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Show I 1 ! : HELENA : Z BISHOP BRONDEL'S TOUR. The Montana Prelate "Writes Interestingly Interest-ingly of His Visit in Europe Now Sojourning at His Birthplace Tells of a Remarkable Picture Shown Him in the Church of the Annunziata, in Assisi, Italy Visits Vis-its the Art Galleries of Laibach, Austria, In a letter written to Rev. Father Akcn of Helena, Mont., from Vienna. Jan. 28. Bishop John B. Brondel says he expected then to leave soon . for Flanders, from where, after a visit of j several weeks, he will start for home. Tho Bishop is supposed to be now at i Bruges, his birthplace. In another letter let-ter the Bishop writes of some of the things he has seen in his travels on I the continent. He speaks in particular I : j- : : 7 1 "if T i t : fat'rMs BISHOP BRONDEL. of a wonderufl picture exhibited at the Church of the Annunziata, at Assisi, Italy.- In part, he says: "I left .Rome. Thursday, Jan. 18, and went to Assisi and said Mass before the remainis of. the poor of Christ St. Francis. Assisi is one of the mosjt ancient an-cient cities of Italy. It is situated on a mountain. On top of the mountain is an ancient fort, now unoccupied. The principal building is the convent and church of St. Francis, all built of stone and brick and most extensive. Most of the convent now is occupied by a government school, where lay teachers teach the orphans of the school teachers teach-ers of the kingdom of Italy. The upper up-per Church has just been restored in its j stalls which are many about 120 beautifully beau-tifully carved, with figures of Saints of the Order of St. Francis. These figures are worked in different . woods. The frescoes are all well preserved and give the life and miracles of the Saint. "I interrupted this letter to go and pee a most wonderful thing. Father Edward. O'Reilly of Dublin, Ireland, who was leaving the Duomo when I entered en-tered it this evening, told me that at the Church of the Annunziata was to j be seen the picture of the Virgin Mary painted by an angel, but that- it was only shown when a Bishop wishes to see it. So I aked him to go and fell the Servites that I would call at 6 o'clock that evening. He came for me while I was writing to you. and now i that I saw it I must tell you all about it. -I "We walked from my hotel, the Helvetia, about ten minutes, and reached reach-ed the place. It was dark, but there were quite a number of people still lingering lin-gering in the church part of them be-I be-I fore an altar where I saw more lights j than before the other fifteen altars. Fa. I ther O'Reilly paid rhe people here seem to have a special devotion for the Bles-! Bles-! sed Virgin at this altar. This one was j near the door of the Church. So we j went all around, and the Father said: I 'I wonder where the Sisters are.' A number of the English Sisters, of whom he is the temporary chaplain at Fiesoli, had come to see the picture, as it would be shown to me. Finally he found them in the sacristy. He called me in, and there were a number of the Servites, half a dozen of the Daughters of Mary, an Italian priest, an officer with his wife and some other ladies and gentlemen, who had ,been told they . had a chance to see the picture. We had to wait a quarter of an hour until the people had left the church, which was then closed. Then one curtain was drawn up. then another heavy one. and the priest said, 'Ave Maria Stella' with the prayers." Then he Phowed us wjth a light the miraculous figure of the Virgin m'ade by supernatural power; "History says that 'at a time when feven noblemen of Florence had begun a new . religious- order to honor the mother of Christ on Mount Serrano, they established themselves at this place in l.ri0. Two years later they a.sited a painter to make a picture of the Annunciation. He made one, but the last thing and what he dreaded most to paint was the face of Jesus' mother moth-er when the angel saluted her. After having received the sacra men-te of confession and communion, 'he went to work and behold, he found the face painted, but with such a beauty of heavenly love that, he cried out 'mira-; 'mira-; c!e.' and bunst into tears. Those near i him rah up to see what was the matter, mat-ter, and they saw, as we see today, a painting of the Virgin'? f aceN of which Michael Angelo said that no human pencil could make it. I know I trill never forget it. After seeing it, I looked at the face of. the angled painted by the artist, and it seemed to me like a shadow. After a while I could see that the face of the angel was well executed, ex-ecuted, though immensely inferior to that.-of the Virgin. 1 felt alone on the altar' looking at that picture, though twenty others were near me looking at that wonderful production." From Italy, Bishop Brondel went ' to Austria. While in rhe country he visited vis-ited the father and mother of Rev. Father Pirnat, pastor of the Catholic Church at Livingston, who. live at Laibach. Lai-bach. Writing from Vienna- Jan. 21, he eave: -4 "I forgot to mention that I saw in Laibach a number of the effects of the earthquake of 1SS5. "But what Catholicity there!" he continued. con-tinued. "We think a great deal of Flan-der's Flan-der's Catholicity, ye' here there is. I dare say, more. As I t-aid I was traveling travel-ing with the Bishop of Vienna, and almost everyone S3 luted his lordship with pride. Little children and old folks would run to the dor and kneel down to receive h:r blessing, even in tha muddy road. Crucifixes and chapejs meet your eye almost at every farm. . 