400th ANNIVERSARY SERMON, 
 
 — BV — 
 
 RCV. JAMES CALLABHAN. 8.8. 
 
 ST, PATRICK'S, MONTREAL. 
 Suathy, October 2Bpd, 1892. 
 
 TRUE WITNESS PRU*T 
 
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COLUMBUS, 
 
 14:92-1892. 
 
 By Rev. James Callaghan, S.S., St. Patrick's, Montjeal. Sunday. Oct. 23rd, 1892. 
 
 " Fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring 
 thy seed from the east and crather thee from 
 the west."— l8ala8,XLIll. 
 
 Of aU the phenomenons that have 
 marked the course and progress of hu- 
 man events, none has left so deep and 
 profound an impress upon the page of 
 history as the discovery of America, four 
 hundred years ago. After a long and 
 searching inquiry into the minutest de- 
 tails of the immortal expedition, the 
 historian is at a loss to decide which is 
 the greater of the two ; the conquest 
 which won for the civilized world an en- 
 tire hemisphere or the hero who planned 
 and executed the stupendous undertak- 
 ing. America with its then unexplored 
 mines of wealth and its boundless 
 tracts of rich uncultivated vegeta- 
 tion, its deep impenetrable forests, its 
 lofty peaked mountain-rang<38 ; a land as 
 large in extent as the then known world, 
 watered within by majestic lakes and 
 rivers ; an isolated and independent con- 
 tinent bathed by the Arctic and the An- 
 tarctic Seas to the North and South and 
 lying like a priceless gem between the 
 two continents of Europe and Asia and 
 cut cir from either by the Atlantic to 
 the East and the Pacific to the West ; a 
 vast country peopled with the remnants 
 of a generation once under the influence 
 of Christian civilization, sunk afterv/ards 
 in all the horrors of barbarism, suscepti- 
 ble again of the grace of Divine Faith and 
 of ranking among the beloved children 
 of God ; Columbus grasping in the palm 
 of his mighty hand one half of the terrest- 
 rial globe, lifts it out of the deep waters of 
 oblivion wliere it lay embedded as a 
 gem concealed from the eye of ci- 
 
 vilization for centuries and like a 
 modern Atlas bears it aloft on his broad 
 muscular shoulders, as a conquerer his 
 prey while in the meridian height of his 
 glory, grappling with the petty passions 
 of his rival competitors, battling with the 
 vicissitudes of adverse fortune, despoiled 
 in his just rights, he st.ands out in all the 
 magnitude of his superhuman character 
 and cliallenges all hostile criticism. 
 Apart from the brilliant pageant which 
 greeted the hero on his first return from 
 America, Spain was exctedingly sparing 
 in her praises of the great Discoverer. 
 His grave seemed to seal in everlasting 
 gloom his remains and his memory- 
 Posterity appears to ignore his very exist, 
 ence till 1892, commemorating the 400th 
 anniversary of his imperishable deed, 
 has awakened throughout the world's 
 expanse an echo of universal gratitude. 
 Columbus is ours, exclaims Leo XIII 
 on the subject. He sounded the key- 
 note in imitation of his illustrious pre- 
 decessor, Alexander VI., who in 1492 
 ordered public acts of thanksgiving to 
 God in acknowledgement of the valuable 
 benefits, both spiritual and temporal, 
 consequent upon the discovery. I can- 
 not, dearly beloved brethren, reirain 
 from expressing Ireland's 8|)ecial tribute 
 to his sacred memory. Centuries after 
 1492, he became an important factor in 
 the destinies of our people by giving to 
 the homeless a home, where her sons 
 and daughters enjoy liberties denied 
 them penseveringly beneath their own 
 native .skies, and where by their indus- 
 try and talent they show their apprecia- 
 tion of the inestimable benefits con- 
 ferred upon them, rise into promi- 
 
 53913 
 
nence in every useful department of life, 
 and pose honorably in the higher grades 
 of professional and legislative impor- 
 tance. We, dearly beloved brethren, re- 
 joice particularly in a cordial fellowship 
 with Columbus, for we proudly recognize 
 in him the scholar and the missionary. 
 
