GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 136, 10 December 1875, Page 9

GENERAL NEWS.

<-+ The new Catholic Chapel at Picton was opened on Sunday last, when bishop Redwood officiated, and a large number of persons wore present from Blenheim and the neighborhood. Anticipating the event, the ' Marlboroug-h Express' had the following remarks, to which we are glad to give still wider publicity :— " Father Pezant has labored hard and successfully to provide a suitable place of worship tor the people to whom he ministers, and on Sunday next when the building is formally opened he will be gratified to find that his labors have not been unrecognised, and that many who do not protess the same creed, are willing witnesses of his efforts to advance the cause of religion. Bishop Redword has obtained an enviable name in "Wellington as an eloquent preacher, as a liberalminded expounder of religion, and as one who, while naturally believing that the church of which he is so worthy a member is the best for all to profess, desires to be in comnmnication with all classes, irrespective of creed. He has no tinge of bigotry, and his desire is to work amicably with all, and by precept and example shows that a man may be a, high dignitary in the church he represents, and at the same time be sufficiently liberal-minded to hold those professing a different creed in thorough esteem. He will preach the opening sermon on Sunday, and his reputation, irrespective ot any other cause, is sufficient to ensure a large congregation, but to make the service as complete as possible, several of the members of the Blenheim Philharmonic Society will take part in tlie singing. The ' Avoea Mail' reports that a curious incident occurred at the Liamplough rush not many days past. One of the parties had just washed off a machinef ul of dirt, which yielded 3. \0z., and the go id was safely deposited in a small box by one of the" mates, who then pUeed it on the table in his tent. Having occasion to leave the tent for about a minute, he was surprised on retm-nino- to find that the box and gold hud disappeared. The missing box was found at last in the dog's kennel amongst a lot of old bones. A similar circumstance happened to a lucky miner in the palmy days °1 2102 10 ? mt J Ush ' when a flo S talked off with a roll of bank notes of the value of £uo, and added them to a. collection of light articles ot clothing which he had purloined from his master's and neighboring tents. ° The 'Kynoton Observer' reports that tlxe sheep at an outstation on Goongarry being- found in a. scattered state, search was mode tor the shepherd, and his body was found hangm<>- by the le<>ui the fork of a sapling. He had, for some purpose, climbed the tiee, but losing his hold, had fallen, with one knee catching in a forked branch Near the tree lay his watch and clasp-knife, and lie had evidently been endeavoring to cut away the branch in order to extricate himself. Failing in this, he had endeavored to <>-ive S^??? rt 1° fc ! 10 othor lo§ ' by ifc to the sapling with his shirt. All his efforts were useless, and he must have died a lino-erino- and dreadful death in his solitude. When found, his head was nearly touching the ground, and one hand, evidently in the death a«'ony had clutched a tuft of grass. " The ' Springfield Republican' lately amused itself by giving an extract trom the Hartford < Churchman' on the subject of religious schools as opposed to the public schools, in which, by the substitution ot the word " Catholic" for the phrases used by the Episcopalian paper, it became evident that the objections felt by religious people against the public schools are by no means confined to Catholics. The « Churchman' implied very plainly that under the system pursued in those schools boys grow up " dishonest, untruthtul and vicious," and consequently called upon all ri"ht-iuindcd parents to consign their children to church schools, if they would have them " trained in the direction of purity, manliness, hi<>-h-nunded honor and sincere piety." If the Hartford journal luufas quick a tense of humor as its Springfield contemporary, it, too would have ■ seen with how dangerous a we.ipon it was playing if it did not wish to put it to its proper use. That it had no intention ot doing that becomes evident from its latest issue, wherein it a<niin appears m its natural and becoming attitude concerning the designs of Rome upon the public schools. The establishment of denominational schools, to be paid for by a pro-mla division of public tuncls, it declares to be " simply intolerable, without any pretext of justice or right," and " utterly repugnant to the whole system of American government." Yet it is on record as saying that in those schools, which m its judgment fairly interpret that principle, boys fjrovr up to be " dishonest, untruthful, and vicious/a nd teaches that there is no refuge from the corruption engendered by them Imt the sale shelter of an education imparted by religious teachers. According to the Sydney 'Evening News' Madame Kistori's engagements with the members of her company terminate ear'y in .December next, and it is probable that several of them will accept engagements upon the colonial stage. Signori Majcroni and Alectti are, we believe, •ngaged to Mr. Bennett, of the Victoria Theatre, and arc atuclymg the English language with a view to appear in Sbakspearian characters m the r original tongue. _ The Order of Trappists is the severest in the Church . Perpetual .silence is one of their vows, and dispensation is given to speak only when necessity demands it, or to those few of the brothers who fill r»ftices m the monastery which demand occasional conversation. J. hey are not allowed meat, eggs, butter, cheese, fish, or oil. They sleep on narrow beds of straw, raised a, few inches from the o TO und 1 hey dig and refill and dig again and refill from time to time their mvn graves as a reminder of their mortality. They rise hours I.elore dawn, and after prayer and meditation, betake themselves to their respective employments. Among them are blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, farmers, dairymen, and millwrights In 1864, before the appearance of the Encyclical, M. Deschaurps addressed a letter to the Pope in connection with his friends Montalembert, D« Falloux, Albert de Broglie, Cochin, and others' In it he advocated as strongly as possible the policy of silence. He May perhaps be cleared of the charge of Gallicanism, but he was an

