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98 EDMUND IGNATIUS RICE.
in the cathedral, with a suitable oration on the occasion, as
such were duly befitting the memory of him who had been
so great a benefactor to his country. The Brothers grate-
fully acquiesced; the Ist of October was fixed by the
Bishop for the solemn ceremonial, and the Rev. Richard
Fitzgerald was appointed to preach the oration.
The celebration of the month’s memory was in every _
respect a most impressive and memorable function. The
vast cathedral was filled in every part with a devout and
appreciative congregation. Around the High Altar were.
the Right Rev Dr. Yoran, his vicars, and forty of his priests,
besides many others from dioceses adjacent. The Apostle of
Temperance, Father Mathew, travelled from Cork on the
previous day, in order to be in time for the ceremonies, and
_the students of the Diocesan College, as wellas fifty members
_ of the Institute, joined in paying this last tribute of respect .
to the dear and noble-hearted departed ; but, perhaps, the
most interesting portion of the congregation, and that which.
was most realistic of the great work he had left after him,
was the presence of eight hundred boys—pupils of his first
foundation—and likewise that of three hundred girls from
the schools of the Presentation Nuns, on which Order his ’
first code of rules had been modelied. Finally, the oration
was all that could be desired, eloquent, descriptive, pathetic;
and as the preacher spoke from personal knowledge of the .:
deceased, so he left on his audience the conviction ‘that he
sincerely and feelingly spoke from his heart. His exordium
was very beautiful wherein he described the golden link that
exists between the servants of God on earth and the just,
whether in the actual enjoyment of God or detained in the
purifying fire of purgatory. His narrative of the life and
work of the founder, in which he gave an account of the
holy example which the , deceased gave in his youth, the
great virtues he exhibited in his maturer years, and the
anxieties and crosses that beset his path when first he
resolved to commence his great undertaking, was very com-
‘prehensive, and delivered with great emotion. The preacher
thus devoutly alluded to the wonderful ways of Divine -
- Providence in the extension of theInstitute—“ Towards the
close of the last century, when the venerable subject of these
remarks formed the resolution of renouncing the world and
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