DIOCESE OP CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 31, Issue 44, 31 October 1907, Page 15

DIOCESE OP CHRISTCHURCH

(From our own correspondent.) - . October 28.

On* Sunday last, the feast of the Holy Relics, the relics of saints (martyrs, confessors, etc.) possessed by his Lordship the Bishop were exposed to the veneration of the faithful on the altar of the chapel set apart in the Cathedral. The central rellgaary was the one containing the relic lately presented to the Cathedral by our Holy Father the Pope. The tennis court at St. Mary's, Manchester street is to be formally opened for the season this week. The event is occasioning pleasurable -anticipations among the numerous votaries of the exhilarating pastime in the northern parish: The Rev. Father/ Hoare entertains St. Mary's boys' club with lantern views and incidental descriptive lecturette on this (Monday) evening. Opportunity will be taken of the occasion to start the members oii a literary and debating programme. At all the Masses and at Vespers in the Cathedral on Sunday nex"E appeals will be ''made in aid of the funds of the Caihedral Conference of the Society of St. Vincent <le Paul. A special charity sermon will be preached; at the eleven o'clock Mass. The annual report for the last .twelve months (the publication- of which was delayed owing to intervening circumstances) appears in the present issue of the "TabletTrafalgar Day was "observed in Christchurch with, a fair amount of expressed patriotism. Outward appreciation of the Empire's greatness was exemplified by the display of the National and Dominion ensigns from numerous ■b&ildjtags, including the Marist Brothers' schools. His L'ordslilp Bishop Grimes, as one of the selected speakers at the public demonstration in- Victoria Slquare, delivered the following address •— The patriotic words' uttered by the great Admiral whose bravery we commemorate to-day, ■' England expects that every man will do Eis duty- ! ' give the key note to the life and actions of the hero of Trafalgar. He was a patriotic hero in the true and full sense of the word. Right well and meet, then, is- it that we should cherish his memory and the deeds which made His Ole ..so memorable. Kiglit well and meet is it that we gather in such goodly numbers in a truly patriotic spirit, too. But what, let me ask is true patriotism.?' The bare word denotes the idea love of country.' But the idea is something more. Is it not also the love of the blood that flows in our Ve !* nS + l there not between the land of our birth and the blood, flowing in our veins a secret harmony which the Almighty would" have us treasure and preserve i? If I love nr.y, native land.it is not merely the land with its rugged or smiling shores, its stormtossed or tranquil se a S) its lofty hills, or fertile plains,it is above all the blood flowing in the veins of my! f£ ™? my fellow-countrymen; the Mood flowing- in lsmrf !S ™ ? th * ra ?? Planted in that beloved land, the land of our predilection. Three or four elements ff o Sfl* %i°?? gg + -° f Sl6S 16 frue patriot, (l) His native -th? 7w h js native blood ; (3)his national - genius ; (4) the Go 3of his fathers. There is no, true race or people -without God, as there is no true society withS? -Si 1 . 011 '. nor a , sin S le rac ° without religious worS+w ?* 1S n ° l es ! true of ancier »t than of .modem ?™pi »c * Stud 7 the Mstory of Asia « anci ent S ec i.° r Rome we invariably find that besides the soil which tße patriot dearly .loved, besides the Mood flowing in their veins, or their -national genius for the ™1\ f n i? ni nCes or that of rulin S. there was an eleH^?i b^ eh - th f e rac fs put -far above the rest-that of their gods. Never did they undertake any J great enterSJ? 1 *T\r m } hey return from victory wTthout payipgjHat they deemed the sacred rites at the altars 2 Patriot Dv! S ShlineS - Th^ hero of Trafalgar was J.lrr wll0 '. as was well put in an interesting a*tl^lia * tl^ l i- 1 m e- ne of our loca ls to-day, might aotlv be

and independence. Does it not behove us to do all in . our power to keep up this genius ? Should we not be enthusiastic in this endeavor ? Surely we should for true patriotism is a very passion as well as a vl £- H?" „Xt ML* very P assi on, a sort of magnetic fluid which flows through our inmost being. This passion was wonderfully displayed of late by the Japanese with whom patriotism and religion are synonymous! was not 'the, passionate patriotism the secret of their marvellous success on sea and on land ? Every time °JSLi « + l 6'l 6 ' n Dd ,' r our comm on blood, our national genius the God of our fathers, are attacked; at the cntical moment of outrage or danger, So we not feel an. indescribable something stirring our., inmost soul, whilst our patriotism is roused to a feverish- degree ? But patriotism is a virtue as well as~/a- sentiment. It is a virtue whenever it _ calls for the sacrifice of - selfa sacrince not blindly /and impetuously made, but with a calmness and vigor the outcome of deliberate reflection, as the rights and obligations binding us to ' the fnfnf Sl £f- -£ true patriot will ever be forgetful of self in The interests of his country -or of his Sri ?°- 1 i nt 7 men - l Ulysses of old- preferred, from, a true spurt of patriotism, Ihe ,b<are and barren Ithaca his native land, to. the .flower-clad and luxurious isle of Calypso. Seeing one of his brethren slain by an a S S?^ n i- the P alr i? tlc , spirit of Moses was roused like win L IT Ru . sEm S to-tfie desert, he exclaimed, «I will "bp the saviour . of my people-! •< Forty .years later he returned and summoned Pharaoh to let -his g! *%*?• - Phar** refused. But Mos°es had a Divine power a? Ins command. He let Idose - the ten SnffiEX WT Pharaoh and "» kingdom, and he led' hX TJJI I v£*V n ac^ osst^ Red Sea into- the burning. or ft tSf* C ? r Sj' t S >y for the flesh Pots- of Eg^ or the- tables of the Pharaohs. They had their wives Kil W f ° hl l dr^' but their Cha;ins were broken In fiee g Lef g mm PPP P 3% were ' sla^s, .in the desert they are nee. Let me recall one beautiful, the most beautiful ot jLS ? Xl ?^ eXam P les - beautiful because Divrnefthat ?L ore ?f? f azar eth. Who has not felt his patriotism aroused at. the recollection of the Saviour of mankind weeping over the foredoomed cfty of Jerusalem, ?eed of * -iS^i 111 th - W^ rld England has the molt SiorP L ' a s P^dly equipped navy." No nation has more to dread from an incompetent one. Hence." no efforts shoum be left undone to secure such a navy the Tbove a iT al ?,' T- 6y are Called ' of old Dn« it to^ 011 " men t0 guard aild def^ then? Should T w 6 my + Clo , th t0 « n ?°« ra ge steps ? Should .1 not go out of my way to preach near* ? Most -certainly/ But is not the surest way of securing peace to be prepared- for war. 'si vis pacem narf be urn ,' is as true t(Mta ag wh ut^ e( f a^ W£ tunes ago. If we wish, for peace, let us be Srt DrofeL B Sfn e T e t T eme^^Y- No maiter our xaik P £ profession, let us always cherish the patriotic spirit SSi 5° U^ ed the .- great Nelson ' and other true SftSS 0 ' * h ? sraitiment that has fired every other* patriot since, and that will cease to Resound only when the S^ by f t^ XpireS ' H et our battle <*y be y thlfpromS by a deep sense of patriotic duty-Pro aris et fo?ff ' a F n°d our SSS/f * ° Ur reli&iOn ' for ™>