Page:Pastoral Letter Promulgating the Jubilee - Spalding.djvu/31

Rh comes our Mother as well. Bequeathed to the Beloved Disciple as a Mother by Jesus, with his expiring breath, she is loved as such by all, who like John, seek to be the favorites of Jesus. It has been so from the very beginning of the Church; it will be so to the end of time. What a privilege to have a Mother in heaven; and so tender, so powerful, and so sweet a Mother! Christ, who denied her nothing on earth, will surely deny her nothing in heaven! Whatever we ask through Mary, with earnest and persevering faith, we shall most certainly obtain, if it be conducive to our salvation. Let us, then, during these days of benediction, implore her powerful intercession for ourselves, for those dear to us, and for the holy Church for which her Son died on the cross. Our faith and devotion should be stimulated by the fact, that she is the chosen Patroness of our beloved country, for the welfare and prosperity of which, both temporal and spiritual, she will not fail to raise her Immaculate hands before the throne of her divine Son. She is also the principal Patroness of this Archdiocese, and the first town of the Colony was called after her by our pious ancestors. She will not, cannot forget the land which bears her own sweet name.

The Pontiff having authorized Us to designate any month within the year 1865, for obtaining the Indulgence of the present Jubilee, and having also made it Our duty to designate the Churches to be visited and other works to be performed, in accordance with his Bull issued November 20, 1846; We hereby appoint, for this Archdiocese, the month beginning on the first Sunday of Lent, March 5th, and ending on the Tuesday after Passion Sunday, April 4th, both these days being included. We also designate, as the Churches to be visited, the following: for Baltimore, the Cathedral, St. Vincent's, and St. Michael's; for Washington and GeoregtownGeorgetown [sic], St. Patrick's, St. Matthew's and the Holy Trinity; for all the other portions of the Archdiocese, the parochial Church, or the Chapel in convents, colleges, acad-