THE Christian Advocate, of this city, tells this story, the scene of which is only a few miles distant:—
Two weeks ago last Sunday a citizen of Stapleton, S. I., was thrown from his buggy, inflicting injuries which resulted in his death. His wife was a communicant of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, of Stapleton; he was a Protestant. She applied to the Roman Catholic pastor for permission to bury her husband in St. Mary’s cemetery. He felt compelled to deny the request. She then applied to another priest in the neighboring town, and at the same time wrote to Archbishop Corrigan. The archbishop being absent from the city, the second priest appealed to use his influence with Mgr. Farley, and at eleven o’clock on Tuesday the monsignor and the two priests above referred to met and had a conference with this, to the …, probably astonishing result. The desired permission was granted, “on condition that the grave be lined and bottomed with brick.” The local priest told the undertaker, the undertaker told the widow, the widow agreed to have the grave lined! The undertaker arranged for the construction of the brick work, and the unconsecrated ruin was buried in unconsecrated brick in consecrated ground.
The Advocate’s comment is: “We know that glass is an insulator against electricity, but learn now that, according to Roman Catholicism, bricks will insulate a [315] cemetery from heresy. We have compared several accounts of this transaction, and are in a state of surprise as to why the grave did not have to be roofed with brick.”
The Observer repeats the story and remarks: “Such is the mummery to which the Church of Rome holds in the year 1894, and in the United States of America. There is still some protesting for faithful Protestants to do.” The Observer is quite right; and it is also well to remember that “Rome never changes,” and that it is to faith in such nonsense that Leo XIII. invites the “princes and peoples of the universe.” It should likewise be borne in mind that though Rome has not changed, there are those who are called “Protestants” who exclaim, “God bless the Catholic Church of to-day!” [317]