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About The banner of the South. (Augusta, Ga.) 1868-1870 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1869)
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
