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Show I COMING OF REDE MPTTONIST FATHERS. I The Encyclopoodic Dictionary defines a "Mis- I Bion" to be "The holding of special services in any I particular parish with the view of stirring up the I ' people to a more active spiritual life." We can- I . not accept the definition as altogether correct, for f a mission in the Catholic sense mean the prescn- I tat ion, in language vigorous and emphatic, of the 1 revealed word of God, the destiny of the lmman 1 soul, and the end for which God created man. f This exposition from the revelation from God to man leads to confession and repentance of sin, of restitution of that unjustly acquired, forgiveness i of those who have wronged or injured us, a solemn resolution to lead a clean life, and, with God's holy assistance obtained by prayer and the sacraments, ' attain to the eternal reward of the just man. Although the importance of these periodical i spiritual revivals, as we may fairly term them, has 1 .; long been recognized in Europe, it is only in coni- ' paratively late years that their, value has been s : appreciated in the United States. At the present I time, as everybody knows, the holding of missions I is one of the most important and highly valued I i agencies in use amongst us. Indeed, some of the I , f Religious Orders and Congregations devote them- i selves almost exclusively to this work the Domin- icans, Eedemptorisls and Passionists being thus chiefly engaged. I It has been a special providence of God in the ! last sixty years to have raised up in our country j bands of missionaries to afford special facilities j j for Catholics to hear the gospel preached and to ; approach the sacraments of salvation. The work I of modern missions was inaugurated by that great I i saint and doctor of this age, St. Alphonsus, who I founded the Society of the Most Iligh Redeemer, j of which the two eloquent and devout priests, now I with us, are members. . The exercises of the mission given by the Re-demptorists Re-demptorists fathers were begun in the cathedral on the morning of Sunday, October 16, and will terminate tomorrow with Pontifical Mass and the I ! Papal Benediction. I If our space permitted us we would like to write I in detail of the impressive and eloquent sermons J "'f these zealous and scholarly priests sermons, I clear and convincing in argument, forceful and J feeling in language and delivery, earnest and fear- 1 ' less in the presentation of God's revelation to man, j and, above all, marked by a practical adaptation I to the hopes and expectations of every class of 1 listeners. i The crowds which, morning and evening, as sembled, in the cathedral, that surrounded the confessionals con-fessionals practically all day; that many times tilled the communion rails at the daily masses, were consoling assurances of the unwearied and successful labors of these Apostolic priests. This mission will mark an epoch in the history of the parish, and it will always be gratefully re- j membered by many for whom it was, perhaps, the- entrance to a better life. - |