The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 24, 15 June 1905, Page 27

The Catholic World

BELGIUM — An Anniversary Catholic Belgium this year celebrates the seventyfifth anniversary of her national independence, and to commemorate the event a universai and international exhibition has teen organised, and was opened at Liege on April 27, by Prince Albert. CANADA— Death of a Distinguished Catholic The death of the Hon. Gedeon Ouimet, a distinguished French-Canadian public official, is announced from Montreal. Mr. Ouimet was Attorney-General in Mr. Qhauveau's Provincial Administration from 1H67 to 1873, and succeeded Mr. Chauveau as Premier in the latter year. When the Legislature re-established the office of Superintendent of Education, in 1875, Mr. Ouimet was appointed thereto, and discharged its duties till 1895, when he retired on a pension. In 1876 the Pope made him a Commander of the Order of St. Gregory. ENGLAND— A Redemptorist Church Archbishop Bourne, on April 21, laid the founda-tion-stone of a new Redemptorist church and monastery at Lower Edmonton. It is being built mainly through the exertions of Father M'Mullan, from the Redemptorisft Mission at Bishop's Stortford, who is the first rector. The Queen of Saxony The Queen of Saxony was in the sanctuary at the Jesuit Church, Farm-street, when Father Bernard Vaughan preached the Three Hours on CJood Friday Before leaving London she sent Father \ aughan 2000 oranges for the children she usited m the East End. Maundy Thursday Ceremony The ceremony known as the Washing of the Feet took place on Maundy Thursday at Westminister Cathedral. In an enclosed space twehe boys, representing the twelve apostles, sat on a green<xnered bench, and during the singing of ' Beatl Immaculati ' the Archbishop removed his cope, and, bare head and on his knees, washed and wiped the' feet of the boys. Golden Jubilee of a Church The Very Rev Father Murphy, Superior ol the Marist Community at Spitalfields, E , lias if uedan appeal for assistance in paying off the debt of £600 on fat. Anne's Church, which he hopes to have consecrated on the occasion of the golden jubilee in September. Westminster Cathedral An anonymous benefactor has presented the Archbishop of Westminster with two handsome sets ol Pontifical vestments, cut to the exact Roman measurements. One set is of while silk, embroidered with gold, :and was worn on Easter Sunday for the first time by his Grace. Other gifts to the Cathedral include a very fine monstrance made from old silver ornaments, and a massive brasshbound copy of the Martyrology. An Ancient Custom Revived The hop fields of Kent (says the ' Daily Mail ) will this year witness sights which have been absent Tine the Reformation. When popping season commences, about the first week in September a .small pTty of the Friars of the Order of St. * rancis^ acLmipanied by a large party of members of the 1 hird Order and several Sisters o Mercy will proceed to the field to look after the spiritual welfare of the _ Roman Catholic portion of the hoppers. The Friars, in their p£turesque brown habit, will conduct services by the Roadside and in fields, and in barns, and altars .ill be erected and Masses said whenever and wherever the nnnortunitv offers. In order to increase their iiseffiss t^Frfars ™il have no set place of abode .but will sleep wherever they happen to be, in a cottage or

