The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 43, 22 October 1903, Page 27

The Catholic World

ENOLAND.— Mgr Nugent to be honored Although the project for the erection of a public statue to the Kight Rev. Mgr. Nugent, in recognition of his philanthropic work irr Liverpool, has only g been on foot for about a month, it is being heartily supported. The fund, which is being contributed to by rc»??seatatives of every shade of religious and political thought. now amounts to about £600, and ther? is every lßlhood of that sum being doubled. The Diocese of Southwark Apropos to the nomination of the Bishop of Southwark as Cardinal Vaughan's successor in the archdiocese of Westminster, it is interesting to recall the fact that when the English Catholic hierarchy was revived 63 years ago, the two Sees were placed for a time under 0n A 6 h uu d v Cardilial Wiseman's title at that time was •Archbishop of Westminster and Administrator of the Diocese of Southwark. ' St. George's Cathedral, Southwark, was then the largest and most imposing Catholic church in London, and it was there that Cardinal Wiseman delivered hia three famous « Lectures on the Catt*. olic Hierarchy.' An Acceptable Appointment The Rome correspondent of the l Daily Chronicle ' is responsible for the statement that the choice of Archbishop Bourne for the See of Westminster was maimly due to the advocacy of Cardinal Moran. The correspondent also says that the choice of Archbishop Bourne is acceptable alike to the English hierarchy and to the clargy of the archdiocese of Westminster! FRANCE.— A Practical Protest A grave incident is reported from Belfort, in Fn. tee. An official under the Associations Law, accompanied' by a justice of peace and two brigades of gendarmes, proceeded to Grandvillars to take possession of a building where the Marists taught the children of the men employed by M. Viellard ex-Deputy, in h^s immense factories. On the authorities arriving they found that M. Viellard and 2,500 workmen already held the premises and refused to budge. Many of the men were on the roof to keep a look-out. After considerable time spent in parley, the officials and gendarmes were forced to retire. The Concordat The Paris ' Eclair ' publishes the opinions of a number of French Bishops on the subjest of the Concordat. They are practically unanimous in the view that the denunciation would be a misfortune both for the Church and for the Republic. An Act of Tyranny One of the grossest acts of absolutely unqualifiable tyranny has been committed by General Andre upon Colonel Ledochowski, who was arbitrarily dismissed from the Army by the present Minister of War. The Colonel demanded an inquiry, and the result of this inquiry was his complete vindication and an order from the Conseil d'Etat that he should be replaced in the Army and given a command. On July 5 of this year Colonel Ledochowski received two official communications from the French War Office. By one he was given the command of the '16th Regiment of Hussars ; by ( 'the second, dated aa hour later, the Colonel was placed upon the retired list, and therefore practically once more dismissed from the Airmy. Colonel Ledochowski is a practising Catholic, and therefore under the ban of those Freemasons w/hose humble servant General Andre is. Church and State During M. Combes' visit to Saintes (says_ thd 4 Catholic Times ') an event happened which helps us to understand why French Catholics are persecuted with

