CCHA, Report, 21 (1954), 11-21
Marian Devotion in the Diocese
of Kingston – The early Days
by
Rev. J. G. HANLEY, B.A.
The
purpose of this paper is to trace the beginnings of devotion to the Blessed
Virgin in the Diocese of Kingston, which at the time of its establishment
included all Ontario. Consequently our preliminary view must be as broad as the
Province itself.
Devotion
to Mary was inaugurated in Ontario by the Jesuit missionaries who came to plant
the faith among the Indians and who later watered that faith with their blood.
We learn that when St. Jean de Brébeuf and his companions arrived on the shores
of Georgian Bay and founded the first mission in Upper Canada, they dedicated it
to the Immaculate Conception, according to the Relations of that period.
The chapel erected within the confines of Fort Ste. Marie was dedicated to Mary
under that title.
The
next evidence of Marian devotion comes from the Windsor area. According to
records available at Assumption College, devotion to Mary’s Assumption was well
developed there two centuries before the definition of the doctrine. In 1728
Father de la Richardie, SJ., came to that spot where the City of Detroit now
stands and established a mission to the Hurons under the title of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1742 the mission was moved to Isle
Baie Blanc, opposite Amherstburg. Five years later it was transferred again,
this time to “la Pointe de Montréal,” which was later to be called Sandwich and
is now part of the City of Windsor. The mission retained the title of the
Assumption.
In
1767 the mission was canonically erected as a parish in the Diocese of Quebec,
under the same title of the Assumption, to serve both the Indians and the
French on what is now the Canadian side of the river. The French had already
been assisting at Mass and receiving the Sacraments at the mission of the
Hurons for several years before it was established as a parish.
It
is interesting to note that the Feast of the Assumption was also called the
Feast of the Indians. They were accustomed to congregate on the church grounds
for a celebration on August 15th each year. They continued the practice even
after they had been moved away from Sandwich and settled on Anderdon reserve in
1780.
DIOCESE OF KINGSTON
On
January 27, 1826, by a decree of Pope Leo XII, the territory known as Upper
Canada was detached from the Diocese of Quebec and established as a separate
Diocese with the episcopal see at Kingston. Right Reverend Alexander Macdonell,
who had been appointed Titular Bishop of Rhesina and Auxiliary to the Bishop of
Quebec for Upper Canada in 1819, was named the first Ordinary of the new
Diocese. It was a momentous development, for this was the first diocese to be
erected anywhere in the British Empire after the Reformation.
The
story of the pioneer days in Kingston Diocese and the heroic labors of Bishop
Macdonell has been told many times by historians much better qualified than I
am, and has been faithfully recorded in the publications of this Association.
We are concerned only with his devotion to the Blessed Virgin and that of his
people. The evidence, while not extensive at this late date, is conclusive.
In
a letter to Bishop Macdonell in March, 1829, Reverend William O’Grady, then
pastor of York (now Toronto), states: “I am happy to inform Your Lordship that
the people of York evidence a good disposition, and especially since the commencement
of Lent are pretty regular in attending Mass and the Rosary during the week.”
Naturally
one of the major tasks facing Bishop Macdonell was the founding of parishes and
the building of churches to serve the scattered sections of his immense
diocese. It is interesting to note those which were dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin during his time. In 1825 he started the parish of Port Hope, with a
church dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy. In 1837 he built a stone church at
Marysville in the present Diocese of Kingston, dedicated to the Holy Name of
Mary. The building still stands, and is now used as a parish hall.
Hamilton
received its first resident priest in 1838, where the parish was dedicated to
the Immaculate Conception. He was the Reverend William MacDonald. He was
appointed a vicar-general of the Diocese of Kingston, and when the Diocese of
Toronto was formed in 1841 he received the same appointment from Bishop Power.
He continued as pastor of Hamilton. On January 14, 1839, he wrote to Right
Reverend Remigius Gaulin, Coadjutor-Bishop of Kingston who was in Toronto at
the time:
...Our Church is now so
far fit for use. The windows are all glazed and a handsome Altar is finished.
The congregation is much greater than I could have supposed it to be. Many
protestants attend regularly, and several are on the way to be received
converts.
Everything here seems in our favour, and I despair not, through the
intercession of the Mother of God, the Patroness of our new church, to see
Catholicity established here soon on a respectable and permanent footing.
