The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 16 March 1911, Page 495

The Catholic World

CHlNA—Former Empress a Catholic On January 16, students of the Vatican Archives were considerably astonished by the unusual presence in their midst of a mandarin, who it appears stands high in the Chinese diplomatic service. he had come to consult various documents bearing on the history of his country, among the rest one of great importance which was brought to light recently by the investigations of Monsignor Ugohm, Vice-Archivist of the Library. It is a letter written on yellow silk by no less a personage than a former Empress of China. In it she informs the then Pope, Innocent X., of her conversion, as well as that of her three children, and she asks his Holiness to send as many Jesuits as possible to evangelise her native country. She adds that -in baptism she took the name of Helena, and that her children took the names of Anna, Mary, and Constantine. The letter, which bears the seal of the Celestial Empire, is in an excellent state of preservation. FRANCE—An Apostolic Prelate The clergy under the jurisdiction of one of the Trench prelates, the Bishop 'of Digne, are in such straitened circumstances that he recently decided to make an appeal outside the diocese for funds on their behalf. The anticlericals m seized the occasion to reproach him. He should they said, reduce his own expenditure. The Bishop's reply deserves to be given literally : ' How can I cut down my household expenses? As everybody in Digne knows I have no carriage and no house-maid. All the work of my house is done by a single servant, who received a medal last year because she had been in my service fifty years. She discharges the domestic duties and mends my clothes, which, like my shoes, have often to be repaired lor our support and the entertainment of my guests the year s outlay has been £24. Do you think that too much 3 When I travel I do so as a second-class passenger, and instead of a cab I use the omnibus and the tram-car.' If the anti-clericals have not banished from their breasts every sentiment of natural kindness, they will feel touched by the Bishop's words " and regret their undeserved reproaches. Apostolic simplicity is the rule in the household of the Bishop of Digne. He cultivates the simple life. * The Upkeep of Churches About the middle of January M. Maurice Barres brought before the French Parliament the serious question of the closing and destruction of several churches, and the wilful neglect of municipal authorities to keep them in repair, whereby they become uninhabitable, and, moreover, the refusal of Government officials-to allow the people to repair the edifices. M. Barres, in the public press, has called the attention of the people of France to the designs of the enemies of religion to make use of another means of extinguishing the faith of the French nation by allowing the churches to fall to pieces for want of repairs' and then razing them to the ground, on the plea that they cannot be used with safety. At the passing of the Law of Disestablishment, the Church buildings, as well as all Church properties, passed into the hands of the Government. The State did mot dare to lock up all the churches but they are determined to allow time to do the work bv leaving them to crumble to pieces. The officials will not repair the churches, nor will they permit the priests or people to do so; hence, in the near future, with the exception of the churches that are considered works of art the people of France will be driven to worship God in the woods or in. the open fields. M. Barres denounced the Government in no measured terms for their blindness and injustice. He gave many instances of the refusal of the Government authorities to allow the priests and people to repair the churches at their own expense. PORTUGAL—The Government's Tyranny The special correspondent of the Times at Oporto says the policy of the Provisional Government with regard to religion meets with widespread opposition there. Unless that policy is changed public opinion must have a notable effect on the elections. Owing to the Government; tyranny much uneasiness is felt as to the future definition of the word 'liberty.' The decree separating Church and State is not to be promulgated ' until the country is in a more pacific state.' The Government's Generosity xi. Do the Portuguese Ministers and the journalists whom they call around them when they try to throw dust in the eyes of the nations of Europe preserve solemn faces or do they all join in laughter over the joke? (asks the Catholic Times) They certainly must possess the power of' self-restraint to an unusual degree if they refrain from laughter or smiles. On January 21 the Minister for Foreign Affairs summoned a meeting of the representatives of the foreign press. . His object was to dilate on the toleration and generosity of the Government.' He told them that in its bountifulness it was making monthly payments of £444 to Queen Maria Pia and £666 to Kins Manuel, and then he expatiated on the peace and happi-

