The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 1 May 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

ENGLAND THE BENEDICTINES OF CALDEY. It has been arranged that Abbot Aelred will make his novitiate under the Abbot of Maredsous, who has meanwhile received the two communities as Oblates of St. Benedict, and Dom John Chapman and Dorn Bede Camm will remain at Caldey to train the community during the absence of their Superior. Dom Bede Camm has also been appointed confessor of the nuns. Bishop Mostyn administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to the Caldey community on March 10, and on the following day proceeded to St. Bride’s to give them the same grace.

BECOMES A NOVICE. The Hon. Muriel Fraser, sister of Lord Lovat, has been received as a novice at the Convent, Mill Hill, London. She is a near relative of the Right Rev. Mgr! Fraser, Rector of the Scots College, Rome. Before entering the convent Miss Fraser had qualified as a professional nurse in a London hospital, and this experience will be of the utmost value to her as a nun. In this connection it may be added that there are now in London hospitals in the East End a number of professed nuns who are qualifying themselves for the office of professional nurses at a great Catholic hospital which is being built in North London through private beneficence. .

THE BISHOP OF SOUTHWARK. A well-attended meeting was held at Notre Dame Convent, Southwark, on March 12, for the purpose of taking steps to celebrate in a fitting manner tne twentyfifth anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of his Lordship Bishop Amigo. His Grace the Duke of Norfolk presided, and in opening the proceedings said that Bishop Amigo had declined a personal gift of any kind. Mr. Hope, M.P., proposed a resolution to the effect that a fund be raised in commemoration of the Bishop’s jubilee, partly in the extinction of the indebtedness for which the diocese had made itself responsible and partly in the creation of an endowment or sinking fund to provide in course of time an additional income sufficient to enable the diocese to maintain the Diocesan Institutions free of debt, to help missions, whose poverty made them, to some extent, dependent on the diocese, and also to meet the various charges which the administration of the diocese involved. At the close of the meeting it was reported that a sum of £5350 had been received in cash or promises. ITALY LIBELLERS BROUGHT TO BOOK. Of late years (writes a Rome correspondent) the almost undivided attention of those hostile to the Church in Italy has been riveted upon the establishment of the godless school and upon libelling ecclesiastics, regardless of rank or age. Two libels, for each of which a heavy sentence has been passed, have just been exciting public interest in Italy. The first was published at Pisa, where the Corriere Toscano , which has for at least a year been particularly virulent in its attacks on his Eminence the Cardinal-Archbishop, has finally come to grief. Cardinal Maffi, it declared’ did not expend upon the erection of a church the fifty thousand francs he had obtained from the Fondo Colto for that purpose, for the cost of building the church and vicarage had come out of the pockets of the Salesian Fathers. In its zeal for honesty the Corriere did not stop short of inserting and reiterating a libel in connection with the Cardinal’s share in the matter. Though the sentences demanded by the Public Prosecutor, after the hearing of the libel action that followed, seemed heavy, they did not go as far as the Italian Court of Justice desired. Ugo Quaglierini, manager of the Corriere Toscono, was sent to prison

for _ a year three months and five days, was ordered ■to pay a fine of 1820 francs, and will have to bear solitary confinement .. during a sixth part of his term in prison. Italo Pallid, the editor of the paper, was sentenced to imprisonment for a year three months and five days, and the payment of a fine of 1820 francs. Dr. Del Nero, piopiieuor of the Gorriere in .conjunction with the manager and editor, was ordered to make good all the material and moral damages incurred by the plaintiff, and also to publish in the Carriere Toscano , and in the Giornale d Italia of Rome, a ; , notice of this, sentence. 11 Risyeglio Camuno, of Brescia, has not fared much better in a libel action preferred against it on the ground of having charged Rev. Dorn I. Ballardini, parish piiest of Garda Sanico, with having sold the organ of his church for good round coins and put the sum into his pocket. A sentence of ten months’ imprisonment, a fine, and the payment of legal expenses anKmntmg to four hundred francs, was considered sufficient to meet the demands of justice in this case. PORTUGAL PRISON HORRORS. From time to time (says the Catholic Times ) reports are circulated to the effect that improvements are being made in the Portuguese prison system. Like other information that emanates from the Portuguese Government, these reports have, so far, proved largely delusive. In a letter which he contributed to the Spectator, Mr. Aubrey F. G. Bell, who wrote from -Lisbon, states that except for the fact that the convicts in the Penetensiaria— criminals and Royalists' alike are no longer compelled to wear the hood, the situation of the Royalist prisoners remains unchanged. the report that one hundred and fifty-nine of these prisoners have lost their reason is, he believes, an eX s g ?t lat !° n ; but of the illtre atment of the Royalists and the barbarous sentiments of the members of the Government there can be no doubt. People are arrested and kept in dungeons on the vaguest pretexts. One of the suspects thus arrested about the middle of last year and still detained in custody without being brought to nal is Dona Constanca Telles da Gama, daughter of the Count of Cascaes and a descendant of Vasco da Gama. Mr. Bell quotes the following, from a speech delivered by the Minister of the Interior on February Ip when a demonstration in honor of the assassins of ling Carlos and the Crown Prince was held in Lisbon: in our eyes these men (the assassins) are worthy of admiration, and when the formulism which still prevails in Portuguese is overthrown, it will recognise in them true heroes, worthy sons of Portugal.’ Here we have a sample of the views held by the men whom the Masonic Society has placed at the head of affairs in Portugal. w . ROME THE CENTENARY OF CONSTANTINE. For twenty years Rome is said not to have held so many foreigners within her walls as she does this month (writes a Rome correspondent under date March 1U). .Tins influx of visitors is largely due to the approach of Holy Week with all its ceremonies, and to the celebration of the centenary of the Peace of the Church. No fewer than seventy pilgrimages are to arrive in Rome during the year irom all over Europe and America, while the city of. Milan alone will send three, two of which are to be headed by Cardinal iterran. The medals in gold, silver, and bronze struck in commemoration of the centenary have been warmly approved of by the Holy Father. One side of - the medal bears the representation of Pope Pius X., and the obverse that of the great Emperor Constantine. , Copies of the medals have also been presented to' the Cardinal Secretary of State.

Ohinemuri ■ (From our own correspondent.) 9 r ' ’ '•* \ April 19. A euchre tournament, between the members of the Karangahake Catholic Club, was held in the clubroom, Karangahake, on Tuesday last; the prize was a very handsome fountain pen (the gift of Mr. Arthur McGuire), - and was won by Mr. P. Kearns. very interesting lecture, delivered by the Yen. Archdeacon Hackett at the Choral Hall, Paeroa, on Wednesday evening. There was a very large attendance who thoroughly enjoyed the Archdeacon’s highly amusing examples of Celtic humor. The lecture was interspersed by a number of musical items. Miss 1 Kelly contributed musical selections and a recitation, and received an emphatic recall. A piano solo was played by Miss Aitken. Items were also given by Miss Crosby, and Messrs Collins and Donnelly, all of whom were encored; A Shakespearean recitation by Mr. Blakely and an obo solo by Mr. Cx’outhier. were very acceptable contributions. Miss Aitken, Mrs. Black, and Mrs. McCarthy played the accompaniments. Special mention must be made of Miss Cecily Brown for her fine pianoforte solo. Miss Brown is a pupil of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Paeroa. The item was played with much artistic skill, and a well-deserved encore followed.