People

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 15, 10 April 1902, Page 10

People

Father Sheehan, the author of Delmege,' is a lover of flowers. To an interviewer representing ' St. Stephen's ' he recently said : ' I should like to show you my garden. It is my great delight, and 1 think if 1 were tempted to pride it would be more on account of my begonias than mv books.'

Though Mr Bentley, architect of the Westminster Cathedral, is not a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he has been paid the high honor of having presented to him the gold medal of the Institute, which is the gift of the King, but is awarded by the President of the Institute and the Council.

At Gibraltar a few weeks ago, Father Reginald Collins, the intrepid army chaplain, had the Distinguished Order pinned on his breast by Lady White, while Sir George White paid a marked compliment to the heroism of the popular clergyman In the Soudan campaign and recently in South Africa, Father Collins lias repeatedly faced death in discharge of his sacred duties.

The cumous relationship between the Irish Judiciary and the Irish revolutionary movement is not unworthy of notice. The grandson of William Brennan is an Insh .Judge. The late Mr- Justice* Monroe was a grandson of Henry Monroe, the general of the insurgents at the battle of Ballinahmch, who was hanged in the presence of his mother and his wife and children The father of Mr. Justice Per rm was the close friend and associate of Robert Emmet ; Mr. Baron T>o\vse was a '48 man, Mr. Justice O'Hngnn was one of the poets of the '48 movement, and Mr. Pigot, a son of the late Lord Chief Baron, was one of Smith-O'Brien's most trusted political friends and lieutenants.

The announcement of the death of Mr. Justice Andrew's mother (says the Dublin ' Freeman's Journal ') recalls the fact that the deceased lady, who had reached the age of 95, was the daughter of the famous William Brennan, one of the founders of the United Irishmen on Cave Hill, Belfast, a man who, as physician, author, and politician, played a conspicuous and honorable part in the public life of Ulster in the latter part of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. On her marriage to Mr. John Andrews, J P., she removed to Comber, where she resided for 73 years m the same house, and where she died recently, having survived her husband for 38 years. She leaves three sons, of whom the eldest is the Right Hon. William Bronnan Andrews. PC , LL.P , one of the judges of the High Court in Ireland.

Ecclesiastics are created members of the Sacred College of Cardinals not only for all round excellence of moral and intellectual finalities, but often for distinction in special fields of learning. Cardinal Ciasca, whose death is announced from Rome (says the ' Catholic Times '), owed his elevation chiefly to his knowledge as an Orientalist. A member of the Aiigustininn Order, ho applied himself from an early age to the study of the languages of the East, and his proficiency in using them was remarkable. ITe published a work in two volumes on the fragments of the Coptic Sacred Books, another work on Copt ie manuscripts, and a translation of the Arabic codices in the Vatican Library The Holy See, appreciating his labors, sent him on a special mission to Roumania, and he was appointed Procurator-General of his Order. Then he became Consuitor of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda and Secretary for iis Oriental Rite department, with the title of Bishop of Larissa. Less than three years ago, the Holy

Father, recognising the servipes rendered to the -Church by -thisvlearned prelate, raised him to the-Cardinal-ate. His death is a serious loss, to the movement for the re-uniton of the Eastern Christians with the '"Catholic Church.

History and romance are brought closer to us (writes a French correspondent) by the announcement of the death a day or two ago of a member of the family of '' Joan of Arc' General Cuny de Melcion d'Arc traced his descent in unbroken line from Pierre d'Arc dy Lys, brother of the heroic Jeanne. Pierre's family was ennobled by Charles VII. in 1429, and allowed to bear the Royal Arms of France with this only modification, that the third fleur de lys was replaced by the symbolic device of a sword supporting a crown. The deceased General does not seem to have derived any military genius from his lofty descent. Born a year after Waterloo, he did little but mount slowly and ingloriously the grades of the service, till he subsided into the enjoyment of a general's retiring pay in the peaceful seclusion of Cherbourg. He is, it is said, the last, of his line — in a sense that makes him a personality.

Sir John Blackwood, the greatgrandfather of the late Marquis of Duflcrin, was a member of the Irish Parliament who strongly opposed the Union, and twice refused an Earldom. His descendant relates that on another occasion a Government emissary who was a guest at Clandeboye, in admiring the crest on the silver, observed that it would be much improved with a coronet placed above it. ' But how,' said Sir John, 'would that agree with the motto below ? ' The motto below was ' Per vias rectas.'

Thomas Mulhearn, 65 years old, who landed at Ellis Island, New York, from the Cunarder Etruria in December, was detained because he was moneyless. He said he had a well-to-do brother, Patrick, at Sullivan, Me., and Detective Peter Groden of the Irish Emigrant Society, looked up Patrick. Patrick sent on money and Thomas was released and went to Maine. A few weeks after ho got there his "brother, who was 90 years old, died, leaving $00,000 to the penniless immigrant. Thomas is returning to his home in County Town, where he intends to spend the rest of his days.