lecturing on Canon law, in addition, at the Vienna University. The terrible revolt of Hungary, in 1848, and the simultaneous outbreak of the Vienna mob, caused the Imperial family to fly to Inomost, and, after the savage murder of Count Latour, to Olmütz. The Institute of St. Augustine was then closed and the students despatched to their homes. Strossmayer remained in charge of the few who were not able to leave; but when the Palace itself was bombarded, and shells fell thickly on the roof of the adjoining building, he decided to conduct the students to the Franciscan Monastery for greater security. He led them safely through the tumultuous streets and then returned to save a sum of money which had been confided to him by Mayor Zenner at the beginning of the disturbances. The roof was burning when he reached the place where the money was secreted, and thrusting it hastily under his plastron, he groped his way back through the stifling smoke only to be met at the door by a hail of bullets. Darting through this unhurt, he escaped to a side street; but here he was chased by the rabble, who were led by a frenzied woman alternately beating a drum and calling on them to "catch and hang the priest." Once again God's protecting hand was held out over his servant, and he reached the monastery in safety. For three days anarchy reigned in Vienna, until the junction of the Croat troops, led by the heroic Ban Yellatchitch, with those of the Imperial Army under Prince WindishGraetz, enabled the latter to drive the Hungarians from their positions outside the city, and thus quench the rebellion within. In the ferment of re-organization of Church and State which followed, Bishop Kukovitch realized that age and infirmity rendered him incapable of fulfiling the onerous tasks before him, and he begged to be relieved of his See. In a letter to the Emperor he indicated his protégé, Strossmayer, as best qualified to take his place. Apart from this, Strossmayer's nomination had been proposed by the Ban. When a final decision was made in Strossmayer's favor the news was received jubilantly by the Croats and Slovenes in Vienna. The Slovenes, as nearly akin to the Croats in race and tongue as are the Scots to the Irish, now began to forego the spirit of rivalry that kept them apart. It was among the Slovenes of Vienna that Strossmayer first undertook the crusade which has since resulted in the happy fusion of these two Slav peoples. This fact sufficiently indicates his life-long policy. Thus, at the age of thirty-four, Joseph-George Strossmayer was appointed Bishop of the ancient and important diocese of Djakovo. However popular this appointment, and great the hope founded upon it, both have been surpassed by his actual services to the nation. In the words of his biographer, the Rev. M. Cepelitch: "If the Ban Yellatchitch had wrought no more for Croatia than to have given it a Strossmayer as leader, he had by this act alone earned its eternal gratitude.” It was on the occasion of his consecration that Strossmayer made the acquaintance of one who was to become his most intimate friend, the Papal Nuncio, Monseigneur Vialè Prela. This friendship, severed too soon by an untimely death, stood him in good stead through many dark hours. His entrance into Djakovo was memorable; and was surpassed in grandeur only by the scene on the day of the consecration of the magnificent cathedral which he bestowed upon the town at a later date. In the purest Croat dialect the Bishop told his people that he was one with them in heart and tongue and national feeling. He did not hesitate to allude to the storms which had lately convulsed the State, and mentioning the holy word "freedom" told them that the first freedom to be sought was freedom from sin. "If you attain this, you need fear no oppression. . . . Imitate naught of what you see around you. Do not neglect your own beautiful Slav tongue, the inheritance of your heroic forefathers. Love your land, your customs, and your literature. We are neither Germans nor Magyars; we are proud to be Croats. Let us work together for the advancement of our country. Let us guard the purity of our creed and uphold the banner of the Slavs." Thus did Bishop Strossmayer frankly state his programme and start on his career of active opposition to the pan-Germanism that threatened to spread throughout the empire under the specious name of superior civilization. On the following day, after the Mass, the capitular, in the name of the clergy, read a Latin address, to which the Bishop replied extempore with that marvelous command of the language which earned for him the title of the first Latin scholar in Europe. During the first decade of his episcopate Strossmayer devoted himself mainly to the improvement of the schools in his diocese. He founded public libraries, and contributed largely to the distribution of cheap literature throughout the land. To those years also belongs his re-organization of the College of St. Jerome in Rome, which he placed on a footing of practical utility for Slavonic theological students. After having built a primary school for boys entirely at his own expense, the Bishop likewise erected a convent, with hospital and girls' school attached, and invited the Sisters of Mercy in Vienna to found a community in Djakovo. From this nucleus branches have since spread throughout Croatia, where female religious orders were previously unknown. The first public step which the Bishop took for the furtherance of the object dearest to his heart was to visit, in company with Cardinal Vialè Prela, the capital of Servia, and enter into friendly relations with the clergy of the schismatic church. This new departure, viewed with suspicion in Vienna, was denounced to the Pope by Austrian statesmen as "dangerous to the empire and derogatory to the Church." The endeavor to attribute