VIRE SELF-RAISING F LOUR
E
The West AUSTRALIAN
Rises Above all Others.
RECORD
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY s, 1913
Papua's Priests -- Imposing Ceremony at Yule Island Australians are Ordained for the Mission (BY D. P. ELLIOTT.)
The commercial world is just now beginning to realise the possibilities of undeveloped Papua ; its soil promises to supply with rubber and copra and hemp the best and biggest markets. Moreover, its oil, its copper, its gold resources seem inexhaustible. But there is yet another wealth in Papua. For over a third of a century, it has been exploited by valiant men and women-here they have gathered the treasure which
distinction that marks him as a man of singular talents. The young Levites, the
Reverend
Fathers Bailey and McCarthy, were with solemnly consecrated priests, that pomp and dignity and reverence so characteristic of such functions. Immediately after the ordination, there is a touching scene. The Consecrator kneels before the consecrated. His Lordship Dr. de Boismenu, He kisses "neither the moth nor the rust doth seeks the first blessing. has a few devoutly the hands he consume." priests The old seekers after these incor- minutes before annointed. The forward the sisters press brothers, the out dying fast are riches ruptible for the young priests' blessings. Next others must take their place. come about five hundred PapuansThere has been a consecration of and women and new workers, so I am given an op- young and old-men portunity to put before your readers children. They seek the consecrated augurs some idea of an ordination ceremony hands with a reverence that
Missioncation, and urge him to the priest- Priesthood, he entered the FaHeart Sacred the of College ary completed McCarthy Father hood. Sydney. After his studies at the Sacred Heart Col- thers, Kensington, finishing his studies, he was chosen lege, Kensington, Sydney. Quite recently, the saintly Redemptorist mis- for the Papuan Mission.assist him at Father Bailey had to sionary, Father Hegarty, wrote to FaFather McCarthy as follows "There his first Mass the Very Reverend ther Vitalli, M.S.C. One has but to is only one good work I have done speak with this zealous missionary in my life, and that is to help you to at once feel that he is in the preAs soon as I to the priesthood. hear of your 'ordination I will sing sence of "homo DEI." Father Vitalli my was born on the 8th March, 1866, at my 'Nunn dimittis.' and you, dear son, ask permission from your Gildone, in the Province of CampoSuperior to say a mass for your basso. He is, therefore, a son of the diocese of Benevento, in the South of Poor old father's soul." The Very Reverend Father Chabot, Italy. A young man of 22, he landed M.S.C., assisted Father McCarthy at in Sydney on the 6th,- August, 1888. Made sub -deacon and deacon at the his first Mass. He has just retired Church of Our Lady of the Sacred from the Suneriorship of the Mission. As Superior be won the love Heart, Randwick, Sydney, he proceeand the respect of his subjects. For ded to Thursday Island, where, on :
in these wild regions. The ceremony took place in the Pro -Cathedral, Yule Island, on the '22nd December. The Cathedral is modest both in size and adornment, for this mission from a material point of view is one of the poorest. There is, however, a spacious sanctuary, which appears alto-
gether out of proportion with the remainder of the building. It is very probable that the late Archbishop Navarre, when adopting the plans, foresaw the day when the noblest ceremonies of 00D'S HOLY CHURCH would take place in his humble
Cathedral. ly
The cathedral was beautifuldecorated. The High Altar -
a gift to the mission daughter of France-is of carva
There are
ed wood.
executed
artistically upon it many
fig-
ures symbolical of the Holy Sacrifice. On the top is a pedestal, supporting a large statue of i,ur Lady of the Sacred Heart.. The Altar, with its statue, already majestic, was ta, flief:lly adorned. Decorating could he seen a devout but, aged nun. sister Madeline, of whom I write, is now seventy-two (72) years old. She has been twentysix (26) years on the mission. Her greatest earthly ioy is to prepare the Altar for the Holy Sacrifice. The Reverend Mother Sebastian, with her devoted Community of Sisters, did much to help on the prepara-
of Mercy), Young Ladies' College, Victoria Square (conducted by the Sisters See advertisement on another page.
tions.
Papua's much loved and
learned
Bishop, the Right Reverend Dr. de Boismenu, had, as an assistant, the Very Reverend G. Desnoes, Vicar General the Reverend P. Branger, M.S.('., was Master of Ceremonies. His Lordship, who has been recruited for Christ's A postolate from the French aristocracy, brings to the exercise of his sacred office that grace by which the noble ('atholic families of Europe are so distinguished. The Vicar -General, the Very Reverend G. Desnoes, M.S.('., was for many years a Professor in ChetalBenoit and in Issoudun (France), and also in Canet de Mar (Spain). He could not resist a desire to work for the conversion of the infidel. Soon after his arrival in Papua, His Lordship Dr. de Boismenu recognised that he had in him a prudent, a sealons and a learned missionary. Father Desnoes' appointment as Vicar -general was but another advance with the arduous work of extending and administering a diffi ;
cult ,ission. On the 8th December last he was elected Superior of the Mission
-a
well for the future Catholicity
of
these parts. The first Masses were celebrated in the following the Cathedral on forty A choir of about morning. voices rendered, among other numbers, that beautiful French hymn, "0 Saint Autel." What a thrill went through the Cathedral as the full took up this ravishing recl.virtis frain heureux, jour celeste et propice, A voile benir je consacre ma voix, Le Dieu vivant s'immole en sacri-
"0 jour
fice,
Entre mes mains pour la tots."
premiere
The Reverend Father McCarthy, M.S.C., was born at Fingal, Tasmania, on the 6th March, 1884. His earto the ly education was entrusted Sisters of Saint loseph, Zeehan, and, later, to the Christian Brothers, Ballarat. The Reverend Bernard Marphy, P. P., Zeehan, and that 1.61y and well known Redemptorist Missionary, the Reverend Father I legarty, were the first to detect his vo-
which re-opens next Monday.
year he many years he was a secular priest that 14th October of the same priesthood by in France, but, being convinced of was admitted to the the scarcity of workers among the the late Archbishop Navarre. Father His infidels, he entered the ranks of the Vitalli is a typical Italian. Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, zeal, throughout an extensive parish, reverEver since he has taken a leading has won for him the lovel and in part in the Papuan Mission. It was ence of his Papuans. Visit himpoint his parish, of Beipa, and he will he who, with Fathers Egidi and Filbaplodeau, explored some of the rough- to the different natives that he or est country in Papua. One of the tised, either in their infancy is growth many great and daring feats of the youth, and whose spiritual had the party was to scale to a village on ever his first care. He has of his the top of Mount Eyssautier, 9,900 consolation of preparing many feet high. Father Chabot is an in- children for death. His greatest joy trepid missionary. He has had, on is to recount those whom he saw die of his expeditions, many sleepless nights fortified with the last Sacraments has because of the treachery of the na- the Church. Twenty-five years he and tives. However, in the risks he has laboured among the Papuans, taken he has always relied on a be- the whole of this time he has never been fartber than twenty miles from nigh Providence. his parish church. Ask him about The other young priest, the Rev- Port Moresby, the capital of the tererend Father Bailey, M.S.C., is a naritory, and he will reply " I have tive of New Zealand. He was born never seen Port Moresby." Ask him, in Auckland on the 27th January, his superiors often have done, to studies were made as IRRO. T-Tie early recuperate in Europe, and he will anunder the Marist Brothers of that swer with a smile : "Beipa is my city. For, some years he led a busi- Europe." ness life, and took an active part in It is no secret to those that know the 1iickland Catholic Young Men's Literary Society. Called to the him best, that he daily replenishes :