The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2, 11 January 1900, Page 27

The Catholic World.

BELGIUM.-The Work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society- — The Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Belgium does incalculable good throughout the length and breadth of the land. Statistics just published show that at the beginning of last year the Society numbered !)o.j confraternities, with a membership of lfi/vin. Nearly 24,000 families in distress were visited and aided The Society's income for twelve months amounted to £60,000.

CAN AD A— An Interesting Celebration.— Chevalier John Heney and Mrs. Heney, of Ottawa, observed the golden jubilee of their wedding recently. They were married in the Basilica, in that city. The priest who officiated at the ceremony, the bridesmaid and the groomsman are all dead, while the venerable couple are still in good health. Mr. Heney settled in Ottowa in 1844, and after some time started as a contractor, and since then has devoted a considerable portion of his time to the building business. Public works in the north-west, in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces attest his scope and thoroughness as does the Britannia extension of the Ottawa Electric Railway. A reoord for thirty years in the municipal council stands to Mr. Heney's credit, and during that time most of the public works that brought the city to the front were helped in some degree by the Chevalier. Mr. Heney's fellow-citizens recognised his services to the city on different occasions. His long term in the council was in itself a creditable recognition, but when he retired from municipal life a few years ago his fellow-aldermen presented him a gold-headed cane and a silver service. His compatriots in the Irish Catholic Temperance Society gave him a set of silver, and two gold medals, the gifts of the Pope, are also cherished by the Chevalier. Mr. Heney has never indulged in liquor or tobacco, and now, although in his seventy-ninth year, he is as hale and hearty as he was a quarter of a century ago. The Pope a few years ago created him a Chevalier of the Holy Sepulchre. Mr, Heney was a delegate to the Irish Race Convention in 18%.

ENGLAND-— A Successful Bazaar-— A five days' bazaar, the object of which was to aid in clearing off the debt on St. Mary's, Chorley, Lancashire, realised £2,306. It was opened by Mgr. Nugent, who spoke on the true principle of citizenship.

The First Catholic Mayor of Gateshead.— The retiring Mayor of Gateshead, Councillor Finn, who is a Catholic, was presented, in the Council Chamber, with his portrait in oils, subscribed for by his numerous admirers. The Mayoress was presented with a handsome tea and coffee service. Councillor Finn, who has been the first Catholic Mayor of Gateshead, is very popular with all classes of the community.

The Church of St. Mary, MoorfieldS-— The Catholic Church of St. Mary, Moorfielda, London, has been closed as a place of public worship. The building is to be demolished, the site having been sold for building purposes. The remains of the bishops buried in the vaults will be transferred to the churchyard of St. Edmund's College. Ware.

Prayers for Peace — The Bishop of Plymouth has ordered the Prayer of Peace to be said after each Mass throughout the diocese until further orders, and also the De Profund/x after Mass for the repose of the souls of those soldiars who have died in the war.

Death Of a Priest- — The Very Rev. Joseph Canon Searle, M.R., of St. Augustine's, Tunbridge Wells, diocese of Southwark, has passed away in his seventy-fifth year of his age. He was well known as the author of several controversial works, and had previously officiated at Bermondsey and a<;ted for some years as chaplain to the Duchesh of Leeds.

FRANCE- — A Monument to Mgr. PreppeL — The unveiling of the monument to Mgr. Freppel in the Cathedral of Angers is about to take place with imposing ceremonial Mgr. Touchet, Bishop of Orleans, is to deliver the panegyric. In a pastoral letter to his clergy on this subject Mgr. Rumeau, Bishop of Angers, concludes, in reference to Mgr. Freppel : ' Nothing in him was wanting of that which goes to make a man. What a man waa he ! — and what men in him 1'

ROME— A Letter to the Italian People— it is rumoured in Rome that the Holy Father is about to publish an important document in the form of a letter addressed to the Italians to mark out to them their duties towards the Church in the present conditions.

SCOTLAND-— Students for the Priesthood-— Word has been received in Scotland that in the College Church of Propaganda, Rome, the following students from the Scots College were, on the Feast of All Saints, advanced a stage in their preparations for the priesthood : — Rev. Henry Clarke (Galloway), deacon ; and Rev. George Grant (Aberdeen), and Rev. Don Mackintosh (Argyll and the Isles), deacons.

GlaßgOW Catholics and the War.— Quite a large number of those who have fallen in the present South African campaign (says the Glasgow correspondent of the New Era) were members of our Church in this country, but none of the congregations have suffered to such a great extent as that of the Glasgow Passionists. No less than six from St. Mungo's have, during the past few weeks, given up their lives for their country's sake. In all the churches suitable prayers have been offered, and in many the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Nor has the material welfare of the absent soldiers been over-looked, for on the lists of subscribers to the various funds which have been started in every town, the names of many priests and Catholic laymen are conspicuous by their presence. Some have even taken the initiative in these schemes. Lord T?alph Kerr, C.8., and Lady Anne Kerr bp^ an the good work in Dalkeith ; and in Alloa Father O'Neill, St. Mungo's, drew Bpecial attention (at the Countess of Mar and Kellie's request) to the appeal by the local branch of the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association, of which her ladyship is president. The district officials of this laudable body inolude in their ranka many well-known members of the Catholic laity. In several of the Glasgow churches on Sunday, November 11, Mass was specially offered up for the benefit of the Catholic soldiers kilLd in action during the present war. The service in St. Mungo's was particularly impressive. The Rev. Father Christopher. C.P., was the celebrant, and the Bermon was delivered by the Very Rev. Father Anthony, C.P. The battlefield, said the latter, was a bad place to prepare for Death. No doubt to die there was a great death, but the nation's praise or the people's gratitude had very little effect on the welfare of the soul. If the soul was saved it did not matter how wretched and poor a mau's life had been, that life was a success ; whilst, no matter the glory, if the soul was lost, life had been a failure. Unless these poor fellows had made fittirg preparation before they stepped out to meet the enemy, there would be little chance for them to do so in action. Unfortunately, in this war, bo far, the majority of those who had lost their lives were poor Catholic Irishmen, and these must be remembered in their prayers. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was being offered up that day for '.he repose of their souls, and he asked the congregation to join their prayers with this intention. The Stations of the Cross and Benediction were celebrated in the evening for the same purpose, and a suitable sermon preached by the Rev. Father Raphael, C.P.