 A sailor at fourteen, Columbus, an 
 Italian by birth, silenced in his youthful 
 breast all the promptings of pleasure, 
 and, unlike his companions in age gener- 
 ally, yielded to study and reflection the 
 years of boyhood, which are not unfre- 
 quently devoted to the cravings of pas- 
 sion and the allurements of vice. When 
 the night shades rested on the dark 
 billowy ocean- waves, and the young 
 mariner sought in his rude hammock 
 the sweets of repose from his day's toil 
 and excitement, he dreamed of the 
 ♦right cheerful rays of a morrow's sun. 
 And hoped that they would light up 
 some obscure outlines of a yet undis- 
 covered and unknown territory. Years 
 rolled on. New skies unfolded to his 
 eyes their ever-changing forms. His 
 conversational powers were interesting 
 beyond description. The customs, man- 
 ne"S, usages and looks of the peoples 
 wlio crossed his path on his voyages 
 formed the topic of universal comment. 
 He had an easy access to the world- 
 renowned libraries, wherein were kept 
 and treasured among other valuable 
 manuscripts the official and authen- 
 tic reports of all the American 
 discoveries prior to his time. His 
 lengthy correspondences with Paolo 
 Toscanelli and Martin Behaim, testify to 
 his reputation as a scientist of no incon- 
 siderable merit in the art of navigation. 
 His charts and maps of his own voyages 
 are indications of his profound sagacity 
 in assigning them at that remote period 
 to their proper places upon the geogra- 
 phy of the world. His exhaustless store 
 of knowledge must indeed have added 
 great weight to his argumentative lore 
 and largely contributed to the moulding 
 of others' opinions according to his views. 
 Had nature but gifted him with a slender 
 fortune of two thousand pounds sterling, 
 how gladly he would have launched out 
 with his crew into the broad deep Ocean 
 and convince the world with the reality 
 
 of his prophecy : — '' I shall discover the 
 Indies in sailing towards the West, and 
 if the Atlantic has any other limit than 
 India, I eihall discover it also! " 
 
 Alas ! he was j)oor and penniless, and 
 was under the painful necessity of knock- 
 ing at charity's door. Genoa, his own 
 native Republic, repudiated his solicita- 
 tions and his offere. Like his djvine 
 Original, " he came to his own and his 
 own received him not." As he caught a 
 glimpse of Italy's beautiful sky, he re- 
 membered his divine Master's injunction 
 to His Apostles, " Whosoever shall not 
 receive you nor hear your words : going 
 forth out of that house or city, shake 
 off the dust from your feet." St. 
 Matt. X. 14. His mother-country having 
 discountenanced and discarded her own 
 child as a visionary and an adventurer, 
 he had no othar alternative than to seek 
 from a foreign government what his own 
 home declined him. Portugal's maritime 
 fame led him to her shores, A rival of 
 Genoa at first, she gradually eclipsed the 
 fame of the latter, by opening a through 
 passage into India by sea. This impor- 
 tant discovery had been made lately, and 
 in the opinion of the most erudite Por- 
 tuguese Cosmographers offered a final 
 answer to the all-absorbing nautical 
 question of the day : Which is the easier, 
 less dangerous and more direct road into 
 the rich possessions of the East Indies ? 
 Columbus entera upon the arena of pole- 
 mic discussion. He wrote to King Juan 
 II.: "I have been travelling from my 
 youth. For forty years I have been cross- 
 ing the seas and closely examining them. 
 I have studied navigation and geometry. 
 I am in a position to report on every town, 
 river, mountain, and locate each one on 
 the map. I have read every book pub- 
 lished from time immemorial on Cos- 
 mography, history and philosophy. I 
 now feel prepared to undertake tne dis- 
 covery of the Indies, and implore Your 
 Highness to favor my project. I am 
 aware that many will scoff at it, but if 
 Your Highness will just furnish the 
 means to execute it, no obstacle will 
 stop me. I hope to succeed." 
 