ness which the revolution had brought to Portugal, as was acknowledged at home and abroad. The 'news' was duly telegraphed and appeared in the papers with headings which did not indicate that the. Dictators were endeavoring to fool the European public. But the nature of the Government's 'toleration and generosity became evident the following day. On the highest Portuguese authority it was ' stated that Queen Maria Pia's dowry • was settled in an Act approved of by the Portuguese and Italian Chambers before her marriage with the late King, Dom Luiz, and is an international agreement binding upon whatever Government may be in power in Lisbon, and that King Manuel has so far received no sums except those derived from the estates of the House of Braganza, which constitute his personal property. There can therefore be no question of any display of toleration and ' generosity. Is it not time that the Dictators ceased to assume that" people who read the newspapers are devoid of common sense ? - ?. ROME—Municipal Muddling _ Though the Exhibition is to open in about two months, it is curious how little is heard of it (writes a Rome correspondent). Indeed, if you mention the word exhibition to a Roman, though he may not say much, the sceptical shrug of the shoulders with which he dismisses the subject is as expressive as the longest discourse: The fact is that the Exhibition is almost as great a mystery as that now puzzling the brains of the good Romans— the municipality, under the leadership of its chief, the redoubtable Nathan, is to find any relief from the huge debt of five million francs which the enlightened administration of the past four years has produced. Whispers have been heard recently about the probability of the dissolution of the Municipal Council and the appointment by the Government of a Royal Commissioner, whose business it would be to set right the things that are out of joint. At any rate, such is the remedy provided by law for a crisis of this nature. But though it has been applied on at least one former occasion, for much less serious motives, at is unlikely that it will be resorted to before the end of the year —that is to say, before the closing of the Exhibition. As for the Exhibition itself, the preparations continue to go on at a leisurely pace so* leisurely, indeed, that people are beginning to wonder if it is really the intention to have it opened at the date already fixed. Meanwhile the streets are in a dreadful state. ' They have been ripped up for various purposes; heaps of clay lie about everywhere; and the mud and slush that cover the pavements on a wet day have recalled the Concentration Camps to the mind of one who was through the Boer war. To add to the misfortunes of the city, the number of visitors is not much more than a third of what it usually is in the winter season in Rome; nor is there any likelihood that things are going to improve in this respect during the year. The cholera scare has been accountable for this falling off, though at no time was there any reason for fear as far as Rome was concerned. There were indeed some cases, but they were so few as to be" a negligible quantity. A Notable Event A notable event (writes a Rome correspondent) has been the brilliant success achieved by Maestro Perosi, the well known priest-composer, in the concert conducted by him at the Augusteum, in the presence of the elite of Rome, intellectual and aristocratic. So keenly was the performance looked forward to that for several days previously a ticket could not be had for love or money. The expectations were more than fully realised. The performance evoked indescribable enthusiasm. Over and over again the audience burst into applause and cried ' encore ' after ' encore.' The press has been unanimous in describing the event as ' a great triumph.' The staid Popolo Romano waxed enthusiastic for once: —'The admiration aroused by the genial compositions of Perosi, so rich in spontaneous lyrical inspiration, and so powerful in wise and vigorous orchestration, was indescribable, and at the end of the performance the enthusiasm was loud, furious, and altogether exceptional.' Even the Message™, for a wonder, finds a good word to say for a priest, in the following comment :—'Rarely has a composer, and at the same time a director of an orchestra, been received with such warm and at times such wild enthusiasm as that of yesterday. Accustomed though he is to applause, Don Lorenzo Perosi cannot but have been deeply moved by it. Though the immense audience that, elegant and applauding, iiterally crowded the vast hall, contained the most varied elements from friar and prelate to noble dame of both black and white world, not excluding the Queen — without any distinction of rank, religion, or politics, felt themselves stirred by one feeling alone—that of admiration for the artist; and right well did he deserve it.' UNITED STATES—An Event of Importance Among the events of importance of this year in the United States will be the golden jubilee of the ordination of his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. It is expected President Taft will attend the celebration. Cardinal Gibbons was ordained to the priesthood June 30, 1861, and was made by Archbishop Spalding private secretary. He was appointed Vicar-Apostolic of North Carolina in 1868, and

was" transferred to the vacant See of Richmond in 1872. He was appointed Coadjutor to Archbishop Bailey of Baltimore in 1877, and on the death of that prelate in the same year, succeeded him as the head of the oldest See in the United States. He was raised to the dignity of Cardinal-Archbishop by Pope Leo XIII. in 1886. The observance of ' Cardinal's Day' at St. Patrick's Church, Washington, on Sunday, January 8, was a splendid testimonial to his Eminence of the respect in which he is held by. the Catholic and non-Catholic people of that city. The religious functions inaugurating the festivities included the celebration of Solemn High Mass in the presence of the venerable Prince of the Church and other eminent ecclesiastics, and a congregation that filled the sacred edifice. Attorney-General . Wickersham, speaking for members of the Cabinet at the luncheon which followed, and which was attended by many political and diplomatic " notabilities, congratulated Cardinal Gibbons upon his good health and life-long labors for his fellow-men. 'After all,' he said, when the tumult and the shouting die, and the captains and the kings depart," we perceive that we are one -in longing for the fundamental truths.' A long and warm friendship between Cardinal Gibbons and the late Joseph Friedenwald, a Jew, was revealed on December 28, when it became know that the prominent business man bequeathed 2000 dollars absolutely to the Cardinal. Catholics and Suicide It has often -been asserted that the Catholic faith exercises a powerful restraint upon suicidal crime. On the whole, this assertion is well borne out by statistics published in the Protestant review, J)er Alter Glaube, and in 'Le Suicide' of M. Durkhelm, Sorbonne Professor. The German periodical (says the Universe) gives the following figures, reckoning the suicides per annum and per million • inhabitants: —Saxony (a Protestant State), 330; France, 225; Austria, 163; Italy, 58; Spain, 18. M. Durkhelm, in presenting his figures, makes the following significant comment: —' A glance at the record of suicides in Europe reveals at once that the proportion of suicides is very small in purely Catholic countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Italy, while it reaches its maximum in Protestant countries, such as Prussia, Saxony, and Denmark. Taking the average annual number of suicides in every million inhabitants, Durkhelm gives his estimate as follows: —Catholic States, 58; States of mixed religions, 96; Protestant States, 190. In Switzerland —in Catholic Cantons: French Cantons, 119; German, 137. In Protestant Cantons: French, 352; German, 307. Bavaria, a Catholic State, 90. Protestant States: Prussia, 133; Baden, 156, Wurtcmberg, 152; Saxony, 300. In Italy, since the usurpation of the House of Savoy in 1870, the grand total of suicides had risen from 886 to 2680 1 by the year 1908. In France, since Catholic influences have been increasingly combated under anti-clerical Governments, the grand total of 2752 in 1839, had swelled to* 8885 in 1903. A curious fact will be noted as regards Switzer- : land. In Catholic Cantons the average number of suicides among the French is considerably lower than among Germans. In the Protestant Cantons it is the other way about. From which _it seems to follow that religious principle is stronger in the German Protestant than in the French; or else that religion exercises no strong influence upon either when Protestant, and that the natural temperament of the Teuton is less prone to violent impulses.