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10 THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION.
of America in Washington. Its inauguration very appropriately
follows this centennial celebration: As to purely ecclesiastical
studies, the Bishop deemed himself most: fortunate in having the
good Sulpitian Fathers to direct them. Though loving intensely
the Society of Jesus, he was too great and broad a man to have any
of that exclusive order pride which would restrict perfection to any
. organization. He saw the great kingdom of God on earth, His
Church, with its wonderful unity and variety, moving onward in its
great mission. The perfect spirit of the secular priesthood was
exhibited in the Sulpitian; that of the religious in the Jesuit; the
union of both was shown forth in laying the great foundations or
the Catholic Church in these states.
The jurisdiction of the new Bishop extended over the entire
country, but he soon found it impossible, because of the increase of
Catholics and the great distance of the places, and difficulties of
travel, as well as his advanced age, to faithfully guard so scattered
a flock. The Bishops who, in 1810, were appointed to aid him in
the great work were apostolic men animated by his own spirit, like
the sainted Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown; Egan, of Philadelphia;
and Cheverus, of Boston. It would be, of course, impossible in
this discourse to give you an adequate idea of the marvelous prog-
ress of religion during the twenty-five years of the episcopal life of
Archbishop Carroll. The results are thus summed up by our admir-
able church historian, Dr. Gilmary Shea:
‘‘ When Archbishop Carroll resigned to the hands of his Maker
his life and the office he had held for a quarter of a century the
Church, fifty years before so utterly unworthy of consideration to
mere human eyes, had become a fully organized body instinct with
life and hope, throbbing with all the freedom of a new country. An
archbishopric and four suffragan sees, another diocese beyond the
Mississippi, with no endowments from princes or nobles, were
steadily advancing; churches, institutions of learning and charity all
arising by the spontaneous offerings of those who in most cases were
manfully struggling to secure a livelihood or modest competence.
The diocese of Baltimore had theological seminaries, a novitiate and
scholasticate, colleges, convents, academies, schools, a community
devoted to education and works of mercy; the press was open to dif-
fuse Catholic truth and refute false or perverted representations. In >
Pennsylvania there were priests and churches through the mountain
districts to Pittsburgh, and all was ripe for needed institutions. In
New York Catholics were increasing west of Albany, and it had been
shown that a college and an academy for girls would find ready sup-
port at the episcopal city, where a Cathedral had been commenced
before the arrival of the long-expected Bishop. In New England
the faith was steadily gaining under the wise rule of the pious and
charitable Bishop Cheverus. In the west the work of Badin and
Nerinckx, seconded and extended by Bishop Flaget, was bearing its
fruit. There was a seminary for priests, communities of Sisters were
forming, and north of the Ohio the faith had been revived in the old
French settlements, and Catholic immigrants from Europe were
visited and encouraged. Louisiana had been confided to the zealous
and active Bishop Dubourg, destined to effect so much for the
Church in this country. Catholicity had her churches and priests
in all the large cities from Boston to Augusta, and westward to St.
Louis and New Orleans, with many in smaller towns, there being at
least a hundred churches and as many priests exercising the minis-
try. Catholics were free; the days of penal laws had departed; pro-
fessions were open to them, and in most states the avenue to all
public offices. In the late war with England they had shown their
patriotism in the field and on the waves.’’
For the seventy-five years that have passed since the death ot
the first American Archbishop, the Hierarchy of the country, backed
by devoted priests and faithful, generous people, have continued the
great work. .
In the Hierarchy, during these years, appeared men who were
remarkable in a new and missionary country, and would have been
remarkable in any country and age—men like Archbishop Francis
Patrick Kenrick, of this See, the greatest of our dead ecclesiastics
as his brother of St. Louis is the greatest amongst our living ones.
There were Bishop England, Archbishop Hughes, Bishop Michael
O’Connor, Archbishops Spalding and Purcell, and the great apostolic
men, Bishops Bruté, Cheverus, Flaget, Timon, Neumann, and Wood.
Nor should we forget the gentle, eloquent and prudent first Ameri-
can Cardinal, McCloskey, of New York.
