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BY JUH.V S HAKWOUD.
OK THE 13 archbuhops of the Roman
Catholic Chunti in this country,
six have serloiiy been mentioned
from time to time as possible recipients
of the red hut Ireland of St. Paul. Ryan
of Philadelphia. Farley of New York,
Hfssmcr of Milwaukee. Quieter of Chi
rago, and O'Connell of Boston. It Is
probable that one or two. or even three,
of theso prelates of the Church, will bo
made Cardinals at no sreat distant date.
It however, heyond the bounds of pos
sibility that all of them will ever hava
the distinction of wearing the red hat.
Who. then, will lx the lucky archbishop
or archbishops? This l a question that
Interests deeply not only the Catholic
portion of the country, but the Protestant
population a well.
Of these six archbishops who have been
put forward by their ardent adherent
as worthy of cardmalale honors. William
Hnry O'Connell. archbishop of Boston.
Is the younsest. both In point of years
and in servU-c as archbishop. H did not
receive his presert office until late last
ear. and now within a few days of his
forty-niuth birthday, he i 3i years
yotnper than th? dean of the cardinal
candidates. Archbishop Patrick John
Kyan. of Philadelphia, who Is approach
ing l;is seventy-seventh milestone. He is
12 j ears ihe junior of the next yonncest
of the s;r car.didat.-s. Archbishop Sebas
tian Messmer. of Milwaukee: and when
lie was appointed bishop of Portland in
ltl. hte preat youth for so responsible a
post led many a Komi Down Kat Cath
olic to exclatm. "Think of a bishop with
out a ray hairJn his head!" He is. in
fact, the American Church's younjrest
archbishop. The history of the Church
In tills country can show very few youiuj
men o signally honor'd by it as Arch
bishop O'Connell already has been hon
ored. The archbishop, when all la said, really
ohm hto ecclesiastical success to the fact
that, at what proved to be the crucial
point In hi life, he was not afraid to
present to Cardinal Gibbons his, own
eia'nu for appointment to the reclonsltlp
of the American follow in Rome. o'Con
tell. at the time, was simply a curate in
or
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a alums parish In Boston; with no hopa
of great advancement, he had been f ill
ln this post since his return from the
American College, whore he received the
major portion of his priestly education.
He believed that he could fill acceptably
the office of rector, lately made vacant
by death, and. gettinp leave of absence
from St. Joseph's Church, he hurried to
Baltimore. where Cardinal Gibbons.
Archbishop Ryan, of Philadelphia, and
Archbishop Willisana, of Boston, were in
consultation over the selection of a new
rector. Seeking out the Cardinal, the
yountr curate frankly put his case, telling
lils'auditor why he- believed he should be
the man named to head the college.
Tho Cardinal, naturally, was consider
ably surprised to have O'Connell person
ally plead his own appointment, the more
so as hi name had not been mentioned
in tho conference by the Boston arch
bishop, one of the curate's earliest and
firmest church friends. But after his
surprise had somewhat abated, the Car
dinal beean to see something in the real
worth of the earnest, enthusiastic and
hitherto to him unknown curate, and be
fore loi: he u enlaced in a lengthy
examination of his visitor's qualifications
for the post. When the Cardinal and the
two archbishops met again, the former
expressed it as his belief that the right
man for the rectorship lived In Boston,
and when he was asked to enlighten his
hearers he gave the name of William
Henry O'Connell. to the mingled delight
and eurprlse of the Boston prelate. Soma
time later Father O'Connell found him
self in Rome aa rector of his alma mater.
When in Home as a student his piety
and intellectuality had attracted the at
tention of and caused lilm to be befriend
ed on more than one o-caslon by one of
liia teachers. Cardinal Satolll. When he
returned to the Eternal City as rector, his
old teacher, who was close to Pope Leo,
brought his old pupil to the Pope's at
tention, and In ls97, two years after he
had become rector, the Tankee-born rec
tor was a private chamberlain to the
Pope, with the rank f monsignor. His
great success as rector of the American
College had much to do with bringing
about this promotion, for during the four
vcars that he was at the head of the
college Father O'Connell instituted nu
merous improvements, one being the ac
quisition of a spacious Summer residence
for the students, an Ideal spot twelve
miles out of Rome, where the heat of the
clly did not reach and interfere with the
college work.
