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On the 10th o t February, Rev. Daniel
O’Regan, 1).D., late pastor of the Catholic
Obnrch at Lancaster, Ohio, died at his
father’s residence, in Dubuque, of lung
disease. The deceased was well known
a e one of the most distinguished of Ameri
can scholars in the preparatory college at
Rome, having received the highest prize
for scholarship botli there and at the Uni
versity of Paris.— Xorthwestern Chronicle.
Ordinations. —Oil Saturday, February
20, the Most Rev. Archbishop conferred
the sacred order of Deacon, at the Archie
piscopal Church, on the Rev. Mathieu llal
beld, belonging to this Diocese, and on
the Kev. Peter Byrne, of the Congrega
tion of the Mission. On Wednesday, Feb.
21, Rev Mathieu Halbeld was promoted
by the Most Rev. Archbishop to the sacred
order of Priesthood.— N. 0. Morning Star.
Diooese of Newark. —On Saturday,
the 20th February, the Rt. Rev. Bishop
Bayley conferred the Holy Order of Priest
hood on the Rev. James P. Smyth, of the
Diocese of Newark, xmd the Rev. Joseph
Flanigan, of the Order of St. Paul of the
Gross. The ordination took place in the
Diocesan Seminary, at Seton Hall.—V. Y.
Heminary.
The Right Rev. Bishop of Wilmington
has petitioned the Legislature of Dela
ware to pass a law by which the Board of
Public Education may be required to “take
under their control the school-houses and
the schools formed or to be formed in them,
and to support and govern the said schools
in the same manner as the Public Schools
are now governed, except as to the ap
pointment of teachers and the selection of
Looks, which shall be under the control
of the society or denomination building or
furnishing said schoolhouse. Provided
that any such school, when so tendered,
as aforesaid, have as many children in at
tendance as the average number assigned
to any one teacher in the public schools.
—Pittsburg Catholic.
Death of the Abbe O’Donnell. —The
Paris correspondent of the Irishman writes:
“ Not having the honor of the acquaint
ance of that portion of the Irish colony in
Paris, which my respected triend, Mr. J. P.
Leonard calls the les riels Irlandais , I
have allowed the death of the Abbe
O’Donnell to pass by unnotioed in this
column. I know the young Irish, or
rather the new Irish, of the colony ; the
old Irish I have not the privilege to be on
speaking terms with; but for this old
Irishman, the Abbe O’Donnell, I have a
profound respect and love. The cause I
shall tell you. He celebrated Mass for the
repose of the souls of the three good men
hanged at Manchester for lealty to friend
ship.”
Diocese of Santa Fe. —The Propagateur
has received a ietter from Santa Fe, New
Mexico, dated January 3d, which conveys
the pleasing intelligence that the Catholic
Church is spreading its pacific empire
over that distant region. Bishop Lamy
has, within some months, ordained seven
Priests, judging whom by their names,
may be considered Frenchmen. Thus
France, which Puritanical Pharisees de
nounce as infidel, is yet, and has always
shown itself to be pre-eminently Catho
lic. Every year she sends her devoted
apostles to mission fields; the poorest,
most difficult, and perilous. It is by this
devotedness of the people—the true people
of France, pre-eminently Catholic—expiate
the short-comings of the Government—re
deem the criminality of French red-tape
ism.—Star.
Diooese of Dubuque.— A correspondent
of the Freeman's Journal writes from
lowa City : “ I suppose you are not aware
that we are building one of the finest
Churches—of course, I mean Catholic—in
this State ? It is a fine specimen of archi
tecture for our ‘ village.’ Its length is 145
feet, width 05 feet, height from floor to
Ceiling 52 feet, and when the steeple and
spire is completed, will reach an altitnde
of over 100 feet. We have the building
closed in, the steeple more than half way
up, and carpenters and plasterers busily
engaged on the interior. In a few months
we will be able to hold service in it. Our
old Church was taken down—the new one
taking its place. How long do yoi sup
pose we have been engaged in building it?
Well, only a few months. On the first of
dune last there was not a brick laid for it;
ami now we have a full-grown Church.
We have expended about twenty-five thou
sand dollars so far, and consider the build
ing about half way to completion.
Action against a Bishop.— We learn
from the Universal News that the proprie
tor has commenced an action against Dr.
Bllathorne, the Catholic Bishop of Bir
mingham, for having, in a pastoral letter,
referred to the Universal Yews as a Fe
mati organ. To us it never appeared that,
m its editorial department, the Universal
JeuK was in any degree more “Fenian”
than are most of the popular Irish jour
mds : its sympathies were with the sufler
eis tor the Fenian cause, as they ought to
mve been, and were strongly in favor of
toe cause of Irish nationality, but we, for
°or part,, are not aware that it ever con
stituted itself a champion of the Fenian
movement or organization.— Nation.
