The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865: A Monthly Eclectic MagazineVarious
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865: A Monthly Eclectic Magazine
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
[Footnote 39: He gives an amusing account of a perplexing situation
from which this same Pope once unwittingly delivered him, while he
was engaged in his course of lectures on Science and Revealed
Religion at the apartments of Cardinal Weld. "On one of the days of
delivery," says he, "I had been prevented from writing the lecture
in time, and was laboring to make up for my delay, but in vain.
Quarter after quarter of each hour flew rapidly on, and my advance
bore no proportion to the matter before me. The fatal hour of twelve
was fast approaching, and I knew not what excuse I could make, nor
how to supply, except by a lame recital, the important portion yet
unwritten of my task--for an index to the lectures had been printed
and circulated. Just as the last moment arrived, a carriage from the
palace drove to the door, with a message that I would step into it
at once, as His Holiness wished to speak to me. This was, indeed, a
_deus ex machina_--the only and least thought of expedient that
could have saved me from my embarrassment. A messenger was
despatched to inform the gathering audience of the unexpected cause
of necessary adjournment of our sitting till the next day. The
object of my summons was one of very trifling importance, and
Gregory little knew what a service he had unintentionally rendered
me."]
In 1840 it was determined to increase the number of vicars apostolic
in England from four to eight, and Dr. Wiseman, at the same time, was
appointed coadjutor to Bishop Walsh at Wolverhampton. "It was a
sorrowful evening," he says, "at the beginning of autumn, when, after
a residence in Rome prolonged through twenty-two years, till affection
clung to every old stone there, like the moss that grew into it, this
strong but tender tie was cut, and much of future happiness had to be
invested in the mournful recollections of the past."
Here we leave him. It was not until ten years later that he became
cardinal, but though from 1840 to 1850 he filled only a subordinate
position, he was working hard and well during this period, and fast
rising to be the foremost man of all the Catholics of England. And his
work never ceased. He lived to see the hierarchy established, and the
conversion of his countrymen making steady if not rapid progress; but
his energy never flagged when a part of his task was done; he passed
on from one labor to another, until that last day, when "he entered
into the sanctuary of God's presence, from which he never again came
forth."
------
{124}
From All The Year Bound.
THE NICK OF TIME.
Let us suppose a case that might occur if it has not occurred.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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