Friends at Court.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 29 November 1900, Page 7

Friends at Court.

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. (Written for the N.Z. Tablet.) Deoembflr 2, Sunday. — First Sunday in Advent. „ 3, Monday. — St. Francis Xaxier, Confessor, Patron of Australia. „ 4, Tuesday.— St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. „ 5, Wednesday. — St. Martini, Pope and Martyr. „ 6, Thursday.— St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor. „ 7, Friday. — Vigil Immaculate Conception. St. Ambrose, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. n 8, Saturday. — Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blesßed Virgin Mary, BT. FRAJTCIB XAVIBB,'OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, APOSTLE OF THE INDIES. St. Francis was born of noble parents at the Castle of Xavier, near Pampeluna, in Spain. From hia infancy he displayed an amiable and generous disposition, which was accompanied with exoellent abilities and a singular thirst for knowledge. At the age of eighteen Francis, who was the youngest of a numerous family, was •ent to Paris to follow a course of philosophy at the College of St. Barbara. Here he had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of St. Ignatius Loyola, who was studying at the same seminary with a view to prepare himself for the accomplishment of the great work to which God had called him — namely, the formation of a society having no other object but the promotion of the glory of God and the salvation of men. Filled with admiration at the excellent qualities both of heart and mind possessed by Xavier, Ignatius was desirous to enrol him among the associates whom he had already secured for the commencement of his undertaking. With this intention he often repeated to him that sentence of our Lord : • What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul V These words, frequently pronounced by Ignatius in a tone of deep conviction, gradually sank into the soul of Francis, and produced so deep an impression upon him that abandoning his long-cherished dreams of wordly advancement he put himself entirely into the hands of his friend. Under the direction of so skilful a master of the spiritual life Francis made rapid progress in tho practice of prayer, penance, humility, and self-denial, and after completing hia studies was ordained priest. He had already devoted himself by vow along with St. Ignatius and his companions to the objects of the new institute, which gradually assumed its present form and is now so well known by the name of the ■ Society of Jesus.' After laboring for some time in the hospitals of Venice, Francis was selected by St. Ignatius for tha mission of the East Indies. Upon his arrival at Goa, the residence of the Portuguese Viceroy, our saint devoted himself for some months to the reformation of the European residents, whose criminal excesses presented a Eowerful obstacle to the conversion of the native Indians. After iboring among them with great success for more than a year, Francis penetrated into the kingdom of Travancore, where the fruits of his preaching were still more abundant. From the Indian continent he crossed over to the great ihland of Ceylon, where he converted the King of Candy, with many of his subjects. Thence he returned to Goa, where he spent some time in retirement and prayer, being visited by God with abundant consolations to reward him for his past labors and strengthen him for future combats. It was in the midst of these heavenly communications that Francis was inspired by God to undertake the evangelisation of the islands of Japan. The Bame divine blessing, accompanied with miraculous powers, attended him in this arduous mission. Wherever he went he gathered into the Church thousands of fervent converts, including princes and noblemen of the highest rank. After two years spent in establishing and organising the Japanese mission Francis returned to Goa to prepare for an enterprise which had long been the object of his prayers and aspirations, namely the evangelisation of the vast and powerful empire of China. The rigid laws of that country, prohibiting under pain of death the entrance of any European, seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle to his design, but Francis hoped to surmount this difficulty by attaching himself to an embassy which the Viceroy agreed to send to China to treat of the commercial relations between the two nations. This project failing, Francis embarked on board a small trading vessel for Sancian, a desolate island opposite the port of Canton. Here he hoped to meet with a Chinese captain who for a reward would consent to land him on the coast, whence he could make his way into the interior. In this, however, he was disappointed, all those with whom he treated being deterred by the danger of the enterprise. While Francis was still engaged the means of entrance, he was seized with a violent fever, and all the Portuguese Teasels having departed, he was left on the shore of Sancian under the shelter of a miserable cabin open on every side to the burning rays of the sun and the keen piercing winds which swept down from the north. Hi» distemper, which was accompanied with severe pain in his side, increased daily and was aggravated by the clumsiness of the surgeon who, in bleeding him, injured a tendon, causing him acute pain and throwing him into convulsions. In this state he lingered on occupying himself continually in prayer and heavenly contemplation, until, on Deoember 2, when, fixing his eyes all bathed with tears upon the crucifix, he exclaimed : 'In Thee, 0 Lord, have I hoped, I shall not be confounded for ever.' At the same moment, transported with a heavenly joy which appeared in his countenance, he sweetly gave up his soul to God, A.D 1552, in the 47th year of his age.

The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company built and sold 213,629 machines in the season of 189 ( J. This is the greatest sale of harvesting machines ever made by one company. # * it . Myers and Co., Dentists, Octagon, corner of George street They guarantee highest class work at moderate fees. Their artificial teeth give general satisfaction, and the fact of them supplying a temporary denture while the gums are healing doea away with the inconvenience of being months without teeth. They manufacture a single artificial tooth for Ten Shillings, and sets equally moderate. The administration of nitrous-oxide gas ia also a great boon to those needing the extraction of a tooth. Read advertisement. — *•, Lyttelton Times says :— •" Gawne and Co., the manufacturers, of George street, Dunedin, send us a sample of their Worcestershire Sauce, made like Lea and Perrin's " from the receipt of a country nobleman," who must have been a fastidious feeder, and Gawne and Co. must have got the same receipt, aa their sauce is indistinguishable from the famous Lea and Perrin's. People who like a relish with their meats — and what man does not — should be grateful to that anonymous country nobleman for spending his time in experimenting to such good purpose. — „*» A RICH RETURN. When a mixture attains so wonderful a success in so short a time as Tussicura has managed to do, it is difficult to speak of the matter in a way that does not appear like exaggeration. Let ua look back at the career of this extraordinary medicine from the start. It is only a few months since the proprietor launched it upon the market, and, as it was produced in a comparatively obscure town in Central Otago, it will be seen that the inventor was considerably handicapped. There was no idea of putting forth a cheap mixture — for there are only too many of these before the public at the present time — but the object in view was to use the very best drugs procurable after a careful consideration as to the effect they would have on the systems of persons suffering from particular complaints. People are, not unnaturally, chary of trying a new remedy unless it comes to them heralded by all sorts of 4 bold advertisements,' and the proprietor of Tussicura, although he might have expected to have an extremely hard fight in convincing the public of the excellence of his preparation, is naturally gratified at its immediate success. At the same time he recognises that, iv order to recoup him for his large expense that he has been put to in preparing the mixture, he must seek a wider field, and the number of testimonials he has received amply justified him in anticipating a success. — * M *

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