The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 23, 11 June 1908, Page 31

The Catholic World

ENQLAND— A Historic Church The preliminary work in connection with the erection of a new Catholic Chtfrch. in substitution for the historic old Sardinian Chapel near Lincoln's Inn has been begun in the King's Way. The old church, in which O'Connell frequently worshipped, and in which the late Pope Leo XHI said Mass during a visit he paid to London whilst acting as Nuncio at Brussels, is to be demolished in connection with the great street improvement scheme between the Strand and Holborn, 1 and the new church will be erected out of the £10,000 which the London County Council is to pay the Catholic authorities in compensation. The new church will stand quite close to the old, and on ground with interesting Catholic associations, as the quaint little Ship Inn, where Mass was offered by stealth during the penal times, is within a stonesthrow of the site of the new building. It is expected that the church will be ready for opening within a year from now. Catholic Astronomers At a meeting of the Council of the English Royal Astronomical Society, held>_on April 10, the Papal Astronomer and Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Rev. John G. Hagen, S.J., who was formerly Director of the Georgetown College Observatory, Washington, U.S.A. (1888-1906), received the distinction of being elected a Foreign Associate of the Society. Among Father Hagen 's numerous astronomical works embracing the period 1885-1908' may be mentioned in particular the "Atlas Stellarum Variabilium, " the result of fifteen years' labour, and the "Synopsis of Higher Mathematics." Another distinguished Catholic astronomer, Professor J. F. Hartmann, of the Potsdam Astrophysical Observatory, received the like honour. The Foreign Associates are limited to fifty, and at present number fortyeight. A Worker in the Slums The Dowager-Duchess of Newcastle has now entirely given up her West End residence, and gone to live altogether at the settlement of St. Anthony's, which she founded twelve years ago in the Whit'echapel slums. Her private rooms at St. Anthony's are like offices, with distempered walls and linoleum-covered floors. The only ornaments are religious pictures and statues of saints. The Catholic popiilation to whom she is fairy godmother have converted her title 'Your Grace,' which they do not understand, into 'Gracie' and 'Our Grace.' Her Grace's unceasing labours among the East End poor are directed into all conceivable channels of philanthropy. Charitable Bequests - St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, Mill Hill, receives a bequest of £3,200 under the will of Mr. Michael James Bogle, of Cambridge terrace, Hyde Park, who died on February 15 and left net personalty to the value of £13,401. The Sisters of Nazareth, Nazareth House, Hammersmith, gets £1,300 for the poor under their care ; the Little Sisters of the Poor, Notting Hill, £100 ; and St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, £50. Catholic Members of Parliament Mr. James Fitzalan Hope, who was elected M.P. for Sheffield the other day, is the only son of the late Mr. James Hope-Scott, <).C, of Abbotsford, and nephew of the Duke of Norfolk. Mr. Hope's returjaßibrings up to nine the total of Catholic members who represent English constituencies in the House of Commons. The other eight are Mr. Belloc (Salford), Colonel Herbert (Monmouthshire), Mr. Hunt (Shropshire), Mr. Lamb (Herefordshire), Mr. T. P. O'Connor (Liverpool), Mr. C. J. O'Donnell (Walworth), Mr. O'Grady (Leeds), and Lord Edmund Talbot (Chichester). FRANCE— Art Unpopular Project The French" Senate (says the 'Catholic Times') has braved public opinion and set aside Madame Zola's veto. The Bill granting thirty-five thousand francs, or £1,400, for the transfer of the novelist's remains to the Pantheon was adopted on the Bth inst. by 175 votes ,to 98. The ceremony will therefore be carried out on June 4 ; or, rather,

