The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
"MONSEIGNEUR et MESSIEURS,--I need not assure you that it is with great
satisfaction that I at length find myself within the jurisdiction of
Your Grace, and in the neighbourhood of those localities where you and
your clergy have for so many years been prosecuting your sacred duties.
Your Grace, I am sure, is well aware how thoroughly I understand and
appreciate the degree to which the Catholic Priesthood of Canada have
contributed to the progress of civilization, from the earliest days till
the present moment, through the length and breadth of Her Majesty's
Dominion, and perhaps there is no region where their efforts in this
direction are more evident or more strikingly expressed upon the face of
the country than here in Manitoba. On many a previous occasion it has
been my pleasing duty to bear witness to the unvarying loyalty and
devotion to the cause of good government and order of yourself and your
brethren, and the kindly feeling and patriotic harmony which I find
prevailing in this Province bear unmistakable witness to the spirit of
charity and sympathy towards all classes of your fellow-citizens by
which Your Lordship and your clergy are animated. To myself individually
it is a great satisfaction to visit the scene of the labours of a great
personage for whom I entertain such a sincere friendship and esteem as I
do for Your Grace, and to contemplate with my own eyes the beneficial
effects produced by your lifelong labours and unwearying self-sacrifice
and devotion to the interests of your flock. I trust that both they and
this whole region may by the providence of God be long permitted to
profit by your benevolent ministrations. Permit me to assure Your Grace
and the clergy of your diocese that both Lady Dufferin and myself are
deeply grateful for the kind and hearty welcome you have prepared for
us." These words, falling from the lips of the immediate representative
of Her Majesty, during an official visit, should go some distance
towards compensating Archbishop Taché for all the unfair accusations
brought against him, and they were a source of heartfelt pleasure to the
large audience surrounding the Governor-General on that occasion. During
the same year an American writer who visited Manitoba, and published a
pamphlet on the country, was taken by the well-known merits and pleasant
intercourse of Monseigneur Taché, of whom he says:--"Of Bishop Taché,
the Archbishop of this great domain, who resides at this mission (St.
Boniface), much, very much, might be said. His travels, labours and
ministry have been extensive and acceptable. Still a few words of the
Psalmist will better express him as he is than any words of mine. 'The
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his
way. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that
man is peace.' And so it seems to be with him, in the peaceful air of
this Mission, which, with his kindly, genial way, seems to make the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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