Mgr. O'Connell's appointment to the
bishopric of Portland, in 1901. was as
great a surprise to his friends as had
been hiH selection a? rector of the Ameri
can College. Indeed, the list of available
candidates for the bishopric as sent to
the Pope did not contain the name of
Mgr. O'Connell, but the Pope, recalling
his private chamberlain's success at the
college, conferred the honor on him,
thereby agreeably surprising Mgr. O'Con
nell himself. Three years later, when a
list of names was-sent to Pope Pius to
guide him in choosing a coadjutor arch
bishop of Boston, Bishop O'Connell's
name was not on this list. Neverthe
less, he was made coadjutor in January
of last year, and In September of the
same year, following the death of Arch
bishop Williams, he became, the head of
tle archdiocese.
Just as his work In the American Col
lege made hirti a firm friend In Pope I.eo.
so Bishop O'Connell's successful mission
to Japan, on behalf of the church, fol
lowing the war with Russia, made him an
equally firm friend In Pope Pius. The
war over. Pope Plus decided to send an
envoy to the Mikado that the status of
the church in Japan might be clearly
established. As Bishop of Portland,
O'Connell had made several visits to
Rome, and In this way come to the notice
of Pope Pius. His holiness thereby con
ceived a strong liking for the compara
tively youthful bishop, and when the lt
ter'e friends urged that he be. named as
the Japanese envoy the Pope readily con
sented, and was highly delighted later
that he had done so when he learned
that the bishop had obtained from the
government more favors than the church
had asked or hoped for. What particu
larly delighted the Mikado and his Em
press with the envoy was bis ability te
converse fluently with them In their own
language. Bishop O'Connell's reward for
his excellent work in Japan was his ap
pointment as coadjutor archbishop of
Boston, with right of succession on the
death of the archbishop.
Like most , of the other archbishops' of
his church in this country. Archbishop
O'Connell takes a strong and active in
terest in all civic and social movements
looking toward the betterment of the
average American. As a worker In this
field he has become aldose friend of such
Influential New England leaders as Presi
dent Eliot, of Harvard, . and Governor
Guild, of Massachusetts. ' From the days
when he was a slums curate he has had
a large Protestant following, because of
his broad humanity. His congregations,
when he was a curate, were made up of
n appreciable number of Protestant
friends and admirers. -
Taking lr.to consideration the Vati
can's friendship and admiration for
Archbishop O'Connell. his growing
pewer in he. church In this country,
sns hi. comparative- .youth.- .making
him available for many years to come,
no one should be surprised to hear
some time of his receipt of the red hat.
Ireland a Brave Civil War Chaplain.
Taking the country by and large, the
best known of the six candidates for
the red hat is doubtless Archbishop
John Ireland, of St PauL For 20 years
or more the general public has been
avcustomed to seeing the Archbishop's
views on ecclesiastical and various im
portant profane questions given pub
licity in tho newspapers and periodi
cals; and whenever be expresses his
views on any subject he receives close
attention. Th long; and the short of
the matter fa this, that Archbishop
Ireland s one of the country's pres
ent intellectual leaders, and Is uni
versally recognized as such. And to
say that the Northwest Is proud ot
,hlm. both on Its Catholic and its Pro
testant sides, is to put it mildly.
vOne of the National social move
ments in which the archbishop has
long been a leader is that against in
temperance. In fact, he it was who
founded the first Catholic total absti
nence society. This occurred back in
1869, when he was rector of the St.
Paul cathedral, and since then he has
been active in his warfare against in
temperance. As rector he refused to
confess saloonkeepers, and not so very
long- after he took this decided stand
he could truly boast that the name of
a Catholic could not be found flaunt
ing itself on the front of a ginmill
in St. Paul. He has tried to help the
Irish by establishing settlements for
ihem in the West; and Ills plea for
ever better education of the masses
is well known. Unlike some of his dis
tinguished colleagues, he believes im-
plicitly in public school, education. 'The
free scnooi or America: vwuiri cu
the hand raised In sign of its destruc
tion!" he exclaimed dramatically a few
years ago before an audience of some
2000 teachers. Bui while he believes in
this system of education, he- hopes that
some day every pupil in the public
schools of the land will be able to re
ceive the religious instruction to which
he. Is entitled by creed or race.
Of the six men from whom the next
American cardinal, or cardinals, will be
picked in all probability. Archbishop
Ireland Is the only one who has re
ceived his baptism of fire. Shortly af
ter he was ordained in 18S1, and before
he had time to take up his work as
priest, he went to the front as chaplain
of the Fifth Minnesota Infantry, and
served with that regiment until "he was
honorably discharged on account of
illness.