Begging Your Lordship’s Blessing, I remain, with profound respect,
Your
Lordship's most obedient and humble servant,
Wm.
P. MacDonald, V.G.
In addition to his duties of
caring for the spiritual needs of the Catholics in Hamilton and the surrounding
district singlehanded, Father MacDonald found time to publish a weekly
newspaper known as The Catholic. The paper had been started by Bishop
Macdonell when he was at St. Raphael’s and had been transferred to Kingston
when the Diocese was set up. A few years later it had to fold up from lack of
funds. In 1839 Father MacDonald revived it at Hamilton, and placed the venture
under the patronage of “the ever Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, quœ sola
cunctas hœreses interemit in universo mundo.”
The
records now available do not produce much written evidence of Bishop
Macdonell’s personal devotion to the Blessed Virgin. The historical documents
coming down from his time are concerned mostly with the founding of parishes
and missions, the efforts to obtain priests for his scattered territory, and
similar pioneering efforts. However, he must have
had a deep personal devotion
to the Blessed Virgin, for such is the stamp which he left on the Diocese.
BISHOP REMIGIUS GAULIN
In
May 1833 Most Reverend Remigius Gaulin had been appointed Titular Bishop of
Tobraca and Coadjutor with the right of succession to Bishop Macdonell. He
became Bishop of Kingston on the death of the first Ordinary, January 18, 1840.
Obviously a man of prayer, with a deep love for the Mother of God, he set about
to promote devotion to her in the souls of his subjects.
Representative
of Catholic devotion to Mary in that period marked by hectic controversy on
many points of doctrine, is the following excerpt “On Honoring the Blessed
Virgin, Mother of God,” from a booklet by Father William P. MacDonald,
entitled: The Protestant or Negative Faith Refuted And the Catholic or
Affirmative Faith Demonstrated from Scripture:
It would ill become
those, who will have nothing to do with the Angels and Saints; who demolish
their images; destroy or profane the temples raised in their name to the
worship of the true God; abolish their festivals; plunder their sacred shrines;
dig up and burn their blessed remains, and scatter their holy dust in the wind;
Who mock and pollute everything consecrated to the service of the Deity; and
fling from them with disgust and derision the very cross on which the God
incarnate completed our redemption; Who, besides, condemn and ridicule the
virgin state of celibacy recommended by Saint Paul 1 Cor. vii. 26; and embraced
by those who dedicate themselves exclusively to the service of God: the
voluntary Eunuchs mentioned by Our Saviour, “who make themselves such for the
Kingdom of Heaven:” Matt. xix. 12. It would ill become such, “the seed of the
serpent, to venerate and honor the woman destined to crash their father’s
head:” Gen. iii. 13, the spiritual Eve, whose obedience restores to her
children that bliss enhanced, which the disobedience of the natural Eve had
lost to hers: the virgin mother of God; and hence the Queen of Saints and
Angels: the first of creatures in the order of grace; and consequently the next
in dignity and glory to her divine Son: whom an Archangel greets as his
superior, with the unusually respectful salutation, “hail,” declaring her full
of grace; assuring her that the Lord was with her; and pronouncing her the most
blessed of woman-kind; whom her holy cousin, the inspired Elizabeth, on being
honored by her with a visit, saluted in a similar strain, crying out, says the
Evangelist, “with a loud voice, and saying, blessed art thou amongst women! and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And whence is this to me, that the mother of
My Lord should come to me! For behold! as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke i. 41; Who in
her own humble and inspired canticle, amid the overflowings of her gratitude to
God, prophecies, saying, “From henceforth shall all generations call me
blessed,” ibid. v. 48: which prediction is fulfilled in the Catholic
Church, the Church of all generations: yet, with all this Scripture testimony
to her transcendant worth and dignity under their eye, Protestants not only
forbid any honors to be paid to her; but, like the real offspring of the
adversary, they feel a particular antipathy to her on all occasions. They can
never bear to hear her well spoken of. They constantly “lay snares for her
heel; hissing and darting forth at her their stings, full of venemous slander;
vilifying her immaculate person; and comparing her, in order to debase it, with
the most common and worthless of her sex.”
Bishop
Gaulin lived to see his jurisdiction divided twice. The Diocese of Toronto was
erected on December 17, 1841; and the Diocese of Bytown (later Ottawa) on June
25, 1847.
