Page images
PDF
EPUB

prelates who were opposed to the definition were Archbishop McHale, of Tuam, Ireland; Bishop Moriarty, of Kerry, Ireland; Bishop Vaughan, of Plymouth, England; Bishop Ullathorne, of Birmingham, England, and Bishop Clifford, of Clifton, England.

The dissentients, all but two, left Rome without taking any part in the session at which the dogma was promulgated, and Archbishop Kenrick was among those who submitted to the will of the majority, as became a true son of the Church. It was said that he did so with reluctance. This was only an inference drawn from the fact of some delay having arisen over the reception of the written token of his acceptance. The delay was entirely accidental, and not of the Archbishop's making; for he had forwarded the paper in due course, but the Roman official, the President of the Council, to whom it was addressed had gone on a journey, and it took some months before it reached his hand.

He himself had written that "Whoever does not submit to the decisions of an Ecumenical Council does not deserve the name of Catholic," nor was he to be terrified from following the line of duty thus laid down by the shouts of the malcontent press that the dissentients would have to "pass under the Caudine yoke amid the scornful laughter of his colleagues of the majority," or be anathema. These taunts were not verified. There was no scornful laughter, nor was there anything to show that the spirit of brotherhood in Christ had departed from the Church. There had been some honest differences in the course of a great Council, as there had been at every Council; and when the subject matter was decided the incident closed. A ripple had shown itself on the surface of a mighty stream; for a little while it lived, and then passed out of sight forever, and the stream flowed placidly on oceanward.

ENGLAND REFUTES PROPHECY.

323

Before taking leave of this closed chapter of ecclesiastical history, it is not irrelevant to note, looking back over the chasm of years, how futile were the attempts at prophecy of disaster made over the definition of the Infallibility dogma. The obliquity of mental vision which was mistaken for prevision is vividly exemplified in one case especially. In England, it was said, the inevitable result must be to widen the existing cleavage between the spiritual and the civil, and secure the ultimate domination of the secular principle in the schools of the country. Even while these words are being written the world is looking on at the falsification of the forecast, since the latest law on education recognizes the religious principle in so far as to make provision for State and for the secular education given in the various voluntary denominational schools.

CHAPTER VI.

Return of the Archbishop to ST. LOUIS-Joyful MANIFESTATIONS-ADDRESSES OF WELCOME. THE ARCHBISHOP, REPLYING, EXPLAINS HIS VOTE ON THE INFALLIBILITY DOGMA-FATHER J. P. RYAN APPOINTED COADJUTOR.

During the fourteen months of the Archbishop's absence the affairs of the diocese had been looked after by the Administrator, the Very Rev. P. J. Ryan (now Archbishop of Philadelphia). He had won the love and admiration of the whole people of the diocese, and was generally looked up to by the clergy as one eminently fitted, by nature and training, to rule and guide. It was observed with pain and alarm that the health of the Archbishop, instead of being improved by his sojourn in Europe, showed symptoms of deterioration; hence the need of a Coadjutor soon suggested itself to many. There seemed to be instantaneous agreement on the point of the person fitted best for this important duty. All eyes simultaneously turned toward the Administrator. He had been ordained by the Archbishop in 1853. He was born in Thurles, Tipperary County, Ireland, on February 20, 1831, and his early education was received from the Christian Brothers of Thurles. Later on he went to an academy in Dublin, and subsequently to St. Patrick's College, Carlow, where he was made a subdeacon. In 1852 he came to the United States, and entered the Seminary at Carondelet. In the following year he was ordained—and a special dispensation for the purpose had to be obtained because of the postulant's youth.

Shortly after his ordination he was appointed assistant at the Cathedral, a position which he held until the

FATHER RYAN MADE COÁDJUTOR.

325

December of 1860, when he assumed the pastorate of the Annunciation, which church he himself erected and of which he was pastor until his promotion, in July, 1868, to the pastorate of St. John's and the Vicar Generalship of the diocese. During his pastorate of the Annunciation he acted as chaplain of Gratiot Prison all through the dreadful years of the Civil War.

Such, briefly, was the career of the priest upon whom fell the general choice as Coadjutor to the Archbishop.

At an informal meeting of several prominent clergymen of the diocese held on October 9, 1871, it was resolved that Rome should be petitioned for the appointment of Father Ryan to the Coadjutorship. A petition to that effect was prepared and very extensively signed, and in the early spring of 1872 the Right Rev. P. J. Ryan received the Bulls appointing him Bishop of Tricomia, in partibus infidelium, and Coadjutor to the Archbishop of St. Louis, with the right of succession. He was consecrated by the Archbishop in St. John's Church on the 14th of April following, the second Sunday after Easter. Bishop Hennessy, of Dubuque, preached the consecration sermon. Many Bishops from abroad were present, among them Archbishop Lynch, of Toronto, Canada, and Bishop Ryan's namesake and· very dear friend, the late Bishop Ryan, of Buffalo. Bishop Foley, of Chicago, and Bishop Feehan, then of Nashville, were also among those who came from distant places to see the new prelate solemnly inducted. Bishop Ryan entered at once upon the work laid out for him and performed it with great zeal and great success. His Coadjutorship lasted for more than twelve years. During those years the Archbishop kept almost out of the public sight. Save officiating and preaching a short discourse at the funeral of James H. Lucas, banker and millionaire (to whose sister, Mrs. Hunt, the diocese was

perhaps more indebted than to any other person), he did not appear at any public function. He was not, however, idle. While Bishop Ryan visited the diocese, dedicated the churches, administered Confirmation and ordained the candidates for Holy Orders, the Archbishop was still the real head and ruler of the diocese.

Perfect harmony prevailed between these two earnest minds. Each understood his position toward the other so well that not the slightest friction was possible between them. Hence for twelve years the affairs of the diocese prospered under their wise and fraternal coöperation. Then, all at once, a change came over the scene. Bishop Ryan was suddenly called on to fill the vacant chair of Philadelphia Archdiocese, wherein Archbishop Wood had just died. It was quite a shock to the hosts of his friends in St. Louis when the news arrived. He had labored there for more than thirty years, and they had grown so accustomed to his presence, his counsel, his eloquence, his help in everything, that it would seem that he was an inseparable part of their lives. There was some murmuring over the matter in many quarters, and many surmises were thrown out as to the causes which led the Holy Father to choose Bishop Ryan at a time when the St. Louis diocese so needed an active man as Coadjutor because of the comparative retirement of the real head of the Church there.

In Father Walsh's brief memoir of Archbishop Kenrick he thus explains the secret of the appointment:

"In 1883 there was a meeting of the American Archbishops summoned by His Holiness Leo XIII. to consider the question whether or not the time had come when Canon Law should become the law for the Church of the United States. At this meeting Bishop Ryan was present as the representative of the Archbishop of St. Louis, and, no doubt, by his eloquence and prudence.

« PreviousContinue »