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Show t& ?$ 4?S e5 $ $ $?$. sfr f DENVER. I 4 v " ? 4'- 4 S Office of The Inteimountain and Colorado Col-orado Catholic, 409 Charles Block, Curtis and Fifteenth Streets. Correspondence Cor-respondence for Rev. T. H. Malone should be addressed P. O. Box 1556, Denver, Colo. DEATH OF THE VENERABLE CATHEDRAL. I (Written for the Jntprmountain Catholic.) Denver. May 15. -The old St. Mary's Cathedral was last Saturday the scene of a memorial service such as has nev-' nev-' c-r before been held within its cracked and age-stained vails. A solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated, which, while it did honor t the memory of all the dead clergymen clergy-men who had labored in the parish, i-eemed to include in its mourning the md ol the structure itself. Every pillar pil-lar was draped in black, as were altars ii lid pews. I The music was in accord with the Mirit of the occasion, and Rev. Father Call.'uian, who preached the sermon, paid reverent tribute to the building. The service began at 9:30 o'clock. Father Fa-ther Phillips was celebrant and was assisted by Fathers Casey and Duffy 4iS deacon and sub-deacon, respectively, respective-ly, lit. J lev. Bishop Matz was also present pres-ent in the sanctuary. The church was w'l tilled with the parishoners. who serried to appreciate the significance of the service. The Mass was offered up particularly for Bishop Mach?nbeuf aii'l Ke . i- atners Kaseray, uriscou, llurke, Lyons and Sullivan. They had toiled for this building and with its tiisi ruction it was but titling- that they should be ivmembeied. Yesterday they were dead, just as the .i church will soon be. Today they will live in the immory of those who know them for what they did, .lust as St. Mary's dying yesterday will yet live on in the new struct arc . be erected. Father Callanan preached the sermon, ser-mon, saying, in jart: j "Tomorrow we shall be assembled lor the last time within the walls of this vvnerable church. The scene will then inspire hope and jubilation. Altars Al-tars and vestments in crimson and pold. evergreen entwined with the rose, i!;e liiy. the lilac ami the columbine, will sneak to us of joy and triumph, j "The scene, however, in which we take pari this morning calls up lemin-isi-tncc:-: the most tender, and memory carries us back into the -past where, like music, it fills our souls with mingled min-gled feeiitiKS of joy and sadness. F.rty long years ago this now fading fad-ing edifice stood like a sentinel out in the plains, and every brick in its walls preached to the miner on the banks: of Cherry creek of the vanity of his j eag. r pursuit after wealth, and like j angels, trumpet-tongued, urged him to lay up riches. in a home "where thieves' do not break through nor sttal.' "In those pioneer drys, when buck and mortar were as rare in Denver as in an Indian village, this antiquated building was a tower of respectability and strength. F.ut soon, aias! iiie the oid schoolmaster in the "Deserted Village," Vil-lage," all its fame will be past and j pone, aod the very spot where many j it lime it triumphid will pass into ob-j livion. The Denver of Us youth and vigor has grown into the proud city of today, and long since trade's ur.feel- ing train has been clamoring around j its tottering walls. Corinthian domes. palatial residences, smoothly paved, thoroughfares electricity and steam in their multiplied forms, have rele- j ratci to ih( nast the lotr cabins, the dugouts and the ox-carts that were the companions of its earlier years; but emid these varying scenes of wealth and splendor and civilization this time-honored time-honored church has stood in its Isolation Isola-tion like an aged prophet, exclaiming to its pretentious neighbors, Vanity oi vanities andil is vanity.' "And this mornintr. my dear friends, as its hour of dissolution is fast ap- ; preaching, we are gathered like child- j ren around the bed of . dying parent j to treasure up in our hearts its parting exhortations. Words, indeed, on this; Mjlen'iii occasion, stem to fvrate on our j ears. The mournful drapery that ev- : ci.wvhfre metis our eye invites us to I .'ih re. The ceremonies in their very! simplicity Hre sublime and the spirits, of our (i.-oarted friends seem to hover in our midst. In our mental vision we behol i tiieio this morning revisiting! ihe seen?? of their zeal and labors, their sorrows and their joys. The venerable ven-erable bishoi. who abandoned his home in sunny France for the perilous life of a missionary in the Rockies leads ih - train. For him as for no other ev- ry brick in this structure, every seat in this interior, every step on this altar must have a fascination ur.eo.uaied. Side by side stands his faithful vicar i-'eneral and hle-Iong companion, Father Fa-ther Faverdv. whoso zeal, like the ...' river, v?s strong without rage, without overflowing full', i "And thin follow ponio later laborers in the vineyard of Christ, who, like' ! l.lo. n ing flowers, w re stricken down ! i-i the noonday of life by consumption's ; bi'ling frost. Fathers Durke. O'Dris- el!. Doyle and laier my two predecessors predeces-sors and never-to-be-forgotten friends, the ,-noir.a of whose virtues is Still in our midst Fathers Lyons and Suili- ii. "And if we may reasonably expect that the shepherds of the flock take an int. test in thtse lites today, may we not also hope that the vouls to whom lb. e ministered in days gone by are not indifferent tj our own surrounding.