The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4, 25 January 1900, Page 27

The Catholic World.

ENGLAND.— An Interesting Purchase.— A Glasgow priest purchased from a street bookseller in Leamington recently a somewhat faded copy of an illuminated missal of the seventeenth century. The volume, for which he paid fourpence, was a fine specimen of art, and its value became considerably enhanced to the owner when he discovered on the flyleaf the inscription, ' Charles Edward ; his boke.' It is conjectured that the book, the indubitable property of the young Pretender, had been left behind by him in some country house upon the retreat from Leamington. ROME-— The Church and the Bible-— At the recent Catholic Conference, the Bishop of Clifton announced that the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, granting an indulgence to those who read the Gospels, would be prefixed to all future editions of the New Testament in English. It may, thererore, be of interest to print the text of the decree :: — l Our Most Holy Lord, Pope Leo XIII., in an audience held on December 13, 1898, by the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics, graciously granted to all the faithful in Christ, of either sex, who piously and devoutly, for at least a quarter of an hour, read the Holy Gospel from an edition which has been recognised and approved by lawful authority, an indulgence of 300 days to be gained once a day ; but to those who have every day for a whole month given their time to the aforesaid reading as above, be granted a plenary indulgence, to be gained on any day within the month on which they shall with true repentance have gone to confession and been refreshed by Holy Communion, and at the same time shall have poured out pious prayers to God for the intention of his Holiness. And these indulgences the tame Holy Father declared may be applied to the souls detained in the fire of purgatcry. These presents to be perpetually valid without the issuing of any brief, anything contrary notwithstanding. — Father Hieronymus M. Cardinal Gotti, Prefect.' UNITED STATES.— Free Scholarships at St- Francis Xavisr's College- — The authorities of St. Francis Xavier's ColIt ge, New York, have placed a free scholarship at the disposal of tLe Catholic pastor of eve r y parish in New York. A Valuable Site-— The property of the Catholic Orphan Asylu-n, New York, and a 1 joining the Cathedral, has been just sold for half a million pounds sterling. For nearly half a century the Catholic Orphan Asylum — the most imposing structure on Fi th Avenue — has been a conspicuous landmark. Early in the next century it will be razed to make room for taxable property. A new asylum for the orphans i.s in course of construction, and will be ready for occupation in June. The new building will be more co.ninodmus than the old one. and will cost, with the site, when competed about £ 100,000. Death of an Indian Nun in Cuba-— A letter was received recently in X iltunore from the Key. Father Craft describing the funeral of the Rev. Mother Mary Anthony, assistant general of the Congregation of American Indian SisLern. She die>l on Suuday, October 15, while attending services in the eh pel at Pinar del Rio, Cuba. She was buried Octou-r 17 by Ui.ited States soldiers. Father Craft writes . ' 1 read the burial service the same as for a soldier. The firing party fired three volleys over ihe grave and the bugler founded " taps." bhe was much beloved by the soldiers whom she had nursed back to health at the sacrifice of her own life, and American soldiers mingled their tears and prayers with those of ( übans and Spaniards.' Mother Anthony was a granddaughter of Chief Spottel Tail and grand ni-jce of Chief Red Cloud. Nuns at a Quarantine Hospital-— Two Sisters of Mercy from the St. Louis Convont have volunteered to attend the sick in the quarantine hospital at Springfield, and they are now living in tents isolated from the world. ' There is nothing unusual about our Sisters volunteering to nurse the sick or to go out in epidemics,' baid the Superioress to a newspaper representative. ' They are doing it all over the world. We have a house in Springfield, and when it became apparent that more nurses were needed, we were told of the state ot affairs by the nuns there, who had done all they could. Two of our Sisters at once wrote the Superioress for per-mi-tsion. and when the approval came we wrote to the Mayor of Sp-ingfield. He gladly accepted our services. We write to them every day, but they cumot write to us, so we do not know how thej are faring. They live in teats in a field about three miles out of Springfield.' The Foundress of the Sacred Heart Congregation.— By this time (.writes an American contemporary") the finding of the ecclesiastical court i.ppomted by Archbishop Kain, of St. Louis, to inquire into the l«fe and acts of Mme.Duchesne v\ith a view to having her ultim itely canonized, has been placed in the hand of the proper authorities at Rome. The final sessions were held at St. Charles, Mo., several weeks ago. Mme. Ducheane was one of the