Bishop
Gaulin was most anxious that all his subjects should maintain a tender devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Incidentally,
one of the great contributions which he made to the Catholic life of Kingston
Diocese came on November 21, 1841, when the first religious Sisters to set up a
permanent foundation in Ontario arrived in Kingston. They were four members of
the Congregation of Notre Dame, who came to care for the education of Catholic
girls under the patronage of Mary, and to establish the tradition of female
Catholic education which goes on there to the present time.
On
March 30, 1843, he addressed a pastoral letter to the clergy and laity of the
Diocese, directing that the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy and Immaculate
Heart of Mary be established in every parish. A copy of that pastoral is
appended to this paper, and is valuable for the insight which it gives into the
pastoral problems confronting Bishop Gaulin and the clergy of those days, and
their attempt to obtain a solution by prayer through Mary.
Apparently
his apostolate of devotion to the Blessed Virgin extended beyond the confines
of his own diocese. He must have used his influence to have Bishop Michael
Power set up the same Archconfraternity in the parishes of the newly-formed
Diocese of Toronto. In a letter dated December 17, 1843, Bishop Power wrote to
him: “You will find listed below the names of all the missions of my Diocese in
which the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been
canonically erected.” One of those listed was the mission of the Most Pure
Heart of Mary at Barrie, which may have been established while the place was
still part of the Diocese of Kingston.
Even
at the time when the Diocese was established, the one church at Kingston,
called St. Joseph’s, was entirely too small to accommodate the congregation,
and certainly did not lend itself to even the most meagre of episcopal
functions. Bishop Macdonell had dreamed of building a suitable edifice; but
more pressing problems of his pioneer jurisdiction forced him to leave the
project to his successors.
During
his later years he shared the dream with his Coadjutor, in whose mind it became
fused with another dream, that of dedicating the Diocese to the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Shortly after Bishop Macdonell’s death he began to translate the dream
into reality. In the archives at the Archbishop’s House we find the minutes of
several meetings which he had with the parishioners to discuss plans for
building the Cathedral and meeting the cost of construction. It seemed like an
impossible proposition; yet in the spring of 1843 the foundations of the
present Cathedral were started.
But
the labors of the episcopate in those pioneer days took their toll on the
health of Bishop Gaulin, and he had to call for assistance. It came in the
person of a Coadjutor-Bishop under whose guidance devotion to Mary developed in
full flower.
BISHOP PATRICK PHELAN
In February 20, 1843,
Reverend Patrick Phelan, an Irish-born Sulpician who was pastor of Bytown, was
named Titular Bishop of Carrhae and Coadjutor with the right of succession to
Bishop Gaulin. On accepting the appointment, he asked to be consecrated in
historic Notre Dame Church in Montreal, the mother church of the Sulpicians in
Canada. He received the fulness of the priesthood on August 20, 1843, and
proceeded at once to Kingston.
His
first public function in Kingston, on September 8, 1843, was to lay the
cornerstone of the new Cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the
title of the Immaculate Conception eleven years before the definition of the
Dogma. An account of the ceremony in a secular newspaper of the following day
bears witness to the impression which the ceremony made on all who witnessed
it:
The cornerstone of this building, which promises to be an ornament to
the Town of Kingston, was laid yesterday in the presence of a great concourse
of people, and with all the imposing ceremonies of the Church to whose service
the edifice is devoted. The Right Reverend Bishop Phelan officiated in chief
upon the occasion. After the performance of a Solemn High Mass at the Church
(St. Joseph’s) a procession was formed, headed by the pupils of the Kingston
Nuns, all dressed in white, and making a very interesting feature in the
business of the day, and followed by the priesthood and the Bishop, and the
principal inhabitants of the town.
The account goes on to
summarize the address of Bishop Phelan, which professed the desire of the
Catholic population for complete harmony with the citizens of all other faiths.
Five
years later the labors of Bishop Phelan and his devoted people ore fruit, when
the Cathedral was consecrated. We find the following account in the archives:
On the fourth day of
October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty eight, We
the undersigned Bishop, assisted by our coadjutor the Right Reverend Bishop of
Carrhae, the Right Reverend Bishop of Martyropolis, the Right Reverend Bishop
of Bytown and several Clergymen of this and the neighboring Diocese have
solemnly consecrated the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Kingston under the
invocation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of
God. Having deposited in the grand Altar thereof, the Sacred relics of the Holy
Martyrs, St. Gorgonius and Peter, encased in a silver box and placed in the
tomb prepared therein for the purpose, in the presence of a large concourse of
people, who afterwards assisted at the Solemn High Mass that was sung by the
Right Reverend Bishop of Martyropolis, Coadjutor of the Bishop of Montreal.
