Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 26, 26 June 1902, Page 27

Catholic World

CHlNA,— Priest Massacred. A Pekln message states that a serious rising has taken place at Ting Fuchill. It waa due to attempts to collect tho indemnities for a Catholic missionary killed in the massacres. A French priest has been murdered. His head was carried about the country on a pole for several days. Th« Foreign Ministers are Insisting that the Chinese Govern ment shall suppress the rebellion immediately. The French Minister at F«kin is sending M i Kahn, a secretary, to conduct an investigation. ENGLAND.— Convent Schools. The ' Rock,' a Low Church London newspaper, is greatly disturbed by ' a very real and pressing danger to the National Protestantism— the increasing infatuation of English parents for Continental Convent schools.' With pain the editor finds that ' thousands of our best and brightest young people from Protestant homes are imbibing tho. rankest ultramontanism abroad.' But if thia is so, what is to be said for the ' Rock's ' preaching ? Year after year, in leading articles, notes, speeches, and letters, it has abused the nuns. They have been accused (says the ' Catholic Times ') by it of almost every form of crime. Parents have been warned not to trust their children to them. And now, after all this, to have to acknowledge that thousands and thousands of the best and brightest young people from English Protestant homes joyfully niako their way to the convents, and that the ' infatuation ' is increasing 3 One thing is certain — either the ' Rock ' or the parents are wrojig. It seems to us the natural conclusion is that the newspaper is in error. Those parents aro fond of their children. They wish them to get an education at least as good as t.hey received themselves, and on investigation they have discovered that they can place them in no better hands man those of Catholic nuns. HOLLAND.— The Church. ' Viator,' writing in the London ' Tablet,' supplies some interesting information regarding the position of the Catholic Church in Holland. Many people who regard the Dutch as being as Protestant a raco as the English will learn with pleased surprise that the Catholics in Holland are more than one-third of the population, numbering exactly 35.4 per cent, of tho inhabitants. There aro 1060 Catholic churches, with 2348 priests and an established hierarchy, lteligious vocations aro so numerous that there is always a large surplus availablo for foreign missions. In public affairs, too, Catholics have a good position, 26 out of the 58 deputies in the Second Chamber being of the old faith, while no fewer than three of the Cabinet are Catholics. And as the Dutchman's motto is 'Hold fast,' tho Church is not likely to lose her foothold in Holland.

Religious to the Rescue. An idea of the sad fate to which would be left a certain class of unfortunates, if the religious Orders of the Catholic Church ceased to exist, has just been strikingly shown in the ultra-Protestant town of Zaandam, North Holland, writes Rev. J Van Der Heyden to uhe 'Catholic Sentinel.' A number of patients stricken down with contagious diseases having been brought to the city hospitals, the lay nurses went on a strike, refusing to attend to these stricken ones. The Mayor, after vainly attempting to secure the services of more willing mercenaries, telegraphed as a last resort to the Brothers of St. John of God, at Amsterdam. Two hours later three Brothers arrived at Zaandain, and they entered at once upon their duties, taking full charge of all the departments, on condition that Sisters would be secured to attend the female patients. The Mayor started off for Amsterdam to engage a corps of trained hospital Sisters. He was as successful in this second appeal as in the first. And now the good Calvinista of Zaandam feel, if they never did before, that there is a something in the Catholic religion which Calvin, when he started to improve upon the Church founded by Christ, left out, to the detriment and shame of his present-day followers. ROME.— A Rumor. Consternation was displayed in the Vatican the other day when Dr. Lapponi, the Holy Father's private physician, was seen going towards his Holiness's apartments with a large microscope in one hand and a case containing several vials and surgical instruments in the other. The rumor spread that the Pope had suddenly become seriously ill, but soon the truth became known. Pope Leo has long taken much interest in tho progress of modern science, and Dr. Lapponi's object was to show him specimens of the various microbes which have been discovered during recent years, and to explain to him the exact manner in which each of them affects human beings. The germs of typhus, tuberculosis, diphtheria, anthrax, and other maladies were carefully examined through tho microscope by the Pope, who then asked Dr. Lapponi many questions, especially as to the manner in which the germs find their way into human bodies and as to the methoda which have been devised for destroying them Australians at the Vatican. On Sunday last (writes a Rome correspondent, under date May 5) hia Eminence Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney, had the honor of presenting a group of about fifty Australians to the Holy Father, while a small but highly representative American pilgrimage was received by his Holiness on Sunday. The Australian group included eleven students now at the Propaganda and

