Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 17, 24 April 1902, Page 24

Catholic World

ENGLAND.— The Catholic Union. n A J: V? c T half - Year ly meeting of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, the i wt h Norfolk was unanimously ejected president, on the motion of the Marquis of Ripon, seconded ny feir Hubert Jerningham. Rev W Barry, D.D., delivered an address on the relation between the Catholic Church and the various social questions of the day. Envoy to Rome. T-™ h ° M King (says the ' Catholic limes ) in sending the Earl of Denbigh to Rome as his envoy, charged to convey to the Pope congratulations on the silver jubilee of his papacy, was mostly concerned to follow the precedent set by Queen Victoria in 1887, when both she and the Pontiff had a golden juibilee, she of her reign and he of his episcopate. There was, however, an interchange of presents on that occasion. The Pope sent the Queen a Vatican-made mosaic, and the Queen gave the Pope a g;olden jug, and basin. On this occasion that precedent has been ignored, but Lord Denbigh has carried a particularly cordial letter from the King. With Lord Denbigh has gone his brother, Mr. Everard Feilding, and Major Pereira, mother was a Stonor, and whose appointment is an acknowledgement of the parti played by Archbishop Stonor, who recently came from the Vatican on a visit to London, in bringing tho special embassy about. Death of a Priest. On February 21 there passed away at Farm street, London, the Rev. James Fanning, W.J., in the 64th year of his age. The deceased was a distinguished member of the Order and the community sincerely mourn his loss. Father Fanning was a brother of Mr. Fanning, of Birr, King's County, uncle of Dr. Fanning of the same town, and cousin of Mr J. Fanning, of Wellington, in this Colony. FRANCE.— A Contrast. At Nice there is a hospital conducted and supported by English Protestants, which receives only Protestant patients not having infectious diseases. But the Catholic hospital there makes no distinction either in the matter of creed or ailment, whereupon Mr. Labouchere, in ' London Truth,' observes . — ' I understand from one of my readers that infectious cases are hot admitted to it (the Protestant hospital — l'Asile Evangelique). If, therefore, a Protestant happens to have the scarlet fever or small-pox, he is sent to the Catholic hospital of St. Roch. It seems to me that in this instance Catholic charity is a good deal more genuine than Protestant. If tho consciences of sick Protestants would be outraged by being nursed in a Roman Catholic institution, and if Protestants whio are whole subscribe their money in order to save their sick neighbors from this inconvenience, it seems to me that provision ought to be made for all classes of sickness alike, and thatl the Catholics would be quite justified under the circumstances in refusing to accept case 9 which the Protestant institution has not tho means or tho inclination to deal with..

Cardinal Richard. The 84th anniversary of the birth •«,f Cardinal Kichard, who is at pre■'ifient at Koine, was celebrated by the French Colony in the Eternal City recently. A muiicroubly-attcnded lunch was gi\ea at Wt. Sulpice, at which all the French Cardinals at present in Home attended. At the close of the lunch a messenger airived from, the Vatican with a most flattering letter fi 0111 the I'ope to the Cardinal and a magnificent bouquet of ilowers gathered in the garden of the Apostolic palaces. The Jesuits in Paris. The announcement, which 1 made some time ago (writes a Paris correspondent), that the Jesuits had decided to hire a public hall in order to gi"vo the conferences which they were not allowed to give in churches, seems to have caused a flutter in the dovecots of the Minister of Justice. Steps were immediately taken to obtain the opinion of counsel as to whether any means could be found under the Law of Association to prevent this demonstration. The result, it appears, was not altogether satisfactory, but the legists of the Munsti.v of Worship are of opinion that if the hall is thrown open to the public, and the meeting has not the character of a private meeting or of a lecture held on invitation only, means will be found to prevent the proposed demonstration. The muzzling of the Jesuits seems to be the ideal of French statesmanship just now, and it would seem that if the Jesuits are allowed to exist the State will be in constant peril. The Minister of Worship is not satisfied with the action of Cardinal Richard m striking off the names of all Jesuit preachers from the list submitted to him for the .Lent Conferences The Government will think that sonicJesuits may have crept m unawares somewhere, and they ha\e instructions to the I'refect of l'ohcito ha\e all the churches and chapels of the capital carefully watched m order to see then* is not a Jesuit lurking somewhere All this is supremely ridiculous, hut it shows to what lengths religious intolerance will go even in this 20th century of ours. GERMANY. — Death of a Leader. Tho death is imported of ITeir Lirbcr, the leader of the Central or Clerical party, which holds the balance, of power m the (Jerman Reichstag To this part.v is due the amelioration of the Falk laws against the Jesuits anil other religious Orders in (!ei'ina,n,\ , and its influence is a stiikmg result of what may bo achic\ed m legislation by united effort and cohesion A Misstatement Several misstatements ha\ ing been current regarding thq religious views of the late <Jcrraun Professor of Church history, "Dr. Francis Xa\ier Kraus, who recently died m Italy, the Catholic German Press publishes an extract from his will which pro-