(Signed)
Patrick Bishop of Carrhae.
One
of Bishop Phelan’s first acts for the spiritual well-being of his subjects was
the establishment of the Confraternity of the Holy Scapular (of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel) in most of the parishes of the Diocese. Under the date of May 14,
1844, we find the following entry in the diocesan records:
After having secured a
petition from the congregation of the Mission of St. Polycarp praying that we
would establish there the Confraternity of the Holy Scapular, we readily
acquiesced to their pious prayer, and therefore, by virtue of an,Indult of the
Sovereign Pontiff Pope Gregory XVI, (eregindi intra limitas etc.) dated
Rome 18th of July 1841 addressed to the Bishop of Kingston who communicated it
to us by a Pastoral letter dated the 22nd of August 1843, in which we received
full power to administrate the Diocese of Kingston, We the undersigned Bishop
of Carrhae and Coadjutor of the Diocese have established in due form the
Confraternity of the Holy Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church and
Mission of St. Polycarp, at Cobourg, with all the Indulgences, privileges and
graces granted by the Sovereign Pontiff to all those who belong to this
Confraternity, who fulfill the duties of it, and pray with the intention of the
Pope, in the presence of a large concourse of people.
Given at Cobourg under our hand and seal this 14th day of May in the
year of our Lord 1844.
(Signed)
Patrick Bishop of Carrhae.
Similar
entries for several other parishes follow during succeeding months.
In
his Lenten pastoral of 1845 he calls the attention of clergy and laity to the
Archconfraternity of Mary established by Bishop Gaulin. He says: “We conjure
you, Venerable Brethren of the Clergy and beloved children of the Laity, to
redouble your fervor in practising the devotion of the Association of Prayer,
called the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Mother of God, as established for the conversion of sinners in this Diocese by
our Venerable Prelate, the Bishop of Kingston, in the year 1843. The various
authentic accounts given us of the immense good produced by this devotion
throughout the Christian world wherever it is practised, sufficiently attest
the motives which induce us to recommend it so strongly for the reformation of
morals, the propagation of the faith, and the sanctification of souls in this
holy time.”
Again
in 1847 he issued a pastoral on the Confraternity of the Scapular, encouraging
everyone to be enrolled in it. He reminded the people that the Confraternity
was spread throughout many Catholic nations; and that it was favored in a
particular manner by Mary herself, who is the patroness and advocate of it, so
much so that “it is known by daily experience that the scapular is a sovereign
preservation and remedy against all the evils of this life, both spiritual and
temporal.”
In
1850, like the other Bishops of the world, he was called on by Pope Pius IX to
signify his sentiments regarding the defining of the Immaculate Conception. He
immediately wrote a pastoral letter to the clergy of the Diocese ordering
public prayers in all parishes in order to obtain light from above on so solemn
and important a subject. In that letter he opened his mind freely and gave all
to understand that he was an advocate of the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception; pointing out also that all the good they might expect to affect
would be accomplished only through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
“Your fervent prayer,” he said, “no doubt will not now be wanting to obtain for
the Church a pledge of new conquests to the faith, of redoubled confusion of
her enemies, and of the ransoming through the intercession of the Immaculate
Virgin of innumerable souls hitherto immersed in error, heresy and sin.”
Under
date of June 7, 1850, he sent his reply to the Cardinal Prefect of the
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, stating that ...
... the love and devotion of the faithful committed to my care towards
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is so strong that many of
them, who are outstanding for their wisdom, virtue, piety and knowledge of
doctrine, are wondering why the church has not already bestowed this honor on
the Most Blessed Virgin...
Devotion to Mary has always been a source of joy to me. From my early
years I considered no devotion more powerful, none more steeped in tradition,
than to venerate the Most Blessed Virgin from the depths of my heart, and to do
everything which might secure more praise and glory for Mary, or increase
devotion to her. Consequently I have given this proposition serious
consideration; I have weighed my views carefully, and have had fervent and
humble public prayers offered to Almighty God, begging divine guidance for His
Holiness that he may know what should be done in this matter animated by the
assurance that it has never been known that anyone who fled to the protection
of the Most Holy Virgin Mary or implored her help was left unaided, I have no
doubt that the Father of Lights will enlighten the mind of His Holiness with
the light of the Holy Spirit, to define as an article of faith that the Blessed
Virgin Mary was conceived Immaculate and free from all stain of original sin
...