unorthodox leanings and ambitious designs to the young prelate was, however, without effect, for in the following year he was appointed Primate of the Catholics in Servia. Henceforth he frequently celebrated the Holy Sacrifice in the little chapel of the Austrian Legation in Belgrade, then, as now, the only place of Catholic worship in Servia. On one occasion he traveled in the depths of winter to a mining district in Servia in order to dispense the consolations of religion to the Catholic miners. Strossmayer was the first Catholic Bishop to enter as such into the kingdom of Servia, and his conciliatory attitude towards the Servian clergy won their appreciation and good will. After a few years had passed we find him actually seated at a banquet given in his honor by the Metropolitan of Servia, and replying to a speech delivered by the Rector of the Belgrade High School, in which his services to the common literature of both countries were dwelt upon. No deception, however cruel, caused the Bishop to relinquish his hopes for the ultimate reconciliation of this schismatic with the true Church. The following extract from one of his Pastorals contains an exposition of his views : "Let us love with a particular affection those of our breth VOL. LXXXI.— 50 ren who are not in full communion with us; for the glorious name of Catholic, which makes us one with men of all races and climes, as God and Jesus and Christianity are one, imposes on us the duty of loving our enemies, and, far more, those bound to us by ties of race and creed. Yes, thank God! we are united by the same creed, not merely similar, but almost identical; and, my children, let us be careful to dwell rather on the many points of belief we share in common, than on those few that divide us." The Bishop caused a Mass to be offered for this intention once a month in the seminary of Djakovo, and it was the main incentive of his political workings, as exemplified by his discourses in the Parliament at Agram. The magnificent Cathedral of Djakovo, the creation of his brain and of his material sacrifices, is symbolical of the same. The structure, unique in design, is a bold combination of Gothic and Byzantine. The Bishop had studied the monuments of ecclesiastical architecture in Italy and Germany, and carefully hoarded the main part of his revenues for many years before he undertook to lay its foundation stone. When the last touch was given to the gilded cupola of the east wing he began the arduous task of decorating the interior. It was continued on similar lines. The principal painting, The Adoration of the Three Kings, represents a Croat kneeling to lay a bunch of ripe grapes at the feet of the Divine Child. Near him is a group of Slavonic, Dalmatian, and Herzegovian maidens in their respective national costumes. Finally, Bulgarian and Serbian shepherds unite in worshiping the Savior. Thus the Southern Slavs appear together in the finest picture in this monumental edifice. It is dedicated to St. Peter, and every detail was planned by the greatest Slav which the century has produced. No railing separates the altar from the nave in the Cathedral of Djakovo, and this, attributed by many to a desire of conciliating Eastern prejudices, was thus explained by the Bishop in his dedicatory sermon. "In our land priests and people are inseparable. The humblest among you, youth of Croatia, may aspire to mount to this sacred altar. But remark its elevation! The priest is mediator between God and men. Never forget his awful dignity Never forget the respect you owe to his sacred office." ardent striving for a Slav brotherhood could not fail to excite hostile criticism both among Austrians and Magyars. The Emperor Francis Joseph, who had admitted him to the rank of member of his Privy Council, was induced by Hungarian pressure to censure publicly the Bishop's "overtures to Russia." When the Russian Church celebrated the millenium of Russia's conversion to Christianity, Bishop Strossmayer sent a telegram of sympathy and felicitation. This telegram raised a storm which reverberated throughout Europe. The Bishop was accused of fraternizing with schism and of wielding his authority to further the aims of Muscovite ambition-in short, of plotting to subvert the empire. Bishop," said the Emperor, at a public function where they met, "your telegram to Kiev has wounded many susceptibilities. Acknowledge that it was, to say the least, illadvised." 66 Sire," replied the Bishop calmly, "my conscience is quite at rest." Rome was next called upon to administer a rebuke, or, at least, a paternal admonition. She did neither. Hungarian politicians had their revenge at a later date when they succeeded in hindering Bishop Strossmayer's elevation to the archiepiscopate. Meantime his appointment to the bishopric of Bosnia had given him a heavy charge. The Church in the newly-delivered provinces of Bosnia had suffered too long from Turkish oppression to revive at once under the control of Austria, to whose language the Serb population were strangers. Bishop Strossmayer decided to found a seminary exclusively for Bosnian students in Djakovo; but for this, as for so many of his generous undertakings, he did not escape blame. He was accused of exciting the Christians of Bosnia against their Mohammedan brethren-in the course of centuries of subjection to the infidel yoke many Bosnians had adopted Islamism-and Austria protested loudly against any interference with the creed whose liberty she had guaranteed. He had, besides, the sorrow of seeing his seminary closed in 1876, when the province was ceded to Magyar control. Strossmayer's great soul inspired him to brave great responsibilities. In his own words: "The man who harbors the idea of a righteous enterprise must quail before no peril or difficulty in accomplishing it. Let him attack the obstacles |