, .An Old Chasuble.— There is some
thing touching in the following anecdote,
■'Dirt from its historical interest: An aged
Ecclesiastic presented himself at the Ca-
Eiedral in Avignon, and inquired if they
■U\ had an old black chasuble which he
with great minuteness. The
answered in the aflirrnative, and,
■oter some hesitation, he allowed hisques
take it in his hands and examine
the examination was not of long du
ration. He pressed it to his lips with
reverence. Curious to learn what asso
ciations there were connected with tire old
worn chasuble to kindle so much emo
tion, the man in charge asked the venera-
We oMI nest what he knew concerning
t. \r hereupon the Priest said it had once
belonged to him, and was made from the
tast robe worn by Marie Antoinette. He
supported his assertion with so many
proofs that the authorities of the cathedral
were convinced, and the old chasuble, we
are told, is now carefully put away along
wk.i the other treasures. Once a }Vteh.
Philadelphia Sisters of Mercy in
■?®kAND. From the Ballinrobo (Ireland)
Chronicle we learn that the Mother Supe
rioress and her assistant, of the Convent
of Mercy, Philadelphia, America, are at
present sojourning at the Convent of Mer
cy, in Ball inrobe. They have been at
Tuam, and received from Iris Grace the
Archbishop, a “cead millefailtheP Having
disclosed to him the object of their visit to
his diocese; namely, that of receiving some
postulants for their convent in Philadel
phia, which, under the paternal care of
their good Bishop (Dr. Wood) was evi
dently destined to grow into a large tree,
and like the “Irish Oak,” would strike its
roots deeply into the American soil. Ilis
Grace, we are informed, wished and
prayed fir their mission “God speed,” and
said we would take care to place at their
disposal every means within his power to
secure a happy result for their laudable
mission. We understand that already the
Sisters have taken steps to secure berths
for twelve young ladies, postulants, who
are to leave Ireland next month. On
Monday, the 18th of January, the Sisters
visited the Irish-American Church in
Head ford ; the schools ; the old ruins of
the Abbey of Ross; and the other public
institutions of the parish. As soon as the
people learned who they were, they wel
comed them with all the warmth peculiar
to the Irish race. In the schools the chil
dren clapped their hands and cheered with
joy. The school and church hells were
rung, and sent forth their chimes of joy
aud welcome for the American nuns. The
Rev. Peter Conway, P.P., showed them
over the Church, and St. Mary’s. The
members of their Convent, and their nu
merous friends in Philadelphia, will be
glad to learn that the Sisters are well and
received, wherever they go, kindly and
hospitably. We understand that they are
about visiting Westport, and other con
vents of their order in Ireland.
From tlie Detroit Advertiser, March 5.
THE LATE BISHOP LEFEVRE-
Bishop LeFevre died at St. Mary’s
Hospital last evening at 8.05 o’clock. In
the death of this official the Roman
Catholic Church lias lost one of its
strongest pillars, and Detroit suffers in
a corresponding degree. Archbishop Pur
cell, of Cincinnati, was notified by tele
graph of the demise, and will come to
Detroit to look after and arrange the
matters of the Diocese. In the mean
time, however—as, in fact, has been the
case since deceased was first taken ill—
the duties of Bishop will be performed
by the Very Rev. Peter Henneart,
Vicar-General of the Diocese. Right
Rev, Peter Paul LeFevre, D.D., Ad
midistrator, Bishop of Zela in partibus
infidelium, and Coadjutor of Detroit, was
born in Roulerz, YY est Flanders, on the
30th of April, 1804, consequently at the
time of his death he was nearly 66 years
of age. He completed his studies in
Paris, and left that city for the United
States in 182S. He was in seniority the
second Bishop in the United States
Bishop \V helan, ol Wheeling, Va., being
first, having been consecrated a few
months previously. He succeeded as
Bishop of this diocese Frederick Reese,
who is the titular Bishop, but who, owing
to some church difficulty, was removed,
and is. yet living in a monastery some
where in Germany, we believe.
The remains of the deceased Bishop
will be buried in the Cathedral on Tue.'r
day morning next.
[From tbe Detroit Tribune,
Opening of the Funeral Ceremonies—
The Procession—An Immense Gal/M
ering of People.
The ceremonies pertaining to the
funeral of the late Bishop LeFevre
were begun yesterday afternoon. Since
Friday the body has lain in the chapel
on Larned street, in rear of the Cathed
ral. This room had been appropriately
draped in mourning, and the coffin, a
handsome metalic case, was placed on a
raised platform in the center of the room.
