Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 19, 8 May 1902, Page 29

Catholic World

CHlNA.— Thanking the Empress. Bishops Favier and Lardin had) audiences with the Dowager Empress of China at Pekin on March 17.' It is nearly three centuries) since the Court received representatives of the Churdh. Bishop Fayier thanked her Majesty for her toleration and protection of the Church, the purpose of which, he said, -was the good of the people ENQ LAN D.— Dispensation. A cable message received) last week states that his Holiness the Pope has granted Catholics throughout the British Empire dispensations 1 from fasting and abstinence on June 27i and 28. The first mentioned date falls on a Friday, and the last on Saturday, which is the Vigil of, Sts. Peter and Paul. The Coronation, festivities will extend over both these days. Foiled Again. A cable message received last week stated that the Court of King's Bench had upheld the decision of Mr. G. G. Kennedy, magistrate in the Marlboro|ugh street Police Court, given in January last, refusing; to grant a, summons for reviving the penal clauses of the Catholic Emancipation Act against alleged Jesuits. The Protestant Alliance were the applicants for the summons. Congratulations. The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, comprising 50,000 members in England, sent the following ' telog,ram to the Pope on the occasion of the celebration of his silver jubjilee : — ' The members of the G-uil'd of Our Lady of Ransom for the Conversion of England, celebrating the feast of St. Gregory the Great, Apostle of the English nation, atl the feet of your Holiness, true successor of the* great Pontiff, gloriously keeping the 25th year of your Pontificate, most humbly express their good wishes, de/vjotion, and duty.' A Gaelic Service. A religious celebration of St. Patrick's Festival for Irish Gaels in London tokic place at the Catholic Church, Dockhead, Bermondsey, on Sunday, March 16. A large part of the office was, of course, in Latin, ■but the sermon and popular hymns gave ample play to the vernacular, and that was allj Irish on this occasion. The hymns sung were foumd to be of great interest, as they were both beautiful and unique in character, and have been found, in most cases, surviving as metrical prayers amongst the people of Connaug|ht. Death of a Missioner. News has reached the rector of St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, London, that the Rev. Alexander Prenger, of Borneo, a memlb;er of St. Joseph's Society, died on March 17. PORTUGAL. The Catholics of Portugal will shortly present Leo XIII. with a tiara of great value, towards whichi nearly one million persons have subscribed, from the lowest to the highest in the land. ROME. — Heroic Nuns. A touching ceremomy took place recently in the chapel of the Fraflv ciscan Sisters in the Via Guisti (.writes a Rome correspondent), when the whole community assembled to bid farewell to £even of its members, who have volunteered to leave for the distant mission of Mozambique, in Africa, as nurses to the Leper Hospital. Cardinal AloisiMasella, Papal , Pro-Datario, nounced an eloquent discourse, and 1 ga,ve Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament after thd farewell hymn had been sung by whole congrega-

