(5 of 5)
As the Church's Oriental pearl, the Philippines are a missionary land, a model of what the Church began trying to perform elsewhere in the East 400 years ago, without anywhere making a comparable impression on brown and yellow millions. In the Philippine hierarchy, seven of twelve bishops are native. Of 1,400 priests—far from enough to care for the Islands —800 are native. The Manila Congress, involving as Eucharistic gatherings always do a number of acts of public faith for crowds of men, women and children, focused primarily on the missionary character of the Church, today filled with new zeal. Thus one of the members of Cardinal Dougherty's official entourage was Joseph Lo Pa Hong, rich Chinese Catholic charitarian of Shanghai, and a Solemn High Mass on the Luneta which drew 40,000 women was celebrated by Bishop Januarius Hayasaki of Nagasaki, Japan. Altogether there went to Manila a score of Oriental prelates as well as a dozen U. S. bishops and archbishops.
Pope's Voice-Happiest feature of the Congress was that, even as Cardinal Dougherty was speeding up the China Sea (for the 82nd time) toward Manila, in the Vatican Pius XI was gaining strength, and as the Conte Rosso entered Manila Bay last week the Pope was being moved about in a wheeled divan, doing more work and receiving more visitors than at any time since he fell ill two months ago. As Archbishop O'Doherty said last week: "Our fervent prayers ascended to the high heavens, beseeching God to prolong life of such a great Pontiff. Thank God our prayers were heard." On Saturday the Pope quietly passed the 15th anniversary of his election to the Chair of St. Peter.
Shortly after dawn on Sunday in Manila, 500,000 Catholics on the Luneta attended mass, celebrated by Legate Dougherty who appeared as a choir sang Ecce Sacerdos Magnus (Behold the Great Priest), In the afternoon, soldiers, prelates, priests, government officials, members of the Philippines National Assembly and men, women and children formed in a long liturgical procession which took five hours to wind up on the Luneta, where Cardinal Dougherty held aloft a Sacred Host in Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. To these joyful Catholics then came, through loudspeakers, the voice of the Holy Father. On his divan in the Vatican, in a voice much clearer and stronger than that of his last radio address, the Pope said:
"It . . . is a pleasure to speak to you now with the paternal accents of our own voice. . . . Among the abundant fruits of salvation which we anticipate from your Congress and for which we pray, there is one hope of which we will make mention, the one which your session had particularly in view: It is our hope, namely, that from a more ardent love of our Lord in the august sacrament of the altar and from more frequent communion with him there may come a daily increase of devotion to missions and enterprise for the promotion of missionary activity. For it is from that very source that light is given our minds, ardor to our souls and supernal fecundity to our labors and good works. . . . These, venerable brethren and beloved children, are the wishes, these the hopes which we, present among you not only in the person of our Legate, but also in a way by that paternal love which transcends and conquers distance and space, commend in suppliant prayer to the most sacred heart of Jesus."