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Show POPE LEO AN EXAMPLE TO j CHRISTIANS. (By Archbishop Corrigon in the New York Journal.) We need go no further than the present pres-ent Sovereign Pontiff to find a shining example of a supreme pastor who discharges dis-charges all the duties toward the entire en-tire flock of Christ. Of this statement his whole Pontificate is a luminous j proof. But apart from his quality of infallible teacher, he is bound to us by a dearer tie. He is the common father j of tha faithful; we are his spiritual children. A'notable circumstance in relation to our Holy Father is his great tenacity of life as proved by hist rapid recovery after a surgical operation, certainly critical for one of his advanced years and his unimpaired intellectual vigor. These are truly remarkable" in a nonagenarian. non-agenarian. Month after month we hear of new-measures new-measures undertaken by him for the 1 good of the Universal church, and of ; his unwearied activity in pushing everything ev-erything that contril'iit.s to the cultivation culti-vation of the intellec t, the training of ! the heart and the extension .if t!v j kingdom of our L,,rd J-sus Christ. ! " mv last visit to :,.. it Xv as mv good forum.- t, attend sol. run vvspei't in St. Peter's chun i on the- foast of the holy apostles. IVter and Paul. From time immemorial the Konians I have be.-.n a.-eustonu-d to visit St. Peter's on tiiat anmvcrMtrv. On the great feasts of the y. ir. sueh as Christ- I mas. Eas-ter. IVn,ie.-o-.t. the Basilica is filled with pious pi!-rims from minv lands, with tourists, sights-vrs and foreigners for-eigners in general; but by St. Pter's day, an a. rule, the xvarrn weather has set in, tho tide of travel has taken another an-other direction, and the Romans have' the shrine .,f their Patron Saint ail to thems.'ves. In l.yin the fe;ist t". 11 on, a Sunday, and the crowds of d.-xnut wor-:hii:. wor-:hii:. rs st enie-'l to . , rx-,.n larger than usual, ci mprising students of all the national c. dirges, n pies -ntatives of religious re-ligious orders, in th.'ir varied and picturesque pic-turesque costumes, anil an immense as-s.mblagM as-s.mblagM ,,f the .,itv i,th s .x,.4 m h( liday attire. All ears were waiting Tor the- hymn of the dav namely, the well-known hymn of Elpidia.. in honor of the apostles: O happy Komi-: mndo liolv now I !- these txv.. manors' gtilorious Wood; ; Earths I, est ami fairest ciri.x I...xv t'y thy superior) ei-iiins shImIii.iI. fVr thou alon.i are worth tiieni ail, ('lty of Marytrs: 'I ;nm alone Canst che.r our pilgrim hearts, and call Mho Savior's .hop to Piter's throng As t'he choir .-Mig over and over again the word ! -( R. ma feiix"0 happv Home! conseei ated by the glori;us bUo'i of tne twin Apos-tlfs - tV:n!! t pride and exultation stirred the entire multitude. multi-tude. Again and again the phrase. "O happy R.me!" re-sounded in the unrivalled unriv-alled temple, beneath the soaring deme, "to Which Diana's marvel was a shell,''' and a9 the triumphant music floated in the air the w hole history of the Eternal Eter-nal City pansed before the mind a- in a panorama with its long night of Pagan persecution, the final overthrow of idolatry, the rise on, it ruins of a new and Chriritian civilization, and the fostering care of the Sovereign Pontiffs, Pon-tiffs, century after century. a--i the guardian.-; of religion,, the patron, protectors pro-tectors and promoters of education, the arts and t'he sciences. But for the zeal and patriotism of th- Popes. Kome would have been long ago what Tyre and Sidon arrd Thebes are today. "O happy Pome:" continued the hymn, "earth's bfist and fairest cities, bow, by thy eu per U.r ciainv subdued." Half an hour later the immenso crowds had disappeared, the heavy portals por-tals were closed, and silence reigned supreme in trie vast Basilica. "Th i-hadeis of night were falling, making mill more conspicuous, the hundred lamps that eve r burn before the ehrine of the Anostles. And now the silence is broken by th voiie cf Pope Leo, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pon-tiff, who has come as if by stealth, with, only a few attendants, to recite the Divine Di-vine Office, and pour out his soul in prayer before t'he tonub of the firwt Pope. For nearly two- hours the Holy Father renaainn kneeling before the- shrine, a suppliant f r mercy, be wailing with sighs and a florj.l of to.irs. Kk the prophet of old, tlhe offence" of the people, peo-ple, and beeechiing the Almighty to withdraw from.u. the weight of Hi wrath which our sins have juftly de- served. The Catholic Hierarchy has now been etitablirfhed in this country over a hun- I dred yeais. In all that period can a single syllable be adduced emanating t. from the Reman Pontiff for the purpose I of directing our ballots? Danger t. the republic can never come from Catholic I i while 'they remain faUhful to their re- t ligion, which, in the language of St. ' Paul, teaches obedience to constituted authorities, and, in the words of St. I. Augustine, inculcates "Charity toward I all and malice to nrme." I The signs of the timos sliow danger i signals in the fat rising flood of so- ' cialism and anarchy, and thinking men, tlhe wortd over find the greatest bulwark bul-wark against these dangers in the conservative con-servative principles and doctrine of the Catholic Church. The reigning Pontiff the civilized, world hais learned to admire and revera as the friend cf the laboring cl'isrjes: as v the champion of the down-tredden &lav; i in darkest; Africa; as the patron and. ' lover of history, of arts and letters: an the pacificator of nations, "us a lig'ht from Heaven." |