BAPTIST COLONIAL SOCIETY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1222, 2 September 1911, Page 9

BAPTIST COLONIAL SOCIETY.

The first annual report of llic Baptist Colonial 'Society s'haws that assistance has been rendered to churches in the frontier districts of the colonies, notably in South Africa. Baptist emigrants havo been helped to 'ho colonies ,and introduced to churches 011 arrival .it their destination. The income for the year was over J.UOOO, about .KMO of. winch was raised to relieve the Church. in Johannesbur': from a crushinu debt which threatened' its existence. Empire Sunday was ri-",-.orally obsorved tliroushout the denomination as Colonial Sunday, nnd in n'i'iny cases collections were taken in aid of tile society. A not her phase ef the socio! v's work has been the introduction of paste,-s to clnirehes in the colonics, and •several ministers have left England duriiiLr the year to take up work in South Africa. With the co-operation of the trustees of I iie Ai'lhiiijjton Fund and of iiuv. A iciiilxild Urtnvn, the society lias also I)isiiii the erection of a -\ative Training institution in connection with the lljozi Jiission iu rondolaud.

FEWER HOLIDAYS OF OBLIGATION. TIIU POPE makes important CHANGES. The Pops lias issued a "Motu Propria" reducing the number of holidays of obligation (savs tho "Catholic 'limes"). Tlio J''east of 'Corpus Christi is transferred la a Simdav. The faithful will not liavo to fast or abstain on any of (ho holidays of obligation, and this rule lileewiio applies to the Feasts of Patrons such as St. Patrick's Day, which are celebrated solemnly ami with a large attendance of people.' llis Holiness says:— "W'e believo it is now a duty, liv reason of the special eircumstances of our age, to make easier the ecclesiastical law on the observjiieo of holidays of obligation. Besides, nowadays men travel long distances by sea ami laud with great speed, and owing to the conveniences of travelling, (hey find readier access to those nations where tlio number of holidays of obligation is less. Moreover, the increase of trade and the expeditious transaction of. business seem to sutler some, loss from tlio interruptions occasioned by the' frequency of festival days. 11l fine, the daily increasing cost of tlio neecssarias of life adds a new reason why servilo inborn should mt bo too often interrupted in the case of theso who derive their subsistence from work, For these reasons ropentel petitions, especially in latter days, liavo reached the Holy See, asking thai tlio number of days of obligation bo lessened. . . . Wo prescribo as follows regarding Feast days:— "I. Tlio ecclesiastical precept of hearing Holy Mass and of abstaining from servile work remains in force only on tho following days: All the Sundays, of tho year, the .Toasts of'tho Nativity, (ho Circumcision, the Epiphany, tho Ascension of our Lor;!, the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, tho Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and finallv All hainls. "11. The Feasts .of St. Joseph, Spoil so of tho Hiesscd. Virgin, and tlio Nativity

of St. John tho Baptist, both with an e octave.'shall be celebrated, as in their s own place, (he first on the Sunday follow- li ing March 19, the Feast of March 19 re- t maining unchanged in caso it falls on a f Sunday; the second i<n the Sunday pre- I ceding, t.ho Feast of St. Peter and St. 1 Paul.-Tho Feast of Corpus Chrisli, with 1 its privileged octave, shall be celebrated, t as in its own place, on (he. Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity, the Feast of the ' Sacred Ifeart of Jesus lemaining attach- I ed to tho Friday within the octave. , "111. The I'easts of Patrous aro not subject to tho precept iror.ticned above. Ordinaries besides can tlaiisfcr tho sol- J cnin celebration of these to tho Sunday ' immediately following ■> "IV. If in any place, any one of the 1 Feasts indicated lias been legitimacy >' abolished or . transferred, no innovation < is to be made without consulting the Holy ' See. If also in any nation'or district tho < Bishops consider it a 'duty to preserve ' any of tho Feasts abrogated, they aro to J apply to tho Holy Set-. _ 1 "v. If any of tlio Feasts (hat wo wish 1 preserved coincides with n day of fast 1 and abstinence, we dispense from both, ' and wo concede the samo dispensation also for the Feasts of Patron;-, which ' have been abolished by this law, if it happens that they aro celcl.tatcd solemnly ' and with a largo attendance of people. . "In giving this now attestation of Apos- ] tolic solicitude, we cherish the firm hope ; that nil the faithful, even on those days that wa take from tho nurabei of davs ! of sh'ict precept, not less than previously will give testimony of their piety towards God and of their veneration of tlio saints, and that on the other Feasts which aro preserved by the Church tliey will show greater diligence than in the past, iu the , abservance of tho precipl." ]