The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 27 May 1915, Page 55

The Catholic World

FRANCE CHARITABLE WORK IN PARIS. An interesing meeting which took place the other day was presided over by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris (writes a Paris correspondent). Its object was to inform the public of the organisations that have been set on foot for the relief of our soldiers at the front and of our prisoners in the German camps. Paris has been called a city of pleasure; at present it is a city of charity, and the exertions of its workers have done wonders. M. Fernand Laudet, the director of La Revue liebdomadaire, gave a spirited and picturesque description of a work organised by him in the autumn for providing warm clothing for our soldiers. He told how gifts poured in all the winter, not only from all parts of France, but also from Spain, Italy, China, America, and the American colonies. He also told of the soldiers' badly-spelt but grateful letters, and how the gift of a tiny bunch of violets, slipped in among useful articles, delighted its recipient. Many of our fighting men are peasants, and those who know France are aware how deeply their affections are rooted in the soil. Another report, by M. Couzct, informed, the audience of the organisation of tho military chaplains, whoso numbers were considerably increased in August owing to the happy initiative of Count Albert do Mini. Their letters from the front prove that their presence and ministry are warmly prized. Then a professor of the University of Paris spoke of the 1563 hospitals, founded and provided for by the three sister branches of the French Red Cross Society, of which the Marquis de Vogue is president. Some of these hospitals are established in religious houses : others are served only by voluntary nurses, of whom from 17,000 to 18,000 are at this moment enrolled under the Red Cross. Another report touched on the efforts that have been made by the Paris Red Cross Society and by other Catholic associations to reach our prisoners. OERMANY THE ANTI-JESUIT LAW. The question of annulling the anti-Jesuit law has again been before the Reichstag in Berlin, and the result of the discussion was to emphasise the undemocratic and unconstitutional manner in which the Germans are governed (remarks the Catholic Times). The Centre Party brought forward a resolution which proposed that not only the law against the Jesuits, but all exceptional laws against particular classes of the people should be done away with. The members of the Centre, the Poles, the representatives of Alsace, the Progressive People's Party, and the Social Democrats voted for it, and it was carried by a large majority. The National Liberals, the Free Conservatives, the members of the Social Union, and the German-Conservatives abstained from voting. No one spoke or voted against the proposal. Doubtless there were present men who would have opposed it at a time of peace, but their sense of patriotism and their dislike of discord whilst the nation is at war prevented them from making speeches hostile to the Centre's motion or pressing for a division. In the British House of Commons a-similar motion would meet with support from the vast majority of the members, but it is questionable whether the minority would show such reserve as was displayed by the minority in the Reichstag. Dr. Delbruck, Secretary of State, had honeyed words for the Centre, but there is no real prospect of the anti-Jesuit law being abolished. In Germany legislation is shaped according to the wishes of the Prussian reactionaries rather than by the will of the people.

?■.■*&•«*% ■ ITALY l ,f ;, ' SYMPATHY WITH BELGIUM, i ' Reorganised Catholic Action ' in Italy began by electing the Directing Committee of eleven, including the five presidents of the representative societies. What it then did was rather significant. After sending the telegram of dutiful loyalty to his Holiness, it passed two resolutions first expressing its recognition of ' the urgent duty of Catholics in face of the present conflict to direct public opinion to the affirmation and triumph of the principles and historic traditions of Christian civilisation ' ; the second to ' express the hope that at the conclusion of peace Belgium may rise again to the dignity of an independent nation under the rules and intangible guarantees of international Christian law.' No more plain condemnation of the violation of the neutrality of Belgium could surely be desired than this formal resolution of the official representation in Rome of organised Italian Catholicism. At the big meeting later on the same sentiment was expressed even more distinctly by a Catholic deputy, and was greeted with cries of ' Long live Belgium !' The same speaker referred to Italian Catholics as ' waiting while events matured, ready for the country's call.' ROME CHANGES IN THE CURIA. The question of Cardinal Agliardi's successor as Dean of tho Sacred College has been solved by his death (writes a Rome correspondent). Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli steps into this position ipso facto, so that we have the rare coincidence of two brothers being Dean and SubDean of the College of Cardinals: for to Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli falls the latter position. Whom will Benedict XV. nominate to the high dignity of Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church? At this stage one can only say that Cardinal Casetta will be one of the names put forward. Who will become Bishop of Albano? Cardinal Gotti will, very likely, renounce his right as his Eminence did so on previous occasions. Cardinal Martinelli is excluded by illness. Cardinal Merry del Val may be appointed unless the fact that he is a foreigner impedes his nomination. Cardinal Lorenzelli and Cardinal Rinaldini are not in the best of health. Cardinal Gasparri and Cardinal Pompili are respectively Secretary of State and Vicar of his Holiness. Will the holding of one of these offices stand in the way of either accepting the Bishopric of Albano which, like the other five suburban dioceses, has a Bishop-Auxiliary who resides in the diocese, while the Cardinal-Bishop lives in Rome? GENERAL A DISTINGUISHED EDUCATIONIST. The death is reported from Trichinopoly of Rev. Father J. D. W. Sewell, S.J., in his 80th year. He was famed throughout Southern India as an educationist, and was a valued adviser in the deliberations of tho Madras University and the Educational Department of the Government of Madras. St. Joseph's College, Trichinopoly, of which he was for over thirty years the responsible head, owes its great reputation as a centre of learning to his splendid abilities and unremitting zeal. The late Father Sewell was born in Madras in 1836, the son of General Sir William Sewell. Following his father's footsteps in the choice of a profession, when quite young, he joined the army, rapidly obtained his commission, and entered the Madras Staff Corps, from which he retired with the rank of Major, when about forty years of age. Having lost his wife about the same time, he retired from public life, and was received into the Catholic Church. He entered the Society of Jesus on September 28, 1876, and was ordained a priest.