The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 38, 17 September 1903, Page 27

The Catholic World

AFRICA.— The Church fn the Congo ..The latest returns from the Catholic missionaries of the Congo Free State show that the White Fathers have seven stations, 16 schools with 3434 Christians and 77 I J3 catechumens ; the Fathers of Schent (Belgium) ha\e baptised 15,862 natives since 1888 and 1510 Christian families have been founded ; while the last mission, founded only three years ago, has already 2000 children coming freely for religious instruction. The Jesuits have a flourishing mission in Kwango, where there are over 4000 children under instruction. In their school at XiSautu 200 pupils are trained in various trades, including agriculture and skilled handicrafts. The Government aid the missionaries by free grants of land and remission of taxation. UAST INDIES.— The Catholic Hierarchy The Indian hierarchy consists of eight archdioceses, 21 dioceses and seven Prefectures Apostolic, supervising and directing over 800 European missionaries, nearly 2000 native priests and 4500 members of religious communities. There are 4500 churches and chapels, 2885 schools and colleges, some of them second to none in the country, with an average of 168,200 children ; 24 seminaries fox the training of priests, with 668 ecclesiastical students, and 180 orphanages supporting over 10,00U orphans. The hierarchy was established by the late Pope by his apostolic letter ' Humanae Salutis Auctor,' dated September 1, 1886. To carry out this provision Leo XIII. appointed an Apostolic delegate, who is at present the Most Rev. Ladislas Zaleski, residing in Kandy, Ceylon. The Pontifical seminary for all India and Ceylon is at Kandy, and is under the care of the Belgian Jesuits. At present the students number close upon 100. Some time ago the Rev. Father Considine, of Gorakhpur (Ceylon), started the project of collecting a lakh of rupees (about £6000) to found ten burses in the Pontifical seminary of Kandy in honor of the pontifical jubilee of his Holiness. The Catholics of India are not a wealthy body, but they have succeeded in raising a portion of the amount, and there is a prospect of the sum slowly amounting to the lakh. ENGLAND.— Westminster Cathedral A set of oaken stalls, carved in the sixteenth century by monks in a Swiss monastery, has been presented to the new Westminster Cathedral by an anonymous donor. They have been purchased from the present Lord Kinnoull, and presented to the Cathedral authorities by the purchaser. They will be put into position in the Cathedral, where they now are, as soon as possible. Altogether there are 62 stalls. The carving is superb. On each stall is a panel representing Biblical incidents. French Exiles A French Catholic community of nuns has acquired a mansion at Gilhngham, Kent, and will convert it into a convent. A College Closed St. Charles' College, Bayswater, founded by Cardinal Manning, and conducted by the Oblate Fathers, has been closed. Requiem at Brompton Oratory A Pontifical Mass of Requiem for the Pope was celebrated on July 28 at the' Brompton Oiatory, and was attended by an immense congregation. The King was represeneed by Loid Denbigh, who was m uniform, and drove in a Royal carriage to the Oratory, where he was received by the clergy and escorted to a special seat facing the altar. The Duke of Cambudge attended in person, and also occupied a special seat. The diplomatic representatives present, including the wives of some of the ambassadors and Ministers, numbered about 80. The sacred music was sung by the combined Catholic choirs of London, under the conductorship of Mr. Arthur Barclay, to a composite setting from the works of Palcstrina and Casciolmi, and the music at the offertory was the quintet from Verdi's ' Requiem,' unaccompanied. FRANCE.— Mass in the Open Air The Fathers of the Congregation of Eudistcs at Paris celebrated Mass on a recent Sunday in the courtyard of their monastery. A large crowd attended. The Barnabite Fathers have also had open-air Masses since the commencement of the persecution. Too Literal A good story is told of the Prefect of the Ardeche Department, who, on the receipt of one of M. Combes' circulars relating to the closing of unauthorised places of worship, proceeded to order the closing of all Protestant churches and meeting houses, synagogues, and Masonic temples which could not produce proof of authorisation: 1 - The outcry may be imagined, and M. Combes was not

long in repairing the mistake of his subordinate, for of course, the circular was intended to apply only to convent chapels. But it did not say so, and the prefect was acting m strict accordance with it in doing what he did History does not say whether he ' winked the other eve ' in doing it, but it says that M. Combes was terribly angry and all the more so because he could not dismiss that Prefect on the spot, the latter having only acted in stnet accordance with his instructions. Not to their Liking It may be remembered (writes a Paris correspondent) that some months ago M. de Pressense introduced, with a hardly concealed blessing from M. Combes, a Bill providing for the denunciation of the Concordat and the separation of the Church lram the State. This was perhaps more than the traditional ' ballon d'essai ' At any rate, it was an open secret that the Ministry, no less than M. de Pressense, counted upon the enthusiastic support of the non-Catholic communions. They have been sadly disappointed. Most of the Protestant ' Consistoires ' have been invited to express an opinion upon the merits of the Bill, and this opinion is unanimously unfavorable. The Consistoires of Paris, Nancy, Castres Lille, and Lyons have denounced M. de Pressense's Bill and a large section of the League of the Rights of Man, headed by M. Gabriel Monod, have published a protest against it on the ground that it merely put new arms in the hands of the Government against the inalienable right of man to worship God according to his conscience. This unanimous condemnation from authoritative Protestant circles is said to have rather damped M. Combes' ardor. Of course, so long as it was merely a case of the condemnation of Catholics, who form nine-tenths of the population, it did not matter. Cardinal Gibbons Speaks Out Cardinal Gibbons, whilst in Paris, was interviewed by a representative of 'La Croix ' and in reply to the pressman he drew a contrast between the two republics—France and the United States. His Eminence did not mince his words in describing the policy of the French Government. It was, he said, a wretched Government. Frenchmen had nothing more than the name of liberty. In the United States no Government dare interfere with a Bishop's action in employing members of the religious Orders to do spiritual work. In his diocese of Baltimore there are representatives of all the Orders. Nor could the Government in the United States presume to dictate to a preacher what he was to say or to avoid saying. The priest who entered the pulpit was free to discuss morals and denounce corruption, and weie the Government to attempt to arrest him or otherwise to interfere with him, it would soon find that it would not be tolerated by the citizens. ' Americans,' observed his Eminence, ' may differ from one another in politics, in religion, and on various public questions, but they all believe in liberty.' This lecture ought to produce a good effect upon the French people. They are, after all, the rulers of France, and they cannot be insensible to the judgment of friendly nations upon the conduct of their Government. ROME.— An Ancient Custom The custom of burying the heart apart from the rest of the body, which was observed in the case of Leo XIII. (says the ' Catholic Times ')dates as a Papal tradition from Sixtus V., who died in 1590. He decreed that his heart and those of his successors should be buried in the Church of San Vincenzo and Sant' Anastasio, the parish church of the Quirinal, a decree which was later on renewed by Benedict XIV. (1740-1758), who also decorated the ' loculi ' in which these portions of the remains of the Pontiffs are laid to rest. A plain tablet without inscription still awaits the name of Pius IX., whose heart is at present kept in the crypt of St. Peter's. A Fiction Father Thurston, S.J., writing to the London 'Daily Chronicle ' with regard to the story of the Cardinal Cameihngo's' hammer, says : ' A few years ago I went to considerable trouble in order to ascertain the truth, through the medium of some friends in Rome, who were in a position to obtain accurate information. The story is as old as the eighteenth century ; but the fact seems to be that, although an official " recognizione " of the body takes place, and a formal " rogito," or attestation, is drawn up by a notary in the presence of the Cardinal Camerlingo, the supposed ceremony of the silver hammer has no foundation.'