The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

CANADA CATHOLIC POPULATION. , The latest census shows that the total population of Canada is 7,206,643, of whom 2,833,041 are Catholics, the number of French-Canadians among the latter being 2,054,890. -' • !: ' ' "

-i NULAND ' ?3

A VENERABLE PRIEST: , _ Father John Miiner, S.J., said to be the oldest priest m trie ivaigaom, has just retired, at the age of i>§, to end his days at Stouyhurst College. He was ordained 7.3 years ago, and has been assistant priest at Holywell, since 1886. ■■'■'■ "• . v | DEATH OF A CONVERT. > ' "*; The death is announced of Father Kerr, of Wimbledon. He was 76 years of age. The eldest son of the Rev. Lord Henry Kerr, he was educated at Harrow, Haileybury, and : Stonyhurst. When he was 16 he became a Catholic. At first he served in the Madras Civil Service, but in 1867 entered the Jesuit novitiate. Thirty years ago he went; to Wimbledon, where > his churcn had only a handful of adherents. . To-day the magnificent Church of the Sacred Heart is attended by many hundreds. -

FRANCE

• •■'•-THE BASILICA OF MONTMARTRE. ..'..-. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the heights of Montmartre, dominating Paris, has been declared by the civil tribunal of the Seine, to be the property of the Paris municipality. It is an iniquitous judgment, but it is the inevitable consequence of the yet more iniquitous- law .of April, 1908, which attributed the ownership of all the sacred edifices belonging to the ecclesiastical authorities to the Commune in which they are situated. Basing his demand on the law of 1873, by which the projected church to be built with the funds supplied by devout generous Catholics was declared the property of the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Amette applied to the Court to remove the sequestration, and to, recognise his right as proprietor of the church. He claimed it as personal property. But also, basing his argument on the same law of 1873, the City of Paris by its representative contended the law invoked had not attributed the projected church to the Archbishop as his personal property, but to him in his capacity of prelate. It consequently was the property of the Archbishopric, and not of the Archbishop. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart should, therefore, share the fate of the rest of the Church property settled by the law of 1908 that is to say, it should be attributed to the Paris Municipality as its legal owner. However, the judgment which was rendered to that effect docs jiot entirely deprive the sacred edifice of the advantages stipulated for it in the law of 1873, because it confirms the condition that it shall for ever be used for public worship of the Catholic religion. Even supposing that law had been completely repealed, the Basilica, .though the property of the Town of Paris, would, like all the other churches attributed to the communes, be left for ever at the disposal of the. Catholics as places of public worship. The judgment should, therefore, not disturb the minds of French Catholics or render them less generous in subscribing towards the completion and decoration of the magnificent church, which still enjoys special advantages, as it is guaranteed by two laws against being ever used for any other purpose than Catholic public worship.

ITALY

, THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF CAPUA. Mgr. Cosenza. who has been just nominated Archbishop of Capua, Italy, in succession to the late Cardinal Capecelatro" , has the record of having completed

the entire course of theology, moral and dogmatic, at the age of seventeen years, to have been the head of the Theological Society of j the Archiepiscopal Lyceum at Naples when ' still an . acolyte, and to * have been ordained priest at the age of twenty-two years and two months. As Bishop of J Caserta, (in order to bring his diocesan seminary to the apex as demanded by the Holy See, Mgr. Cosenza w professed the chairs of Exegesis, Patrology, and Archaeology. ROME. DEATH OF CARDINAL RESPIGHI. Cardinal Respighi passed away,; on the evening of Holy Saturday, comforted by all the rites of the Church and by ( constant special blessings and prayers of the Holy Father. He was seventy years of age, and had been in turn Bishop of Guastalla f in 1893, Archbishop of Ferrara in 1896, created Cardinal by Leo XIII. in .1899, arid then transferred to Rome as Vicar. ..He was one of the most esteemed Prelates of the Curia, arid enjoyed the special affection and confidence, of Pius X., whom he resembled in many ways in that'kindliness mingled with unbending severity where principles were at stakein his simplicity and Apostolic zeal. ■'. <■'' THE HOLY FATHER AND GREECE. Though diplomatic relations do not exist between the Holy See and Greece (writes a Rome correspondent), kindly feelings and an' excellent understanding, guide the private dealings of the two powers, a happy state of things, to be attributed in no small degree to the late King George, whose tragic death is sincerely mourned at the Vatican. On learning from the Papal Secretary of State of the assassination of the King, the Holy ■ Father immediately directed that a despatch be sent to the Archbishop of Athens and Delegate Apostolic of Greece, conveying to the royal family, an: expression of his sympathy in their bereavement. Pius X. knew King George personally since 1906, when this monarch visited the Vatican. It was on this occasion the story of the Pope's return ticket from Rome to Venice was first given widespread publication a ticket, by the way, that King George never obtained. ' ... ' .-, : ■■:■•■ SPAIN . RELIGIOUS TEACHING. IN THE • SCHOOLS. Commenting: on the agitation against the Spanish Government's proposal for making trie teaching of the catechism in the primary schools optional, we (Catholic Times) expressed the opinion that trie Ministry, of Count de Romanones was in danger: He has himself recognised the fact and has given way. In an interview with journalists he has stated that it was not at all his intention to enter on such a campaign as the Catholics feared. He had been much pained by telegrams, which he had received attributing to him the design of deCatholicising the country and banishing ' Christianity from the schools. He was well aware that Spain was Catholic and that nothing so profoundly moved the Spaniards as religious questions. The vigorous opposition with which the announcement of his proposal was received had no slight influence in bringing this conviction home to the Premier. In receiving a deputation of Catholic ladies who waited on him to make a protest on behalf of the women of Spain he assured them that he was an enemy of the neutral .school and that there would be no change with regard to catechetical instruction. The Count de Romanones is a politician with a short memory, and it might be rash to predict that he will not forget this* promise, but reflection will probably prevent him from facing the peril which would be created by the * Government's* introduction of any measures calculated to weaken religion in Spain.