an attempt will be made to carry it out, for the hostility to the project is so great that anything may happen on the occasion. A large number of people in Paris are against the function, and protests are pouring into the newspaper offices from all parts of the country. Some insist that the Government should permit the removal of the^-remains of Marshall Lanries de Montebello ; others propose that the inscription on the Pantheon intimating that the ashes of • men of .eminence rest within should be deleted ; and yet others maintain that if Zola's remains are taken to the Pantheon the Government must be consistent and find places there for all the leading Dreyfusards when their time comes. * kOME— The Lion of St Mark Pius X. has i!he lion of St. Mark in his coat of arms to show, as it may be~ considered, his Venetian origin. That celebrated, winged lion, 'conning his eternal evangel,' in which are read the words, ' Pax tibij" Maree, ' is to be seen everywhere in Venice, and most conspicuously of all other places, on the top of the tall column in the Piazsetta, over against the Ducal Palace, and in the neighbourhood of St. Mark's, of -which the present Pontiff was patriarch for a decade of years. It is told in a life of Pius X. by the Rev. Albin de Cigala, chaplain to the marshal of the Conclave, that Cardinal Satolli, in urging Cardinal Sarto (now Pius s X.) / to accept the Pontificate to which he had been elected, and which he was inclined to refuse, said to him : 'God, who has aided you in guiding well the gondola of Saint Mark, will assist you in guiding well the barque of Peter*! ' Germany and the Vatican The German press (remarks the 'Catholic Times') is still discussing the Chancellor's visit to the Pope. There appeal's to be a general agreement that it was something more than a mere act of courtesy on the part of Prince Bulow. What the Prince 's purpose was, however, still remains something of a mystery. That he spoke of the Centre Party both to the Holy Father and the Cardinal Secretary of State has been ascertained by the journalists in Rome, but of what was said varying versions are published. The Roman correspondent of the Berlin 'Tageblatt, ' who professes to have made investigations at German official sources in Rome, says that so far as the attitude of the Centre is concerned, the principle of non-interference was strictly observed, but it is hoped that the excellent relations between the Vatican and the Imperial Chancellor will- sooner or later have a good effect upon the political situation in Germany. We may infer, then, that one of the Chancellor's aims was to prepare the way for the establishment of better relations with the Centre. Ever since the general elections he has been at war with them, and has carried his measures through the Reichstag with the aid of the Bloc. Such a political" amalgam is at best an uncertain factor in the situation, and the Chancellor, no doubt, sees that the strict discipline and unity of the Centre will ere long prove too much for him if he does not come to terms. But from the reference to the Pontiff's action in declining to interfere in the internal affairs of Germany it is manifest that his Holiness deems it best that the. Centre should enjoy the most absolute freedom in the tactics they pursue. SCOTLAND— GoIden Jubilee It is not given to many priests to celebrate the golden jubilee of their ordination, for the life of the Catholic clergyman in Scotland to-day is not one that tends to longevity. The duties of a priest in any big city are arduous and exacting. Administering to the sick, visitation of the poor, regularly and frequently, are but a few of the duties that fall to be discharged, and are discharged, by thg Catholic priest. For more than half a century the Very Rev. Canon Cameron has laboured among his people in Scotland, and for well nigh fifty years the northern suburb of Maryhill has been the scene of the venerable Canon's labours. Canon Cameron has resigned his stall in the Cathedral Chapter on account of ill-health. One of the oldest priests in Scotland, Canon Cameron was born at Glenlivet, Banffshire, in 1833. He came of a stern old Highland Catholic family, which had, like many others in the far north, remained true to the Faith during centuries of persecution. After a promising college course he' was ordained in 1856 by Mgr. Ligi Bassi, ViceRegent, of Rome. The' following year Father Cameron re-

ceived an appointment at Airdrie, not id those days the Airdrie that it is to-day. In 1858 he was transferred to Maryhill, and there lie has remained. UNITED STATES— A Popular Preacher Monsignor Capel, who at one time filled so large a place in London Catholic-life, and who received the late Marquis of Bute into the Church, is now very active in the diocese of Sacramento, TJ.S.A. He preached the Lenten course of sermons in the Cathedral on Sundays,^ and on several week-days delivered lectures at clubs and other associations. , -