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Show "PROCLAIMING THE FAITH." An imposing event destined to shed luster and iprlory on a great city and a great Dominion merits . ' fl much more elaborate treatment than may lie accorded it , in the editoriol columns col-umns o' a weekly newspaper. The sol-" sol-" ; cran anc miversal profession of. faith in the Hoi I itery of Christ's Most Adorable Body' j and Bio ; :e made in the metropolitan city of i -Mont rea ;, O.u i, on the closing ofthe Eucharis-tic Eucharis-tic Congrc-vj. uiday, September 11, will mark an . ... epoch in the Catholic history of the Dominion of Canada. We are living, not in an era, but in a day, of wonderful Catholic enthusiasm; in a time of great meetings organized to proclaim Catholic belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; in the actuality of His dwelling among us in every Catholic Church and oratory in the world, and in the saving efficacy of the doctrines He taught and the examples He left us. Last September two years ago, England witnessed wit-nessed the most- wonderful meeting of Catholic prelates, of Catholic noblemen and people, ever assembled since pre-Iteformation times. It was a congress of believers, recalling the days of faith wlien bishops, dukes, barons, priests and people ended their deliberations with professions of faith and "Te Deums." Then look at New York's centennial celebration, when 40,000 Catholics marched up Fifth avenue; Chicago's memorable and wonderful "turnout" on behalf of Catholic Total Abstinence, Boston's extraordinary demonstration in honor of the Holy Name of Jesus, and the parades of the Holy Name Societies in Newark, New Orleans and other cities of the union. But the coining Montreal Eucharistie Congress Con-gress will, in numbers, in distinguished names, in religious pomp and ceremony, and as a great and, in America, unique ecclesiastical spectacle, outclass any religious demonstration ever witnessed on the North American continent. And Montreal knows how, fittingly and becomingly, becom-ingly, to stage great ceremonies. She is accustomed accus-tomed to entertain lavishly and to surroud religious reli-gious occasions with all the pomp, dignity and ceremonial rite of 'Rome itself. Here, for generations, gen-erations, the wonderful processions and adorations of Corpus Christi have been held and practiced, the national feasts of the Holy Family and St. John, the Baptist, annually celebrated and St. Patrick's Pat-rick's day duly and enthusiastically honored by Irish and French. It is pf supreme importance to remember that the motives of the first Eucharistie Congress, as-. sembled in the city of Lille, France, in 1881, was to deepen love for our Lord Jesus Christ, present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar; to assert as-sert His Kingship and His sovereign rights by public proclamation, and. by solemn manifestation, to draw attention to the antiquity of the faith of Christians bearing on the reality of the presence among men of the incarnate Son of God. These are the reasons 'why the Congress will meet in Montreal Mon-treal early in September, and it was for this that all Eucharistie Assemblies have been convened for the past thirty years. v It will be of interest to our readers to learn that, beginning with that of Lille, in 1S81, these splendid Catholic demonstrations have been witnessed wit-nessed at Avignon (1882), Liege( 1883), Friburg (1885), Toulouse (1S86), Paris (1888), Antwerp (1800), Jerusalem, 1893), Kheims (1894), Paray (1897), Brussels (1S98), Lourdes (1899), Angers (1900), Namur (1902), Angouleme (1904), Roma (1903), Toumai (1900), Metz (1907), London-(1908), London-(1908), Cologne (1909). |