 Later on, standing before a Royal 
 Commission of Enquiry appointed by 
 Juan II., he congratulated the Portuguese 
 
Navigators on their recent maritime dis- 
 covery, but he conchidedthat though the 
 trip to India by sea, as contemplated by 
 them possessed many advantages over 
 travelling by land as in the past, yet it 
 must necesfiarily be accompanied with 
 great inconveniences, as the doubling of 
 the Cape of Good Hope on the way to 
 India entails a considerable loss of time 
 and is fraught with imminent peril There 
 remained but one solitary solution to tl\e 
 problem : to reach the eastern confines 
 of India by sailing directly to the West. 
 He based his proposition on the spheri- 
 city of the Globe. The earth being 
 nearly round, the mariner will reach any 
 given point by sailing East or West. Ac- 
 cordingly, .by sailing West as now sug- 
 gested instead of East as heretofore, he 
 will land upon the Eastern Confines of 
 India without exposing himself to the 
 danger of doubling the much dreaded 
 Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Had Columbus been a Portuguese, his 
 views would have met with a favorable 
 interpretation, but national pride and 
 jealousy kept in check the unbounded 
 enthusiasm of his examiners, and by a 
 most unkingly act His Majesty was in 
 secret conclave with a sea-captain whom 
 he deputed to go in search of the pro- 
 jected voyage of Columbus. The under- 
 taking failed as well as the royal trea- 
 chery. * 
 
 God hrts His great works to perform and 
 selects His own choice to execute them. 
 Columbus was God's own calling and 
 will, with God's grace.'triumph over the 
 hostile forces which Satan arrays against 
 tlie chosen ones of Heaven. 
 
 Difowned at Genoa, betrayed at Portu- 
 gal, the moral poAver of Columbus, far 
 from waning beneath the presure of 
 tribulation, waxed stronger and mighter. 
 Like the oak beaten by the cold north- 
 ern winds, he bent his noble form to the 
 excorciating lashes of adversity, and in 
 the words of our Catholic poet — Aubrey 
 de Vere. 
 
 " He was a man whom danger could uot. daunt, 
 Nor Nophlsiry perplex, nor pain subdue, 
 A stole, reckless oi ibe world's vatn taunt, 
 And steeled the path of honor to pursue." 
 
 He set sail for the heroic land of chival- 
 rous Spain. At that time her national 
 
 destinies were ruled by Ferdinand II. and 
 Isabella. The fame of the Catholic 
 Queen had spread over the whole Euro- 
 pean Continent, and her deeds of valor 
 were recited in prose and sung in verse. 
 If he but succeeded in interesting Her 
 Majesty in his cause, lie doubted no 
 longer of its ultimate triumph. Divine 
 Providence paved the way for its child 
 of predilection. One day, pinched with 
 hunger, he, with his son, rapped at the 
 convent door of La Rabida, near Palos, 
 and asked for food. As the prior of the 
 monastery, an humble son of St. Francis 
 of Assisi, was waiting on the two visitors 
 and serving out the meagre food as pre- 
 scribed by the Order of Penance, the 
 Franciscan Friar was favorably prepos- 
 sessed with the classic look of the elder 
 stranger, and drawing closer to him en- 
 tered into conversation with him. Juan 
 Perez de la Marchena, a noted cosmo- 
 grapher, was not slow in perceiving that 
 his guest was no other than Columbus 
 whose theories were a revelation to so 
 many. 
 
 At once Juan Perez wrote an intro- 
 ductory letter to Her Majesty, his ex- 
 penitent, soliciting Isabella to grant an 
 audience to the renowned navigator, and 
 to open an investigation into the 
 case of the would-be-discoverer. His 
 petition was granted in recog- 
 nition of his past spiritual favors. The 
 interview between Isabella and Columbus 
 at Barcelona had the effect of submitting 
 to the discussion of the University of 
 Salamanca the arguments of the Navi- 
 gator in favor of the contemplated voy- 
 age. The weighty preponderance of this 
 learned Institution may be correctly 
 deduced from the fact that its students 
 numbered 8000 and its professional 
 chairs 73. 
 
