People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 40, 5 October 1905, Page 10

People We Hear About

Germany, f!or 'the first time since the Reformation, has a Catholic Chief Justice, Baron von SeckendorK, lato Under-Secretary of State for Prussia. Whew a rumor got round that the King of Italy had beem seriously hurt in a motor accident, the Pope, who was! seated at lunch, abandoned his meal and telephoned for definite tidings. ('When the truth came he clasped his- hands and exclaimed, ' God be thanked that Italy is. yparcd a fresh tragedy.' In noting the return of Rev. Father David Fleming, 0.F.M., to England the Edinburgh ' Catholic Herald ' says . Fat/her David is a Kerry man, and a man of the ripest scholarship. He comes of a scholarly family, and might be said to have lisped in logarithms. For a lorn® time he taught as a Professor an a college of his Order abroad. Within safe lines, he is one of the boldest and profoundest thinkers the Catholic Church has got in English-speaking countries. Father David, who isi still a comparatively young, man, full of vigor and vim, will go a long .way yet before he reachies tho apex of his career. Lord Braye is one of the least known of Catholic noblemen. A London paper prints some interesting particulars' of his ancestry : — ' Lord Braye, who has given notice UK call' the attention of the Government to 'the dirty state of the wood pavement in London, claims to be twenty-first in direct descent from Edward HI. His ancestor, Sir Reginald Bray, was Prime Minister to l lt<n ry VII., for whom he built Henry VlT.'s Chapel at Westminster Abbey, as well as the gtcater part of St. George's Chapel at Windsor. Lord Braye was a thiflrt son, amd bad no apparent prospect of succeeding. But his eldest brother, Capt. Verney-Cave, of the 17ith Lancers, fell 'at t'ho battle of ULundi in Zululand, and t'ho second brother died unmarned at the age of nineteen. Lord Brav,t> is a Catholic peer, and President of tho Fifteen Club, which cenicerns itself with the progress of Catholicism in England. Loiel Brayc's eldest son is niamo.l to a « real-niece of Dr. Pusey. His Lordship is greatly interested m the promotion of Biblical stiudies. By the death of the seventh and last Earl Cowpcr -mi fst.de and country house of considerable historic lut 'lest comes into Catholic hands Biockel Hall, near 1 1. u l' < 11, niie of the thiee splendid si'ats left by the (liM'itisc'l pciT (who dud without lssiine), devolves iiiii hs cnh surviving sister, lady \nuibol Kerr, Ir v (.'ill r unh an mcoinc ot thousands a year. Lady \i label h.is Int'ii niarnrd for mote than thirty iivj, 1") '.dmiial of the Fleet Lord Walter Kerr, (I (' 15 , late First Sea Lord of the Adtmialty, and i,neln of tf'e pM"sent Maiquis of Lothuui Both Lord Waltei a'ii'l Lauly Amabel aie comeits to the Cutholie ( lrneli of nianv \ eai -?' standing, and the latter lias made a considerable name in the Catholic literal \ woild They have siv children, of whom the eklest son, after a distinguished career at Oxford, is now a pi lest of the London Oratory, while their elder daughter is- a nun. The second s n on has followed his father's piofcssion, and is 'now a lieu tenant in the Royal Navy. Wednesday me\t, October 11, will be. the 59th anniversary of the consecration of the Most Rev. Dr. Murphy as Bishop of Philadelphia, and Vicar- Apostolic of Hyderabad, India, the ceremony having been performed m 18 Hi in the parish church of Kinsale, of which Di . Mmphy's brother was at the time pastor. To icalisei the lengthened period that has elapsed since the venerable ptelate was consecrated it is only necessary to state that at the time the cities of Dunedin and Christ church did not exist, flax and tussock then covering ihe sites of the now flourishing and progressive capitals of Otago and Canterbury. The map of Europe., we mlight say of the world, has been altered coiiiS'idorablv since Dr Aim |hva\ as bom at Bclmont, Co-iinty Co'ik,on the day of the battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815 lie received his ecclesiastical education ai Mavncxoth College, and was ordained priest in 1838, ihe year niter the late ( L \ieon Victona ascended tho tihro'iir. \ftei his oi dilation be went to India, where, after some years of labonous work as a missionary priest , he 1 , was selected as Vicar-Apostolic of Hyderabad. In com scqiu once of failing health Pope Pius IX. transfei red him to Tasmania, where ho arrived in 18(if>. In 1888 ho celebrated bis golden nihilee of Hie priesthood, amd on tibe occasion his Holiness the late Pope, as a mark of his appreciation, raised Ilobart to the dignity of an Archiepiscopal See with Dr. Murphy as its first Archbishop. The Most Rev. Dr. Murphy, is now the oldest prelate in the Catholic Church.