chief promoters of the Sacred Heart congregation. She established the order in America more than 80 years ago. The first institution was in Florissant, Mo., then a bustling metropolis compared to the St. Louie of that day. Today the Sacred Heart convents are in nearly every large city in the country. Within their walls are nearly 10,000 women devoted to lives of good works. Mme.Duchesne was born at Ladrone, France, in 1770. Her famliy belonged to the nobility and possessed much wealth. One member of it spurned earthly joys. That was little Phillipe. At an early age she evinced a marked love for religion. When 18 years of age she entered the Visitation Convent em a novice. Her father bitterly opposed her choice, but eventually yielded Lo her wishes. With the French revolution in 1791 came the expulsion of the Visitation nuns from France. They were subjected Lo many hardships. Sister Phillipe tried to re-establish the Visitation Order in her native country some years latsr, but without success. Then she co-operated with other good women who were forming the Sacred Heart Order, and became a prominent member of that body. She reached New Orleans early in 1818. A Missionary tO the Chinese. — A San Francisco despatch states that Miss Ella M. Clemmons, sister of Mrs. Howard Gould, has decided to devote har life to teaching the doctrines of the Catholic Church to the Chinese, and as soon as she can lease a house in Chinatown suited to her purpose, she intends to open a Catholic Chinese mission This she will conduct independent of any Order and she will maintain it herself. Miss Clemmons became a convert to the Catholic faith less than two years ago. Shortly after her conversion Bhe decided to give up her pleasant life and give her entire time to the promotion of the faith Bhe had adopted. In looking around for some line of work she became interested in the Chinese, and saw in Chinatown a wide field for Christian endeavour. There is no Catholic Chinese mission in this city, and the idea of founding one seemed to the young woman the right thing for her to do, so she began the study of the Chinese language, and for seventeen months she has laboured to perfect herself. She has learned enough of the language to enable her to carry on the kindergarten method, and she hopes in another year to be able to speak fluently. She has already established two classes of Chinese, and these she teaches during the day and in the evening. The Catholic Schools of New York.— in speaking of the Catholic schools in Greater New York the New York Sun says :—: — It is not probably known to the average citizen of the large number of children that are educated under the auspices of the Catholic Church, in the parochial schools, nor the large amount of money that is annually saved the non-Catholic taxpayers in the city of New York. This matter is quite pertinent and opportune because of the crowded condition of the public schools and the inability of the Board of Education to provide a large number of children with a full day's attendance in the 390 buildings devoted to education, exclusive of the high schools and normal colleges. There are in the five boroughs of the city no less than 175 Catholic parochial schools, with an attendance of 70,877. The number of schools and the average attendance in each borough are aB follows : Brooklyn, 53 schools, number of children attending, 28,877 ; Manhattan and Bronx, r>tj schoo's, number of children attending, 38,470 ; Queens Borough, ]"> schools, number of children attending, 2578; and Richmond, 3 schools, number of children attending, 952. The attendance at the schools in Brooklyn ranges from 60 to 1600 ; Manhattan and Bronx, (57 to 1700; Queeus Borough, 50 to 400; and Richmond, I^o to 472. According to the statistics of the Board of Eduuati m, the cost of educating every child attending public school is about £o" 10s. According to this average the city is saved about £4.~>U,700, which would be the amount necessary to be appropriated for the education of the 70,877 children attending Catholic schools. To this also may be added the cost of the school buildings, some of which are model educational institutions, and cost for construction from £2000 tn over £20,000, without the price paid for the ground on which they are built. An average of about £6000 would phice the value ot the buildings at about £800,000. This added to the cost of education as fixed by the local board would amount to over £1,200 000, money that comes out of the pockets of about oue-third of the population and is saved by the city treasury. WEST INDIES.— An Intrepid Catholic Bishop-— Bishop Gordon, of Jamaica, was on a visit to Scotland recently on his return journey to his diocese from Rome. Since the Bishop was sent out to Jamaica, ten years ago, the Catholic population in that island has considerably increased, and the general condition of the people much bettered. Imbied with Celtic enthusiasm ani gifted with indomitable perseveiance, his Lordship has done much for the advantage of those under his charge. Since his arrival in the island he has made himself a favourite with all classes of the community, and his opinion on all matters pertaining to the management of the State is considered as very valuable. By all sections he is regarded with the highest esteem, and before leaving for home a few montlis ago he was made the recipient of a presentation subscribed to by all the islanders. The Right Rev. Charles Gordon, S.J., belongs to a Catholic and Jacobite family of long standing. He is a descendant tf the Gordons of Minmore, Glenlivet, Kaiiffshire, Scotland, a branch of the old ducal House of Gordon that at one time held feudal suzerainty over the North of Scotland. Glenlivet, as most of our readers know, is a large district the inhabitants of which are mostly Catholics, whose ancestors have ever remained true to the one faith, in spite of the tyranny and cruelty levelled against them at the time of the so-called Reformation. The Gordons were always loyal to the Stuart line, and the Laird of Minmore played a distinguished part in '15 and '45. The Laird, before setting forth to join the Prince's men, made a simulated conveyance to another of his property on the understanding that, no matter what was the issue of the rising, the estate wa3 to be restored to himself, or, if he fell, to his family.