 Columbus pleads his case as an able 
 lawyer in presence of the erudite Doctors 
 of Salamanca, with the lucidity and 
 warmili which characterized him at 
 Portugal. His views are shared in only 
 by a very small majority, among whom 
 appeal's to advantage the Dominican 
 Diego de Deza,Profe8sor of Theology and 
 afterwards Bishop of Palencia,and though 
 the University generally opposed Colum- 
 bus in liis views, yet tbe historian Las 
 
0. ■'. " 
 
 Casas makes tlie following statement : 
 The Catholic Kings owe the Indies to the 
 Dominican Diego de Dezif anil to St. 
 Stephen's College." 
 
 Whatever value may be attached to 
 the opinion of Las Casas, we may safely 
 infer from the general character of Is- 
 abella that though considerations like 
 the sympathy of a Juan Perez, the erudi- 
 tion of a Diego de Deza, the patronage 
 of an Apostolic Nuncio, or a Cardinal 
 Mendoza, or the Apology of Sainiangel, 
 had great weight in the linul determina- 
 tion of Her Majesty, yet they alone 
 without the superior motive of religion 
 would never have found an echo ni her 
 magnanimous soul. Great minds like 
 great seas, rise with the tide to great 
 heights. Upon the field of religious 
 thought Isabella and Columbus met and 
 ascended to the same level, and thegiftcnl 
 Queen deposing at the feet of Columbus 
 every weapon of hostility and yielding 
 to the persuasion of divine faith, 
 pledged, if required, the very jewels 
 of lier crown to place at his dis- 
 posal the three historic vessels, the 
 "Santa Maria," "Nina" and "Pinta" and 
 appointed him perpetual and hereditary 
 admiral and viceroy of all the seas and 
 lands which lie should discover, together 
 with the tenth of the profits for him and 
 his descendants for ever. 
 
 Friday, August the 3rd 1492, Columbus 
 and his crew assisted at Mass ttj implore 
 God's blessing on his undertaking, and 
 then set sail from the port of Palos. At 
 sta, Columbus was as forbearing and as 
 brave as on land. At times an agree- 
 able and pleasing comparison he 
 Avhiled away his leisure moments in 
 calming the superstitious tears of the 
 sailors, referred in giowing terms to 
 the land of promise and buoyed up 
 their dejected spirits with the fond hope 
 of a speedy return to their homes. Gen- 
 eral cordiality prevailed as long as the 
 Can»ry Islands, the boundaiy-iine of Eu- 
 ropean Discoveries were in sight, but 
 AVhen the fleet distanced them and the 
 seamen were launched out upon the broad 
 Atlantic waves, the storms of angry p.is- 
 sion mightier than the ocean-tempest and 
 less controllable began to rage and howl 
 within their breasts and upon their 
 
 lips. Sighing like the Israelites 
 of old in the desert for the 
 onions of Egypt, they merciless- 
 ly denounced their chief as an ambiti- 
 ous adventurer reckless of their lives in 
 the pursuit of his visionary plan and in 
 their shortsightedness viewing within 
 their reach either a watery gxave or an 
 immediate sail homeward, they haughtily 
 demanded the execution of the latter. 
 Columbus, like another Moses, holds on 
 with an iron arm to the helm of 
 power and by his stern look and com- 
 manding bearing, though at the risk of 
 being cast into the sea, reduced into sub- 
 mission and hushed into silence their re- 
 bellious and mutinous natures. How 
 this depressing strain of despondency 
 contrasts with the enlivening refrain of 
 hopefulness on the night of the llih 
 October! At about ten o'clock Columbus 
 observed in the far oflf distance a lignt 
 that came and went. The crew stood on 
 the fore-deck and almost breathless with 
 expectation waited for the dawn of tiie 
 12th. The morning sun of that glorious 
 Friday had scarcely broken through the 
 heavy mist that lay upon the water's 
 surface when the tutored eye of a simple 
 sailor peering through space, detected 
 the first glimmerings of the long-looked 
 for reality. Land ! Land ! he exclaimed. 
 All eyes were at once turned to the 
 sacred spot. The " Te Deuin " a hymn 
 of thanksgiving to God was entoned and 
 its echoes resounded upon thb hills of 
 America. Columbus caat anchor at the 
 island of Guanahana, one of the P^ahama 
 Islands that extend from Florida to San 
 Domingo, Columbus landed first in 
 his otiicial capacity of viceroy, 
 fell on his knees, kissed the virgin 
 soil and planted the Cross in the 
 name of Castille and Airagon and of 
 Christianity. The emblem of man's ra- 
 demption stands erect in the new world, 
 bathing in its crimson blood Central 
 America at its feet ; with its right arm 
 extending southward and its left north- 
 ward ; with its face fronting the East 
 and the West lying in the background ; 
 thus consecrating to Christ's own im- 
 perishable Church an area of 15,000,000 
 square miles with a population of 200,- 
 000,000 uncivilized souls; while the 
 
