but in any case administrative divisions were never
intended to be divisions of brotherhood. The divisions of the Church
into dioceses and parishes are to further increase, and not to weaken
or destroy its Catholicity."

And what we say of these divisions of space, may also be said of those
of time. As the glorious memories of the divine history of the Church
belong to each individual Catholic, so also should the possibilities of
her future destinies in our country and throughout the world, preoccupy
his thoughts and affections in the present.

This is one of the most comprehensive and most pregnant aspects of the
Church. It throws open the whole world to the zeal of every individual
Catholic. Wherever the tents of Israel are, there he finds his home,
be it in the wilds of Africa, or on the islands of Oceanica, under the
scorching sun of the tropics or in the snows of the lonely North. But
as we are more closely united with those among whom Divine Providence
has cast our lot in this world, our home-missions have the first claim
on our zeal and generosity. For, according to St. Thomas Acquinas, the
more or less close relationship with our neighbor is the measure of the
_intensity_ of our love and devotedness.

We now understand what the Church Extensions' claim means for the
missions of Canada. The intention of the Society, as we may readily
see, is not to limit our zeal to any national issue, but rather, to
develop more easily the missionary spirit and direct its first effort
to the welfare of our own countrymen by the consideration of our own
wants.

2. _Historic Principle_.--The lesson of facts is very often more
striking than that of doctrine. They are here the concrete expression,
in the various nations, and through the course of centuries, of those
fundamental principles we have just considered. It is indeed a law of
Catholic History, that the more Catholic a nation is, the more
apostolic, the more missionary it will prove itself to be. The
missionary spirit is the test of Catholicity, the abiding proof of its
solidarity.

The history of Catholic nations justifies this statement; their zeal
for the propagation of the faith will explain their rise and downfall
in the eyes of the Church. Ireland is a classical illustration of this
point. Poor, persecuted, downtrodden, the land of the Gael still
remains the seminary of the world's apostles. The foreign missions
always appealed to the Irish people an