Cardinal Mercier Celebrates His Jubilee

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 30, 16 July 1924, Page 26

Cardinal Mercier Celebrates His Jubilee

The city of Malines was all a-flutter with flags and bunting to celebrate the sacerdotal jubilee of Cardinal Mercier. The anniversary fell in Lent, but the festival celebration was postponed until the Easter season. The chief event of the day was the celebration of

Pontifical Mass in the Cathedral of St. Pombaut by the Cardinal himself, in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio and the Belgian Bishops. The Mass was attended by the King and Queen and the members of the Royal family, who were ceremonially welcomed by the Cardinal and tho Nuncio. Te Dentil and the benediction followed tho Mass. At the reception given in the Salle des Fetes Cardinal Mercier received congratulations from personages of all ranks and nationalities and religions. Particularly interesting was (lie letter from the Pope, presented by the Nuncio, in which His Holiness referred to the Cardinal’s

career as a scholar, mentioning his foundation of the Chair of Scholastic Philosophy at Louvain. In referring to the Cardinal’s part in the war, the Pope said; “Those who shall have educated the peoples in the respect for justice will shine like stars in the firmament of (be coming centuries.” A cheque tor 1,22-1,000 1 rants, collected in Belgium was handed lo the Cardinal by the Minister of Slate, the amount to be used to create a jubilee fund. The homage

of the British section of the Anglo-Belgian Union was presented by Sir Cecil Hertslet. Tlie French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, of which Cardinal Mercier is a member, sent its congratulations through the French. President. “History,” says the address from France, “will one day reveal in all its details and in all its beauty "what your well-filled life has been — a half century of labor, of prayers, and of virtues.”