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08 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



ceived in the Catholic province of Quebec, but the singular 

 personal enthusiasm which he kindled everywhere turned his 

 visit into a triumph. To the English-speaking population he 

 appeared the cultured Englishman, while the French found 

 that he spoke their language quite as well as themselves. At 

 the Laval University and the great seminaries he sometimes 

 astonished his audiences when orations had been addressed to 

 him in Latin, by at once replying extemporaneously in the 

 same tongue with the utmost fluency. His reception in the 

 Protestant provinces was scarcely less cordial, for his charm 

 of manner and fine presence won all hearts. At Ottawa both 

 parties vied with each other in showing him respect and con- 

 sideration, and at Toronto the cabinet gave him a public recep- 

 tion which was attended by persons of all faiths and creeds. 



In connection with his visit to Toronto an amusing incident 

 occurred. In the Catholic province of Quebec he was, in 

 accordance with custom, at liberty to wear the elaborate eccle- 

 siastical dress of a monsignore, even on the streets. But in 

 Ontario, a Protestant province, the custom is quite different, 

 and a Catholic clergyman, just as in the United States, wears 

 broadcloth and the plain Roman collar as his street costume. 

 Through some accident his baggage containing the plain gar- 

 ments failed to arrive upon the train, and Mgr. Merry del Val 

 realized that he must involuntarily break the law, and sug- 

 gested that he turn back and wait until his suitable clothing be 

 found. But the people would not hear of such a thing, and so 

 during his entire sojourn in Toronto he appeared in his eccle- 

 siastical robes without exciting any adverse criticism. 



The task assigned to him in Canada was no small one, but 

 he successfully adjusted the claims of the Canadian Hierarchy 

 as to separate Catholic schools in Manitoba with the general 

 policy of the Provincial and Dominion governments as ad- 

 vanced by distinguished Catholic laymen like Sir Wilfred 

 Laurier and Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, a task demanding a 

 breadth and independence of view in which the future Cardi- 

 nal did not fail. Many had predicted the failure of his mis- 

 sion ; but it was an absolute success. A modus vivendi was 

 found between Church and State, as well as upon the question 

 of the French and English languages there, and the internal 

 peace of the Church in Canada was secured by the appoint- 

 ment of a permanent Apostolic Delegate for the Dominion. 