in the open If necessary. The significance of this mission, which is to be undertaken at the request of the Roman Uatholic Bishop of Southward, lies in the fact that the Friars and the members of the Third Order of St. Francis will be re-establishing a custom which was prevalent in pre-Reformation days, and that a start having been miade similar ooen-air preaching missions are to be undertaken in other parts of the country. FRANCE — When the Concordat Disappears Ecclesiastics and others who are in a position to judge of the state of religion in France continue to discuss the question whether the clergy will receive sufficient support from the people when the Concordat has been done away with. Father Boyle, CM., President of the Irish College, Paris, points out in the ' Irish Ecclesiastical Record ' that as the amount of the annual budget for worship is about forty million francs and the Catholic population of France is over thirty-eight millions, it would cost the countay a voluntary offering of little more than a franc per head to make up the necessary sum. But multitudes of the Catholics are merely nominal adherents of the Cn'urch, and it is clear that if the clergy are to be supported the whole organisation of rural France must be changed. Small parishes must be united and served from some central point. Father Boyle is hopeful as to the future in the event of separation between Church and State. In his opinion the clergy, no longer bondsmen, will feel that they must be self-reliant. The Catholics who have contributed so liberally to charities at home and abroad will rally round them. As in Switzerland, committees will be formed to collect, under episcopal sanction, for the maintenance of religion. Father Boyle's forecast is that there will be a period of severe trial for the Church in France, followed by a new era of life and energy. ROME— The Diffusion of the Gospels A very curious thing has 'been happening recently n Italy (writes the Rome correspondent of the ' Catholic Press '). Everybody knows about the old parrot cry of ' the chained Bible ' of Catholics, and the old charge that Catholics are not recommended, or even. allowed, to read the Scriptures. Well, a couple of years ago the ' Pious Society of St. Jerome for the Diffusion of the 'Gospels ' was started here in Rome, and in that brief space it has sold over 400,000 copies of a new edition of the New Testament. The book is a mar \ el of cheapness, neatness, and accuracy ; it contains over 500 pages, a small map, valuable notes, and some pertinent illustrations, and it is sold for 2d, that is to say at cost price. This result is extraordinary, for the Italians are not a reading people* — they do not even read the newspapers. But the most remarkable feature of the phenomenal sale lies in the fact that many thousands of copies of this Catholic Testament have been sold— by the Methodists/. Their agent here in Rome, finding that he could make a better profit by selling the Catholic version than by his own, dm ing a thriving trade for a while. But feherc is another sect of Protestants, called Waldensians, with a conventicle in the Via Nazionale, who wero filled with indignation on learning of the strange conduct of the Methodist agent. He was promptly denounced by them in general assembly, and obliged to devote himself once more to the sale of Protestant Bibles. Letter from the Emperor of China The Holy Father has received an autograph letter from the Enuporox of Ghrna thanking his Holiness for a Valuable gift which he sent to t»he Empress Dowager op the occasion of her 70th birthday, and announcing that the Empress Dowager is sending a gift to the Pope in retunn Dor his kindness. Private Audience Monsi'flnar Smithy Archbishop of St. Andrews anil Edinburgh, who has spent tlhe winter in Rome with great 'benefit to his health, was received most cordially on April 8 In private ajudietnee by the Pope, who bestiowe'd flhe Apostolic Benediction. The Pope showed great interest in Monsiignor Smith's report on Church matters in Scotland in general. His Holiness displayed particular eagerness to hear about Uie Italian colonies in Leilh amSh Edinburgh, and sent them a special blessing. The Po\pe signed photographs of himself for Canon Alexain!d«r Stimart, of Edirc&ergh, 'and for Mo;nsu'gjrtpr Smith (himself. The General of the Jesuits The Rome correspondent of the ' Catholic Herald/ writing on ApTil 18, refers to the se\ere illness of the General of the Society of -Jesus, and the operation rendered necessary through sarcoma, which located in the risrht arm. Dealing with the matter, the correspondent sa y S : _' i have just seen one of the Jesuits, who tells

me they now hope to save the General's life. A couple of days ago I was informed there was no human hope. The Holjyi Farther gave leave for the General to say Mass if he got well, with the assistance <£ a priest, although it is the right arm he has lost. It is strange the Father-General of the Augustinians is recovering from a somewhat similar affection of the leg.' RUSSlA— Religious Liberty A Rome correspondent says a plan to ensure the religious liberty of Catholics in Russia, elaborated by the Bishops by the order of the Czar, has been concluded. Archbishop {Schembeck, Metropolitan of Moliileff, the Catholic Primate of Russia, will go to Rome soon to confer with the Pope. An agreement is likely to be reached, owing to the Vatican's conciliatory" attitude in the Russian crisis. SCOTLAND— In the Land of his Fathers The Right Rev. Dr. Macdonald, Bishop of Prince Edward Island, was during April on a visit to the Scottish capital. His Lordship's forbears were among the Macdonalds who fought in the Rebellion of '45 under Prince Charlie, and who, owing to persecution, emigrated with their friends and formed a colony in Prince Edward Island — a colony which has prospered and given many men of standing to the literary, commercial, and ecclesiastical world. SOUTH AFRICA— The Bishop of Transvaal The Right Rev. Dr. Miller, the new BisJiop of the Transvaal, landed at Algoa Bay on the morning of St. Patrick's Day, and in the evening was introduced to an audience at a St. Patrick's Day concert in Port Elizabeth by Bishop McSherry. He received an enthusiastic welcome, and, in replying, said they made him feel as if he were back in Ireland again. He hoped to he able to imitate Bisihop McSherry in working for the progress of the Church, UNITED STATES-A Brave Priest The terrible catastrophe at Brockton, Mass., where more than three score employees of a shoe factory lost their lives by the explosion of a boiler and the burning of the building, developed a priest hero in the person of Father O'Rourke, who saved ten lives at the peril of his own, and assisted in the rescue o? many others until exhausted by the heal and exhaustion, when he had to/be carried himself unconscious from the fiery furnace. Under the Stars and Stripes The nunrber of Catholics now under the aegis of the Stars ana Stiipes (says an exchange) is in the neighborhood of '23, ihki.UOi) or, to use the exact numbers, as gL\en by the ' Catholic Directory,' 22,127, 354 Of that number there are 11,887,317 Catholics in the United Statos , in the Philippines, 7,058,609 ; in Porto Rico, 1,000,000 , Hawaii, 32,000 , and in Cuba, 1,573,862.

GENERAL

Worthy of Example The Go\ eminent of Bra?il, which owns the railroads of the countiy, has made special reductions to clergymen, nuns, and doctors going to attend the sick. Earthquake in India The earthquake in India damaged the convent at Mussoorie to the extent of 20,000 rupees. At Dehra Dim the Catholic chapel is in rums.