On October 14, 1854, after
obtaining a rescript from Rome, Bishop Phelan established in the Diocese the
Society of Prayer known as “The Golden Association of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” or “The Golden Crown,” having for its object “to
do homage to the Most Adorable Trinity, to invoke the Immaculate Virgin, Mother
of God, to assist the Church in all her difficulties and trials, and effect the
conversion of sinners.” At the end of the pastoral he adds: “We desire that an
engraving or picture of our Blessed Lady of Mercy shall remain, if possible,
always exposed in each church or chapel, in memory of the erection of this
Society ... This will be a standing monument to attach this pious Association
of the Immaculate Conception more and more to the Blessed Lady of Mercy, and
remind them (the people) of the pleasing duty of praying continuously for the
wants of the universal Church, in union with her chief head and all the members
thereof.”
He
concludes the letter with these words (and we can find no better ones with
which to conclude this paper): “Let us, therefore, invoke the intercession of
the Immaculate Virgin, as the help of Christians, the confortress of the
afflicted, and refuge of sinners. Yes, beloved, brethren, this sweet name,
Mary, will be to you a tower of strength against your enemies, a shield of
protection, and a safe anchor of hope in the agony of death. ‘Mater
misericordiœ, tu nos ab hoste protege, et in hora mortis suscipe.’”
PASTORAL ADDRESS
REMIGIUS GAULIN, – By the Grace of God, and the Authority of the Holy
Apostolic See, Bishop of Kingston.
To the Clergy, and to all the Faithful of our
Diocese, Health and Blessing in the Lord.
Our
object in addressing you again, Beloved Brethren, is to appraise you that we
have deemed that it would be very much to your spiritual interest, to establish
in this Diocese, the Association of Prayers, called the “Archconfraternity of
the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary,” first begun in a Parish of the
City of Paris, evidently at the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, by the saintly
pastor of that parish; since adopted in almost every part of the Catholic
World, and producing at this moment, as the authentic accounts of it attest,
immense spiritual good wherever the devotion is practised.
Indeed
such devotions never fail to produce abundance of spiritual fruits, because
emanating from, and grounded upon Catholic Charity whose essential motives are
the greater Glory of God and the salvation of all our Brethren, that is, of the
whole of the human race, they cannot but be pleasing to Him to whose honor they
redound, and who so strongly desires every one of his creatures to be saved;
consequently, they are well calculated to draw down upon us the choicest
blessings of the Lord.
“The
end of this Association, says the manual of the Archconfraternity, is to honor,
by an act of veneration and of Prayer, the Immaculate Heart of the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, made flesh for the
love of us, and nailed to the Cross for the remission of our sins, and for the
salvation of all men. This admirable Heart, which, as the principle from whence
the blood flows, has furnished that blood out of which was formed the most
adorable body of Jesus Christ, and consequently his Divine Heart which became
the source whence flowed all the blood he has shed for our sake: this Heart,
which burns with such ardent love of God, and which is filled with such tender
compassion for all mankind.”
"The
Association have in view to render to it the homage of a religious veneration
as to the Heart of the Mother of their Divine Redeemer; the homage of a tender
and filial piety as to the best of all Mothers; the homage of the most
undivided love, of an unbounded confidence, and of the most sincere gratitude in
return for all the Blessings and for all the graces that her own love and her
power with God obtains for us every instant of our existence.”
"Again,
the object of the Association is to obtain from the Divine Mercy, through the
protection and prayers of Mary, the conversion of all sinners; in order to
this, the associates must be animated with a holy zeal for the Glory of God,
their own sanctification, – and that of their fellow creatures. They must often
consider how enormous the iniquities are which pervade the world, and how great
the number of sinners. They must think with fear and trembling on the horrible
fate that awaits them in eternity, if they do not penance and be converted.
They should also often think on the ties which personally bind them to so many
prevaricating Christians, and prompted by so many motives of fear and of grief,
they will offer them to Mary, the Mother of Jesus; to Mary, who, at the word of
Jesus, conceived us all spiritually at the foot of the Cross. They will invoke
her maternal heart and beseech it to hearken to their wishes, to witness their
sentiments and to vouchsafe to present them to the bounty and eternal clemency
of our Lord: and without the least shadow of a doubt, Mary shall save from the
abyss of perdition, souls that, without her intervention, would be lost for all
eternity.”
