The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 32, 6 August 1903, Page 27

The Catholic World

ENGLAND. — Opening of a New Church The Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius, Stamford Hill, was opened on the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is only half finished, but it gives seating accommodation for 650 people. The cost of the building is £12 000 U the opening service the church was crowded. The sermon was preached by Falhei Beinaid VaugJian In all 3G clergymen took part in the service, the Orders represented being the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits and Redemptonsts. There was a choir of 70 boys, who had been trained according to the method of Solesmes, and who performed the Gregorian Chant. Downside Abbey

Dorn Ford, Abbot of Downside, on June 15 blessed the great bell for the abbey church tower, Downside The bell is a memorial to the late Archbishop 'of Sydney' who was a Benedictine, and is, therefore, called ' the Great Bede.' It is the gift of Mr. John Sweetman, of Kells, County Mealh, who, soon after Archbishop Bede Vaughan's death, sent £100 to Downside towards a memorial to his former master. On one side of the headstock of the bell is the inscription in Latin — ' I am Roger Bede Vaughan, Aichbishop of Sydney, i 877-1883 ' The annual Weld sermon was preached at the abbey church by Father Matunn. A Gracious Act

A recent act of Queen Alexandra, which Catholics will much appreciate (says the ' Catholic Herald ') has come to light. Through the death of their father, who was a Catholic, two young children were in danger of losing their faith, the mother ha\ ing applied for assistance to a non-Catholic organisation The Queen howe\er, communicated with the Snuthwark Catholic Rescue Society, and as a result of that intervention the two children are now in a Catholic home A letter has been received by the Society com eying her Majesty's thanks for the interest taken in the case to which she had directed attention Newman Memoria'

The trustees of the Newman Memorial have decided to found an annual scholarship at the Oratory school Edgbaston, vWiich the ('animal founded II will be called the Newman Scholarship, and will be competed for by boys who are on the point of loawng the school. FRANCE. — An Imposing Ceremony The funeral of Mile Bourgeois, daughter of the President of the Fiench Chamber was the occasion of an imposing ceremony at St ClolTiilde, Pans Mmc Loubet was present in a side gallprj , Colonel Lamy represented the President of the Republic ; and among others present were M Fallieies (President of the Senate), T\l Combes and the whole of the Cabinet, nearly every Senate and Deputy, the British, Russian, German, and Italian Ambassadors, the Academicians, members of the Judicature, and tl.e gereials and admirals in Pans, besides a great number of distinguished writers and artists. After the Requiem was over M Combes followed by the Ministers, defiled before the coffin, sprinkling the remains with hoy water, according to the Jrench custom The interment was at the Perc-Lachaise A Scheme Shelved

M de Pressense's scheme for the separation of Church the State in France has been refeired by the Chamber of Deputies to a commission of 33 members, which is tantamount to its being dropped for the present. Corpus Christi Processions.

A Pans correspondent, writing; on June 14, says : The Corpus Christi processions took place at Pans to-day as in previous years. They passed of! quietly. Some disturbances occurred at Nantes and at Dunkirk between Catholics and Socialists in connection with the processions. Some persons were miured and a number of ariests were made At Nantes Ihe Catholics held a demonstration to protest against the action of the Prefect, who had forbidden processions. The Supreme Court and the Congregations The Government (writes a Pans correspondent) have experienced a rather disagreeable surprise at the decision of the Court of Cassation— the Supreme Court of Appeal —in the matte* of the right of members of dissolved Congregations to preach, hear confessions, say Mass, and generally to fulfil priestly functions It will be remembered that M. Combes, in one of his circulars, forbade the clergy to utih.se the services of members of dissolved Congregations, and that proceedings were taken against a number of them for this ofTence An appeal in one of these cases, in which several ex-Jesuits from Reims were implicated, came before the Couit of Cassation. Accord-

ing to the French practice, one of the puisne judges ol the Court had been entrusted with reporting upon the case and this judge, M. Atthalin came to the following conclusion _' The law of the Ist July, 1901, only pro^ \ides for the punishment of acts which show intention to act in the capacity of a member of a Congregation after the Congregation has been dissolved. The exercise of priestly functions, which does not follow from the delendants affiliation to a Congregation, but from their ordination as priests, does not constitute by itself an act implying that the defendants acted in the capacity of monks after their Congregation had been dissolved. It is not sufficient, in the absence of other circumstances, to amount to an infraction of the Law of 1901.' After over three hours' consultation in private, the Court came to the same conclusion as M. Atthalin, and- gave a judgment declaring that ' individual acts of preaching hearing confessions, and saying Mass do not imply by themselves affiliation to a Congregation, and are not punishable.' v Riotous Socialists

The anti-Catholic policy of the French Government (says the ' Catholic Times ') is creating a very dangerous state of affairs in some parts of the country. The Socialists of the atheistic type have unquestionably been emboldened in their hostility to religion by the example of the authorities. They have been disturbing religious services and attacking Catholic congregations almost with impunity, for the Government rarely takes eHective measures for preventing them from committing outrage. But there is a limit to patience, and the Catholics are beginning to recognise that their safest and best course is not to rely upon the police, but to defend themselves. This they did on the Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi at Nantes, when the Socialists attacked and insulted them. A public procession such as usually takes place on the Feast of Corpus Christi or within the octa\e had been arranged. The Prefect, acting under instructions Paris, forbade it,. ,The clergy, though thr>y only received the notice of prohibition on Sunday morning, refrained from holding the procession. But the Jay Catholics were resolved to have their way. They marched in a body through the town, singing hymns as they went. Five or six hundred Socialists interfered with them, shouldering tnem, crying, • Down with the priests,' and singing ' L'lnternationale.' Those Socialists recened a lesson that the majority of them will not forget They were soundly thrashed with canes and cudgels Unfortunately their leader, who was 72 years old, was killed, and another Socialist was fatally wounded. Bui the Socialists and the authorities were responsible for what happened. The Catholics were so full of indignation that 8000 of them tore down the railings at the prefecture and smashed the windows. INDlA.— Growth of the Ghurch

Since the days of St. Francis Xavier (1542) (says an exchange) the Church in India has gradually expanded, till at present it numbers nearly two and a half million followers in seven archdioceses, 30 dioceses, and four prefectures apostolic supervising more than 800 European missionaries, nearly 2000 native priests, and 4500 members of religious communities. Besides it counts 4718 churches and chapels, 2885 schools and colleges— some of them second to none in India, with an attendance of 168,200 children , 28 seminaries for the training of missionaries with 1540 students, and 180 orphanages supporting over 10,000 orphans. Although there is unity in the ecclesiastical administration of India, there is a much-felt lack of that unity among the different congregations, the attainment of which cannot but produce immense results towards strengthening the foundation of ihe Catholic Church. To attain this a General Congress of the members of the Third Order of St. Francis, spread throughout the whole of Catholic India, will be held next year at Allahabad. SCOTLAND.— Successful Catholic Students

The pupils of St. Mungo's Academy, Townhead, Glasgow (under the charge of the Marist Brothers) have always been very successful in the annual bursary competitions under (he Glasgow City and General Educational Endowments Board. This year, however, they have created a record. Out of 79 candidates presented, 19 bursaries, , valued at| over ,£4OO, were