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THE CLOSING
CEREMONIES.
Religious Exercises Bring to an End
Mer. Martinelli’s Visit.
Pontifical Mass Celebrated by the Archbishop
—A Solemn and Magnificent Service—Full
Text of .Rev. Fr. Joyce’s Sermon on ‘The
Divine Authority of the Church.’’
The closing ceremonies in honor of
the Papal Ablegate, Archbishop Mar-
tinelli consisted of a Solemn Pontifi-
cial High Mass in St. Mary’s church.
The church was tastefully decorated
with evergreen and the papal colors,
The main altar was brilliantly lighted
with candles and colored lights, and
overhead was a gaslight arrangement .
reading “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.”
The other altars were also beauti-
fully decorated, and with the rich
robes worn by the clergy afforded a
gorgeous and solemn pageant, such as
was never witnessed here before.
A procession from the parochial
residence preceded by altar boys,
dressed in black, purple and scarlet
gowns, marked the preliminaries of
the service. In the procession were
most of the Augustinian clergymen of
Lawrence,
There were thousands of spectators
and the church was crowded long be-
fore the hour for the service came.
The service commenced at 10.40
when a procession of alien boys es-
corted the clergymen the altar.
At the end was the tlelewate who was
to be’ the celebrant of the mass. Its
other officers were: Assistant priest,
“Very Rev. C. M. eon, O. S. A.
provincial; deacons of honor, Frs.
Murphy and Whalen; deacons of the
mass, F Fleming and O'Mahoney;
master of ceremonies, Fr. McCranor.
The Archbishop was vested by his as-
sistants, and shortly before 11 the
solemn ceremony began, and it moved
with dignity and impressiveness till
the end, nearly two hours later. The
music which consisted of the choir,
sted by the Columbian Orchestra,
is very fine; in fact, it was said to
be the best ever heard in St. Mary's.
Very appropriately Lavallee’s “Tu es
Petrus” was the offertory selection.
and the exceedingly beautiful sopran¢g
solo was exquisitely sung by Cath
erine White. Other soloists were
Miss Margaret murphy, Mr. George
Duhamel and Mr. William Morris,
After the gospel the preacher, Rey.
William D. Joyce, O. M. L, pastor of
‘The church is God’s mouthpiece. “the
pillar and the ground of truth.” Our
Lord made the churc. ‘.-e witne:
guarwan and interpreter of his word.
The preacher continued:
Today, you are honored by the pre-
scnee of the representative of the Vi-
ezi of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff and
ever, Holy Mother Church. And we
of the spindle City, while congia‘ulat-
ing you on the honor done yourselves
and your city’ by the: distinguished
visit, hope that, at no dstant day, we
the 50,000 Catholics of Lowell, may en-
joy a similar privilege,
Fr. Joyce then consdered the im-
possibility, humanly speaking of es-
tablishing. the church, and concluded
thus:
The religion of Christ seemed to be
an obstacle to its acceptance and prog-
ress, Its teachings were beyond hu-
man comprehension; they had no
foundation in the then popular, philo-
sophical and religious tenets. They
were announced ‘in the nafe of one
who said he was the Son of God, but
whom the Jews has crucified. The
new religion would give men a rigid
code of morality, commanded them to
love, poverty and to despise riches, to
forgive injuries, to love their enemies.
Its preachers were poor and unlettered
men, only Jews. Yet, so audacious are
they, that no hirg short of the world’s
converson will satisfy them. Armed
with the cross, they preached Christ
and ucified throughout the
known world; they entered Rome,
Rey. William D.
Joyce, O. M. I.
the church of the I Concep-
tion Lowell, approached the Arch-
bishop, received his blessing and was
escorted to the pulpit, Fr. Joyce
wore the simple cassock of his order,
with the crucifix in his belt.
Rev. Fr. Joyce's theme was ‘The
Divine Authority of the Church.” His
postulate was, no authority, noc.ureh.
His text was St. Matthew XXVIII 18.
“All power is given to me in heaven
and on earth.” He began by saying
that among the evils of this epoch is
the generally weakening of authori-
ty. This is seen in the family, and in
the political and religious society out-
side the Catholic church. Within the
church there is authority, to which all
Catholics are subjéct. matters of
faith and morals the authority of the
church is supreme, because divine.
head of the church. His Excellency,
the apostolic delegate, is invested wita
authority by the successor of St. Peter,
our Holy Father, Leo XIII. Thorough-
out the length and breadth o. the land
his authority is acknowledge and_re-
spected, but by none more than by
you, the Catho..cs o. Lawrence. Arch-
bishop Martinelli visits your city in
his twofold capacity of apostolic dele-
gate and prior general of tue Au-
gustinians. He comes to witness and
to bless the noble work of his spiritual
children, the Augustinian Fathers.