Here he was visited by an immense
number of people. Every day siuce
I riday there has been a continous stream
pouring in aud pouring out, and on
Sunday, it required the utmost exertions
ol the police to keep a passage way clear.
At 2| o’clock yesterday the body was
temoved Horn the chapel and borne in
procession through the streets to the
Cathedral, where it now lies in state.
Tne Cathedral has been elaborately
draped in mourning. The front of the
gallery is covered with black. The altar
ls . framed with rosettes of black and
white, and showed much labor and ex
cellent taste. In front of the altar is a
catafalque, upon which the body is
placed. This is appropriately draped,
and upon tbe front of it surrounding the
letters R. I. P. is a most beautiful wreath
of white ferns. This is worthy of
especial mention and was the work of
Madame Rabaut. The decorations upon
the smaller altar are also very hand
some and elaborate. It was announ
ced that the procession would form at
half past 1 o clock, and long before
that hour Jefferson avenue and Larned
street were thronged with people flock
ing thither. The procession did not
move until half-past 2 o’clock, and by
that time the Cathedral was not only
filled to over-flowing but Jefferson
avenue was so full that the street cars
found it difficult to pass, and it was im
possible to approach within a block of
the Cathedral upon the sidewalk in any
direction. Larned street and St, Antoine
Street were perfectly impassable from the
crowd which swelled and surged through
them. Windows and even roofs of neigh
boring buildings were devoted to the uses
of spectators. It is impossible to form
any estimate of the number of thousands
of people who were present to pay a
tribute of respect to the beloved Bishop.
Precisely at half-past two o’clock the
coffin was removed from the chapel
and placed in the hearse drawn by ap
propriately caparisoned horses. ' The
following gentlemeu acted as pal 1 bearers:
Messrs. B M Kean, Stephen Martin,
Henry W Deare, Jeremiah Calnon,
Mm. Schulte, Charles Von Damme,
U ni. H Harris and William Buchanan.
\V hen the body had been placed in the
hears the clergy filed out and took a
position iu advance of it chanting the
solemn service of the church. The'Very
Rev. lather Hennerrot, Vicar General,
Revs Father Hennessey, of St. Patricks:
coffers Ol St. Anns, Limpens, of Our
Lady oi Help; Bleyen burg, of Trinity;
Inedland, oi St. Joseph; Gille.se aud O’
Donovan o! the Cathedral; Hahn, Recke;
and KuHman of St. Mary’s and Beaver
of Irmity. All theabove are of Detroit.
There were beside the Revs. Father Van
Dendnesche, of Cincinnati; Kilrov of
Kenokee; Kindereins of Monroe- Van
w W u’ 0f v Por f I l uron ; Wagner? of
? u t°s Van Detidriesche, of Connor’s
Creek; Buyse, of Swan Creek; Gerard of
Saginaw and Andre of the Boys’ Orphan
Asylum. Following- the clergy came the
heat se, and then the procession was
made up in the following order; Trustees
ot Mt Elliott Cemetery, as mourners;
city officers and members of the Common
Council, Faculty of the Detroit Medical
r. ol -, e p’o So ® letjof St - Vincent de Paul,
Guild Society, Lafayette Society St
Joseph Societies, Christian Doctrine
Societies, and Father Mathew Society.
A*l the members of societies wore badges
of mourning and the number in the
procession counted several hundred all
on foot. It moved through Larned
street to Hastings, and thence to Jeffer
son avenue and to the front of the Cathe
dral,, where the body was removed from
the hearse and borne into the Cathedral
ai d] placed upon the catafalque, the
procession moving in the same order as
upon the streets, the priests chantino
the solemn service. When the pro
cessiou had entered there was a great
rush to gain admittance, and it requi
red the utmost exertions of the police
to prevent accidents oecuring from the
jam. Fortunately no injuries were occa.
sioned.
When the body had been placed in
lioiii. ot the altar, the office lor the dead
chanted. This was commenced
witu the mating comprising three
nocturnes. There was said in the first
nocturn, the sth, the 6th, and 7th
I sal ms, and the 7th and 10th chapters
ol Job; in the second nocturn, the 22d,
24th and 26th Psalms, and the 4th, sth,
and 6th lessons, comprising the 13th
and 14th chapters of Job; in the third
nocturn, the 39th, 40th, and 41st
1 sahns, and the last lessons, compri
slnS !e TTth, 19th, and 10th chapters
of Job. Then followed the lauds and
vespers. At the conclusion it was an
nounced. that the solemn services would
be continued this morning at 10 o’clock,
at which time there will be a sermon also.
Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati,
arrived in the city yesterday mornning,
but was so much fatigued that lie did
not take part in the ceremonies. He
will to-day, and it is expected
that there will be six or seven bishops
present and a large number of clergy
men who were unable to get here yes
terday.
It is the intention of the Most Rev.
Archbishop to visit all the Churches of
the Archdiocese of Baltimore which have
not been already visited during the past
year, before he will take his departure
for Rome next October, to attend the
General Council . —Baltimore Mirror.
[UP* The Banner of the South can
be had of News Dealers in every city.
Specimen copies sent to any address.
Mr. Volt, the Alchemist.
lam by profession a solicitor—l regret
to say literally so ; my practice being
atinost entirely confined to “ soliciting'’
the settlement of long-standing debts,
on behalf of clients whose last peremp
tory, solicitations have proved ineffectual.
Business of this nature took me to Stop
pington , on the South North-Eastern
Railway. I had a spare evening before
me, and remembering that an old college
chum oi mine, Mark Stedburn, had
married and settled down as a doctor
somewhere in the neighborhood, I resol
ved to look him up
. “You see that tall tower on the hill,
right across the heath, three mile away?
I hat’s Mr. Volt's Tower at Firworth.
W alk straight for the tower, and you
can’t mistake. You’ll find Mr* S tod
burn’s a little further on.”
It was a pleasant walk across the
winter heath. The rain had fallen all
day, but had ceased at sunset, and the
stars sparkled as if the rain had washed
them newly bright.
Not far from the tower I met Marl:
Stedburn, busting’ along on foot at a
great pace. I might have passed him
without knowing who it was; he had
become so pale, and thin, and hollow
eyed; but lie recognized me immediately.
“Look here, old boy,” said he, “you
will sup with me, aud of course I will
imd you a bed; but I’m off* to see a patient
a couple ot miles away, and I can’t say
to half an hour how long I may be
detained. I tell you what you shall do
till. I return. Take my card by way
of introduction, and go in and see Mr.
Y olt at the tower there. He is always
delighted to see visitors, and is a kind of
man you won’t meet every day.”
“But what is Mr. Volt?”
“What is he? Everythicg, almost.
A great chemist for one thing. He
professes to believe in alchemy. But go
in and see him for yourself. I will
meet you there as soon as I can.” And
he shook hands and went away.
> worth I found on a great heathy
hill, with tvo lumps of firs—the greater
the lesser clump. About these,
traffic has worn a bald patch in the
heatheron the hill-top, and thrown up a
cottage or two, which is Firworth, In
the midst of the lesser clump and in the
center of the rise, stands Mr. Yols’s tall
brick tower, tapering toward the parapet
and surmounted by a high wooden obser
vatory, whose top is about ninety feet
from the ground. Built into the walls
oi the . edifice are mystical devices in
dark bricks. A sun-dial, marked with
strange characters, stood out in the light
be lore the door, when I first saw it, with
two enormous boles of gnarled dead
trees on either side, talking grotesque
shapes in the evening light. Wnen I pulled
the heavy iron ring at the end of a chain
hanging before the largo oaken door, it
seemed as if the clangor of the deep
toned bell would never cease. It died
away in queer echoes, that seemed to
wake again in the topmost stories of the
building about me. I could hear the
sound wandering about the hollow tower
until it reached the observatory, whence
it floated out into the night.
The door was opened by a man, wbo
might have been of any age between
forty and seventy. He was either an
old young man, or a young* old man. He
carried an oil-lamp which lie shaded with
his hand. I saw that he had a quantity
ol matted grey hair and beard: that his
face was kindly and intellectual, though
lat and sleek; that his eyes, deep and
brown and thoughtful, glowed with a
strange dull luster that made me suspect
opium. His dress was disordered, un
couth and old-fashioned.
Apologizing for my intrusion, I intro
ducee myself as a friend of Mr. Sted
burn’s and presented Mark’s card.
“I need no introduction,” said Mr.
Volt, quietly. “Living here alone, I
am always glad to see a fellow-student,
or you would not be here. Enter.”
YVe passed through some spacious
rooms full of old sculptures, old pictures,
old books and philosophical instruments,
heaped in piles without care or order,
and covered with dust and cobwebs.
