showed herself to be a good woman from the beginning of her reign. No sovereign of the Empire reigned longer than she, and very few sovereigns in the whole course of history so long ; and during the whole of her long reign she bore herself, not only as a wise and prudent sovereign, but ac a kindly, good woman. From all accounts, the Court in England before the accession of Queen Victoria was pretty lax ; but as soon as her Majesty waa called to the throne (at the ape of 18), she banished from her presence, no matter how high or exalted in rank, anyone whose character was open to reproach, and since then she had kept her Court pure, and kept scandal away. Hence, every pure woman, every young lady, and every pure, good matron, every widow, and every man should revere her memory because of the example she set her people, People in the higher ranks of life look up to the conduct of kings and queeus because of their exalted rank and station just as people of a lower social grade are influenced by those occupying higher positions And thus it was that the example of reigning kings or queens influences the conduct of all ola 883» of the people, down to the lowest ranks, either for good or evil. Queen Victoria was always a puro, good woman, md kept her Court and her entourage pure, and set an example to her family in accordance with her owu high sense of duty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland, the R ; £ht Rev. Moneignor O'Reilly Baid that Catholics, in union with their fellowsubjects of other denominations, were ready to pay their tribute to her worth, and to sorrow for the loss suffered by that extensive Empire over which she ruled so well and so long. Since she assumed the great responsibility that fell upon her what changes had taken place, especially in the Catholic Church, which had greatly progressed in New Zealand, Australia, and in England as well. They must acknowledge that in the British dominions the Church had perfect liberty, and well she had availed herself of that liberty. Although according to the British Constitution the power of the Sovereign was limited still the iufluence of a good ruler, of a good woman sitting upon the throne, must be felt. The Queen's relations with the Holy See had all through her reign been all that they should have been. Yea, the Que^n was certainly one who waa worthy of respect and reverence. Let them consider what, the Court of England was before she ascended the throne, and what it was at the present time. There was one thing that Catholics could not fail to remark in connection with the Queen, and that was that Bhe abhorred divorce, and would not receive a divorced person at her Court. Of course, according to the rules of their Church, they oould not offer up a public Hequ ism Mass for the repose of the Queen's soul, because she was not one of them ; but still there was nothing to prevent the faithful throughout her dominions offering up prayers privately on her behalf. At the Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby (Auckland) very Rev. Dr. Egan, in the course of an instructive sermon on prayers for the dead spoke in high terms of the personal qualities of the Queen. Continuing, he said that as Catholics they had reason to bless her reign for the religious liberty they had enjoyed. Although they had had to suffer at times from the religious bigotry of sects and of individuals, yet, so persuaded were Catholics of the benevolence of their Queen that many fondly oheriahed the incredible opinion that she was secretly a Catholic. Her periodical visits to the South of France, the report that her mother had died a Catholic, and her warm and intimate friendship for the devout Empress Eugenic, gave color to an opinion which, though unfounded, was a manifest indication of the reverence in which she was hold by her Catholic subjects, and it might now serve as a proof of the sincerity of their regret at her decease. During her reign, especially during the last 50 years, the Catholic Church had been free to pursue her mission of religion and beneficence, and members of the Catholic Church were practically, except for a few senseless restri jtions, placed upon an equality with other British subjects in their aspirations for the honors of the State, In England and Wales alone the Catholic population had increased during the century from 70,000 to 2,000.000, and to-day there were more than 300,000 Catholic children in England and Wales attending Catholic schools, which were not only duly recognised, but even subsidised by the British Government. This was in a great measure due to the beneficent reign of her late Majesty during the past 50 years.