The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 4 October 1906, Page 31

The Catholic World

ENGLAND— The Late Mrs. Craigie

t Mrs. Craigie, well known as a novelist and drama- - list under the pseudonym of ♦ John Oliver Hofrbes ' -' died suddenly on August 13 at her residence in Lon-' don. The daughter of Mr. John Morgan Richards she was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in November 1867. She was received into the Ca'thalic Church in .1892, when she added the names Mary Teresa to her Christian name, Pearl. One of the' first gifts after her conversion was £1000 to Westminster Cathedral, -a contribution which entitled her to be regarded as a founder. She was prominent at all Catholic gatherings in London. Successful Catholic Colleges The Liverpool City Council offer annually eight senior city scholarships tenable at the Liverpool Iniversity, of the value of £tjO per annum for three years. St. Francis Xavier's College, Salisbury street, have won five of the scholarships as Ihe result of the June examination, and the Sisters of Notre Dame at Mount Pleasant and Everton Valley have won two. The Catholics of the city have every reason to be proud of these notable successes. The King and Queen of Spain During the recent visit of the "King and Queen of Spain to Portsmouth Mass was celebrated on the royal yacht ' Gira'lda ' by the Rev. J. D. J. Murtough (East Cowes and R.N. College, Osborne). The altar was erected on the main deck, and the Mass was attended 'by all the officers and by the crew, part of which formed a guard of honor for the Mass, giving the royal salute with a fanfare of trumpets at the elevation. Father Murtough has been presented to their j Majesties. The Education Bill A cable message received last week stated that the Archbishop of Westminster had issued a Pastoral Letter on the Education Bill in which the House of Lords is asked to amend the measure so as to pre*vent an injustice being done to Catholics should it . become law. In connection with this matter the following remarks of the London ' Times ' will be of interest :— ' How far another powerful minority is from being satisfied we may see -by Mr. Redmond's own admission that the Irish party* find themselves actually looking for justice to the House of Lords, and by Mr. Belloc's declaration that no Roman Catholic could vote for the Bill as it stands. These sentiments were reflected in the division, in which the Irish vote was cast with the Opposition and against the Government. . . That the Bill will ever become law in its present shape does not seem to be seriously believed on either side of the House of Commons. There are pretty clear signs already of the relief with which the task of amending it is being turned over to the Upper Chamber. The first principle of democracy is fairness, and now that the House of Commons has abnegated its democratic functions by failing to secure fair dealing in this Bill, we hope it will allow the House of Lords to play that part instead.' The 'Smart Set' A pleasant account of ' A Chat with Father Vaughan ' appears in the ' Yorkshire Evening Post.' ' I wish with all my heart,' said the rev. gentleman, ' that it coukl be shown that my impressions arc altogether wrong. A few people have told me, so. I respect them. I think they must have lived very >godly and secluded lives,- and have been spared the '> pain of the i knowledge o<f the sin around them that so saddens many. of us.' The interviewer asked Father Vaughan if he had completed his series of sermons. 'I am not quite sure,' he replied. « Probably I -shall give just" one ■more by way of a final.' ' And how is the book going on ? ' I am working at it as hard as T> can;' confided Father Vaughan, ' but it is a hard task. It is all to write. I' "had none of my sermons 1 am a;n Englishman,' remarked the Rev. Father again with emphasis, ' and I believe in speaking simply and straight to my fellow-countrymen and ■ countrywomen. If they do not like it I cannot help it, for I- shall say what I honestly believe to be for their good. There are far too many essays read, in the pulpit. There are too many who want to give their medicine in the form of gilded pills.' FRANCE— Political Place-hunters It is the ambition of all French politicians to become, a deputy, to wear a scarf, draw a salary, and