-. Which of you here present has not some near and dear relative or companion commemorated in the Requiem Re-quiem services this morning? And do you not seem to behold them in the long train of departed ones that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb? j D you not recognize among them a kind, self-sacrificing father, a tender, loving mother ,a darling child, an af-Jectc-'nate spouse, a devoted brother or sister, a cherished friend? Do they not now gaze upon you, some in ecstacy of celestial bliss, some with a glance of doleful supplication, exclaiming, in the I words of Job. "Have pity on me, have I pity on me, at least you my friends, for J the har.d of the Lord hath touched me . "May- God grant, dearly beloved, that this piteous appeal may not fall upon deaf ears, and may the resolution inspired in-spired by the touching services of today be never to forget those departed friends who so often, like "ourselves, ; sat in those pews and approached these altar rails to be refreshed with the j blood of their tueharistic Savior; but who, unlike you. were cairied from this ' sanctuary to the cold. Silent grave,! where their bodies will await the great day when Gabriel's trumpet will sound the knell of this busy, feverish world." Last Sunday St." Mary's Cathedral was crowded to the doors, and the throng stood out to the edge of the street in the endeavor to catch some word of the solemn Pontificial High Mass of thankfulness which marks the passing away of the old Church. It was the last service, and a tinge of melancholy pervaded the whole, even , though the" music carried the joyful note of Faster and meant to express a spirit of thankfulness, a low sigh of regret re-gret escaped involuntarily, hovered over the bowed hesds of the congregation congrega-tion and clung like an invisible hand drawing the mind back into the past, and with a sob of farewell, begs not to be forgotten. - .- . It was the sentiment, Jiving spirit of the old Cathedral, made human from years of close communion with the people. peo-ple. For forty years it had been a refuge to the suffering, who have brought their sorrows, their burdened hearts and careworn minds into the holy calm of its interior and gone out refreshed and strengthened to meet with a conquering force the struggle with the world. Homely and weather-beaten weather-beaten in appearance, it has stood for years like a rock of safety in the midst of the turmoil in the neart of the business busi-ness life of the city, its doors never closed to those who wished to find comfort com-fort within. And today will begin the work of removing it stone by stone from its foundation, its altars laid bare of their holy symbols and vestments and all signs of a structure held dear to thousands because its close connection connec-tion with the best and highest emo tions of their nature will be swept away and become but a memoiy. No wonder that the old walls seemed to exhale a melancholy which permeated perme-ated and surrounded tho note' of thanksgiving. The windows were open to the soft, warm air of the morning, which crept in with a soothing breath, moving gently the boughs of the old I elms, whose fresh green leaves rustled softly and sighed, too, for they, too, must fall with the Cathedral and the strong current of life which sent out to greet the spring, a renewal, a resurrection, resur-rection, a joy and hope to all, seemed to have been put tortn in ain. nut the people caught the note and a throb of gratitude sent a response of appreciation appre-ciation for the day and its beauty, which made this last service one to be remembered as long as. they lived. After it was over the crowds left slowly. There was no pushing or hurrying hur-rying to get out into the air, which usually propels an audience on such a perfect day. It was the last time they would be there and they reluctantly hung back, loathe to leave the place. Many stayed in their seats and conned their prayer books deaf to everything J but the silence that the memory of the past environed them, and the devout thoughts which held them. Bishop Matz was assisted in the service ser-vice by Father Phillips as master of ceremonies. Father Callahan, Father Casey and Father Duffy. In his last words to the people the bishop went back to the early history of the cathe-i dral and spoke of its struggles and how from a handful of Catholics in the state the numbers had grown from between 60.000 to 70,000. He touched lightly on the recriminations that had made the work of getting rid of the parish debt so much more difficult to accomplish, and how It had now emerged