People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 22 April 1915, Page 41

People We Hear About

Sir John French was born in,, the ,same year as General Joffrelßs2. Father Ledochowski is the twenty-sixth General of the Society of Jesus. , There are at present in the Order 16,894 members. " ■ •: Queen Amelie of Portugal has proved herself one of England s best, friends since the war began. She works steadily at -the headquarters of the Red Cross Society in Pall Mall, and she in every way encourages society women to further the interests of trade, without indulging in extravagant fashions. Owing no doubt to her recent medical activities, she was asked to preside at the annual meeting of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund Guild, at the Royal College of Physicians in London. Colonel Patrice de McMahon, of the French Army, who has just been promoted to the rank of General,- is the eldest son of the once famous Marshal McMahon, who was President of France, and one of her bravest defenders in the war against the Germans in 1870. The Irish fighting strain evidently persists in the McMahon family, since the new General’s brother was also promoted to General’s rank since the present war began. General Patrice de McMahon holds the title of Duke of Magenta, conferred on his father for bravery in the field. . J gi; In connection with the clergy and the war it is interesting to note that four bishops have been summoned to the French colors. They are Mgr. Ruch, Coadjutor of the Bishop of Nancy, who occupies the post of chaplain-in-chief to an army corps; Mgr. Terrien, Apostolic Vicar of Benin, mobilised at Dakar; Mgr. Perros, Apostolic Vicar of Siam, who is a SubLieutenant of the Reserves now stationed at Besanyon; and Mgr. Moury, Apostolic Vicar of the Ivory Coast, who is a soldier of the second class, serving in the Colonial Hospital of Dakar. The death of Mgr. Laspro, Archbishop of Salerno (says Home), makes Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, the dean of the whole Catholic Hierarchy—not the dean by age, for that distinction belongs to Mgr. Monnier, Titular Bishop of Lydda, who is 95, but the dean by election, for his Eminence was raised to the episcopate by Pius IX. on March 3, 1868, at a time when a great many of our present bishops were not yet born. He is the first of the little list, now reduced to 20, of living bishops who were appointed by Pius IX., the others of the English-speaking world being Right Rev. Dr. Hedley, Bishop of Newport (July 22, 1873), Most Rev. Dr. Ireland, Archbishop of St. Paul (February 12, 1875), Most Rev. Dr. Redwood, Archbishop of Wellington (March 17, 1874), Most Rev. Dr. Spalding, Titular Archbishop of Scitopohs (November 27, 1876). The Oratory School at Edgbaston has a remarkable record which sounds almost incredible (remarks the London Universe). The total number of boys who have passed through the school since 1884— thirty years ago—is 550. Of these 40 are dead and 70 are at the school at the present moment. At the beginning of the war, therefore, there were, roughly, 430 as an outside number between the ages of 18 and 40. Of the old schoolboys just over 250 have been or are now serving with the Army or the Navy. Nearly all of these have been to the front or are at the front now. Sixteen have been killed or died of wounds, and 20 more have been wounded. What is perhaps more remarkable is that no fewer than seven old Oratorians are in command of battalions; while one, George Morris, of the Irish Guards, was killed while in command. Taking the average number of boys at the school as 56, it means that there is one colonel in command to every seven boys at schoolan almost unbelievable ratio. It is also curious that in Mr. Arthur Pollen and Mr. Hilaire Belloc the Oratory has produced two of the. best naval and military critics of the day. h,