travel free on the railways. But the position has its discomforts, and some Limes they are galling to a deg^e - Thus, M. Maurice Rey, Radical deputy for La Rochelle; speaking at a banquet given in that city in ms r -honor, complained that during the few months in which he had been their representative he had received no fewer, than five hundred requests that he would amain places as - Government , functionaries for las constituents. is already burdened with an army of people who live on .the public funds and do little else than- -draw their' salary. M.- Clemenceau, as Minister of the Interior, has applied himself to 'the task, of making the hordes of functionaries under- him attend to such work. as there may be for them to'doput not even he can do more . than .force the officials to go to their offices. He cannot find them with work. And this, is the great charm of a snug, little post under Government in France. Little work, small salary assured position, everybody ambitions a post of that kind. And this fact helps us to understand' how majorities in France are made up. The five hundred applications for places to M. Maurice Rey give some idea of the ' difficulty of getting French- electors 1o vote in favor of any cause more sacred than that of their own interest. GERMANY— Catholic Marriage Law A recent decree of the Holy Father puts the whole of Germany in the same position as to marriage laws as Ireland. In Germany there are provinces as Catholic as Cork or Tipperary, and others more Protestant than Belfast. , Yet in every part of the Empire from last Easter two Catholics could contract no true marriage without the presence of their" parish priest. 1 tNDIA— The Madras Mission The Madras Catholic Mission was established by the Capuchin Fathers in 1642 and continued under their spiritual care until IS.^2. In the latter year an English Benedictine, Rev. John Polding, was nominated Vicar-Apostolic of Madras, but declined -to. take up the appointment. The Right Rev. Daniel O'Connor, an Irish Augustinian, was appointed in 1834, but owing to ill-health resigned in 1839. He was succeeded by his Coadjutor, Right Rev. Patrick John Carew afterwards translated to Bengal in 1841. The next year saw the mission put on a firm basis, when the Right Rey. John Fennelly, Bursar of Maynooth College, and a bawl of Irish priests arrivod at Madras. Dr John governed the Vicariatc till .his death in 1867, and was succeeded by his brother, Step-hen Fennelly, who directed the mission for 22 years. The Vicariate was raised to an Archbishopric in 1886, and the Most Rev J. Colgan became its first Archbishop. This venerable prelate, who has reached the patriarchal age of 82 left Ireland as long ago as 1813, and celebrates the diamond jubilee of his priesthood on October 5. ROME— An Anniversary On Thursday, August 9 (writes a Rome correspondent the third anniversary of the coronation of the Holy Father was celebrated with Pontifical High Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The Mass" was celebrated by Cardinal Mefry del Val, and the Holy Father himself assisted, and gave the Panal Benediction to all present at the end. All the Cardinals in Curia were present, many Bishops, the Ambassadors, and oiher representatives to the Holy See, besides very many others. Before Mass, and on his way from his apartments in the Vatican, the Holy Father gave a general audience to several persons. The Holy Father's Health Notwithstanding the reports which. have been in circulation, the Pope is well (says the ' Calholic limes ). His Holiness on August 14, in an audience with the Prussian Minister to the Vatican, expressed regret that the French Government had rendered it impossible for the Church to avoid a "conflict, with the civil authorities. The Pope also received Monsicnor P. G. Blanche, Vicar- Apostolic of the Gulf of" St Lawrence, and speaking about the Encyclical to the b rench Bishops, expressed the hope that it would have a salutary effect. " - . . . The American Pilgrimage . Before the stay of the American pilgrimage in Rome came to an end, - the Pope presented valuable and historically interesting gold, "silver, and bronze medals to Mr. McGrane, the organiser and leader s>nd his family. In this and other ways his Holiness displayed his satisfaction with the pilgrimage from the 'United States. He received from Mr. >McGrane a gold pen set in diamonds of great size and beauty and spontaneously promised that it would be his pen there3,11)61* • ,

The Holy Father and Scotland n n Th6 ?*s? R . ev - T Mgr< F *aser, Rector of ■ Scots' • College (writes the Rome correspondent of the ' Catholic Weekly ') will soon' leave for Scotland. He will carry with him a letier from the Holy Father, which will be read at the great solemnities about to take place- at the University of Aberdeen. The authorities of the University sent a message to the Holy Father as was done from Glasgow University a- few years' ago, in recognition of the fact that the University was 'founded by a Pope, and was patronised by several Popes. There are many in England, Scotland, and Ireland to-day who cannot conceive a University unle s s there is Protestantism; or some sort of antiPopery, mixed up in its curriculum. The Society of Jesus , T h f ~ Rev - F&ihev Francis Xavier Wernz, who was elected General of the Society of Jesus a few weeks ago, was 'born iti 1842, and joined the Society when only fifteen years of age. He has -been rector of the Gregorian University in Rome since 1904, and is a member of several of the sacred congregations in Rome It is remarkable that although the Jesuit Society was cradled in France no Frenchman has ever been at its head. St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus in 1534, was a native of Biscay, in North Spain, and his immediate, successors were two countrymen— Pather James Layncz and St. Francis Borgia. UNITED STATES— The Church in San Francisco In spite of many and grave inconveniences the work of the Church in San Francisco is proceeding without interruption. Places of worship, have been hastily improvised in the most favorable locations where needed and the usual services of religion are conducted daily as of old. The Sunday Masses are as numerous and as largely attended as they ever were, apparently The w . ork f ° f P erm anent reconstruction of the material fabric of the organisation in the city will be pushed forward as rapidly as means and cireumsjances will permit. Thanks to the energy and enterprise of the ecclesiastical heads of the institution there the generous co-operation of theiv brethren throughout the country, and the loyalty and zeal of the Catholic body 2, • , a , n . Francisc o and the archdiocese, the work of rehabilitation will suffer no serious delay