The friend proved false and treacherous ; he retained the property, and, of course, there were no means for the Gordons to recover it. Sir Charles Gordon, of Drimnin, Argyleshire, succeeded his uncle, old Lewis Gordon, solicitor in Aberdeen, as the first secretary of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland , and was instrumental in starting the Agricultural Society of England, together with that of Ireland. Sir Charles Gordon was the father of Bishop Gordon, who was born in 1831. The Bishop was destined for a writership in India, his uncle being a director of the East India Company. His father's death, however, caused this project to fall through, and after taking an active part in furthering plans and undertakings of a benevolent character, settled down to farm a portion of his paternal estate. As a farmer he built ditches, turned heather hills into fertile fields, reared cattle and farm stock, and sold his own produce in Inverness. The work of the enterprising farmer was finished, however, for the news came that the French Empire had ceased to defend the Pope, and left it to be a fight for volunteers. The spirit which animated his forefathers burned in the heart of the Argyleshire Laird, and, like hi 9 ancestors, he was ready to do or die in a cause which he considered to be righteous and just. He thought he would raise a force of men, recruited from Ireland and America, sufficient to go from one end of Italy to the other He intended that funds should be drawn from these countries and all the British colonies. He started at once from Scotland with sixty men, and organised a hundred more to follow, putting himself in communication with Lord Denbigh and a Catholic committee in London, of which his uncle was secretary. Before the expedition started news had come of the battle of Montana, and no active work was left for the Scottish Volunteers. The brave decendant of the j gallant Gordons, however, set out with his men to sec if their was any turn of affairs. Nothing turned up, and, after a couple of years' service in the Zouaves, the young Argyleshire Laird entered upon another stage of an honourable, self-sacrificing career Having offered his life to God, and not having had ifc accepted in the manner in which he first gave it to the service of his Creator, he rehohed to d<ifvote it to Him in another form. And so he entered the Jesuit College at St. Buenos, in North Wales, to study for the prit sthood. After a brilliant career in this seminary he was ordained a priest by Bishop Brown, in the year 186.>. He served at various towns in England and Scotland, and about twelve years ago he was stationed at St. Aloysius', Glasgow. On the loth of August, 1889, Father Gordon was consecrated Bishop of Thyatira, and Vicar-Apostolic of Jamaica. Archbishop Eyre performed the consecration ceremony, there being also present Archbishop Smith, and Bishop Macdonald, of Argyle and the Isles (now Archbishop of Edinburgh). He immediately left for Jamaica after his consecration, and arrived there on the 13th September. On arrival in Jamaica he was accorded a hearty welcome, and received by the good Catholics as guide and father. Today he is admired and looked up to with veneration and respect by all members of his flock, while retaining the affection and friendship of the other islanders. Under his fostering care the Catholic Church has made rapid progress in his diocese ; new churches have sprung up, schools have been opened, and a Catholic atmosphere is beginning to permeate the whole of Jamaica and to exercise a powerful influence over the lives of all sections of its people. The priests of the Society of Jesus have about twenty churches under their charge, and about the same number of schools. The Catholic population is nearly twenty thousand, but this number is rapidly increasing, through the immigration of Irish and Scottish people, as well as by the converts to the Catholic Faith. There are about eighteen priests serving on the mission, and their hard work, kindly manner, and charitable disposition have been the means of elevating the inflaence of the Catholic Church. As has been said, Bishop Gordon takes a keen interest in all that appertains to the benefit of the community. He is a member of several of the public boards, and occupies a prominent place on the Board of Education. One of the most useful institutions, the Alpha Cottage Industrial School, was formed through his influence. Although far from the old land, the sons of Scotland resident in Jamaica never forget the country of their birth, and every year on St. Andrew's Day they gather together in a social capacity. Here Bishop Gordon's popularity is manifest, and his stirring addresses to the members of the Caledonian Association always remain fresh in the memories of his audiences. The Bishop was a member of a commission appointed recently to inquire into the educational affairs of the island. The other members of the commission included Dr. Nuttell, the Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies ; Mr Lumb, a Judge of the Supreme Court ; and two members of the Legislative Council. As a result of the commission a very learned report on manual and agricultural training in Bohools was issued.