so gloriously from its burdens. He hoped it would b a warning in the future for the people peo-ple not to criticise, see that all was for, ; the best and to put their shoulders to the wheel and help carry on the noble projects outlined for the future. The time for closing had to come. One by nn the old parishioners slipped away, furtively wiping away the tears that would come in spite of all effort to crush them back. It was then the turn of the photographers. They came in ard set up their tripods and took views of ihe altars, sachristy and body of the church. It was after 2 o'clock before they were gone and the old place was silent forever to the tread of the myriads my-riads who have thronged it in the past. The sexton came over from the parish r.ouse ana turned tne key m the aoor. The simple ceremony closed the cathedral's ca-thedral's history, and today the cast) from the brick and mortar will indicate indi-cate the work of demolition. The wrecking of St. Mary's' began I Monday morning. I How different and how much easier to tear down this little church than in was to rear it. Those who know its fy' story, and there are few in Denver who do not know something of it. would say to the wreckers: "Work with reverent hands. There is not a tile upon that roof that cost not many tears; nor a brick in those old walls but was bought with great labor and cemented with sacrifice ' The history of the church is the his-i j tory of Catholocism in Colorado, and j as insignificant as this building as it i now stands is. in comparison with its I name, "cathedral." yet it was not at ! first even such as it is now. j Its history is comprised in a series ; of additions. First, a bare, oblong, j one-story, store-like building on the I plains, with a bell swung on a derrick j in front. Later the aisles were added; later still the steeple, the belfry and I the finials, until it stands as it does j today. The original church was built in 1S60, and the first services were held Christinas Christ-inas night in thai year. Women, Protestant Pro-testant and Catholics, loaned their curtains cur-tains and artificial flowers to deck the i altar. The building had just been com- j pined by the tireless energy of Father j Aiaeneuoeui, jater oisnop. Jt stood on the outskirts of Denver. The furtherest residences were at Seventeenth and Curtis streets, on the present site of the Ernest & Cranmer building. This was the home of Judge Amos Steck. j The only other brick buildings in the city at the time the church was completed com-pleted were the mint and a brick storo buiiding at Fifteenth and Blake occupied oc-cupied by the D. D. White company. Three buildings and the "commissary" building on the west side were used as places of refuge by the people of tha city during periods when Indian out-j out-j breaks were feared. So far out was the church that no one thought of fleeing to it on that memorable evening in 1SC4, when "Rill" Shotridge, a youth with chalky face, galloped into town to announce that the Indians were coming. com-ing. The people found refuge in the I commissary building, those who lived on the west side, where Ferrv street, i now Eleventh street, was the business street and in the store buildings and mint on Blake street. And they joked and still joke on the weapons the men took with them, rifles, hatchets, pitch-, forks, rocks, bows and arrows every-i thing and anything to be found hastily. Rut the best joking came after it was found out by the scouts and sentinels posted about the outskirts and in the barricaded streets that "Bill" Shot-ridge's Shot-ridge's Indians were nothing more than a band of drunken Mexican drovers driving their herd north. The pistoi an I rifle shots Shotridge heard was the snapping of their whips. Those were stirring, exciting times, and though the little church had small concern with these Indian scares and other threatened calamities, it will easily be seen from the condition ofl the times, when men took more thought for preserving their lives than for saving sav-ing their souls, what vicissitudes it suf fered. But it prospered. In 1869 it had grown so in membership member-ship that It was necessary to enlarge it. and in that year and in 1870 the side aisles were added and the spire in 1872. In 3S70 the present bishop's hous adjoining was began. Previous to that Father Machebeuf had lived in a small "lean-to" back of the church, now part of the vestry, and later in a small wooden house on the site of the present bishop's mansion. The church has been altered little since that time beyond ti e usual repairs. rhe church almost immediately 'after its completion began to be mingled in-dissoluably in-dissoluably with the lives of its parishioners. par-ishioners. The first baptism was performed per-formed in June. 1860. The first marriage mar-riage was performed in the church on Feb. 11, 1861. The records of the church ever since and they are long and voluminous set forth these three important events in the lives of its parishioners baptism marriage amd death. The little