yes not only his complete orthodoxy Church 0 loyalt y to the Cathoh,c The Kaiser's Present. The 1-Caisrr } iaK feent the Ho]y father as a jubilee present a rich gold clock, the King of Saxony a superb porcelain group, which obtained a prize at the Pans Exhibition, and President Lou bet as tilready stated, some Gobelin tapestry HOLLAND — New Education Law The new educational law i,ust adopted in Holland extends State aid to all schools, religion*, and secular, which prove by test that a satisfactory character of secular education is imparted. INDIA.- The Church. The Indian ' Catholic Directory ' for 1902 just issued uti Madras, gives tables from which we gather that the total nuiriber of Catholics in India and Ceylon (including Burmah) is at present 2,235,934. These are ministered to by 848 European missionaries 1772 native priests (of whom 764 are Goanese and 467 priests of the Syro-Malabar rite). There are 295 primary schools, with 169,301 children m school attendance — excluding orphanages and colleges. ITALY.— A Gutter Press. The boundless liberty, amounting to downright licentiousness (writes a Rome correspondent), in which the extreme parties have hitherto been allowed to indulge by the Zanardelli Ministry has naturally had the effect of considerably increasing the virulence of the attacks which the anti-clerical Press systematically directs against Catholics whose only fault is to openly and loyally profess the ' religion oi the State ' As a rule these attacks are treated with Mien I contempt, bul e'sery now and then it is satisfactory to' read that the would-be bullies ha\e received a sound thrashing from their intended Mctims. A case to the point occurred recently at Viterbo, an important provincial town, in winch the Socialist propagandists ha\e of late been \ery actne, even publish ing a paper called the ' Viterbo Nuova,' consisting chiefly of gross attacks against the local clergy. One of the latter, Key. A. Ohiavacci, parish priest of Sta. Maria di Bagnaia, finally determined to sue the editor of the paper for libel, and the case, after three days' trial, was decided in his favor, the Socialist editor being sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a lino At Manlua, a Catholic paper, the Citta di Mantua,' having commenced a lively campaign against the Socialists, whom it accused of sowing discord amongst tho working classes, was sued for libel by a prominent anti-cleric agitator, 'but the court acquitted the Catholic editor, considering the facts against the Socialists as proven. These two parallel cases are very significant, especially m a country where the

administration of justice is almost exclusively in the hands: of the rabid, anti-clericals. ROME.— The Pope's Reign. Cardinal Ciasca, whose death was recently reported, is the 139 th member of the College who has died since tho accebsion of Pope Leo XIII. If one more Cardinal should die before .Leo XilJ. himself (raising the number of deaths to 140) the present Pope will have twice renewed the whole College of Cardinals during his own pontificate. This will be a situation absolutely unique in the long history of the papacy. SCOTLAND. On March 19 next (says the London ' Universe ') will occur the most! unique event winch has ever taken place in the Church in Scotland during the past three centuries, viz.,, the diamond jubilee of his Grace Archbishop Kyre's elevation to the priesthood. His Grace was born at Askam, Bryan Hall, York, on November 17, 1817, and has consequently entered into his 85th year. In January, 1869, his Grace was consecrated Archbishop of Anazarba, by Cardinal Heisach, and appointed Apostolic Delegate to Scotland, and was translated to the metropolitan see of Glasgow on March. 15i 1878, so that if he is spared till next year he will see his silver jubilee as Archbishop of Glasgow. Under his fostering care the Church in the West of Scotland has advanced by leaps and bounds, and there has been a vast social improvement amongst his people. Before his coming,. Catholics did not assert themselves very much in public life, and were patronised and let alone by aspiring, politicians and others, just as the Jit seized them. His Grace changed ,-xll that. Coming from an old English family, he at once found entree into the best social circles, and now where a priest was once distrusted, if not despised, he is held up> as an example which clergymen of other. denominations might well follow. Certainly both priests and people have gained much by the Archbishop's coming amongst them 33 years ago, and neither are unappreciatrve of the fact. Already steps are being quietly taken to show in some tangible manner how much his Grace is appreciated by those he rules over, and the 19th of March promises to be a red-letter day in the annals of the Scottish Church. UNITED STATES. Fifty Polish priests met in Toledo; U.S.A., recently for the purpose of forming 'an organisation of the American Polish priesthood.. The meeting was called to bring the Polish priests closer together, and to aid the many priests of that nationality who go to America with no acquaintance there. It is proposed to establish a home for these priests where they may learn the English language. A Record. Here is a record found in the Pittsburg 'Catholic' : St. Stanislaus

parish paid off $12,983 debt during the year. In the congregation there 1700 families, with 7500 perrsona. Easter communions amounted 4550; baptisms, 468; marriages, 822; deaths, 2<39 ; school children, 750 ; teachers, 13. In connection with the parish a building and loan association is operated, chartered for $1,000,000. That they are generous givers to the church is shown by the fact that on the entire indebtedness of $86,000, not one cent. of interest is paid. The people of this parish are nearly all Polish Catholics. An Adventuress. The Catholics of Columbus, 0., caused the arrest and expulsion of the infamous Margaret Shepherd, the, bogus ' ex-nun.' She was arrested on the double charge of inciting to riot and of distributing immoral books. The prosecuting attorney agreed to a dismissal on ' condition that the woman would leave tho city and never return.'