“The
spirit of that Association is entirely and essentially Catholic, when we have
invoked in a special manner the Blessed Heart of Mary in behalf of a sinner
whose salvation we are particularly interested, such as a husband, a son, a
parent, a benefactor, a friend, we must not neglect to make intercession for
all sinners in general; and under this denomination are comprised those
miscreants who persecute the Church of Christ and make war against his holy
religion; those sinners who, though they be in the bosom of the Church, cause
her nevertheless to weep over their iniquitous ways, whereby they bring shame
and confusion over her: The Schismatics, the Heretics, the Jews and even the
Pagans, because in Christ Jesus says the Holy Writ, there is neither Greek, nor
Scythian, nor Barbarian: we are all Brethren, children of the same Father who
is our God; and Jesus Christ his only begotten Son has laid down his life to
save all men without exception.”
The
foregoing remarks will enable you, Beloved Brethren, to comprehend the nature
of the Devotion we propose to your adoption and to make you appreciate it
sufficiently to feel a wish of becoming Members of it.
Far
be it from us, Beloved Brethren, to entertain the thought that every
individual, who hears this address, has not the sincere wish of seeing every
one that is near and dear to him arrive safely at the post of eternal bliss;
but we hope it will not be offering an injury to any one to say, that every one
of your respective friends, relations, or connections, is not on a fair way to
it. Alas! it is but too true, that many, very many, of those friends, relations
and connections, are wandering far away from the paths of righteousness, and
are perhaps walking blindfolded in the ways of perdition to which they are fast
hastening. To such, the most earnest exhortations both private and public; the
most awful threats from their eternal God: his most positive commands have
hitherto proved unavailing; the most dismal fate which has befallen, under
their eyes, numbers in the same lamentable state, has not had, on the guilty
survivors, the intended effect: they have proved callous to every thing best
calculated to frighten them into obedience to their God, and into a sincere
desire of their eternal salvation! what then? are we to despair? are we to
relinquish every hope of reclaiming, at least some, even of those who now
appear to us the most hardened? Oh no, by no means, by dear Brethren: what has
happened, and what yet daily happens, teaches us that a concert of prayers
possesses an almighty power, which the Almighty himself cannot resist; and we
have the certainty that when every other means has failed to operate the
conversion of hardened sinner, the Lord has been pleased to grant that special
grace of a sinner’s conversion to the humble, sincere, fervent and united
prayers of this admirable Association. Where is the person then among you that,
earnestly desirous as I am confident he is, of the salvation of all those who
are near and dear to him will not eagerly embrace the favourable opportunity,
of rendering himself so eminently useful to them by such an easy method? and
the more so, because the obligations of this Association are very light indeed
and the advantages to himself and to his neighbours immense; since, in order to
belong to this Assocation, it is sufficient to get oneself inscribed as member
of it, and to say in general, some prayers, or perform some good works with the
view to obtain the conversion of sinners.
We,
therefore, having invoked the Holy Name of God, and in virtue of an Indult,
dated at Rome, on the 16th day of July 1841, granted to us by His present
Holiness Pope Gregory XVI, whereby we are authorised to establish in our
Diocese all or any one of the Confraternities approved of by the Holy See, have
erected, and do by these presents, erect in the Church of St. Joseph of
Kingston, (until we be enabled to transfer it to our Cathedral now in progress
of building) and in all the other Churches of our Diocese, the
Archconfraternity of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, such as it is
already established by a special decree of the Supreme Pontiff, dated the 24th
day of April, 1838, in the Church of Our Lady of Victoires, in the City of
Paris, in the Kingdom of France, with a full participation in all the
indulgences, favours and privileges granted by the Sovereign Pontiff to the
same, and as enumerated in the authenticated sheets we inclose in the present
pastoral, and to which we refer you for more detailed information concerning
the said Archconfraternity.
The
Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The present pastoral shall be read from the
altar or pulpit, in all the churches and chapels of this Diocese, the first
Sunday after its reception.
Given at Kingston, under our Hand and Seal, and Countersigned by our
Secretary, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.
L.
S. REMIGIUS,
Bishop of Kingston,
By
His Lordship’s Command.
Patrick
DOLLARD,
(True
Copy) Prest.
Sectry.