Inopportunist. He attributes his change of opinion to the goodness of God, and acknowledges in the wannest terms the wisdom of the Pope. " Now I can see my error. lam sure of my faith, but lam less sure of my opinions. My opinions I love dearly ; they are my sisters — but my faith I love much more ; it is my mother." The universality of the last Council, its entire freedom and its unanimous result shook him forcibly. Its decision made a vast impression on him, and convinced that this decision was tlie direct effort of heavenly inspiration, he bowed his head and believed. Whatever doubts he had felt were soon dispersed by a careful reading o f t'<e History of the Councils of the Church, from the days of the Apostles to our own. This study scattered every misgiving, as it must do in the minds of all who doubt but have the courage to follow M. Dcschanips' example and ponder the mighty folios "of that history which proves how jealously the Church guards her flocks from heresy, even at the risk of rending from her sway whole nations and peoples. The financial report of the New York agency for the Society of the Holy Childhood, shows a falling off of nearly a thousand dollars in the receipts as compared with those of last year. The times have been dull, it is true, and the pennies of the poor, -which form the main source of the income of this society and that of the Propagation of the Faith, have been more hardly earned, and more hardly parted with than usual. Yet the needs of tlxe foreign missions have never been more pressing than since France, so lon»the generous almoner of Christendom, lias been in too great straits to do all that has hitherto heen her wont. & When Mr. Gladstone charged the Pope with having- practised "one of the blackest frauds known in history" irpon the British Crown, the London 'Spectator' opened its columns to a contributor who showed, by referring to the Parliamentary Blue-books of the time to which allusion was made, that the ex-premier had either forgotten or else never knew the subject of which he made so flippant and unjust a use. His more recent panic concerning the Catholic law of marriage and its possible effects on British subjects has had the result of bringing into prominence another of those awkward facts which Mr. Gladstone lias somehow omitted to see, although they fairly stared him in the face. He was so engrossed m the misrepresented case of "X, a male British subject," who married V, also a British subject, according to Protestant forms but in a Catholic country, that the affair of the Dulce of Sussex, uncle to the Queen of England, who was married to Lady Murray, by a Protestant chaplain in the house of a British official at Home, quite slipped his memory. The English law which enacts that no member of the royal family can be married without the previously obtained sanction of the head of his house, has no operation outside of the British Empire, and so far as that law was concerned the marriage was valid. But when the duke's sou by this marriage claimed his inheritance after his father's death, it was disputed on the ground that the marriage had not been validly performed. Several Catholic theologians were examined, and it was chiefly on their evidence that the marriage was set aside. It was invalid in Some, and hence invalid in England. So decided the courts of Protestant England, in face of the fact that both parties to the marriage were Protestants and the ceremony performed by a clergyman of their own faith. But "X, a male British subject" was a more convenient scarecrow than the late Duke of Sussex, and more likely to "fire the popular heart," and Mr. Gladstone's freak of forgetfulness must be excused him. He luus not been a <-' Christian statesman " for nothing. The famous ruins of the Isle of lona, Scotland, are bein°- very carefully restored by the owner, the Duke of Argylo. The remains of Catholic times are exceedingly remarkable and consist of a cathedral and a famous monastery, built in the year 735, in honor of St. Columbian. The Isles of lona, Staffa and *Mull are amongst the greatest curiosities of the workl,aud have been held sacred for thousands of years, for long before the Christians held possession of them the Druids solemnly worshipped their gods before the stone altars which still exist mingled with the remains of tlie tombs of Irish, Scottish and Norwegian kings. The Isle of Staifa contains the celebrated Fmgul Cave and is also covered with ruins of sacred edifices. The undertaking of the Duke of Ar^-yle is of groat value to archaeology, for the monasteries of lona and its adjacent islands have occupied a very interesting and important portion in the history of the Church. The accumulation of dirt, stones and rubbish which has been gathering in the nave of the old cathedral for centuries, has been swept away and the line vista is now clear to where the altar once stood. The cloisters, although much ruined have been swept clean and a great number of tombs have been laid bare. The workmen have also dug up at Coilloacli or the Cave of the Nun, the original designs of a number of the crosses which stood m the venerable cemetery. The designs, roughly executed with a sharp instrument on slate, contain the dates of the tombs and the names of smno of their occupants.—' Catholic Eeviev.' A few days since an assembly of Catholic deputies from various districts ot Poland, was held at Pimitz. They discussed the condition oe the church, and made earnest, prote-ts against the fierce persecution still so relentlessly carried on against their bishops, their priests, and themselves. One of the speakers made a most stirring appeal to his fellow-countrymen, and urged them to aid tlio Catholic bodies in their efforts to procure for their country the religious freedom of winch they had been so mercilessly robbed. In tbe course of his address he alluded to what O'Connell had achieved for Ireland by his peaceful and persevering 1 efforts. He asked the Poks were they content to remain inactive under the weight of the wrongs that were so grievously crushing them ; and brlioving that, they were not, he counselled them to profip by the example of O'Connell— to unite together in a great effort for the repeal of the iniquitous laws of May, and secure for their church and their pastors that liberty of life and of action of winch they had been so cruelly plundered. There is every symptom that the movement will be vigorously adopted and followed out*