Centennial Page
This page includes items from newspapers and other sources found in PAHRC that illustrate events from 1908. It will be a updated periodically.
From the Public Ledger February 12, 1908
Archbishop Ryan Does
Not Approve Prohibition
Declares That Catholic Church
Opposes Such a Law, as It Interferes With man’s
Archbishop Ryan outlined Catholic
opinion in regard to prohibition yesterday, in view of recent
utterances of Cardinal Gibbons and Mgr. Franz Goller, of
“We do not believe in prohibition as a law,” said the Archbishop, “for that is interfering with man’s personal liberty, but the Church teaches temperance and moderation, as is only consistent. To be sure, we have very strong total abstinence organizations made up of our church members, but no one is forced to join these. He becomes a member of his own free will, and, having joined, he feels bound to keep the pledge which he has given. These organizations are exceedingly beneficial, especially among those who found they could not remain within the bounds of temperance after having taken a single drink.
“I think local option and high license laws are good things, and believe that every possible restriction should be put upon saloons to prevent them being the means of spreading intemperance, but prohibition is entirely different, and of it I do not approve, although I myself happen to be a total abstainer.”
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April 23, 1908, North
American
Cathedral Scene of
Great Splendor
At Pontifical Mass
Most Gorgeous
Service
In History of the
Church
Of the
Pope’s Congratulation
Venerable Brother:
Health and apostolic blessing. Pleasing
indeed it is for us to recall the affairs of all the dioceses,
but particularly of their beginning, for when we consider these
beginnings we cannot but wonder at the great progress that has
been made in so brief a space of time.
Therefore, on the approach of the solemn
festive day, whereon you celebrate the centennial anniversary of
the establishment of the diocese of Philadelphia, it is a
pleasure for us to take part in your joy, and while thus
participating to congratulate both those who have labored for the
welfare of the church and you, the faithful prelate.
We offer, moreover, our good wishes for
still greater benefits, and from our heart we pray that God may
bless with peace and prosperity all who in any way have worthily
labored for the up-building of the church in the archdiocese.
As a pledge of Divine favor and as a mark
of our affection, we most lovingly impart to you and to the
faithful committed to your care the apostolic blessing.
Given at
PIUS X
April 25, 1908, Catholic
Standard & Times
Mother Mary Bernardine
Community of
Sisters of Third
Order of St.
Francis
Mother Mary Bernardine Dorn, the last
survivor of the original community of the Sisters of the Third
Order of St. Francis in the
The establishment of the Sisters of St.
Francis here was due to the Venerable John Nepomucene Neumann,
fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, who, while in
On April 9 1855, Bishop Neumann received the
three ladies named into the order, the ceremony taking place in
St. Peter’s Church. The little community consisted of
Mrs. Anna Bachman, Sister Mary Francis, superioress; Miss Barbara
Boll, Sister Mary Margaret; Sister Mary Bernardine. Sister
Mary Francis died in this city in 1863, and Sister Mary Margaret
in
Pilgrimage Party
Nearing Completion.
Only a few more berths remain open on the
steamship Carpathia, carrying the Pilgrimage party leaving
(The Carpathia served as a rescue ship for
survivors of the Titanic.)
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From the Catholic Standard & Times: May 2, 1908
April 1808 -
April 1908
By Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly (1838-1917)
Sing Jubilate Deo! one and all!
Sing to the Lord a new
and glorious song!
Let loud Te Deums fill the spacious
hall,
Which angel choirs echo
and prolong;
For every heart should glad and
grateful be
In this Our Grand Centennial Jubilee!
To-night the tender hand of Memory
Draws back the curtain fom
the hallow’d Past,
And show the progress of a century
In those blest things
that Time and Change Outlast;
To-night she weaves from mingled
smiles and tears
Her mystic rainbow round the buried
years.
And summoning from the their graves
the honor’d Dead,
The Christian pioneers
long pass’d away,
Whose lives of sacrifice preserved and
spread
The Faith that vivifies
their sons to-day,
She bids the Muse, with trope and
allegory,
Tell of those dear old times, the
precious story.
I
A fountain reared upon an arid waste,
Or in a crowded
city’s dusty mart,
With wealth of pure and wholesome
waters graced,
Alike refreshing fainting flesh
and heart—
Is unto all that ‘round it,
thirsting, meet
A living benediction cool and sweet
II
A shade tree planted by a weary road,
Where pilgrims journey
‘neath the torrid glow
Of tropic heat—groaning beneath
the load
Of tollsome travel and
consuming woe—
Becomes a boon to every wandering wight
Who pants, perspiring, in the
sun’s fierce light.
III
O Fount of Grace, whence living waters
course,
Erected here one hundred
years ago!
O blessed See, of heavenly streams the
source,
Washing polluted robes as
white as snow
And giving drink to all who,
thirsting, faint;
Refreshment both to sinner and to
saint!
IV
Of countless souls, the benediction,
thou;
A solace to the needy in
distress;
Thy crystal waters, ceaseless in their
flow,
Angels extol and grateful
mortals bless;
Finding within thy well-spring, clear
and calm,
A cleansing laver, a celestial balm.
V
O Tree of Life, grown from the mustard
seed;
And fed by dew and
sunlight from above!
Planted a sapling, slender as a reed,
In our old City of
O little, modest seedling slim and
low,
See of a hundred fateful years ago!
VI
Our people sought thee in those olden
days
With thirsting spirits
and with weary feet,
Craving a shelter from Life’s swelt’ring
ways,
Safety from whirlwinds,
shadow from the heat.
Alas! thy branches then were
frail and few,
Thy tender follage damp with earliest
dew!
