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 MISSION

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MISSION

getting some footluilJ lor his coiuiminity in iMiglaiul where they might aid the perseeiitcil (':ithlips, Imt in" vain. Sheffield was the first foundation in Kngland and it has become a mission centre partly endowed bv the Duke of Norfolk. A house was established in Mill Hill, London, in lSS9,and it isnowa [larish.andhas the direction of the provincial hou.se of the Sisters of Charity. A normal college at Hammersmith was en- trusted to the Lazarists in 1S99. In Scotland, Fathers Dugg;in and White laboured in St. X'inceut's time, sent thither bv him. Father F)uggan workeil zeal- ously in the llebrides travelling from place to place until his labours were cut short by death. Father Wliite's busy life of missionary travel on the mainland of Scotland was interrupted by his imprisonment in Cromwell's time; on his release with the condition that if he be caught preaching or baptizing he would be han.ged without trial, he resumed his work un- daimtcd in the mountain districts. But it was not until 1859 that the first Scotch house was established at Lanark. The magnificent church destroyed by fire in 1907 has been rebuilt and the work of giving missions has gone on iminterruptedly.

In 1840, the houses of Ireland were formed into a Province and Rev. Philip Dowley (1788-1864), was appointed visitor. He was succeeded in 1864 by Father Thomas MacNamara (1809-1892), a man of great zeal and learning, who did much for the spiritual welfare of the deaf-mutes in Ireland and was head of the Irish College from 1868 to 1889. Father Duff (1818-1890) became visitor in 1867. He was followed, in 1888, by Father Morrissey who resigned in 1909, after a most successful career and was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Walsh. The novitiate was started in 1844 at Castleknock, Prior to that, and even to some extent afterwards, the novices were trained at the mother-house in Paris. In 187^, a new site was se- cured and the novitiate traiisfiirrd iliitbcr. It is known as St. Joseph's Vinceniini Nixiiiate, Black- rock, near Dublin. In 1858 the In-lj i nllcge in Paris (q. v.), founded in the last years of the sixteenth century, was transferred to the Irish Vincentians. Father Lynch, the leading spirit of the young priests who founded the congregation in Ireland, was conse- crated bishop while head of this college; going first to Scotland, and afterwards to the See of Kildare and Leighlin. Armagh seminary was confided to them by Dr. Dixon in 1861. About 1888, the Irish Laza- rists were made spiritual fathers at MaJ^looth, then according to Cardinal Newman the most important ecclesiastical seminary in Catholic Christendom. In 1875, a training school was begun at Drumcontlra, Dublin, and in 1883 it was superseded by the newly founded normal college entrusted to the Irish Laza- rists by the Government, In the space of twenty -six years it has sent out over 2300 Catholic teachers. All Hallows College (q. v.) was placed under the care of the Lazarists in 1892. The Australian mi.ssion of the Irish Province was begun in 1885 with a most successful series of missions from their new mission house in New South Wales. At the urgent request of Bishop Patrick Joseph Byrne they assumed charge of St. Stanislaus College, Bathurst, New South Wales, which had been founded some years previously. A mission centre and parish were established at Malvern near Melbourne in 1892. The Iri.sh Province numbers (1910) 125 priests, 30 lay brothers, and 20 scholastics. _ (2) The United States Province. — The Congrega- tion of the Mission was brought to the United States in 1816 by Bishop Dubourg (q, v.) of New Orleans. His diocese comprised both upper and lower Louisiana as it was then called. Upper Louisiana to which he sent the Lazarists included what became afterwards the States of Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois and all the territory north and west of these states. There were but four priests there at this time and three of them died soon afterwards. He succeeded after some ditficulty

in getting three Lazarist priests, with a brother, to head a band of twelve apostolic workers for his vast territory. They were Rev. Felix de Andrcis (q.v), J(weph Ro.sati, John Baptist .Acquaroni, and Brother HIanka. Bishop Ryan of Buffalo wrote of them as coming "to do for religion and the Church in the distant an<l still undeveloped West what a Carroll, a Cheverus, a F'lagct, and other great and holy men had done aiul were <lning in other parts of the country" (Karly Lazarist Missions and Missionaries, 1887). They embarked 12 June, 1816, on an American brig bound for Baltimore, reaching there 26 July. They were welcomed at St. Mary's Seminary by Father Brute. On their way to St. Louis, they stopped all winter at Bardstown, where Father de Andreis taught theology in St. Thomas' Seminary. He had already taught it with great success at the College of the Propaganda in Rome. He was, however, eager to go and jireach the Gospel to the poor savages and studied the Indian language with this design. On 8 Jan., IMS, Ivither de Andreis settled down as pastor of St, Louis and vicar-general of the diocese, an appoint- ment he had received on leaving Rome, He writes: " It will not be easy to establish our missionaries on the same footing as in Italy, Here we must be like a regi- ment of cavalry or flying artillery ready to rim wherever the salvation of souls may require our presence." Several of those who came from Europe at Bishop Dubourg's invitation joined the little community. Father Joseph Cosetti died on the eve of his reception into the internal seminary. Father Andrew Ferari, F. X. Dahmen, a subdeacon, and Joseph Tichitoli, a subdeacon, were admitted to the novitiate on 3 Dec, 1818, in St. Louis.

Early in 1818 the beginnings of an establish- ment were made at the Barrens, Perry Co., Mis- souri, and thither the novitiate was transferred and placed under Father Rosati, In 1820, a small log house twenty-five by eighteen feet was occupied by priests, seminarians, and brothers. In 1820, shortly after writing to P'ather Rosati of his joy at the near prospect of going to work among the Indians, Father de Andreis died in the odour of sanctity. The process of his beatification has been begun (1910). In a few yeai's a large brick buikling arose and gradually the splendid group of buildings, church, mother-house of the Lazarists of the West, and apostolic college were added. The early days were full of missionary ac- tivity for the new eommimity. They gave the first real impetus to the progress of the Church in Illinois. Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, and Texas were the scenes of missionary journeys. Here and there churches were established but these were gen- erally relincjuished, as diocesan priests were found to take them. Father Rosati, who had been appointed superior by Father de Andreis, wrote in 1822: "We are, 19 March, ten priests, three clerics, and six brothers." He refused the post of Vicar Apostolic of P'lorida and only the peremptory command of the pope made him accept the coadjutorship of New Orleans. Though overburdened with work he con- tinued still to hold the office of superior of the Laza- rists until 1830 when Father Tornatore arrived from Rome,

In the year 1835 the province of the United States was formed. Rev. John Timon, born at Conewago, Penn., in 1797, was appointed visitor. He became first Bishop of Buffalo, dying in 1867. With Father Odin (q.v.), afterwards Archbishop of New Orleans, he liad done great work in Te.xas where the Lazarists succeeded in having the State restore to the Church the property it had taken when Texas separated from Mexico. The parish of La Salle, Illinois, a centre for the missionary labours of the Lazarists, was estab- lished in 1838 and they still minister to the faithful there. The same year, 1838, a school was begim at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, by Father Odin, where