If I speak of the episcopate especially, it is only because this is
the centennial celebration of its establishment. Otherwise I would
not omit the great name of Monsignor Corcoran. I cannot, of
course, forget that as generals cannot gain victories unless sustained
by able officers and soldiers, neither could the episcopate of the
country unless the devoted priests, secular and regular, sustained
them. ‘The great religious orders and congregations did their noble
work here. The sons of St. Ignatius, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St.
Benedict, St. Alphonsus, St. Augustine, St. Vincent of Paul, St.
Paul of the Cross and St. Paul the Apostle, and others have
bravely sustained the episcopate, whilst the devoted secular clergy,
who for years endured untold labor and poverty, were the most
numerous and powerful of all the actors in the Church's progress.
We rejoice to behold here to-day so many representatives of these
elements of power. But what could Bishops and priests effect with-
out you, ‘‘ourjoy and ourcrown,’’ the devoted, generous, intelligent
laity of the United States? To you and yours God sent us. For you
and yours the Catholic ecclesiastic makes every sacrifice of human
ambition and human love. These sacrifices you have appreciated
and you have nobly sustained us.
We are glad to behold you here to-day in such vast numbers
and with so much genuine enthusiasm. And on this great historic
occasion you must not be mere observers, but we trust your repre-
sentatives will speak out freely and fearlessly in the lay congress
which forms so interesting a feature in this centennial celebration:
You know how false is the charge of the enemies of the Church that
you are priest-ridden.
It is now time that an active, educated laity should teke and
express interest in the great questions of the day affecting the
Church and society. I believe there is not in the world a more
devoted laity than we have in the Church of these states, I find, too,
that the best educated amongst them, and notably the converts, are
sound on the great questions of the day and loyal to the Church.
We should bear in mind, too, the great work done by the laity as
publicists and editors during the past century; done by men like the
great Dr. Brownson, for great he certainly was; by the disinterested,
impulsive, and talented McMaster; the polished Dr. Huntington; by
that most, devoted martyr, as I may term him, to Catholic journal-
ism, Patrick Vincent Hickey, of the Catholic Review, and others
whom time will not permit to mention in detail. By the united
action of Bishops, priests, and laymen we have results of progress in
the last century, the statistics of which are truly astonishing. And °
what is particularly remarkable is the fact that in the section of the
country where opposition to the Church was most deep and violent,
the progress was greatest. I allude to the New England states.
Within the memory of the present Metropolitan of Boston, that is,
about sixty years ago, New England had but one: Bishop, two
priests and two public places of worship. She has now one.Arch-
bishop, six Bishops, 942 priests, and 619 churches, with private
chapels, colleges, schools, and benevolent institutions, and population
in proportion. Those who do not desire the progress of the Catholic
Church should never persecute her. The general statistics of the
Church during the century are, briefly, as follows:
_ When Bishop Carroll was consecrated, in 1790, the entire popu-
lation of the United States was a little less than 4,000,ooo—the
Catholic population was estimated at about 40,000; thirty priests
ministered to this scattered flock. ‘There was not a single hospital
or asylum throughout the land. The churches were only the
few modest houses of worship erected in Catholic settlements chiefly
in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Georgetown College just then
founded, was the only Catholic seat of learning in the country.
Glance at the present, The population of the United States
has grown within a century from 4,000,000 to 65,000,000 peo-
ple; the progress of the Church has more than kept pace with the
material development of the country. There is now embraced within
the territory of the United States a Catholic population of about
9,000,000. There are thirteen Archbishops and seventy-one Bishops
8,000 priests, 10,500 churches and chapels, twenty-seven seminaries
exclusively devoted to the training of candidates for the sacred min-
ist there are 650 colleges and academies for the higher education
° the youth of both sexes, and 3,100 parish schools. There are 520
hospitals and orphan asylums. What is of immense importance is
et her Spirit has in nothing degenerated. She is alive to-day
iin :. ome enersy and fecundity that will continue to multiply
The remarkable statistics
consider the antagonism of the
Catholic Church. The objecti
quoted become marvelous when we
great majority of the people to the
C ons to it were those urged b
pagans in the first century of Christianity, first its supposed cot
a ‘ aims and exclusiveness. Christianity was not content to have
teen apy a piace amongst the deities of the Pantheon, but de-
ot een, He, and He alone, was the true God. This was deemed
oo Ree e gods of the Empire. Here was the Catholic Church,
‘W in numbers and so weak in influence, boldly claiming that