Then he led me into a large laboratory,
of which every part was crammed with
bottles, chemicals, retorts, crucibles, pa
pers, more old books, and pictures, more
strange instruments, and all kinds of
learned litter. A small furnace was at
one end of the room, and beside jt a
St’ll
“You see tbe nature of my em
ployment”. Mr. \ olt began when he had
begged me to be seated in a tall old
fashioned chair. “My time is occupied
in chemical research. It is a wide field,
sir, a wide field. It is true we seekers
have found neither the philosopher’s
stone, nor the elixir vitae, nor the a lea best;
but in seeking them through speculative
chemistry, we have found the secrets ol
steam, gas, electricity. It is good still
to keep before us the three old aims of
the alchemists; the more so, I think, if
they never be attained, since they stimu
late search. When we give up dreaming
ot wonders yet unrealized, we shall give
up seeking.”
Am I to suppose,” I said, “that you
ave yourself contributed an important
discovery to science?”
J: know. I can scarcely tell,”
leplied Mr. \ olt, hesitating. “I fear it
is in advance of the age.” The eyes of
the Old man assumed a singular look of
fulness, and the pupils became dilated.
“You will probably be skeptical when I
tell you that I have discovered a certain
solvent by which to resolve the being we
call man, at will, into his primitive ele
ments of body and spirit : allowing the
spirit by itself to travel over the universe,
free from the gross trammels of the
fleshly elements ”
“Y ou do not mean to imply that you
can go out of your body at pleasure ?”
I asked, doubtful of Mr Volt’s sanity.
“I do mean no less, and probably
more,” he replied, with composure.
“Surely it is more easy to go out of
your mind,” I observed.
“A jest is but a poor auswer to a fact
proved by experience. Still I will accept
your very retort as an evidence how
plausible my position really is. If it be
so easy as you suppose for a man to go
out of his mind (which, to me, involves a
contradiction in terms, since I bold the
mind to be the man himself), it surely
must be less difficult to suppose lie can
go out of his body ; which, I take it, is
but the external idea of the man. For
my own part I have been a great traveler,
although my external idea has not left
Firworth for many years. I explored
Central Africa long before Livingston. I
am familiar with the whole tract of Abys
sinia, and have investigated all the terri
tory of Japan. Dreams, you say ? The
publishers say the same. Although I
have written volumes on the subject of
my travels, no one will print them, sim
ply on the ground that I was not foolish
enough to waste time and endanger mv
life on long sea voyages when I could
travel quicker without. I made the first
step in iny grand discovery,” Mr. Volt
went on, and I saw that argument was out
of the question, accidentally. Your
friend, Mark Stedburn, who occasionally
practices chemistry with me, was, at my
suggestion, combining olefiant gas and
iodine in a peculiar manner over a fur
nace, to produce a vapt rof iodie ether a L a
high temperature with which to experi
ment. When heated to three hundred
and eighty degrees, fumes of a pale violet
color aud a penetrating etheral odor rose
from the crucible, dispersing themselves
in wreathing clouds about the room. I
remembered at this moment having made
a very important omission in the direc
tions I had given him, but feared to
speak, as the operation on which he was
engaged was of so delicate and absorbing
a nature, that to disturb him even by a
word would have involved his going
through the whole process again At the
time 1 wished very strongly that lie would
take a certain book from a shelf beside
him, and refer to section 217, where he
would find the omitted direction. Ilis
book was toward me at the moment, but
1 saw him reach down the book and re
fer to the place. When he had completed
the experiment successfully, I inquired
what had led him to take down that
book ? His reply was : ‘I felt you had
told me so.’ Reflection convinced me
that I had unknowingly projected my
mind upon his ; and I had reason to be
lieve that the pale violet, vapor had ren
dered this easier of accomplishment than
under ordinary circumstances. I there
upon commenced a series of experiments
with a view to ascertain how far it would
be possible to carry out this principle of
the projection of the mind. I find it is
ol ail needful so to refine the body, by a
course ot low vegetable diet, succeeded
by a day’s fasting, that the spirit shall
withdraw itself from its outposts and be
come gradually detached from the exter
nal idea, every part of which must be
brought into abject subjugation to the
will. Then after inhaling the pale violet
vapor for fifteen minutes, [ take a small
quantity of confection from this box,
and, remaining in the heated fumes of
the vapor, can distil the spirit from my
body in a pure essence, as easily as we
distil the spirit from any other earthly
body. I thus obtain pure concentrated
mind. In this state I can either travel—
not involuntarily as in dreams, but con
sciously and under the direction of my
own will—or I can project my mind on
that of another person, and live in him
and direct him lor the time being, while
my own body appears to sleep.”
“May I ask of what this confection
consists ?” I said very skeptically in
deed. Mr Volt placed in my hand a
small tortoise-shell box, containing a dull
greenish paste.
CONCLUDED IN OUR NEXT.
3