'Yeeterday I saw the museum of j paintings and natural history of Vienna. Vien-na. Each museum covered -so vast 'an area that I grew weary; looking abaut them. I saw an aerolite -weighing 300 kilograms. "The museum of painting was by special spe-cial permit shown Ui3 after the hours appointed for visitors. We had an excellent ex-cellent 'guide. .The first rooms were all of the Flemish" school Rubens, Van Dyck, Teniers and so on. We also saw the German, Italian and Spanish productions pro-ductions Guido Reni, Carlo Dole (a copy of which I saw at Mrs. Fisk's), Perugini, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Murillo and others. An immense painting paint-ing ordered by the present emperor, Francis Joseph, represents the marriage mar-riage of the royal prince, Ludwig of Austria, to the Spanish princes, whereby where-by the crowds; of Austria and Spain were united.. The youthful princes tftarid there dn all their innocence before be-fore the altar. The Bishop marries them. The old emperor, with his crown on ln's head and imperial mantle on his shoulders, kneels on a prie dieu. Cardinals Car-dinals and Bishopij and kings and barons bar-ons witness the ceremonv. The names are given on a plan nearby of all the personages present at the marriage." REGULATIONS FOR LENT. During the approaching Lent, by special spe-cial Indult of the Holy Father, the fol lowing regulations will be observed in the Diocese of Helena: Flesh meat may be used at all meals on Sunday, and once each day at the j principal meal on the following days: j On all Mondays, Tuesdays and Tliurs-i Tliurs-i days. , . " . ' ... I on all Saturdays, except Saturday of ! Ember week and Holy Saturday. Flesh and fish are not allowed at the name intal. even on Sundays." But. by virtue of an Indult of the Sacred Penitentiary, Peni-tentiary, dated Jan. 9. 1893, persons dispensed dis-pensed from abstinence, on account of sickness, are free to eat flesh meat and fish at the same meal on fast days. . Custom tolerated by the Church permits per-mits coffee, tea or chocolate, with a small piece of bread, to be taken in the morning. . " . Cuctom allows the use of eggs, butter, but-ter, cheeese and milk, at the evening collation. The use of lard and drippings is permitted per-mitted in the preparation of abstinence food. When the principal meal cannot be taken at midday, it may be taken in the evening and the collation in the morning. The following persons are not obliged to fast, viz.: the sick and those in feeble fee-ble health; women nursing children: all who are engaged in laborious and exhaustive occupations; the young who have not completed their twenty-first year, and those who have reached the sixtieth year of their age. Those who are excused from fasting, i on account of age or hard labor, may us9 flesh meat more than once on the days on which it is allowed. By an Indult of Our Holy Father, Pius IX., the soldiers and sailors in the Unitid States service have only six days of abstinence during the year, viz.: Ash Wednesday, the last three days of Holy Week, the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blesr.ed Virgin Mary and the Vigil of Christmas. This dispensation does not exempt from the law of fasting. By another Indult of the 15th of March, 1S93, the Holy See has given, for ten years, to the Bishops of the United States the faculty of dispensing in favor of , working people from the law of abstinence on certain days. By virtue of this Indult and dispensation dispen-sation of Lent, working people are permitted per-mitted to us-e flesh meat once a day on all fast and abstinence days of the year, except Fridays. Ash Wednesday, Wednesday an Saturday in Holy Week and the Vigil of Christmas. The above dispensation is granted not only to working men and women, but ateo to their entire families. It is eminently in accordance with the spirit of the Church, that all those who use the dispensations from the fast and abstinence should supply, in part,' the spirit of p'enance, by prayer, and almsdeeds; by avoiding all public shows, parties and amusements, and by abstaining from" all iptoxicating beverages. - The Reverend Pastors will, with their usual zeal, afford every opportunity and faculty to their people of complying comply-ing with their religious obligations during dur-ing the Holy Season. The time of fulfilling the Paschal duty "extends from the first Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday, both included. The annual collection for the Indian and Negro Missions, will be made in all the churches of, the diocese on the first Sunday of Lent. The proceeeds will be forwarded as soon a. possible to the Chancellor. Dur Holy Father, the Pope, has enjoined en-joined that a collection be made in the various churches on Good" -Friday, or some other convenient day. for the Holy Places in Palestine in care of the Franciscan Fathers. These collections, as well as others mentioned In the Statutes of the Diocese, should be announced an-nounced one or two Sundays In advance. ad-vance. During the month of March, .after the 'usual prayers recited after Mais, the ! following prayer will be recited: j PRAYER; .TO ST. JOSEPH. , (His Holiness,, Leo XIH, Aug. 15, 1S9S.) j To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction, and, having implored the help of thy thrice holy Spouse, we now, with hearts filled with confidence, earnestly beg thee also to take u under thy protection. By that charity, wherewith thou weret united to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and by that fatherly love, with which thou didst cherish the Child Jesus, Je-sus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wilt l.n.k down with gracious eye upon that inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his bleed and wilt succor us in our need by thy power and strength. Defend. Oh most waiehful guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen offspring off-spring of Jesus Christ. Keep from us, O most loving Father, all blight of error er-ror and corruption. Aid us from on high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powr of darkness. And even as of old thmi didst rescue the Child Jesus from the peril of His life, so now defend God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Shield us ever under thy ratronage, that; imitating thy example and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a happy death, and attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen. Indulgence of 7 years and 7 quarantines quaran-tines each time this prayer is said. We also request the Reverend Clergy to read, in the vernacular, to the people, peo-ple, the gospel for each day during Lent, and that this he done at the Holy Mass every' morning. We order the above Lenten regulations regula-tions to he read and explained to the people on the Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday next. Given in Rome, Feb. 2d, moo. J. B. BROXDEL, Bishop of Helena. |