preparation of these vast works in no way interfered with his episcopal or pastoral duties,―nay, it was frequently interrupted by the many demands upon his time and advice which his easiness of access invited. In this respect he was as simple as the lowliest; no one ever sought admission in vain, however simple and ignorant they might be. Faith, charity and humility were his prominent traits. Wholly free from ambition, he lived only for the Church and his people. Hence he sought not to act a conspicuous or brilliant part in the eyes of men, but with humility and gentleness, yet with a sublime action, to infuse his faith and zeal into his age and country. The influence of his life upon his times has been appropriately compared to the "leaven of the mass," and to the "dew that falls at night, whose genial moisture remains, though itself be lost sight of when the sun rises." The declining years of Archbishop Kenrick were embittered by the scenes of civil strife that surrounded him, and he had not even the consolation of beholding the return of peace, for his death occurred suddenly in 1863, immediately after the greatest crisis of the war, the battle of Gettysburg. COMPOSITION. Write "The influence of his life...... rises" in three different ways, changing nouns verbs, adjectives. seminaries Primacy embittered MOST REV. MARTIN JOHN SPALDING, D. D. ARCHBISHOP Kenrick's successor in the See of Baltimore was the illustrious Spalding. There are many points of resemblance between the lives of these two great prelates. Like Kenrick, Spalding was noted in youth for his extraordinary talents, gentle and amiable disposition, and early vocation; like him too, he studied at Rome, where he acquired fully as brilliant a reputation as student and priest; like Kenrick, his first experience of the priestly functions was received under the saintly Flaget's paternal care, and in the very scene of Kenrick's labors, — the seminary and congregation of Bardstown; like Kenrick, much of his time was devoted to the composition of works defending the doctrines and the history of the Church; like Kenrick, he was called to the primatial See of America, labored in his footsteps there, and, dead, rests by his side beneath the cathedral sanctuary. Beautifully has it been said of them: "Glorious princes of the earth; as they loved each other in life, so in death they are not separated." Martin John Spalding was born in Kentucky in the year 1810. He was a delicate and precocious child; an instance of the latter quality being given in the story of his learning the whole multiplication table in one day, when only eight years of age. At eleven, he was sent to St. Mary's College, Lebanon, where he showed such wonderful talent as to be appointed professor of mathematics at the age of fourteen. His fame as a mathematician spread throughout the State, and many visitors came to the college to examine the youthful prodigy. But the flattery which he received did not spoil him. As a student he displayed one marked trait which deserves imitation: he never allowed others to assist him, preferring to solve his difficulties unaided. Among his companions he was noted for his gentle, sunny and loving disposition. When sixteen years old he entered the Seminary of Bardstown, where his talents and virtues so endeared him to the good Bishop Flage*, that he received the privilege of being sent to Rome. There a similar success awaited him. After four years of brilliant study, he won the doctor's cap in a public discussion, which became one of the traditions of the American College. In 1834 he was ordained, and at once began his mission as pastor of the cathedral in Bardstown. From that time until 1848, when he was appointed coadjutor bishop, he served successively as president of St. Joseph's College, professor in the seminary, pastor at Lexington, and pastor and Vicar General at Louisville, after the removal of the See to that city. As a priest he was noted for his love for instructing the young and the negroes; for his success in making converts, and for his constant public defence of the doctrines of Catholicity. To this end he gave many conferences and lecture courses upon the history and teachings of the Church; and even when burdened with episcopal cares he carried out the same system of disseminating the truth. "No bishop or priest in the United States has ever been more indefatigable as a preacher or lecturer than Dr. Spalding. For more than thirty years he lectured repeatedly on almost every subject in any way connected with Catholic history and teaching; not only in his own native city, but in all the large cities of the country." "In making his episcopal visitations he always preached and frequently lectured once or twice in each parish. He loved to give missions and preach retreats in convents, colleges and academies. In the pulpit his manner was marked by naturalness and simplicity. Though not an impassioned speaker, neither was he cold or unemotional. He was direct, clear, and simple in language, while his voice was pleasant, and his delivery wonderfully distinct. "With that practical wisdom which had always 1 distinguished him he saw the great work which the press was destined to perform, and he labored from the first year of his priesthood to extend its usefulness and elevate its character." In 1834 he established the Guardian, changed in 1835 into the Catholic Advocate, to which he was a frequent contributor, as well as to many of the Catholic periodicals throughout the country. After his elevation to the See of Louisville in 1848, he devoted himself with still greater earnestness to this branch of his mission. "The great work of the Catholic apologists in the generation preceding ours was to clear away the rubbish with which false history and ignorant prejudice had sought to disfigure the whole life of the Church, and to this task Bishop Spalding addressed himself.” Taking a moderate and perhaps a just view of his ability, he sought to be useful and practical rather than profound. "Hence he neither wrote nor spoke for posterity, but for the generation in which he lived." His aim was to prepare the way for Catholic truth by enlightening the public concerning the real nature and spirit of the Church. His best essays, contained in the "Miscellanea," and his excellent "History of the Reformation,” were produced with this view, and his great work in the same direction was the establishment and fostering, under Father Hecker's care, of the Catholic Publication Society. In 1864, upon the death of Archbishop Kenrick, Bishop Spalding was transferred to Baltimore. To enumerate all the religious, charitable and educational institutions that had sprung up at Louisville under his care, as well as the similar increase during his episcopate at Baltimore, would be beyond the purposes of this sketch. We have space to mention only two great events by which his administration was signalized. The first was the convening of the second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866. In this august body, whose deliberations were fruitful of so much good to the American Church, there sat seven archbishops, thirty-eight bishops, three mitred abbots and one hundred and twenty theologians. The second was the publication of the dogma of Papal Infallibility declared by the Council of the Vatican in1870, in whch Archbishop Spalding took a prominent part. Towards the Holy See he cherished the warmest respect and venération. His spirited repudiation of falterers at the Council, his pastoral on its decrees to the archdiocese, and later, his memorable celebration of the Pontifical Jubilee in 1871, are proud evidences of this. Simple, unquestioning faith was the great characteristic of Archbishop Spalding. In the words of his nephew and biographer, the gifted Bishop of Peoria, to whose work we are indebted for much of this sketch: "Few more single-hearted men than he have ever lived. Practical experience of life had made him wiser, but he still had all the ingenuousness and transparency of character that belong to childhood. With a faith that not even the shadow of a doubt had ever obscured, with a devotion that had never known any other object than God, with a zeal that never grew cold, he labored to be what he had proposed to himself as a student in the Propaganda, to be useful to the Church of Christ." On the seventh of February, 1872, after a lingering and painful sickness, this illustrious servant of God was called to his reward. His successor in the See of Baltimore is the present Archbishop Gibbons. COMPOSITION. Give traits of resemblance mentioned in first paragraph, in your own words. endeavored coadjutor repudiation |