The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 10 April 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

CANADA -'. A WORK OF SACRIFICE AND CHARITY. The Right Rev. Dr. Merel, the Bishop of Canton, petitioned recently the r>>ost Rev. Dr. Lruchesi, the Archbishop of Montreal, to send him some Canadian nans to care for the iepers in China. Archbishop Bruchesi complied with tms request, and then wrote to tell Bishop Merel that he had asked the Sisters of. the Immaculate Conception to undertake this painful • charge. In his letter uie Archbishop wrote as follows: ' I went to the convent. The nuns Knew my object. I addressed forty of them, and I said: "My children, the work I propose to you to-day is one that will involve both abnegation and sacrifice, but beautiful and glorious as the charity taught and practised by the Divine Master is the care of the leprous women. Will you undertake it? Any Sister who is willing to do so will please stand up." My Lord Bishop, at once the forty nuns present stood up. The matter is therefore settled, and I am pleased it is. Your leper settlement will be placed under the care of the nuns from Montreal, and this will be, I am certain, a source of blessings and graces for our diocese. We hope to send you some missionaries in the spring.' ENGLAND CATHOLIC PROGRESS IN LIVERPOOL. The most Rev. Dr. Whiteside, Archbishop of Liverpool, deals in his Lenten Pastoral with the recent census of church attendance in Liverpool and the general question of public worship, and otters an explanation of * the outstanding fact of the increase of the Catholic church attendance amidst the decrease of the other denominations. According to the official returns of the diocese, the attendance of Catholics at divine worship on Sunday mornings in the city of Liverpool last year was on the average about 76,0u0. The census put the figure at 22,000, but this was for one Mass only, . in 1902 the attendance was 63,000, so that there has been an increase in ten years of 20 per cent.,-although the population of the city of Liverpool has increased by only 6 per cent. The advance in church attendance finds its counterpart in spiritual progress in other directions. The Catholics in the whole diocese have increased in ten years from 334,000 to about 372,000. This increase includes nearly 10,000 converts. Infant baptisms have risen by about 500. Attendances at Mass on Sundays throughout the diocese has increased from 162,000 ten years ago to about 189,000, and at the Sunday evening services from 35,000 to 42,000. Easter Communions (adults) have increased from 165,000 to 198,000, while the total number of Communions have increased on the average by half a million each year during the past four years. Lastly, of some 80,000 children of school age, all attend Catholic day schools except about 2200. Ten years ago the figures were 74,000 and 2500 respectively. While finding consolation in these results, Archbishop Whiteside contemplates the decadence among non-Catholic denominations with supreme regret, ' both for our own sakes and for the sake of the country to which we belong.' An increase in the number of those who are hostile to the Christian religion may eventually prove a menace to ourselves, who represent dogmatic Christianity in its most uncompromising form. ° GERMANY THE CHURCH AND THE STATE. The new Archbishop of Cologne, Dr. von Hartmann, who was elevated to the See in succession to Cardinal Fischer last autumn, took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor William on February 13, in the Knights' Hall of the Royal Castle. He was introduced to his Majesty, who was accompanied by the Imperial Chancellor, by the Prussian Minister of Education, and

swore his oath of loyalty as ' called with the gracious consent of his Majesty to the See of Cologne by the election of the Chapter confirmed by the Holy Father..' Referring to a stained-glass window presented last year by the Emperor William to . Cologne Cathedral, which represents Pope Leo 111., appealing for protection to Charlemagne, the Archbishop expressed the hope that the Emperor would extend to his subjects of the Catholic Church the same gracious favor which Charlemagne had given. In reply, his Majesty assured the Archbishop of his Royal favor and benevolence. .Alluding also to the subject of the window in Cologne Cathedral, the Emperor said : 'This historical event is an instructive example of the blessing which there is in relations of confidence between the Church 1 and the supreme upholder of the power of the State, and at the same time it conveys a serious warning. Your conduct of office hitherto makes me confident that, mindful of this warning, you in your. new dignity will instruct your clergy and your parishes to link with attachment to your Church true devotion to me and to my House, warm love for the German Fatherland, and obedience to the authorities ordained of God.' ROME RECEIVED IN PRIVATE AUDIENCE. The Most Rev. Dr. Redwood, Archbishop of Wellington, and the Most Rev. Dr. Begin, Archbishop of Quebec, were received in private audience by the Holv Father on February 16. y FUNERAL OF THE POPE'S SISTER. Since the death of Leo XIII. Rome has not witnessed such a spontaneous demonstration of respect as that which toolc place on the occasion of the solemn Requiem lor-and funeral of Signora Rosa Sarto, eldest ! 1S u 61 u ot „ the P °P e ' wllose death has been so keenly felt by Pius X. The visits of prelates and members 01 the Roman aristocracy to the humble apartment occupied by the sisters of his Holiness in the Piazza Rusticcuci (says a Rome correspondent), made manifest the deep veneration in which the deceased was held An imposing manifestation of sympathy followed On the arrival of the hearse, bearing the remains, at the tfasiiica of S. Lorenzo beside the campo Verano, the principal cemetery of Rome, immense crowds were waiting to pay a tribute of veneration to the deceased In a tribune erected on the Epistle side of the basilica sat Cardinals V. Vannutelli, De Lai, Cassetta, Rampolla, Respigln, Ferrata, Martinelli, Merry del Val, German : Kinaldim, Gasparri, Falconio, Vico, Granito di Belmonte, Vives y Tuto, Bisleti, Pompily, and Billot, and Prince Thun, Grand Master of the Military Order of Malta Near the Sacred College sat the Ambassadors of Austria-Hungary and Spain, and the Ministers of Belgium, Bavaria, Prussia, the Argentine Republic, and Colombia. Long lines ol Bishops, dignitaries ecclesiastical . and lay from the Roman Court, the heads of 'the chief aristocratic families of the city, the Commandants of the Noble, Swiss, and Palatine Guards and Pontifical Gendarmes, representatives of the Sacred Roman Congregations Colleges, Seminaries, and Chapters, and of the Generals of Religious Orders and Societies, made up an assemblage which for solemn splendor and impressiveness has rarely found a parallel. At the conclusion of the Mass the music of which Perosi conducted in person the Cardinal Secretary of State waited in the sacristy to thank m the name of the Holy Father all those who had taken part m the funeral services. A procession was then formed of secular priests and the children of various institutes, and the coffin, borne on the shoulders pontifical Gendarmes, was temporarily placed in the vault of the Noble Oblates of Tor de' Specchi From all over the world messages have reached the Holy Father sympathising with him in the loss of one who kept his house for nearly forty years. Varies 'wne'* heads princes, prelates, associations, and many private individuals have joined in these expressions of condolence and the Diplomatic. Corps have visited the noiy lather en masse to convey their feelings.