ailver-tonfijued bell of the Consecration 
 announces near by the mystic oblation of 
 Calvary's victim and the devout wor- 
 shippers bending low their lieads in silent 
 adoration become the veteran pioneers 
 of countless generations of all races and 
 colors, who kneeling before the same 
 Catholic altar, have fulfilled literally the 
 Malachias' Prophecy : — "From the ris- 
 ing of ihe sun even to the going down, 
 my name is great amon^ the Gentiles, 
 and in every place there is sacrifice and 
 there is ofl'ered to my name a clean off- 
 ering ; for my name is great among the 
 Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 Columbus coasted along the Archi- 
 pelago and a tourist rather than explorer, 
 he visited and inspected with unusual 
 interest the most balmy and picturesque 
 islands of Cuba and Havana, as far 
 as San Domingo, whence he embarked 
 for Palos, in tipain, where he arrived 
 March loth, 1493. The immortal con- 
 queror's lirst othcial visit was to the 
 Church of L'aloa to lay at the feet of the 
 King of Kings the glory of his inperish- 
 able victory, and his next duty wa« to 
 repair to Barcelona to give to his earthly 
 Sovereigns an account of his steward- 
 sliip. 
 
 His reception at Barcelona can be 
 favorably compared only with the mag- 
 nificence and pomp which greeted the 
 Roman Generals on their return to the 
 imperial city alter a glorious battle well 
 fought and won. Six Indians, painted 
 and tatooed in the various coloif of their 
 respective settlements formed the van- 
 guard. Next in line came liveried 
 courtiers carrying gold crown and 
 gold bracelets, living parrots, stulTed 
 birds anil animals of species unknown 
 l^ast in order appeared the Hero of 
 America with a body-guard of young 
 Spanish horsemen, yuperbly mounted on 
 fiery and richly caparisoned chargers. A 
 platform with steps leading thereto had 
 been erected in the meantime in st, large 
 {)arlor hall of the Casa de la Deputacion 
 and beneath a canopy of gold cloth eat 
 Ferdinand and Isabella with the mag- 
 nates of the Court. At his approach 
 their Koyal Highnesses rose through 
 courtesy £ and when the vociferating 
 cheers of the assembled had quieted 
 
 they made signs to him to be seated and 
 relate his adventure across the Atlantic. 
 After a brilliant oration that brought 
 team to every eye, the Te Deum 
 was sung in thanksgiving to Go<l who 
 conducted the enterprise to a successful 
 issue througli the instrumentality of His 
 devote<l servant Columbus. 
 
 The golden harvest of souls ripe 
 even to maturity lay scattered broadcast 
 over the entire continent newly discover- 
 ed. Where were the reapers? Well 
 might Columbus repeat the Master's 
 words: "The harvest indeed is great 
 but the laborers are few. Pray ye there- 
 fore the Lord of the harvest that he send 
 laborers into the harvest." With the 
 dazzling sunshine of kingly favor, such 
 as has been the privilege but of few 
 ordinary mortals to enjoy, the Apostolic 
 Mistiionary sought to center all its rays 
 in the sprea<ling and the diffusing of the 
 light of Christianity. He asks for mis- 
 sionaries. He writes to Pope Alexander 
 VI : "I firmly hope to be able yet, witli 
 Gfxl's iissistance to propagate into far off 
 distances the Most Holy Name of Jesus 
 and His Gospel." 
 