He comes to encourage you in the love
and practice of your religion. I have
every confidence that this visit of His
Excellency to Lawrence will result in
much good to its Catholic citizens en-
dearing to them, if possib‘e, more than
planted there the cross of Christ, and
began to hold "Rome and the world for
the church and her Divine Founder.
Thirty-one years after Christ, the pa-
gan historian Tacitus (who cannot be
accused of partiality) declarea that
Christians abounded in Rome itself.
At the beginning of the second cen-
tury Tertullian wrote: “We are of
yesterday and already we fill your em-
pire your cities, islands, fortresses,
camps, councils, palace, aye and the
Senate. . Were we to retire the soli-
tude would affright you.” How did
all this come to pass? It is God's
work, my brethren. He was with His
church and the “ gates of hell could
noc prevail against him. She
triumphed because of her divinity.
From the day of Pentecost down to
the victory of Constantine the Great
over Maxentius, embracing a period of
about 280 years, the church underwent
a series’ of ten persecutions unparal-
leled for atrocity in the annale of his-
tory. Paganism sought to efface
every vestige of Christianity, and ut-
terly failed in doing so. The popular
ery was, “The Christians to the
lions.” Twelve million of -hem died
for the faith. Here, my friends, is a
truly supernatural fact; experience at-
tests it; man loves life and recoils
from suffering even for truth and jus-
tice. Pride and ambition may have
more martyrs, but merely natural vir-
tue never made a martyr to truth and
justice. Tere is a doctrine, a re‘igion
for which millions of various ages and
of both sexes gladly sacrafice every-
thing life itself. ently the “fin-
ger of God is here;” this is His work
and that of the religion of His Divine
Son. The martyrs died for the church,
because of her divinity.
And the church changed the world.
Where Plato and Socrates had failed,
she- succeeded, cnanging and reform-
ing human hearts. The apostles and
their successors preached the Gospel
of ~hrist, and renewed the face of the
earth. They were the ambassadors
of Christ, and they wrestled with and
conquered tue duped followers of
Bacchus and Venus and Mars. At
their preaching men and women left
home and country, to become the will-
ing victims of penance and charity.
Tnis change has been wrough. by the
Most High, an.. is it not another testi-
mony to the divini.y of the church?
The most authentic seal o. God's
work are miracles. God has been
prodigal with em to commend His
church to all men. How enumerate
them, from the healing of the palsied
man at the Temple Gate by St. Peter
down to the marvels of Lourdes and
Paray le Monial? ‘The dead raised to
life; the sick cured; natural means
dispensed with. But the greatest mir-
acle, the ‘most striking, my brethren,
is the indestructibility and perpetuity
of the church. She has seen the be-
ginning and the end of kingdoms and
empires. Constantly assailed, from
the first Pentecost Day till now she
has been combating enemies powerful
and desperate. Her warfare has been
both foreign and domestic. She be-
gan with Jews and pagans, and then
came heretics and schismatics. Now
my friends, calmly survey the field,
after the din and smoke of battle have
passed away. Examine the condition
of the old church now emerging from
deadliest conflicts. Numerically
stronger today than at any previous
period of her history, the losses sus-
tained in the old world are more than
compensated by her. acquisitions in
the new. ‘The religion of 250,000,000
adherents is not exactly an effete in-
stitution. No, today the church is
more vigorous than at any preious
period of her history. From time to
time, certain men rant about her ruin;
“the wish is father to the thought.”
She has seen the beginning- and: the
end of all uprisings against her au-
thority, and she emerges from tribu-
lation stronger and more determined
than ever. She fulfills her God-given
mission, along the course of ages,
always sounding in the ears of hu-
manity the immortal “credo” whose
depository she is, bearing on her brow
the indelible character of divine au-
thority, and adding to her testimony
by the miracle of perpetuity a mighty
convincing power.
Men, learned and illustrious have
fought and are today doing battle for
for truth and justice. Men have made
extraordinary sacrifices to brace
the church, but they hesitated in not
me,
