FAREWELL ADDRESS TO PORTLAND.1

I HAVE come to say farewell to the city and diocese of Portland. The same voice of authority which five years ago gave the ecclesiastical government of the priests and people of this See into my hands the only authority - has which has power to call and send in the Church now spoken, dissolving the bond which bound us together and directing me to take up my duties in another See.

I look back upon the five years passed among you and I am grateful to God for all they contain. For all for the experience gained, for the growth I have helped to nourish, for the progress made, for the good feeling on all sides fostered and cherished; and I can say with the deepest sincerity that even as in Ceylon they say that the bamboo's growth is positively visible to the traveler who stands to watch, so Catholicity, its interior development and its exterior prestige, have grown under my very eyes.

Five years ago I came to you a stranger. Since that day it has been my pleasure to witness, in signs, the sincerity of which is unmistakable, the rapid maturing of a union too deep to be severed by my change of residence to another See.

Looking back to the day when I came to Portland as a young Bishop with a great work to be accomplished, I can say here in God's presence that I have given all I had to give to doing that work, and while I have often 1 Sunday, September 9, 1906.

wished for more power to accomplish what stood before me day by day to be done, I have never felt, nor do I now feel, that in my heart's wish to execute my full duty as Bishop of Portland anything was lacking. I look back with consolation, with joy, with peace to that interval, because I am convinced upon examination of the work done, that were I to do it over again, while wishing for greater strength to bring greater results, I would nevertheless pursue the same line of action, the same method of work, the same plan of operation. And I can say with full consciousness of all that has taken place during my occupancy of this See that as far as my lights, as far as my powers have reached, I have done my duty to you, to this city, to this diocese, and to this State.

To you. You know what has been done and with what limited means at my disposal. This temple has been completely renovated from the floor to the ceiling. If in all America there is a better equipped cathedral in all that pertains to the dignity of worship and the glory of the House of God, I do not know it. And the work has been so thorough and so complete that for many years to come nothing more will be needed. The story of the life of the august Mother of God, Patroness of this temple, glows from the windows, and wherever you sit or kneel, the light of her holy face shines upon you and draws you to her Divine Son.

The same precious vestments which clothe prelates in the great basilicas of the world adorn this sanctuary. The music of the Church, so important a part of her liturgy, has been cultivated, and is executed in a manner very seldom to be heard, even in the great sanctuaries of the Old World. And the devotion of those who have

given gladly their time and energies to make the choir of this cathedral well-nigh perfect and its singing wellnigh unique, is too well known to all, too much appreciated by you all to need mention here. Five hundred children and the whole congregation chanting from beginning to end the whole service of Vespers and Benediction in all its entirety and with a precision to excite wonder, is a sight to be seen rarely in a lifetime. Here it has grown so common as scarcely to call forth a comment.

I feel that in a word whatever concerned the beauty of the church within and without its walls, its windows, its ceremonies, its ritual, its music-great things, yes, really great things, have been accomplished in an incredibly short time with means which, compared with the accomplishment, were limited indeed. And all this is due to your ardent coöperation in every plan I proposed, in every improvement I requested. To you, but most of all, to God, be the glory.

But the real glory of God's house is not in the beautifying of the walls, nor even in the richness of ceremony and ritual. It is in the hearts of His children, those hearts which, more even than cathedral shrines, are meant to be temples of the Holy Spirit.

I feel confidence here, also, that nothing which could be done was allowed to pass, to minister to the spiritual wants, to edify and raise up a people God-fearing and virtuous. The love you exhibit towards your priests is a proof of what they have been to you. In the pulpit, in the confessional, at the sick bed, and in the house of death, everywhere I have seen to it that your spiritual needs were supplied, and supplied bountifully and with the best I could give or procure. Confraternities, sodalities, altar societies, congregations of every religious

character, have been erected and fostered, that not only actual spiritual necessity might be relieved, but the overflowing bounty of the Church to pious souls might be at hand for whoever asked for them.

More than this. Looking out on the civil and social life of Catholics here, I discerned that other needs than merely religious existed. The dock laborers stood in the cold of long winter nights without a roof to cover them or a fire to warm them, unless indeed the roof and fire that led to bad company and vice.

To-day, facing the wharves at the very place where before intemperance lured them, stands a convenient club house, equipped with every form of innocent amusement, and where every form of food and drink, except those which destroy body and soul, is at their disposal. That Workingman's Club has transformed that district. It will do much to transform whole sections of Portland. May they who have helped to erect this home of honest pleasure and comfort receive God's blessing a hundred fold.

Besides this really great work, not the less great because its results come silently, during these five years were formed the Catholic Union for the older men, the Ozanam Club for the younger men, the Holy Name Society for the boys, graded in such a way that each contributes to the welfare of the other and administers to the other's growth. They must, like all such organizations, pass through their baptism of fire. They must meet the difficulties which come with development and growth, but they are here, established and alive. It remains with themselves to prove that the labor and the anxiety expended upon them were not in vain.

Among the societies founded here during my régime

none deserves higher praise than the reading circle, whose object is to direct towards proper sources and lead by the best channels the Catholic mind towards all that is really greatest in the world of letters. Its members have worked with steady progress and deep earnestness, and I trust they will continue in the same excellent spirit.

There is too much else to say to permit me to enter more into detail concerning the Catholic life of this parish and this city, its struggles and its undoubted progress even within the short span of five years. The tree is strong and vigorous. The rain has descended from the skies. the torrents at times from stormy skies. The dew has descended softly from heaven in the quiet of the night. The sun of God's grace has warmed the tree and its branches, and the fruits are already appearing sound and wholesome and plentiful. The long years of anxiety of our fathers in the Faith, the labor and tears of Bishand priests, all are now bringing forth a ripening harvest. Let those who gather the blossoms and the fruits not forget the toiling which made the field beautiful and fruitful.

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Financially these five years have been very successful. The cathedral debt has been very materially diminished. The property of the parish has been increased and that notwithstanding the complete renovations and repairs made upon the church, the house, and the schools. In the future the cathedral parish has only to provide for its natural growth. The burdens which confronted the past are all but vanished. But not for this should your efforts weaken. Much has been done, but you must not rest, but go on valiantly to meet new situations and new developments. That alone is life.