The Spirit of Toleration in North Britain-— The spirit of toleration which is making such headway in Scotland (says a correspondent of the New Era) has received another exemplification. The opinion (not unfounded) gained ground that Aberdeen County Council proposed withholding their usual grant to the school under the care of the local nuns. Quite a number of Protestants came forward with donations to make good the deficiency, but fortunately their good offices have not been necessary, as, in a letter to the Daily Free Press (Aberdeen), the Sisters say : — ' We are indeed truly grateful to our Protestant friends who so generously came to our aid in time of need. And as we understand their donations were given tinder the impression that the grant to our school had been refused, now that it has been allowed, we consider it our duty to return the money bo kindly given, and beg to enclose £4, the amount received, while again offering our sincerest thanks.'

UNITED STATES.— A Church Built by the Subscriptions Of Women. — The Church of St. Agnes, in New York, which was recently dedicated and blessed by Archbishop Corrigan, is entirely the gift of women. It is, perhaps, the only church in the world towards which none but women have contributed. Last year the church was destroyed by fire, and a subscription was at onoe raised by the ladieß of the parish, until the amount contributed exoeeded £10,000.

The Pope's Architect in America* — Aristides Leonori, the architect to the Pope, has been visiting Archbishop Corrigan, Cardinal Gibbons, and other ecclesiastical friends in America. His principal object was to attend the dedication of the new Franciscan Monastery at Washington and which he planned and supervised. But it is understood Leonori also had in mind the building of a boys' school in New York City similar to the one he planned and built in Rome, which is now the most famous school in Italy. Leonori was summoned back to Rome to superintend the ereotion of a great cathedral and college there, to cost about £400,000, which a man ninety-two years old, it is eaid, desires to endow.

Death of a Venerable Priest-— The death is reported of the Right Rev. Mgr. Nicholas Cantwell, V.G., rector of St. Philip Neri's Church, Philadelphia. The deceased priest was in the 87th year of his age and in the 59th year of his ordination. Mgr. Cantwell was born near Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland, in 1813, and pursued his studies for the priesthood at the Seminary, Waterford. An elder brother, Rev Walter Cantwell (long since deceased at the age of 83), preceded Mgr. Cantwell in the priesthood.

Bravery Of Nuns. — Rockaway Beach, New York, waa the scene of a serious fire some weeks ago, and 140 little children in the Home of the Sisters of St. Joseph were in serious danger. Next door to a hotel, which was in flames, was the home, crowded with little ones. The frightened Sisters, pale but cool, had marshalled their little ohar^e s',5 ', while the flames came nearer. All had had to be tumbled out of bed. The Sisters formed the tots into a column of twos and down the stairs they marched, all keeping step and not breaking away through the smoke, jußt as they had been taught. It was a sad little procession as it filed out through the smoke and almost into the flames — babies that could scarcely walk, youngsters of four and five and older children of 10 and 12. Some were in their night clothes, others were wrapped in blankets, a few had on a garment or two, but all were safe. Still the Sinters kept the ranks. Up Eldert-avenue they marched, while the flames roared behind them. At last it was safe to halt, and a hundred hands reached out to care for the children. Some were made comfortable in Honeck's Boulevard Hotel, and others were cared for in St. Rose of Lima's Church by the Rev. Father McCaffrey. The Home was finally saved, and when the fire was out the little procession marched back again.

GENERAL-

The Future of the Catholic Church-— Mr Mailock, the distinguished writer, contributes a remarkable article to a recent number of the Nineteenth Century on the future of the Catholic Church. Mr Mailock writes as a non-Catholic, yet it would not be easy to say when any author in recent days has offered such striking testimony to the unconquerable and conquering power of the Catholic Church. The witness he bears is so telling because it is that of a man who has devoted a life-time to the study of the subject. He has viewed it under every aspect, and now hiß conviction is that the only Church which has stood the test of time, and which has manifestly a great future before it, is the Church of which Rome is the centre and Leo XIII. the spiritual ruler. Protestantism has, he holds, utterly broken down at its very foundation. • The Bible and the Bible only ' is a principle which is false in theory, and has been found wanting in practice. The boast of the numerous Protestant sects that they teach primitive Christianity is groundless, and the Protestant contentions one by one have gone down before the onward march of science, especially the ' Higher Criticism.' The Catholic Church, on the other hand, whilst reaching back to Christ, continues to gain strength as the years go by, and the revelations of sound science only tend to foster her development and to give her promise of a future even more brilliant than her past.

In 188(3 3020z of gold valued at £1147 were exported from Western Australia. In 1896 the production of the precious metal had men to over a quarter million ounces valued at over £1,000,000. In the following year (1897) the quantity had more than doubled that of the preceding twelve months, and was valued at over £2,500,000. In 1898 the value of gold produced was set down at four million pounds sterling. For the eleven months of this year the quantity of the yellow metal won was computed at 1,500,0000z, valued at £5,600,000. Since 1886 the value of gold exported from the Colony amounted to £16,000,000.