VII
For when the Seventh Pio reigned at
And
The Church was small and struggling
here at home,
Her children scatter’d
thro’ Penn’s city old;
Their only shrines St. Mary’s and
the three,
St. Joseph’s, St.
Augustine’s, Trinity.
VIII
In
There labored then but
thirteen priests of God;
While now in this our See
(Christ’s Vineyard fair),
Nearly six hundred till
the sacred sod!
And churches, chapels, stations fill
the vines
With glory from unnumber’d
sparkling shrines!
IX
The mustard seed hath grown a giant
Tree,
The tiny rill become a
Fountain grand;
Our great Archdiocese is called to be
One of the best and
brightest in the land;
Her patrons, Mary without stain of
sin,
St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles twin!
X
And where, of old, at altars small and
dim,
A handful of believers
knelt and prayed,
A mighty multitude with prayer and
hymn
Our churches throng, and
hallowed haunts invade—
Five hundred thousand children of the
Faith
Opposed to Irreligion’s dwindling
wraith!
XI
The while we reverently recall
to-night
The dear departed rulers
of our See—
Egan and Conwell, Kenrick, (brilliant
light
Of
The while we chant the virtues fair
and good
Of sainted Neumann and illustrious
Wood.
XII
Our hearts, our lips their loving tribute
pay
To him who lives and
reigns our Shepherd blest,
Who, gazing out upon the vast array
Of churches, hospitals
and homes of rest,
Convents and schools, asylums
manifold,
With all their myriad inmates, young
and old,
XIII
Beholds with fatherly, benignant look
His fair Cathedral
glowing ‘neath his glance,
His lilied garden-bed at Overbrook,
Blooming with Levites as
with priceless plants;
Protectories and havens for all needs,
Converting, welcoming all colors,
creeds!
XIV
Ah! Yes, the dear Archbishop of our
love
Sees, as
The
Descending from the skies
in cloth of gold—
The New Jerusalem, the Heavenly House
Deck’d as a bride adorned for her
spouse!
XV
Methinks he hears the great voice from
the Throne,
“Behold the temple
of the Lord with men,
Where He shall dwell with them”
(with them alone,
And never more depart
from them again!)
For, in His blessed covenant and
broad,
“His people they shall be, and
God, their God!”
XVI
Dear venerated Shepherd of our See!
Now that the harvest of
thy zeal is ripe,
Oh! May the sainted John address to
thee
The words that to thy
Syrian prototype
In ancient
“He that shall overcome, I shall
him make
XVII
“A pillar in the timple of my
God!
And I shall write on him
my God’s own name,
Even its name, the city of my
God—
Our own Archdiocese of
blessed fame—
The New Jesusalem come down from
heaven—
In glorious vision to our fathers
given!
XVIII
Still further may’st thou prosper
and extend
Christ’s kingdom
upon earth! Still more adorn
The Heavenly Bride with jewels that
transcend
The fairest stars of
night and waking morn;
Helping us make our own election sure
By hollest deeds—Faith, Hope and
Love most pure!
XIX
In vite mane! (deathless words impress’d
Upon His Grace’s
signet!)—“In the vine
Remain!” —In Christ’s
secure, the while we rest,
Hold fast His truth,
Traditions all divine—
Thrice blessed shall both priests and
people be
In this, our glad Centennial Jubilee!
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CS&T October 24, 1908
Chapel Car “St. Anthony” Coming to
Only Catholic Church on Wheels in the United
States Will Be Here Four Days, October 24, 25, 26, and 27-Will beVisited
by Thousands
Speeding to
The “St. Anthony” was given to the Catholic Church Extension Society of the United States by Ambrose Petry of New York, who was recently created a Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius X. Mr Petry is president of the Commercial Securities Company and prominent in financial circles in the East.
The car was dedicated a little over a year ago, and since that time has been in active service in Western dioceses, visiting the neglected portions the country that are devoid of church facilities. It is a complete chapel, with movable pews, having a seating capacity of nearly a hundred. It has private staterooms for the priest in charge, bath-room, dining-room and kitchen.
When in active service in the sparsely settled dioceses of the West, the Bishops delegate priests to accompany it and conduct missions for weeks at a times, organizing parishes, securing sites for building and corralling the scattered sheep to the fold. By means of the car some excellent missionary work has bee done, and in whatever places it has been it has invariably created somewhat of a sensation.
While the majority of visitors to the chapel car are Catholics, thousands of people of various denominations have likewise taken a great interest in the church-on-wheels.
Exteriorly the car is like an ordinary
Rev. A. P. Landry, the Extension Society’s field secretary, and George C. Hennessey, superintendent of the chapel car service, are in charge.
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From The Public Ledger; June 8, 1908
Costly Chalice for Pope Pius X
A chalice formed from gold and precious
stones contributed by Catholics of this city will be given to
Pope Pius X in celebration of the jubilee of his entrance into
the priesthood. The chalice was given in charge of Henry J.
Thouron, professor of composition at the Academy of the Fine Art,
who sailed for
The chalice is the gift of the members of
the Association of Perpetual Adoration and work for Poor
Churches,
It was decided, however, that a chalice
should be specially given the Pope. Someone suggested that
it be made of personal ornaments. Immediately jewels of all
kinds were contributed. Diamonds, garnets, amethysts,
rubies, opals, turquoises were given, together with many
ornaments of gold. The gold was melted down and formed into
the shape of a chalice and the precious stones fitted upon the
sides. The work was done by William J. Felley Company, of
Link to: Timeline of the Archdiocese
PAHRC
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