Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 8, 21 February 1901, Page 1

Current Topics.

Some lies have been desctibed by Shakespeare as ' puny.' Others are said to be ' the raw material of poetry,' or • those pretty arabesques which light up the plain surface of fact.' But there is only one way of describing the falsehood uttered by Miss Morant in the Nineteenth Century for November regarding indulgences: it is gross, palpable, direct. This imaginative lady permitted herself to pen the following wild story regarding Josef Mayer, who represented the part of Christ with great power and dignity in the Passion Play of Oberammergau in 1890 :—: — His Holiness has bestowed upon him [Josef Mayer] a pardon not only for all his own isms, past, present, and future, but also, with a truly lavish generosity, for those of all his children. It is with a face of genuine pride and wholesome satisfaction that tbis grey-bearded ohild of Rome shows to a fc-v favored visitors the slip of paper signed, by the Pope which means *o tuuch to him and his. * « * When this story reached these colonies we promptly denounced it as ' wholly untrue and calumnious,' and added: ' The imaginative writer in the Nineteenth Century is probably attempting to describe the customary papal blessing, with plenary indulgence at the hour of death, winch the Holy Father frequently bestows upon devout Catholics, sometimes proprio motu, but s far more frequently in response to a request or supplied.' It i tolerable safe to prophesy when you know. And our prophecy has been amply verified by a postscript in the Nineteenth Century for January to an able exposition of the doctrine of indulgences by the Bishop of Newport. From this editorial note we learn that immediately after the appearance of Miss Morant's bit of romance in the Nineteenth Century Cardinal Vaugan wrote the following letter to the editor : — Dear Mr. Knowles, — Please read Nineteenth Century, page 824, twelfth line from top of page, a shocking case of ignorance or malice. The thing ib just simply impossible. Will you print a short contradiction of it in your next iesue ? Yours Bincerely, Herbert Card. Vauuhan. The editor forwarded the Cardinal's letter to Miss Morant, and wrote : — ' I assume you would not have made such a statement as you have done without a full and entire knowledge of the facts. May I ask you kindly to send me at once and in detail the proofs of it, that I may transmit them to the Cardinal ? ' Miss Morant replied saying that she had not seen the document herself, but that a friend had done so, from whom she derived her information, and who now wrote to her : ' I cannot quite remember the words ! ' A big percentage of the calumnies against the Catholic Church have no better foundation than this — ' the hollow sounding shell of common hearsay.' And we cannot refrain from the expression of a regret that Miss Morant and others like her who launch gross charges against the moral character of their neighbors as M. Ollivier launched the French people into a ruinous war — ' with a light heart' — do not take good old Dr. Routh's motto to heart: ' Verify your references ! Verify your references ! Verify your references ! '

'PARDON FOF SINS, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

• Meanwhile,' says the editor of the Nineteenth Century, ' I had received through the kindness of another correspondent — who had been greatly vexed and distressed by Miss Morant's article — the subjoined copy of the document in question. I gladly publish it in correction of the misleading account of it sent me by Miss Morant. Mr. Lang, who is himself an Ammergauer, had communicated direct with Herr Josef Mayer, the Burgomaster of Oberammergau, who had replied to him as follows : ' The document in question, with a portrait of the Pope, has been hanging in my sitting-room since the year 1890, when I received it. It is there for anybody to see or read who cares to and understands Latin. It is nothing but a " special blessing by the Holy Father," which blessing also confers, I believe, what we call an " Ablass " — but a pardon for sins to be committed is simply inconceivable.' * * * The indulgence runs as follows :—: — ' Beatissime Pater : Josef Mayer ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae provolutus humillime petit Benedictionem Apostolicam cum Indulgentia Plenaria in articulo mortis pro secte et suis cons.inguineis et afrinibus usque ad tertium gradum inclusive, secundum formam ab Ecclesia praescriptum. Et Deus, etc. ' Vigore specialmm facultatum a SS.mo D.N.P. Leone XIII. tributarum, S. Congregatio Indulgentiarum benigne annuit pro gratia juxta preces absque ulla Brevis expeditione, contrariis quibuscumque non obstantibus. ' Datum Romae ex Secretaria ejusdem S. Congregationis die 4 Juhi, IS9O. (Seal) TRANSLATION. ' Most Blessed Father : Joseph Mayer, prostrate at the feet of }our Ho'iness, most humbly asks for the Apostolic Blessing with a Plenary Indulgence at the moment of death for himself and for his relations by consanguinity and affinity to the third degree inclusively, according to the form prescribed by the Church. And may God, etc. ' By virtue of special faculties given by our Most Holy Lord Pope Leo XIII., the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences has graciously granted the favor as requested without any issue of Brief, notwithstanding anything to the contrary. ' Given at Rome on the 4th day of July, 1890.' * * * The imaginative Miss Morant had promised a c very sincere apology ' to Cardinal Vaughan and the editor of the Nineteenth Century in the event of her statement as to the forgiveness of sins 'past present and future' proving to be untrue. On December 21 her tardy reply came — like the whining schoolboy ' creeping like «nail unwillingly to school.' It contained a copy of the alleged forgiveness of 'sins past, present and future ' identical with that which appears above. But, says the editor, 'I confess that I cannot find in it the " very sincere apology " which, under the circumstances now established, might have been expected.' And after having published Miss Morant's letter, he in fair, set terms tells his readers, in the words of Cardinal Vaughan, that it was either 'a. shocking piece of ignorance or of malice.' There is an obvious comment which might be written on this and such-like calumnies. But the law might stand in the way of its publication.

