Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Southern Cross i DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol. 56 No. 32 Thursday, September 18, 1975 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents BALUSTRADE FRAMING - The balustrade high above St. Peter’s Square frames the canonization ceremony Sept. 14 for Mother Elizabeth Seton, first U.S. bom saint. In the background is St. Peter’s Basilica. (NC Photo) POPE PAUL presides over canonization ceremonies for Mother Elizabeth Seton Sept. 14. At his side is Msgr. Virgilio Noe, master of the pontifical ceremonies. (NC Photo) Official Appointments Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, of Savannah has announced the following appointments: FATHER MICHAEL RING, from associate pastor of Nativity, Savannah, to associate pastor of St. Mary’s On-the-Hill in Augusta, effective September 28,1975. FATHER FINBARR STANTON, from the faculty of Aquinas High School in Augusta, to associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament in Savannah, effective September 28,1975. FATHER KEVIN BOLAND has been appointed to succeed himself for another three year term as Dean of the Savannah Deanery. Mother Seton Proclaimed Saint VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI, making Mother Elizabeth Seton the first native daughter of the United States to be proclaimed a saint, called her living proof that the United States can produce holiness. “This most beautiful figure of a holy woman,” he told the 15,000 Americans in a crowd estimated at 120,000 in St. Peter’s Square for the canonization ceremony, “presents to the world and to history the affirmation of new and authentic riches that are yours: that religious spirituality which your temporal prosperity seemed to obscure and almost make impossible. “Your land, America, is indeed worthy of receiving into its fertile ground the seed of evangelical holiness.” He described Mother Seton, foundress of the Sisters of Charity in the United States, as “wholly American” (quoting the late Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York). Americans, the Pope said, should be proud of her. The Pope also referred to Mother Seton’s “complete feminity.” He described himself as pleased that her canonization on Sept. 14 had fallen within the UN-proclaimed International Women’s Year. He noted that the Women’s Year “aims at promoting an awareness incumbent upon all to recognize the true role of women in the world and to contribute to their authentic advancement in society.” He said he was happy “at the bond that is established between this program and today’s canonization.” (In conjunction with the canonization, the Vatican had proclaimed Sept. 14 “Woman’s Day.”) Pope Paul said that the Church was extoling Mother Seton’s extraordinary contribution as wife, mother, widow and Religious by canonizing her. The Pope added: “May the dynamism and authenticity of her life be an example in our day -- and for generations to come - of what women can and must accomplish in the fulfillment of their role for the good of humanity.” At about 10 a.m. the Pope, seated before the vast crowd in the strong September sunshine, proclaimed slowly and in a loud voice: “We declare and we define that Blessed Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, is a saint, and we inscribe her in the catalogue of the saints, with the mandate that members of the Universal Church should venerate her in the company of the saints with pious devotion.” The crowd burst into applause. In a tribute to the Episcopalian religion in which Mother Seton -- a convert to the Catholic Church at the age of 30 - had been reared, the Pope praised it for “having awakened and fostered the religious sense and Christian sentiment” that showed themselves early in her life. In the name of the newly proclaimed saint the Pope welcomed four emissaries from the Episcopal Communion in the United States at the canonization ceremonies. He called their presence “a presage of ever-better ecumenical relations.” He spoke of “her courage” in entering the Catholic Church despite all that that step cost her. “And we are likewise pleased to see that from this same adherence to the Catholic Church she experienced great peace and security, and found it natural to preserve all the good things which her membership in the fervent Episcopal community had taught her,” the Pope observed. Again citing the piety her early Anglican faith had fostered in her, the Pope noted “that she was always faithful in her esteem and affection for those from whom her Catholic profession had sadly separated her.” The Pope delivered his address in English. Cardinal Jan Willebrands, secretary of the Vatican’s Christian Unity Secretariat, read the Gospel at the canonization Mass. This was seen as an added gesture toward the non-Catholics at Mother Seton’s canonization. In formally entering Mother Seton’s name in the canon of the saints, the Pope asked: “But what do we mean when we say: ‘She is a saint?”’ Among the definitions of a saint he gave was “a person in whom all sin - the principle of death -- is canceled out and replaced by the living splendor of divine grace.” After speaking of the mingling of human but heroic virtue and mysticism as the two disparate elements producing holiness, the Pope declared: “The science of sanctity is therefore the most interesting, the most varied, the most surprising and the most fascinating of all the studies of that ever-mysterious being which is man.” Sister Hildegarde Marie Mahoney, general superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J., and president of the Federation of Mother Seton’s Daughters, became the first woman to read a lesson at a papal Mass in the Vatican. During the rite of canonization, which began after the Kyrie of the Mass, four women joined the pro-prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes in formally asking the Pope to canonize Mother Seton. Ines Amanrich, daughter of the French Ambassador to the Vatican, told the Pope, 23 cardinals, more than 100 bishops and the crowd that Mother Seton “is a Christian woman for our time.” She spoke in French. A Uruguayan mother, Mrs. Lidice Maria Gomez de Carraquiry, spoke in Spanish about the new saint’s example as a mother. A widow, Mrs. Gina Faggino, said in Italian: “It was God above all to whoui Mother Seton turned” after the death c f her husband. Sister Catherine O’Toole, superior general of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that as a Religious foundress Mother Seton offered a “true pattern for her Sisters,” while she endured “abject poverty, miserable health and the hurt of unjust interference in her apostolate.” At the end of his sermon, the Pope addressed the more than 8,000 Sisters in the congregations tracing their foundation to Mother Seton. He said he hoped that they would be faithful to their vocations, and that “their fervor and their numbers may increase.” During the Mass, Cardinal Lawrence Shehan, former archbishop of Baltimore and one of eight who concelebrated with the Pope, became the first priest to mention St. Elizabeth in a oanon of the Mass. Mother Seton made her first Religious foundation in Baltimore. Seton Relatives Names of additional direct descendants of St. Elizabeth Seton, living in the Diocese of Savannah, have been received by THE SOUTHERN CROSS. In addition to those listed in last week’s issue, the following are descendants of America’s first native-born saint: Mrs. Betty Claffey, Miss Elmore Craig, Mrs. Ameila Spinks, Miss Isabelle Craig, and Miss Marian Seton Craig, all of Augusta. Saint Mary’s Home Marks Centennial The many friends of St. Mary’s Home gathered Sunday, September 14, with the children and Sisters of Mercy, who staff the Home, to officially mark its 100th anniversary. Included in the gathering were many former residents of the Home. “Quite a number came from out of State,” said Sister 'Monica Hundertmark, R.S.M., Superioress of the Home. Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, of Savannah, was the principal celebrant of the Centennial Mass and was homilist for the occasion. In his homily, Bishop Lessard described the celebration as “a festive and historic occasion that calls us to look at the past with joy, but also, to reflect as we consider the future.” In recalling the past, the bishop said we must do so with admiration and awe - admiration of the work that has been accomplished by His creatures, surely, but awe for the wondrous works of God (Sirach: ‘And now, bless the God of all, who has done wondrous things on earth . . .’) Quoting Ps. 113: “Blessed be the name of the Lord forever,’ the Savannah bishop said we must be filled with gratitude, praise and thanksgiving -- “thanksgiving to God and to His instruments here on earth: the Religious Sisters of Mercy, their staff -- past and present -- and those who support their efforts: board members, friends of the Home, St. Mary’s Guild and the Home’s many benefactors throughout the state of Georgia.” Bishop Lessard singled out for special gratitude the children of St. Mary’s “because it is they who have provided us the occasion to give witness to the Lord, to give expression to our Christian life and to make Christ present in our diocese.” “Our past enables us to look to the future,” the bishop said,^“it permits us to examine again our ultimate goal.” He used the quotation ‘God the Father predestined us thru Christ Jesus to be his adopted sons ... He has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery, the plan he was pleased to decree in Christ, namely, to bring all things in the heavens and on earth into one under Christ’s headship.’ (Eph. 1) He said that we must remember that this goal is rooted in a divine calling and the mystery of our adoption as children of a common Father. “Such an examination of the ultimate goal,” the bishop continued, “calls us to a rededication, a recommitment to render Christian witness to that command, ‘that you love one another as I have loved you.’ (John 15) It is this divine imperative which is at the core of Christian Gospel, at the heart of Christian living and that is especially needed today because of the following dangers: “The danger of ‘politicizing’ where the demands of social charity become the object of a political ballgame rather than the unending responsibility of each and everyone of us, regardless of social or political partisanship. “The danger of the utilitarian ethic which mandates social concern and action, only because it is useful. The danger is that with this mentality, the very object of our concern and action might be judged less than useful, indeed, useless and that these useless citizens become things to be avoided, if not to be eliminated -- a real danger today!” Bishop Lessard noted that “it was a happy coincidence that the Centennial of St. Mary’s Home was being marked on the canonization date of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, whose whole life was characterized by social compassion. Her whole life was a visible expression of the Gospel mandate “love one another.” .. . The sincerity of her all-embracing love, its universality and (Continued on page 7) ALTAR WAS PLACED on porch for Outdoor Mass marking Centennial of St. Mary’s Home, Savannah. ft