fatherland which has
a right to our deepest and best feelings of attachment and affection.
Christopher Columbus was a sincere and devout Catholic; his remarkable
voyage was made possible by the intercession of a holy monk; and by the
patronage and liberality of the pious Queen Isabella, the cross of
Christ, the emblem of our holy religion, was planted on America's virgin
soil, and the _Te Deum_ and the holy mass were the first religious
services held on the same; it is therefore just and proper that this
great event and festival should be celebrated in a religious as well as
in a civil manner.

Our Holy Father the Pope has appointed the 12th of October, and His
Excellency the President of the United States has assigned the 21st of
October, as the day of commemoration. The discrepancy of dates is based
on the difference of the two calendars. When Columbus discovered this
country, the old Julian calendar was in vogue, and the date of discovery
was marked the 12th; but Pope Gregory XIII. introduced the Gregorian
calendar, according to which the 21st would now be the date. We will
avail ourselves of both dates--the first date to be of a religious, the
second of a civil, character. We therefore order that on the 12th of
October a solemn votive mass (_pro gratiarum actione dicendo Missam
votivam de S. S. Trinitate_), in honor of the Blessed Trinity, be sung
in all the churches of the diocese, at an hour convenient to the parish,
with an exhortation to the people, as thanksgiving to God for all his
favors and blessings, and as a supplication to Him for the continuance
of the same, and that all the citizens of this vast country may ever
dwell in peace and union.

Let the 21st be a public holiday. We desire that the children of our
schools assemble in their Sunday clothes at their school-rooms or halls,
and that after a few appropriate prayers some exercises be organized to
commemorate the great event, and at the same time to fire their young
hearts with love of country, and with love for the religion of the cross
of Christ, which Columbus planted on the American shore. We further
desire that the different Catholic organizations and societies arrange
some programme by which the day may be spent in an agreeable and
instructive manner.

For our archiepiscopal city we make these special arrangements: On the
12th, at half-past 7 o'clock P. M., the cathedral will be open to the
public; the clergy of the city is invited to assemble