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Show T 1 THE MISSIONARY CHURCH. Commenting on n editorial in which a picture of the first church erected in St. Louis provoked inspiration, Father Cronin (pf the Catholic Union and Times says: y Oyhgood friend, "Phil" Corcoran, of the Inter-' mountain. Catholic, writes fervidly of the missionary mission-ary church in-America; and contrasting its apos- ..lolie. poverty, and - struggle with the co?riparaiv wealth and artistic surroundings of the Chip-.-;, here today, exclaims: "Give us bark the ni i i m -ary church the church of yesterday!" Yes, the church of the missionary period. Hii-'i ' has not yet all vanished from mcny border r- ajn; c of the republic, has materials for a splendid r ... ligious epic which might well dazzle and ;mi;t,,. the thoughtful mind. Those apostolic mm. ml,,.,,-in ml,,.,,-in their religious garbs of Jesuit black. I m:i i j i , - . n white, and Franciscan brown, were veritable I,. ,-,, . of the Cross which they bore in triumph r 1 1 f ;;; . untrodden forest and in frail canoe- over ,?.,,,, lake and rushing river. They were other Puti!- ;,!.; Xaviers who hungered for the gratification grnd passion that devoured them the i-en.p; of .souls to lay at the Master's feet. . .For this they left home and friend- ,n . 1 .. ' : i when life was fair and sweet; ami suffered , intense joy hunger and thirst and heat and : and nakedness: perils and privations on !,nd m i wave; and not seldom direst torture from .,-! va ingenuity and even death itself from the t, . , tomahn.wk. Oh. yes! They were not unworthy descend:", . of the chosen twelve. From the Penobs'Tn- i , ti . .Mohawk and from the Mohawk to the Mi i;;. ; they have 'evangelized the aborigines: and wf.-t- ; not for the rapacity of the cruel invader, -.-k- ', by the envy of bigotry, they would eventually hav.t "! civilized them. too. along the paths of peaee. ' Those missionary days were niarvelouslv v.ipp!. -mented by a band of really c-reat hi.-Jiops- v.-li.,-.. ; apostolic lives were an inspiration nr-nr and f.i:-and f.i:-and who, in the might of the Holy (i'iot, aec.j, plished wondrous results. They were men e--.. ' eially fitted by Providence for their greit inisj ,:i in the Xew World; for they were eminently vn1 1. ' men, noble by nature, of varied aecoiniilislim- n; . whose lips were inspired by the angI of eloquent , ) and whose example shone like a star amid the n;-- j rounding gloom of prejudice and misrepre.-ejy ., tion. j Those prelates, like the ('armlk the C'hevern-. ;' the Flagets and th England, were the Pauls of th,. j Xew World. They nobly supplemented the work j of the religious missionaries of our wilderness awd i have cultivated the gospel mustard seed planted h; these until it has grown to a towering tree whe.-e ? green branches have extended over all the conti- ! nent. . But with the marvelous growth of the Chun-li i in America new conditions have risen. She has doffed her missionary trappings without losing in aught her missionary spirit. She no longer calls her children to poor shanty churches at least in city and town. , Her sacred structures now rais. the Cross in spiral splendor to the "lofty ether f dim." Music, sculpture and painting lend thej-charms thej-charms to the embellishment of Christ's spouse on ; earth; and thus the fine arts lay tributes at the- feet of the Divine Author of the True, the Bcauti- ful and the Good who hath inspired them. i And so the poor, weakling Church of America. j nursed in the wigwam of the Indian and. battling J. amid the storm, has at last, through the mercy of J Him who ever giveth the increase, reached a degree of golden splendor phenomenal in the world's story. She ::o longer pules like a suffering bale; but rather stands erect with noble brow "a daugh- .., tor of the gods, divinelv tall and most divinelc fair!" |