Popular from the first with the boys
of the regiment, he won their undying
affection at the Battle of Corinth, which
occurred on October 2, 1862. While the.
fury of the .battle was at Its climax tHe
regiment, in consternation, discovered
itself rapidly running out of ammuni
tion, with no fresh supply in sight.
Chaplain Ireland, grasping- the grave
situation, lost no time in volunteering
and going after fresh foodfor the guns,
and Just when his boys wi slacking
their fire because of few or no more
bullets, the chaplain appeared on the
firing line loaded down with boxes of
cartridges, and all the rest of the day,
while missiles of death whistled and
shrieked all about him, he went up and
down the firing line, handing out am
munition to his boys and cheering them
on to renewed effort. It was this cool
work on the part of this man of . God
that really saved the day for the regi
ment, and, in all probability, for the
Union side, for he kept the Union line,
at a critical stage of the battle, from
developing a noticeable weakness that
probably would have been taken advan
tage of by the Confederates.
"When at last the battle was over and
night had come, the regiment suddenly
missed its chaplain, now its hero. Al
most frantic in their grief, small parties
of soldiers set out to find him. all hop
ing against hope that he would not be
found among the dead or wounded, for
all. knew how he. had walked with
Death the day through. At last, to the
great relief of all concerned, he was
found uninjured In a little hospital
camp that- he had improvised on the
battlefield and where he was giving first
aid to the wounded and comforting the
dying. After that Chaplain Ireland was
the idol of the Fifth Minnesota: and the
survivors of that regiment never tire of
singing the praises of their old chaplain,
who proved, when the right time came,
that he was as brave a fighter as any of
them.
Archbishop Ireland was 70 last Sep
tember, and so is the second oldest of
the six archbishops. He was 11 years
old when his father, a carpenter, brought
him to this country from Ireland; and
three years later he went to live in St.
Paul, then nothing more than a fron
tier trading post. In St. Paul he has
lived since. He grew up with the town
and in many ways has contributed ap
preciably to Us wonderful development
since the Civil War.
Archbishop Bryan a Great Orator.
Reckoned as one of the Church's
greatest living orators. Archbishop Ryan
made his first oratorical hit when he
spoke before the Irish patriot, Daniel
O'Connell. when the latter was held in
Dublin Jail by the English government.
The future archbishop was then In his
early teens, and his declamatory ability
so Impressed the great Irishman that he
patted the red head of the youthful
speaker and advised him to cultivate his
talent for speech, adding that by It he
would become famous some day. Years
after, his fame as a preacher In St.
Louis reaching to Rome, he was invited
by Pope Pius IX ti deliver Lenten lec
tures In English in Rome. That -was In
1868. Four years later he was coad
jutor .bishop of St. Louis; eleven years
later he was archbishop of St. Louis,
and the next year he was transferred to
the see of Philadelphia, where hs has
been active ever since.
During the quarter of a century that
he has been in Philadelphia he has
broken down, that city's former preju
dices against the Catholic Church, end
has made the archdiocese of that name
one f the strongest In this country.
Scores of churches, educational Institu
tions and various asylums have been
built under the spur :of the archbishop's
Insistence He planned and erected Just
outside of Philadelphia the second larrest
Augusti'nlan monastery in the world, and
with the gift of $250,000 presented to him
on the occasion of his golden Jubilee
he founded n orphanage. Because of
Lhis liberal mindedness, not . nine oi
the money no nas neeueu w n.oa
cessful his varSfUH church enterprises
he has obtained from his Protestant
friends, who are numerous and Include
most of the preiuliient Protestants of the
Quaker City and vicinity. Mnre Arch
bishop Rvan was transferred to Phila
delphia the. Catholic families In that
archdiocese have more than doubled In
number, slid no parish of the archdiocese
Is now without Its parochial school.
Archbishop Ryan's wide Influence ue
vond ecclesiastical circles was well
shown when his Intervention brought to
an end the sreat streetcar strike that
kept Philadelphia in a turmoil for some
days in 1S95. While the strike was on
business was transacted under great
difficulties and disorder and riot held
sway in the business center. Several
prominent men tried to bring about a re
conciliation of employers and employes,
but without success. Then Archbishop
Rvan was arked to take a hand. He.
consented and straightway hunted out
the labor leaders, got "them in good
humor by cracking several sly Jokes, and
then talked them into promising to ar
bitrate the strike. The next day there
was peace in the city.
The archbishop is generally to be found
among the leaders of any movement
tCoaduded on Page 7.)