 In a joint correspondence to Ferdinaml 
 and Isabella, fie writes : " May the 
 Lord grant long days to your Highnesses, 
 so that you may pursue this noble enter- 
 prise which will procure so many atl- 
 vantages to religion, so much glory to 
 Spain, and such lively consolations to 
 all Christians, for the name of Our Lord 
 will spread throughout these countries." 
 Columbus appeals to the hearts of Catho- 
 lic nations only. He undenstood fully 
 that the Catholic Church alone can 
 civilize the unconverted Indian races, for 
 to lilt them from their utter state of 
 degradation, needed a mightier lever 
 than any human invention, a divine in- 
 intluence which she alone passesses, and 
 Avhen any government foreign to her refui- 
 ing policy attempted to moralize the un- 
 tutored savage, it abandoned without 
 I delay the cause as hopeless and sought 
 i extermination as a remedy to the evil. 
 
 If Columbus in another correapond- 
 i ence to Isabella advises Her Majesty to 
 I despatch to the new colony of Havana 
 I none but Catholics, the feelings of Pro- 
 I testantism need not bo h urt, for at the 
 
6 
 
 time of the discovery Luther was a 
 Catholic boy of only eight summers and 
 as yet Henry the Eigiit was not born. 
 
 How Bljifting the scenes of life are ! 
 How uncertain and unreliable earthly 
 honors are! Six years later Columbus 
 stands in the dock before the Court of 
 Spain, not as a conqueror laden with his 
 spoilH, but a culprit groaning under the 
 weight of his chains and pleading for his 
 life. Francesco de Bobadilla, with an 
 army of malcontents are his accusers. 
 Columbus is vindicated and blesses Gixl, 
 who "chastises whom He lovos." What 
 is gold that has not been parified of its 
 dross by the scorching Hame, and simi- 
 larly what is faith that has not been 
 tried in the lire of persecution ? The 
 principle that applies to nations, holds 
 good in parallel caseH with individuals. 
 What adds a special lustre to the faith 
 of the Irish people is their irresistible and 
 unconquerable resistance to the com- 
 biried efforts of all the powers of dark- 
 ness set up against it. The iron-chains 
 of Columbus were wrought of the purest 
 gold of love tliat drew his great heart 
 nearer to his God. Thej' were signals 
 from above to ward him off the shoals of 
 self-love and pride, on which lie 
 stranded and shipwrecked many an ex- 
 perienced mariner in the ait of sea- 
 faring Christian warfare. They were a 
 sublime warning never to keep his eyes 
 off the port of eternity, where lies a con- 
 tinent boundless in extent and incom- 
 parably richer in possessions of gold, 
 diamonds, jcAvels and other precious 
 stones, than the lands which he or any 
 other navigator can discover here below. 
 These considerations endeared them to 
 his memory. He kept these badges of 
 honor with religious care, as his spotless 
 Spouse preserves Peter's chains and the 
 instruments of Clirist's Passion and 
 Death, and when dying imposed the 
 obligation of placing them in his coffin 
 alongside of his mortal remains. 
 
 But the greatest of all temporal cala- 
 mities that could befall him, a more 
 disastrous misfortune than iron-chains or 
 even death, was the dreaded summons to 
 CJueen Isabella, his foyal protectress, to 
 appear before the tribunal of God. She 
 was universally loved and universally 
 
 regretted by her Spanish subjects. No 
 one felt so keenly her loss as Columbfs. 
 All his brilliant prospects of the future 
 rested on her benevolent co-operation for 
 their realizatien. Had she lived longer, 
 doubtless his diplomacy or his powerful 
 arm, if necessary, would have effaced 
 from the Holy Sanctuaries of Jerusalem 
 the Mussulman domination and hand- 
 ed the city over to the Vicar of Christ. 
 His views on this subject had been clearly 
 expressed on a previous occasion in a 
 letter written by him to Her Majesty. 
 " Gold I want to free the Holy Places 
 from the yoke of the Mussulmans, and 
 if by treaty I do not obtain this, I shall 
 levy out of my . salary 50,000 foot and 
 30.000 horse, and when I shall be master 
 of Jerusalem I shall give over its govern- 
 ment to the Pope and be no more than 
 an agent of the Church at the threshold 
 of the tomb where my God reposed." 
 With the death of Isabella, expired all 
 the noble aspirations of his magnani- 
 mous soul. No hope of success remained 
 for he was aware of the rapacity of his 
 enemies. The event justified his fears. 
 The solemn treaty ratified prior to the 
 the discovery between the king and vas- 
 sal was arbitrarily nullified. 
 