belonging to the,., Irish College, besides several laymen, among; whom I may mention Mr. and Mrs. Hughes of Melbourne, and Mrs Baker, of Adelaide, accompanied by her daughter and niece. Very Rev. Dr. Murphy (rector of the Irish College} and Very Rev. Dean O'Haran (Cardinal Moran's secretary) were also present. His Eminence, in introducing the pilgrims, pronounced a short but eloquent address, in the course of which he referred to Australia as 'the most youthful of Christian nations in tho world,' a happy phrase which greatly struck the Holy Father who, in replying to the Cardinal's speech, said that although the good seed had been scattered in Australia but yesterday, comparatively speaking, the progress already made by Catholicism indicated that its growth and development in those distant climes were specially favored by Providence. Hia Holiness concluded by declaring that if pilgrimages from the Old World gave him the greatest satisfaction, this gratification is enhanced in the case of pilgrims who represent the sturdy and providential progress of the younger nations. A noteworthy incident occurred during the audience, when Cardinal Moran asked the Holy Father to grant the cross ' Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ' to Mrs Elizabeth Baker, who was present, in recognition of the valuable services which her pen has rendered to the Catholic cause in Australia. Needless to say that the request was immediately granted, the Holy Father adding many benevolent words of encouragement and congratulation. Mrs Baker is related to the Speaker of the Australian Commonwealth, and the welldeserved distinction will be learned with satisfaction by all Australian Catholics. SPAIN.— A Change of Front. It is pleasant to be able to record (says the ' Catholic Times')that the Spanish Government has receded from its determination to wage war on the religious Orders. Whatever bo tho cause of this unexpected chrfkge of policy, whether the Queen has expressed her dislike for it, as some report, or, as others prefer to say, the Government fears that General Weyler would be the only person likely to profit by the disturbance arising from an anti-clerical campaign, the fact stands clearly out that the Ministry does not intend to proceed to extreme measures against the religious. Its instructions to the Provincial Governors are of such an indefinite character that no attempt has been, or is likely to be, made to interfere with the Congregations. Of course, the Radical deputies are bitterly annoyed, but the Ministry does not trouble itself with their outcries., A greater question engages its attention. The accession of the young King to the throne is producing an expression of feeling in places like Barcelona which will demand all the. tact and time of the Government to confine it within safe channels. We may assume, therefore, that tho re-» ligious Orders in Spain are safe foi»

the present ; but it would be unwise to speculate what course events will take when once the King fills the throne and frees himself from the wise discretion of his mother. UNITED STATES. A banner is to be presented by the American Catholic pilgrimage to Leo XIII. This banner will be a masterpiece. It is to be of white and yellow silk in panels fringed with gold Over the banner partially falls a curtain of white silk, embroidered on the sides with American beauty roscv Wrought in gold on the centre piece is the following : ' Solemn Homage to Leo XIII., 1902.' Underneath, beautifully wrought in colors and flanked by lilies of 6ilver and gold are the Papal arms, and the coat-of arms of the United States. On the reverse of the banner is the following, motto artistically wrought in gold : * Tho Ecclesiastical Province of New York in Pilgrimage to Rome for the Pontifical Jubilee, 1902.' On the centre of the reverse side will be wrought the coat^of-arms of the Archdiocese of New York, and surrounding it the coats-of-arins of the dioceses of Albany, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Syracuse, Brooklyn, Newark, Rochester and Trenton, each diocese, of course, in its proper colors. The entire banner, in its elaborateness of design, will be embroidered by tho most skilful hands, and no effort will 'be spared to make it worthy of presentation to Leo XIII. On the occasion of the Papal audience the Very Rev. E. H. Porcile will present this banner to the Pope, who will doubtless accept it ac a symbol of the loyalty of Catholic America to the See of Peter. An Appointment. President Roosevelt has just appointed Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners in succession to the Protestant Bishop of Whipple, who died recently. r lhis is the first Catholic appointment to this Board, and it probably marks a new departure in the conduct of Indian affairs by the United States Government. "Why some such step was not taken before, seeing that so long ago as 1894 the Washington authorities mjted no less than 389,745 dollars towards tho Catholic Indian schools seems very strange. Bigotry and political corruption combined, howe\er, says tho Chicago 'New World.' succeeded, for the last appropriation, was reduced to less than 60,000 dollars, 'to be distributed among i>o Catholic schools and one Pi otestant Episcopal Indian school.' Yetj tho Indian population has not decreased, and the Catholic schools, as the wholly Protestant Board has acknowledged, are more efficient than over. It is to he hoped that tho appointment of Dr. Ryan — who, by the way, was born in the little \ illage of Cloneyharp, Tippeiary, over 70 years ago — will bring a new spirit into tho administration of the Indian schools. In any case the appointment is a tardy recognition of the service tho Catholic Church has icndered to tho tribes for generations , and the President deserves to be congratulated on the event. A Venerable Prelate. Archbishop Williams, of Boston, was 80 years old on May 4. A groat. diocesan celebration, both religious and social, but wholly clerical, took place, when tho greatest gathering of New England priests ever seen attended Solemn High Mass at the cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday, and honored tho venerable metropolitan on Tuesday with a banquet. Chief among the simple and sincere tokens with which the clergy showed their affection and admiration was a largo bronze tablet, memorial of his period of episcopacy and of the founding and erection of the cathedral GENERAL. Patagonia. The two dioceses of Patagonia, South America, contain 103,000

Catholics, have 56 prieste and 44 schools. A Persian Diocese. The diocese of Ispahan, I'ersia, contains 14,000 Catholics, has 12 missionary priests, 65 native priests, 47 Catholic schools and three hospitals and asylums. Alesopotamia The ancient land "of Mesopotamia i<? known to nl] readers of tho Bible. It is not so well known, however, that it contains 66.000 Catholics, has 50 foreign missionaries, 155 native priests, 84 schools and 24 charitablo institutions. The Church in Siam. Asido from the 36 foreign missionaries laboring in the kingdom of Siam, 14 native priests aro engaged in exacting service. There are now 26,000 Catholics in that country.