impunity. At the Sub-Prefect/ure, M. Combes received. First came the ar,ch-priest presenting the local clergy and saying : ' If all tne clergy of Saintes are not here' it is because they are engaged in their churches to-day ' but all unite with me in piesenting their duty to the representative of the public authority which comes from God, and which St. Paul enjoins us always to respect.' To which the arch-persecutor replied :' I am glad to hear you affirm your respect for the established authority. I am pleased to see you announce that you separate religion fromr poHtiq-s. That is air t»h<4 Republic asks o| you i she demands no olhei seiwee, no other pledge, she merely wants to separate two things which should be kept distinct ! ' So the arch-persecutor replied to the anch-pfies't at Saintes ! What either or both thought of the ceremony, we cannot imagine ; but we fancy we know what sort of an addjess M. Uombes would have received had the Catholics of Saintes been Irish, English, Australasian, or American. Does the relation of the Church to State in Continental Europe entail an obligation of such performaoicas ? Then give us our free English and Irish Bis'haps, who, if they have no Government status, have at least the obedience, love, and respect of their faithful flojcks. An Outspoken Prelate The Radicals are furious with Monsignor Turinaz, the Bishop of Nancy, for the letter which he has addressed to the Prefect of Meurthe-eMMoselle. The Prefect, by the instruction of M. Combes, had written to the Bishop to complain that a Dominican had been allowed to preach on Assumption Day in the Church of Nomeny. Monsignor Turinaz, basing himself upon the decision of the Court of Cassation of the 12th June, 1903, in consequence of which M. Oombes had to withdraw his circular prohibiting the clergy from utilising the services of members of dissolved Congregations, writes as follows : — ' The result which you are endeavoring to obtain here by threats, as others are no doubt doing else/where, by order of the President of the Council, is contrary to the interpretation of ihe law given by the Court of Appeal and by the Supreme authority of the Court of Cassation. This only shows that on this point, as on many others, thimgs are in a state of absolute chaos. But I, for one, do not intend to tamely submit to such a state of thingp. In virtue of my episcopal functions, I am the defender of the rights of the faithful and of the clergy, and the guardian of the liberty of the pulpit, and as such I beg to inform you, and through you the President of the Council, that I have authorised, and that Ido authorise, members of religious Congregations to preach in my diocese If Ihe Gofvernnient desire to take any punitive measures, I alone am responsible But I declare that if any attempt is made to infringe the right guaranteed to me by the Court of Cassation I shall appeal to public opinion, to the Council of State, and to Parliament. If the law of France allowed me to do it, I would take an action against both the President of the Council and yourself for undue intericrenre with my rights as a Bishop and for an unwarrantable attempt to restrict the liberty of the citizen.' ROMR. — A Alisconception Some time ago we were informed by cable that much significance was attached to the omission of any reference to Papal independence in the Holy Father's reply to an addiess fiom German Catholics The explanation is supplied by a Rome correspondent, who says :■— ' The Letter of the Pope to Herr Custodis, chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Fiftieth General Assembly of German Catholics, is the first personal and Pontifical document that has been made public since the election of his Holiness So close, tf not so accurate, is the attention with which his first acts are being scanned that a misconception has arisen over the Letter The Congress passed a resolution in favor of Papal independence. The Popes Letter did not touch upon this Therefore, it was arg,ucd, he had of set purpose omitted to make reply on the subject But the ' Ossenatore Romano ' points out that the Pope's Letter is m date of August 17, and that the Congress met only on August 23.' The New Pontiff's Views Meanwhile (writes a Rome correspondent) more light is being thrown upon the character of the new Pontiff The Maiquis Crispolti puhhshes an account of an audience which he had with the Pope :— ' The conversation having fallen upon a person of advanced Liberal ideas, be (Pius X ) said to me : " What a pity that his principles are reprehensible, for he has a splendid head and a noble heart Yes, he has a Venetian heart Excepting a rare but very raie, sectary, who at the sifj'.t of the Patriarch turned to the other side, all were full of respect and kindly feeling for me. You cannot help loving the Venetians when you know them " ' It was stated at the outset of his reign that Pius X. did not know French, but he spoke it fluently on receiving the diplomatic corps a few weeks ago. The Marquis Crispolti says : 'He then passed to speak of the campanile,

oi the probabilities of its reconstruction, and he recalled the ceremony of the foundation stone. I said to him that the French Minister of Public Instruction,, who was present at that ceremony, had quite recently in conversation with a journalist spoken ot that meeting, and expressed the feelings of reverence inspired in him by the Patriarch, and had said that he had heard the latter speaking perfect French. The Pope at this piece ot intelligence laughed and said :, ' I spoke very broken French., I spqajk it as little as possible, because I would wish to speak it well, and since 1 am not very tolerant of those who murder languages, I take care not to give the example myself." But in the meantime he had occasion to say, almost involuntarily, some phrases in French, and I observed that he expressed himself with a good pronunciation. 1 A Frenchman's Impressions The Due de La Salle, a Papal Chamberlain and a well known member of the French aristocracy, was recently received in audience by Pius X, and some of his impressions of his Holiness are worth recording. 'My last impression, at the end of our long conversation, has been to recall the physiognomy of the great Bishop of Geneva, friend of Henry IV., whom we are wont to call the most lovable of all the saints. I could not help thinking that if Francis of Sales had sat on the Papal throne he would have had that attitude, full of dignity, yet simple and modest, that fatherly gentleness, which are a characteristic of Pius X.' The Due de La Salle gave out his Holiness's opinion of the Concordat as follows : Pius X. said that the Concordat was a wise arrangement. Like all human works, it was far from perfect, no doubt, but yet it was the best thing that had been devised to safeguard the interests both of the Church and of the French Government.' —