Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 17 November 1921, Page 39

Catholic World

IRISH FRIAR IS ELECTED PROVINCIAL. For the first-time in years the English Province of the Franciscans has held its triennial Chapter at the Friary of Gorton, near. Manchester. The President of the Chapter was Father Leo Sheehan, of the Irish Province, " who acted as representative of the Minister-General in Rome. By the vote of the Chapter, Friar Anselm, a native of Co. Kerry, was elected as Provincial of the English Province. The new Provincial made his novitiate at, Manchester, where he was also ordained to the priesthood. At the Chapter held in 1918 he was appointed to the Guardianship of the Gorton Friary, where he has also served as Vicav. THE POLISH CATHOLIC CONGRESS. ■ y ; Cardinal Kakowski,. Archbishop of Warsaw, opened the "Catholic Congress of Poland by the celebration of Pontifical Mass in the Warsaw Cathedral. The Cardinal of Posen and the Archbishops and Bishops of all the Polish Sees were present at the ceremony. An official tone was added to the proceedings by the presence of the President of the Republic,' who attended in state with the Catholic members of his Cabinet and escorted by a guard of honor ■furnished by a detachment of troops. According to the new Polish Constitution the President of the Republic is obliged to be a member of the Catholic Church. The first public session of the Congress was largely ' devoted to the welcoming of foreign delegates. The French delegation was greeted with particularly warm applause, and. hearty greetings were extended to the delegates from Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, and the United States. Mr. Korfanty, the Polish leader, who also appeared on f this platform, came in for a great deal of cheering. k CATHOLICS IN LITHUANIA. Out of a total population of about two millions the number of Catholics in the new Republic of Lithuania are " said to be close upon half a million, according to the statis- \ tics which the Government has just published. k . Before the Russian Revolution the whole of Lithuania came under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Mohilev, whose territory included the whole of the then Russian Empire. But owing to the disruption of the Empire some re-arrangement of the dioceses will take place, and an autonomous ecclesiastical Province of Lithuania will possibly be created. At present there are 40 priests in the Republic, and a new seminary has been recently established. r- Under the Tsarist Government Russian was the official " language, but the ancient Lithuanian tongue has been preserved, and under the fostering care of the clergy steps ; are being taken for the wider diffusion of the old national tongue, which is used in the churches for the vernacular parts of divine worship. BRITISH COLUMBIA CHURCH EXEMPT FROM LAND TAXES. The final chapter in a long legal battle waged by Right Rev. Alexander MacDonald of Victoria, British Columbia, to protect church property in his diocese from seizure for taxes, was written in London when the Privy Council dismissed the appeal of the corporation of Vancouver against the Bishop. More than two years ago the corporation of Victoria . endeavored to sell the site of St. Andrew's Cathedral for $13,000 for taxes alleged to be due. The supreme court refused to grant a writ of. injunction against the city, \ and Bishop MacDonald appealed. The appeal court rev-. r ■ versed the lower court and granted the writ of injunction. This action has now been sustained by the Privy Council [i.- in London. In future Church lands cannot be taxecT in & v British Columbia. ' '

British" Columbia some years ago adopted the single tax on land without exemptng church property. The. tax was ruinous, as the total income of some churches did not suffice to pay the one item of taxes. This was the reason for the court; case which Bishop MacDonald fought to a successful conclusion. CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS IN ENGLAND ATTEND SPECIAL MASS. The Catholic medical men who attended the recent annual meeting of the British Medical Association, in Newcastle (England), were present in body at the special service for Catholic doctors which was held in the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary on the Sunday during the sessions. The scene was one of great academic brilliance. The yisiting doctors wore their gowns and hoods, representing tho Universities of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and as they made their way to the front seats in the Cathedral that had been reserved for them they made a perfect blaze of color. The sermon, which was preached by Very Rev. Dr. Aidan Elrington of the Dominican Order, who is a Doctor of Science in the University of Lou vain, was an eloquent appeal to the medical practitioner, reminding him that in medical science the saving of the human soul is of far greater importance than the health of the body. The Catholic doctors met later on in the day, under' the presidency of Dr. Colvin, a distinguished Catholic medical man of Glasgow, when an important discussion took place on psycho-analysis, a subject which was brought up at the larger meetings of the British Medical Association, when the subject was well aired in connection with mindhealing. DANTE CELEBRATIONS IN ITALY. The sixth centenary of Dante's death in Ravenna, was observed as a national holiday throughout the whole of Italy. But in Ravenna itself the celebrations extended \ over several days. His Holiness the Pope was represented by Cardinal Lafontaine, Patriarch and Archbishop of Venice, who attended in the capacity of Papal Legate. With all the solemn ceremonial pertaining to his high office the Cardinal Legate, assisted by an imposing as- ■' sembly of bishops and high prelates, celebrated Pontifical Mass in the Church of San Francesco, the church in which Dante worshipped in Ravenna. During the Mass Cardinal Lafontaine preached a short discourse in which he said that Dante in the ''Divine Comedy," had exalted the Holy Cross. At the conclusion of the Mass the Cardinal, in his Legatine capacity imparted the Papal Benedictionto the' vast crowd that thronged the church. Then, accompanied by the brilliant assembly of bishops and prelates, he proceeded to the tomb of Dante. The municipality N of Rome presented a bronze door to tho city of Ravenna, and this has been erected at the little church where the bones of the great poet lie. The silver bell, which has been given by all tho communes of Italy, has been hung in the belfry in the courtyard of this shrine, and a marble staircase erected that leads up to the belfry. The Dante memorials in the city have taken practical forms. The Church of St. Francesco, where the poet was buried, and the great Basilica of St. John the Evangelist have been in part restored, and an iron railing is to be placed around the latter church. The part taken by Florence in the celebration was to send vast quantities of flowers and laurels, with which the Dante zone of the city was lavishly decorated. When the celebrations in Ravenna ended those in Florence began, and lasted three days. The commune arranged a historic pageant representing the return of the ancient Florentine militia with Dante from the Battle of Campaldino in 1289. The costumes of those taking part in the pageant were copied • from old models, and the artistic arrangement of the pageant was entrusted to the Italian painter, Signor Bonafedi. ' • "