AT HIS OLD TRICKS.

'Madrid, February 12. — Anti-Jesuit riots have taken place at Madrid, Valencia, Granada, and elsewhere in Spain. Great discontent prevails on account of the approaching marriage of the Infanta Maria De Las Mercedes, Princess of the Asturias, with Prince Charles, second son of Count Caserta, of the Neapolitan Royal house.' So runs the cable message. But the sunken wire ' sometimes carries truth, oft lies.' And to the ungentle cable-rigger truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. 1 here is about as much inundation iui the story of the C anti-Jt suit riots ' in Spain>as there is for the fiction of anti- Eskimo riots in Christchurch or Ounedin. There are no Jesuits resident in the Spanish peninsula — not even a Jesuit in disguise. Political intrigue and the underground workings of the Masonic and other dark-lantern associations long combined during the nineteenth century to make the foot-hold of the Jesuit in Spain a very precarious one. After the re-establishment of the Society by Pope Pius VII. in 1 8 14, its members were restored to their former rights and property by Ferdinand VII. A few years later the revolutionary kettle boiled over. This was in 1820. With its temporary success the learned and zealous sons of St. Ignatius were banished for a time. They returned with the restored monarchy in 1823. Thereafter successive Spanish administrations blew alternately hot and cold upon them. The Society was suppressed in the Spanish dominions in 1835. It was reestablished in 1844. The plundering military adventurer Espartero banished the Jesuits from Spam in 1854. O'Donnell, Duke of Tetuan, recalled them in 1858. After the revolution of 18G8 the Jesuits were as a consequence of political and antireligious intrigues, driven finally and completely out of the Spanish peninsula, and were permitted to exist only by sufferance in the colonies. Truthfulness is a lost art with the cablerigger. But he might learn at least to lie plausibly — say, after the manner of Mark Twain, who said of himself • ' I never could tell a lie that anybody would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe.'

THE fHI'RtH IN AUSTRALASIA.

In Australasia the Catholic Church is grow" ing rapidly in numerical strength as well as manifesting its vitality by splendid work in the cause oi education, ot church extension, and of that 'top and /enith of all \irtues,' sweet charity. We compile the following from two st itistical tables which appear on pp. v>7-^<>S of Mr. T. A. Chilian's valuable work, A Statistical An or//it vj the Seven Co'omes of Austndaua, 1^99-1900. The figures given are estimates by this noted statistician of l hit. numerical strength of the Catholic body and ot three of the leading Protestant denominations at the close of 1899 .—

The independent — a leading American Prothe church in testant weekly— breaks out in a statistical AMERICA. rash in January of each recurring year. casts its eye abroad over the land, enumSj rates all the membership ot all the jarring creeds within the States, and mottles its columns over with the results. This year again the Cathol.c Church in the United States holds the pride of place. Excluding the semi-foreign Lutheran Church and the colored population, the five most numerous Protestant uo.iiLo , v lU UmlcJ SL d^ 'n.uh^i'.ng bO mz forty-two clilterent and independent sects) make a combined count of about b,300,000 church members. These various sects estimate on communicants, and in order to have something- like a common basis for comparison, a return i, made of Catholic communicants also. But even with tins limitation the white Catholics of America are numerically greatly ahead of all the leading sects combined, numbering in 1900, according to the Independent, 8,610,226 communicants as against 6,242,267 in 1800— aga.n of in the decennial period. The total I atholic population of the United States is given by this year's Catholic Directory at 10,774,989. This, however, is an underestimate, for, as we have shown on the authority of leading American statisticians, the number of our co-religionists within the borders of the United States cannot be at the present time less than 12,500,000 to 13,000,000. 'North of Mason and Dixon's line,' says an American contemporary, 1 the Catholic Church membership undoubtedly outnumbers all of the leading Protestant denominations above listed combined, and also the Lutherans, who number 1,700,000.'

