ncient Nineveh, and from Bagdad, founded on the ruins of
Babylon. They flocked from Damascus and Mount Libanus and from the Holy
Land, sanctified by the footprints of our blessed Redeemer.

Those Bishops belonged to every form of government, from the republic to
the most absolute monarchy.(66) Their faces were marked by almost every
shade and color that distinguished the human family. They spoke every
civilized language under the sun. Kneeling together in the same great
Council-Hall, truly could those Prelates exclaim, in the language of the
Apocalypse: "Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, to God in Thy blood, out of
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation."(67)

What the Catholic Church lost by the religious revolution of the sixteenth
century in the old world she has more than regained by the immense
accessions to her ranks in the East and West Indies, in North and South
America.

Never, in her long history, was she numerically so strong as she is at the
present moment, when her children amount to about three hundred millions,
or double the number of those who bear the name of Christians outside of
her communion.

In her alone is literally fulfilled the magnificent prophecy of Malachy;
for in every clime, and in every nation under the sun, are erected
thousands of Catholic altars upon which the "clean oblation"(68) is daily
offered up to the Most High.

It is said, with truth, that the sun never sets on British dominions. It
may also be affirmed, with equal assurance, that wherever the British
drum-beat sounds, aye, and wherever the English language is spoken, there
you will find the English-speaking Catholic Missionary planting the
cross--the symbol of salvation--side by side with the banner of St. George.

Quite recently a number of European emigrants arrived in Richmond. They
were strangers to our country, to our customs and to our language. Every
object that met their eye sadly reminded them that they were far from
their own sunny Italy. But when they saw the cross surmounting our
Cathedral they hastened to it with a joyful step. I saw and heard a group
of them giving earnest expression to their deep emotions. Entering this
sacred temple, they felt that they had found an oasis in the desert. Once
more they were at home. They found one familiar spot in a strange land.
They stood in the church of their fathers, in the home of their childhood;
and they seemed to say in their hearts, as a tear trickled down th