The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 7 August 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

' - • ENGLAND ■-y:^"' ; A LEADING LONDON CATHOLIC. . J - ; The King, on the recommendation of the Home Secretary, has been' pleased to appoint Mr. Lister Drummond to be a Metropolitan Police Magistrate, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sir Henry Curtis Bennett. Mr. Drummond is the eldest son of Mr. Maurice Drummond, C. 8., and the great grandson of Charles Drummond, the banker. He is thus descended from the fourth Viscount Etrathallan, who was slain at Culloden. His mother was -an aunt of Lord Ribblesdale. Mr. Drummond, who was received into the Church in 1875, is the co-founder, with the Rev. Philip Fletcher, of the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom. In 1910 he was elected chairman of the London Catholic Federation, and in 1912 chairman of the Central Council of the Catholic Confederation. He is a knight of the Papal Order of St. Gregory. PORTUGAL THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGN. The prosecution of Mgr. Barroso, Bishop of Oporto, for having baptised a child at Custoras, a place in his own diocese, affords eloquent evidence of the tyranny exercised by the Portuguese Government. The Bishop, in accordance with the' instructions of the Holy Father, refused to recognise the Associations Law and was expelled, but he was not to be deterred from doing what was possible to fulfil his duties. A Portuguese jury has acquitted him, despite the efforts of the Government to secure a conviction. The fact is (remarks the Catholic Times) that the people of Portugal, outside the Carbonario and Masonic circles, are thoroughly weary of the anti-Christian campaign and of the state of anarchy to which the country has been brought. They feel that they do not enjoy freedom and that life in Portugal is quite insecure. Bombs and bullets are used with frequency. It is a pretty common experience to find half a dozen young fellows firing shots from revolvers when a disturbance has occurred. A theatre in-which a performance was given the other day at Lisbon in aid of political prisoners was the scene of something like a battle between Carbonarios and members of the Republican Guard. The Carbonarios forced their way in, and fired revolver shots wildly, to the peril of diplomatic representatives who were present. They were driven out, but none of them will be punished. Carbonarios, however lawless, are not subjected to punishment. Their services are too necessary to the Government. ROME RECEIVED THE HOLY FATHER'S BLESSING. Seven thousand children belonging to Rome and the neighborhood who had made their First Communion assembled in the Court of St. Damasus at the Vatican on Sunday afternoon, June 15, and received the Holy Father's blessing. RECEPTIONS AT THE VATICAN. The Holy Father continues to accord audiences, private and public, daily (writes a Rome correspondent under date June 15). During the past week he has received in audience several Cardinals, including their Eminences Cardinal Di Pietro, Cardinal De Lai, and Cardinal Ferrata. Amongst the distinguished secular visitors admitted to private audience was his Excellency Mons. Nelidow, Ambassador of Russia to the Holy See. On June 10 "the very interesting ceremony of receiving a large number of pilgrims in the Cortile of San Damaso was repeated. The cortile easily accommodates two thousand persons, and it has been filled on each occasion since the Holy Father's convalescence, upon which the faithful have been given the opportunity

of assembling in it. His Holiness on the 10th insfc. descended by the lift from the second to the first loggia, accompanied, by Mgr. Ranuzzi and Mgr; Mella T di Sant Elia, and - approached- the central balcony, which was draped' in crimson. . The band :of -the gendarmes had played a selection of music while the people were assembling in the cortile, and when the Holy Father appeared, followed by the Italian Bishops, who had come to Rome with pilgrims from their respective dioceses, principally from Liguria, the vast crowd in the cortile welcomed him with loud acclamations and the waving of handkerchiefs. After a few minutes, when calm had been restored, the Pope in a clear and strong voice intoned the Benediction while the people knelt in silence. Though this-arrangement of receiving in the Cortile of San Damaso was made with the ©view of causing as little fatigue as possible to his Holiness, it has proved very satisfactory to visitors also, as everybody can see the Pope quite distinctly in his elevated position on the balconya. consolation not always obtainable when large numbers assemble in the great, halls within the Vatican, and the people also enjoy the satisfaction of being free to give more scope to their expressions of enthusiasm. '•'.'. i SCOTLAND AN INTERESTING COMPARISON. Preaching on a recent, Sunday evening in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Edinburgh Rev. J. C. Donlevy, S.J., gave some interesting statistics, comparing the spread of Catholicity in the diocese of Philadelphia, U.S.A., with that of its progress in Scotland. He pointed out that Philadelphia was held up as probably the best provided diocese in the world with its institutions for religion, education, and charity. In Philadelphia the Catholic population was-525,000 as compared in Scotland with 519,000. There were 582 priests in Philadelphia, 561 in Scotland; 141 schools in Philadelphia, 214 in Scotland; 434 churches and chapels in Philadelphia, 415 in Scotland; while under most of these heads Scotland stood out to advantage, there was one thing, the preacher pointed out, that Scotland lacked, and that was vocations to the priesthood. In Philadelphia they had 149 ecclesiastical students, and there they never lacked vocations to the sacred priesthood. This could not. be said of Scotland. ' ■ -- SPAIN CONSTANTINIAN CELEBRATIONS. - ' The Constantinian celebrations have been peculiarly brilliant and enthusiastic in Madrid and in proportion throughout Spain (says America). This might have been expected from the ardent faith of the immense mass of the people; but undoubtedly a further motive was supplied by the anti-religious and revolutionary agitation of the hour. Hence the public celebration has been called a national plebiscite and the exact gauge of the religious conviction of the people. All Madrid —and it was the same everywhere—was covered with decorationsemblems, banners, crosses, flowers. There was scarcely a house which did not display a cross of flowers by day and of electric lights at night. The residences of the nobility were lavishly adorned. The' churches were garlanded. Gigantic crosses were invisibly suspended in mid air, or set in the squares at a height of sixty feet. Official edifices, banks, academies, halls, etc., all were in harmony. The hotel of Count Romanones was specially noticeable. And in the palace the King set a large luminous cross above the royal crown. Prom the chapel of the palace a relic of the true Cross was carried to, San Jeronimo for exposition, where it was venerated by the parishes in succession! An exposition of sacred art, notably of carved crucifixes and tapestries, was opened by the royal family. Altars were erected in the streets, often by noble ladies] for the gathering of alms for tuberculosis hospitals, and some -40,000 dollars were soon collected. A most impressive feature was the general Communion of children in the parish churches and houses of beneficence and education.