CHAPTER XXVII.
ARCHBISHOP SPALDING.
The office of prioress had been left vacant by the departure of Mother Gabriel, and it was consequently necessary to hold another election before the regular time. Sister Antonia of the Purification, Catherine Lynch, who had been sub-prioress, was elected to fill the office of prioress.
The reader probably remembers Sister Isabella of the Angels, Olivia Neale, who, in the year 1839, had innocently been the cause of such a great disturbance in the city of Baltimore. She had been removed to Mount Hope Asylum, and there she had spent the remaining years of her life. Before death she had a return of reason, which gave her the happiness of receiving the last Sacraments, and she peacefully breathed forth her soul on the 8th of May, 1864, in the 61st year of her age and the 43rd after her religious profession. Her remains were carried to the Carmelite convent, and she was once more among her Sisters, whom she had always loved and to whom she had begged to be taken back.
Nearly twenty-five years had passed away since the day when Sister Isabella attracted for herself and the community such universal, but undesirable attention. Times had greatly changed since those days of religious intolerance. Now the obsequies were held of the poor afflicted Sister, whose trials were at an end, on the very spot where the troubles had occurred, and in the convent which she had left, so many years before, amidst the tumult of an excited mob.
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The case of Sister Isabella is one of those in which we must bow before the mysterious decrees of an all-wise Providence, waiting patiently until the veil shall be uplifted, and God's designs shall be made known.
The confessor of the monastery at this period was Rev. George Ruland, C. SS. R., who had been appointed to that office on February 24th, 1864. The extraordinary confessor was Father Ciampi, S. J.
The successor of Archbishop Kenrick in the See of Baltimore was Archbishop Spalding; he took possession of his diocese on the 31st of July, 1864. Martin John Spalding was a Kentuckian by birth. His ancestors were amongst the early settlers of Maryland, but the family emigrated to Kentucky in 1790. He was born at Rolling Fork, Ky., on the 23rd of May, 1810. Having in 1826 resolved to devote himself to the ministry, he entered the Seminary at Bardstown. Four years later, Bishop Flaget determined to send him to Rome, where he completed his studies at the Propaganda. He was ordained priest on August 13th, 1834, by Cardinal Pedicini, and in the same year returned home. He labored zealously in Kentucky, under the venerable Bishop Flaget, and in 1844 was appointed his vicar-general.
Four years later he became Bishop of Lengone, in partibus , and coadjutor of Bishop Flaget, by whom he was consecrated on September 11th, 1848. Upon the death of the last-named prelate, in 1850, Bishop Spalding became Bishop of Louisville, Kentucky, where he labored with untiring zeal, particularly during the trying period of the first years of the great civil war. He succeeded Archbishop Kenrick in the See of Baltimore, and took possession of his new diocese on July 31st, 1864.
On the 8th of September of the same year he paid a visit to the Carmelites, by whom he was solemnly received. Fathers Ruland and Ciampi, the ordinary and extraordinary confessors of the monastery, were both present on the occasion.
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On the 2nd of August, 1865, Rev. Father Ruland was removed from Baltimore, and on the same day Rev. Michael Müller, C. SS. R., rector of St. Alphonsus' Church, was appointed confessor of the community.
In 1866 the Carmelites mourned the death of their old friend, Bishop Fitzpatrick, of Boston. He expired on February 13th, of that year. His successor in the See of Boston was Most Rev. John Joseph Williams, the present Archbishop.
The year 1866 was an important one in the history, not only of the diocese of Baltimore, but of the whole Church in the United States, for it was the year of the second plenary council, which opened at Baltimore on Sunday, October 7th, 1866. Seven Archbishops, thirty-eight Bishops, three mitred Abbots and more than one hundred and twenty theologians were present. The Carmelites were especially interested in one of its decrees, hence we will speak at length on this subject.