CATHOLICS IN THE EMPIRE.

The statistics of Catholics in the British Empire are given as follows in the English Catholic Directory lor 1901 : 'In the United Kingdom and its colonies and dependencies there are 28 archiepiscopal and 195 episcopal sees, 27 vicar-iates-apostolic, and 12 prefectures-apostolic, making a total of 172. Besides the 133 residential archiepiscopal and episcopal sees. 25 of the 27 vicariate>-apo-t:>lic are held by bishops of titular sees. I-our episcopal sees, one vicariate-apostolic, nine coadjutors, and four bishops-auxiliary, the number of archbishops and bishops now holding office in the Empire is 168. There are also a few retired, or without episcopal office, of whom three are in England. ' Occupying these sees there are in Great Britain : In England and Wales, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster; the IS bishops of the suffragan sees, with a bishop-coadjutor at Plymouth and bibhops-auxihary at Westminster and Hexham and Newcastle. In Scotland there are the Archbishop of St. Andrew's and Edinburgh, with three suffragan bishops, the see of Dunkeld being vacant ; and the Archbishop of Glasgow, with a bishop-auxiliary. '1 here are also in England one archbishop and two bishops of titular sees who are not included in the above summary. Under these there are 3298 priests of Great Britain. Of these 308 are of the secular clergy, and 990 of the regular clergy. Of the secular priests, 152 are invalided, retired, or unattached ; and among the regulars many are in colleges, novitiates, or houses ot study. They serve a total of 1886 churches, chapels, and mission stations, which number is exclusive ot those not open to the public. 1 The estimated Catholic population of the United Kingdom is nearly five millions and a half — namely, England, 1,500,000; Scotland, 365,000; Ireland (according to the censer o\ ißji), 3,549,950. Including British America (with a ( a'holu population ot about 2,600,000), Australia, India, aid all other possessions, the total Catholic population of the British Empire is probably about ten millions and a half. ' There were 41 Catholic peers ; 15 Catholic lords who are not peers; 52 Catholic baronets; 26 Catholic knights; 17 Catholic members of the Privy Council; 4 Catholic members of the House ot Commons for England, and 73 for Ireland.'

' ALL GENTLEMEN IN SPAIN.

Grass-green travellers of a certain class have ' got oil ' as much grotesque fiction regarding Spain as Master - Gunner Edward Webbe wrote about the court of Prester John, and Mandeville about the countries of the glowing Hast. It is mostly evil-tempered writing, based on Barrow and Bicdeker and penned with the juice of bitter aloes. But for Spain as for Mexico— that other land of anti-Catholic myths the tide is turning. Books like A Corner of Spain (by Miriam Coles Harrib) aie written with a more sympathetic appreciation of the country and its people ; and a truer estimate of their character is to be occasionally met with even in the newspaper Press. A non- Catholic writer in a recent issue of the London Morning Leader, for instance, tells us that 'all Spaniards,' from the nobles to the laborers— hidalgos and pecheros, caballeros and peons—' are gentlemen,' and that 'all education, from the university downwards, is free.' He sumif up his opinion of the country and its people in the following^ words : ' Take it all in all, Spain is one of the most delightful countries in the world, full ol romantic scenery and historic interest, rich in local coloring ; a blend of the past, the medieval, and the present ; a rich country as yet undeveloped ; a people who know how to be respectful without subserviency.'

Donominatior, i ' f • Queens- S South. outh \,W ! TasVetor -°- land. , , A^" . A^" i mania. Z ' Uiiha. , traha. ' I New Zealand tralassia. Church of Engla id .. G0^.710 ' 413.000 173.G('0 Roman Caiho'ic .. 320,t'»Q0 , 2.~»."i.(i20 | IoS.-'Hu Presbjterian 131, ."00 1f.7,330 :)7,S ( .'O i ,:,.7,0| 20,. 3 ye ' 70,1 10 i iifiyj j 20.170 io") nu 7,700 j 10 300 ! 107.400 17,27u i 24,430 ' 77,920 1.7". 7,7^0 :.:i2 7.»>7 '.»> The Catholics in the seTen colonies thus number 016, BSO in a total population of 4,4 S2. 080.