tion. Of the seven Sisters who have thus voluntarily exiled themselves from the world 'for ever, two are Portuguese, two French, one English, one: Can^d^an, and one Italian. The same community have a hospital for Italian Emigrants in New York and a hospital for lepers in China. During the late insurrection in China seven Franciscan Sisters suffered an awful martyrdom at the hands of the Boxers. A New Decoration. His Holiness the Pope is, it is stated, aljbio.ut to introduce a new decoration. It is intended to add honor to the profession of letters, and writers of all nations will bq eligible f,or it. The decoration, itself is composed of two palm leaves, surmounted by a lamp. The Pope's Health. The fatiguing- ceremonies; of the last few weeks (writes a Rome correspondent under date March 17) have), if 'anything, improved the Holy Father's health. So', at least, Professor Mazzoni assured me a few days ago, at the same time authorising me to emphatically contradict the rlumor that the recent exertion in connection with the jubilee celebrations had at all inflamed the cicaxrical tissue of the cyst which) Professor Mazzoni operated upon three years ago, as some papers have stated. ' These demonstrations of filial devotion and loyalty,' concluded the Pope's surgeon, ' appear to have the effect of a Wonderful stimulant upon Leo XIII., who is now much beter than during the period of suspense and suppressed excitement which preceded the jubilee functions . ' Australian Visitors. The" Holy Father received a njumb'er of Australian visitors 1 last week,, and in the course of the audience he referred to the bravey displayed by the colonial troops in the war in South ■Africa. Visit of Cardinal Moran. His Eminence Cardinal Moran arrived in Rome last week, and was received in audience by the Holy Father. His Eminence presented a giift of £I'2oo from the people of the archdiocese of Sydney. SCOTLAND.— A Chapter. • The Holy See has issued decrees 1 establishing a Cathedral Chapter ftor the diocese of Galloway. The Archbishop of Glasgow. On Saturday, March 15, the venerable Archbishop of Glasgow., the Most Rev. Dr. Eyre, LL.D. (writes a correspondent) celebrated the anniversary of his translation to the Western See, and on March 19 he attended the diamond jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. His Grace's health has rendered necessary the postponement of the religious and other observances appropriate to the jubilee ; but it is to be sincerely hoped and fervently prayed for that he will soon be able to attend a special service in the Cathedral. Consecration of a Bishop. The Right Rev. Matthew G'&ughren, the new Bishop of Kimberley, was .consecrated at Leith on Sumday, March 16. Bishop Ma,guire delivered a discourse, in wihich he spoke of the extension of the British Empire, aiicl said that Empire would serve the cause of faith whether willing or reluctantly. Death of a College Rector. The death is announced of the Very Rev. Donald Carrnichael, Rector of St. Peter's College, Gliasjgiow, the sad event talking place at the Ecclesiastical Seminary, Bearsden, on March 16. Canon Carmi.chael, •who was 'born in Scone, Perthshire, in 1834, had charge of the large mission of St. Mary's, Glasgow, for almost a' quarter of a century. He established during that time the

Eri'dgeton and Parkhead mission, while also making important additions to both church and school at St. Mary's, besides erecting handsome new recreation hall's. He was made a Canon in 1884, served for a time on tihe Glasgow School Board, and, in 1896,. on the death of the Very Roy. Canon Caven, was called to the Rectorship of the College."* The interment took place -at Dalbeth. GENERAL. Marks of Regard. The caurtesy and respect displayed towards the Pope by numerousforeign Governments, including those of Protestant nations, which, through the medium of special missnons, have tendered their congratulations to his Holiness on the occa-* sion of his Pontifical Jubilee, have afforded the utmost personal' gratification to the Holy Father. The fatigjue caused by the numerous re- " ceptions (writes a Rome correspondent) has been more than counterbalanced by the pleasure experienced by Leo XIII. at receiving so many marks of regard. Each day he gave audiences to special envoys, Cardinals, bishops, and pilgrims, and astonished everyone by his physical power, and his marvellous lucidity of mind.

The ' Western Mail,' which is the leading West of England paper, in, referring to the Pope's Jubilee, says — Not one of his predecessors, not even the nintth Pius, has made such a mark on the Christian world at large, and outside his own oommulnioji. Hundreds of thousand will give a sympathetic thou'gjht to this truly grand old man,— grand in the highest, noblest sense ; tlhey *will wish for him a still further pro longation of His already lengthened years, an(d that Wihen he is gathered home his' successor may be a man no less humane, broad-minded, and large-hearted than Leo XIII. has proved himself throughout tihe course of his eventful reigm.' Algjain, it says in another p ( art : 'As a matter of fact it is difficult for any one who is not a bigot to avoid admiring the Pope. He rules the Church which, in ppint of numbers, is the greatest on the face of the earth. But outside of, and 'beyonld all this," there is much to compel'theinterest of mankind. Leo XIII. has, been an Archbishop almost sixty years, Cardinal fifty, Pope twenty--five (twenty-fo,ujr completed). He is ninety-two years of age, yet asi keen mentally as over. A scholar, .a wit, a main of lofty aim and farreaching sympathy, the intensely humajn element in the Pope's character is magnetic in its influence.'