weather-stained weather-stained cathedral has long been an object ob-ject of veneration, for it has bocom the depository and the recorder of the most important events in the lives of a large number of citizens of Denver-from Denver-from the cradle to the crave. DENVER NEWS. Kev- Father pWiPS, Chancellor of the Diocese of Denver and Rv Father A. Ryan, pastor of St. Deo's church, left over the Rio Grande Sunday Sun-day night for a week's vacation in the mountains. - Frank J. McGovern, son of Coroner McGovern of 233S Grant avenue, died at his home last Monday morning. The cause of his death was tuberculosis, from which he has suffered for over a year. He has been seriously ill for some time and his death was not unexpected. un-expected. A year ago last Christmas, he contracted a severe cold which developed de-veloped into pneumonia, finally leaving leav-ing the patient's lungs in bad condition. condi-tion. He was sent to Manitou last summer sum-mer and spent last winter in Arizona. The deceased was an exemplary young man ana captain or Marquette Commandery, Knights of St. John, which order participated in the funeral services which were held at Logan avenue chapel last Wednesday morning morn-ing The Intermountain Catholic extends to the son owing family its deepest sympathy. R. T. P. Miss Emma M. Herey, county superintendent super-intendent of schools, is attending the I state meeting at Trinidad and will not return for several days. Miss Catherine Julia Murphy, daughter of Mr. Cornelius Murphy of 2325 Pennsylvania avenue, was buried from Logan avenue chapel last Tuesday Tues-day morning. Miss Bridget Dural died at St. Catherines' Cath-erines' Home, 1600 California street last Monday. James L Burns, aged 67 years, was buried from the Annunciation church last Wednesday. The L. C. B. A. and C. M. 13. A. attended at-tended the funeral of C. J. Hickev at St. Elizabeth's church last Sunday. Miss Ella and May Mulien gave a dancing party Monday evening in farewell fare-well to Miss Elizabeth Schaeffer and .Mr. Peter Schaeffer, who left the following fol-lowing Thursday for Southern California. Califor-nia. The house was handsomely decorated decor-ated and music and refreshments were irreproachable. Among the guests were Misses Rene Pels, Nellie Toovey, Wanda Gottesleben. Arine Chittenden, Margaret Carpenter. Charlotte Becker, Canard. Misses Thornburg, Misses Shevnin; Messrs. Dennis Miller, George Faircloth, Martin. Pels. Thornburg, Dostal. McGinnis and others. I Miss Mamie E. Russell, niece of the late R. N. Russell of St. Francis de Salis Paris and Mr. Louis T. Sieka of St. Leo's Parish, are to be married on June 20th. The banns of matrimony were published pub-lished for the first time last Sunday, between Mr. Charles Blair and Miss Mary L. Johnson. The judges at the oratorical contest con-test which took place at the Sacred Heart school last Thursday evening, were Rev. Father Callannan, Auditor Keating and Robert E. Bell We will give an account of the contest con-test in our next week's issue. - . ... . - Miss Kate Maher a popular High School girl, has left Denver to take a school for the summer. ' Miss Winnie Mc-Kinnon of South Pearl street, has been quite ill. The Young Ladies'. Sodality and The Altar and Rosary Society, met together to-gether in Logan avenue chapel last Sunday afternoon and heard a brief instruction by Rev. Father Callanan, spiritual director of both societies. Miss Kirrigan, assistant librarian of the Young Ladies' Sodality has left Denver and is greatly missed by her many friends. P After May 20 there will he four I masses at Logan avenue chapel, in-! in-! stead of three, as heretofore. Instead of masses at 7, 9 and 10:30 o'clock in ! the morning, the hours of service will be 7, 8:30. J:30 and 11. This is an experimental ex-perimental arrangement, subject to change. At the down town hall, at Eighteenth I and Champa streets, the hour of ser-! ser-! vice will be changed from 6, 7:30 to 0:30 only. There will be no evening services except at the Logan avenue chapel. Last Friday, Governor Thomas appointed ap-pointed Rev. Thomas H. Malone a delegate to the International Prisons' Convention to be held at Brussels in I August. L. C. B. A. St. Mary's branch 298. L. C. B. A., gave their card party Tuesday evening. even-ing. May 8, at their hall, 322 Charles block. As is always the case, it was a grand success. Ten new applications were sent in and lots more to come. How is that for St. Mary's branch of the L. C. B. A.? Don't you think it's asleep. It will be the leader yet. We have Mrs. Mary S. Wirtz in our midst and it is due to her that we have so many members. The ladies in charge thank one and all for their kind help In making the society a success. Come and join the L. C. B. A. It is cheap and has lots of money to back It; a good time at all times and a Mass for its members every month. This Mass is said by Rev. Father Callanan on the second Tuesday of the month. .Don t forget, we meet at 322 Charles block, on the second and fourth Tuesdays Tues-days of every month. |