 Neither age could chill nor infirmity 
 damper the fervor of his devotion to the 
 Pope, and when tottering on the edge of 
 the grave, he penned in his dying will 
 a permanent memorial of his strong 
 Catholic convictions as a noble example 
 to be followed by every soldier of the 
 Pope It reads thus : 
 
 '' I order my son or my successor in 
 my rights, in case of a schism arising in 
 Gotl's Church, or any attempt to defraud 
 npT of her privileges or wealth, to repair 
 at once to the feet of Peter, under pen- 
 alty of disinheritance, to put a stop to 
 the schism, to keep the Church from 
 being robbed of her rights, and to place 
 at her disposal their whole strength with 
 their weapons, revenues, rental, and cap- 
 , ital if necessary." 
 
 His prophetic eye seemed to have caught 
 a passing glimpse of the revolting schism 
 which, as early as the dawn of the fol- 
 lowing century, raised the war-cry 
 against Christ's indissoluble Church, and 
 a transitory view of the disgraceful usur- 
 
pations of the Patrimony of Peter in our 
 age by a national government whose 
 name is flyiionomous with desecration 
 and ancrilege. 
 
 Of all the Catholic laymen, whose 
 names figure conspicuously side by side 
 with Columbus in the history of the past 
 four hundred years none rises to a level 
 with him but Daniel O'Connell ; Colum- 
 bus striking olF the fetters of idolatry 
 and superstition from the hands of the 
 savage and substituting in the stead the 
 sweet yoke of Christianity, thus, accord- 
 ing to all human conjecture, compensat- 
 ing the incalculable losses in the scales 
 of European Catholicity by tiie Protest- 
 ant Reformation; O'Connell, breaking 
 the bonds that held his countrymen tied 
 to the pillory of oppression and replacing 
 them by the strong links of mutual 
 dependance and fraternal union ; the 
 one honoring his loved Savior by naming 
 his first discovered island "San Salvador ; 
 the other doing him religious honor by 
 raising his hat on every occasion, private 
 or public, when passing before a Catho- 
 lic Church and by attending Mass every 
 morning ; the former paying his homage 
 to the Mother of God by calling one of 
 his ships after her — "Santa Maria" — by 
 singing every evening while on sea the 
 
 "Salva Regina" (Hail, Queen), and by 
 sending the first American gold to line 
 the ceiling of one of Her most beautiful 
 Churches in Rome, "Saint Mary Major," 
 "Our La<ly of Smtw"; the latter, look- 
 ing forwani to victory's goal in thecaiiae 
 of his countrymen with his Rosary beads 
 in hand as he strolled along the lobby of 
 Westminister Hall im the pve of the glor- 
 ious Emancipation of ('atholic Ireland ; 
 the former beijueathiiig to Rome the 
 affection of his heart ; the latter, the 
 heart of his aiTeclion ; botlj recommend- 
 ing to God their immortal souls in 
 foreign lands and expiring away from 
 the homes of their boyhood ; the one in 
 Vallidolid in Spain ; the other in Genoa, 
 the birthplace of Columbus ; the former 
 consecrating his hallowed remains to 
 Havana, his great American Settlement, 
 where they now lie enshrined in its 
 grand Cathedral ; the latter to Ireland, 
 whode noblest interests he espousnd and 
 defended. May Catholic Ireland and 
 Catholic America, dearly beloved, ever 
 honor the sacretl relic* of two ilhuHtrious 
 martyrs of duty lo church and country, 
 and, kneeling at their graves, learn the 
 all-important lesson that there is no 
 virtue without sacrifice and no crown 
 without thorns. Amen. 
 
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