Here and There

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 25 February 1925, Page 45

Here and There

| Death of English —Monsignor John -Barry, Provost and Vicar-General of the i of Shrewsbury, died a few days ago j Birkenhead (says Catholic News Service, ( ’Condon, for January 12). It is only a few ■ - weeks ago that Mgr. Barry celebrated the ■ golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. Mgr. Barry was a Lancashire man, and an alumnus of Ushaw. His connection with Birkenhead dated from 1895, when he was appointed to the parish of St. Mary. The next year he was made a Canon, the appointment as Vicar-General came in 1913, and two years later he became Provost of the diocese. Death has claimed another Lancashire priest in the person of Father P. J. Chandlery, S.J., who died- at the Craighead Retreat House in Scotland. A successful missioner and administrator, Father Chandlery was more widely known by his writings, perhaps the best known of them all being his • Pilgrim Walks in Pome , which was considered by some to be the best pilgrim guide to Rome ever written in the English language. Another very interesting book of Father Chandlery, on very much the same lines, was his The Tower to Tyburn, published only a few months ago. For some years Father Chandlery served on the staff of the General of the Jesuits at Fiesole, and when the staff was transferred to Rome he went also; one result of the change being his pilgrim guide to Rome. * * * Don Sturzo in London. Don Sturzo, the k famous Sicilian priest who founded the Ital- * ian Popular Party, is taking a political holiday in England, where he is understood to be studying British institutions. The Catholic Social Guild in London recently had the pleasure of entertaining this well-known Italian priest-politician, when Don Sturzo gave an interesting account of the aims of his party. The Popular Party— Don Sturzo said — fighting for the maintenance of the principles of justice in public life. At its beginning it had to fight the Bolshevist menace, which was then threatening in all the towns and villages in Italy, Its next fight, which is still being waged, was with the evils and dangers of extreme reactionism. Don Sturzo asserts that his party attaches great importance to the promotion of international understanding, and that it is striving to create an international movement inspired by Christian principles, in opposition to the prevailing tendency of selfish nationalism. The English Liberals, who hate Mussolini anyway, are inclined to take Don Sturzo to their bosom; but Don Sturzo is not in England to gather political bouquets, though his entire withdrawal from the counsels of his party is believed to have a political significance of its own. * ♦ • Death of a Notable Irishman. —The death of Mr. Jeremiah Joseph Mac Sweeney occurred recently at his residence, Barren Hill

House, Baily, Howth, Co. Dublin, in his ' 88th year. An eminent litterateur and linguist, the la£e Mr. Mac Sweeney was a native .. of Cork, and was educated at St. Colman’s College, Fermoy, where he studied with great distinction. For 44 years he held office as Assistant Librarian of the Royal Irish Academy. A charming personality, coupled with his widely-recognised attainments, rendered him a popular and distinguished figure. He ( relinquished the Assistant Librarianship fifteen years ago. He was one of the founders of the Feis Ceoil along with among others, Dr. Annie Patterson and O’Neill Russell. It is of interest to record that the first meeting of the Feis Ceoil was held in the Moore Library, Royal Irish Academy. The late Mr. Mac Sweeney married Miss O’Longan, daughter of the eminent Irish scholar. Five of his family have devoted their lives to the service of the Church. One of his sons is Professor Joseph Mac Sweeney, N.U.1.; and those in the priesthood are Rev. Patrick Mac Sweeney, M.A., Professor, Maynooth College; Rev. Michael Mac Sweeney , C.C., Sandymouut; and the Rev. Eugene MacSweeney, C.C., Arklow. Two of tie Infe Mr. Mac Sweeney’s daughters are nuns. * 9 » Memories of Two Risings. The death the other week of Right Hon. W. D. Andrews, ■ late Judge of the King’s Bench, which occurred at his residence, 51 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, curiously links two of Ireland’s greatest risings (says an exchange)Judge Andrews’ mother was the daughter of Dr. William Drennan, who wrote the first prospectus of the United Irishmen in 1791. In 1916 the Judge’s house, which commanded Leeson Street Bridge, was occupied by Irish Volunteers, and many a bloody fight was fought around it before the British captured the bridge. The Judge was 93 years of age. Another death of one connected with the Irish revolutionary movement occurred lately, when the Hon, Mary Spring Rice, daughter of Lord Monteagle, died at Foynes, Co. Limerick. Mary Spring Rice was one of the crew of the Asgard, in which Erskine Childers ran the guns to Howth in 1914. Ever since that incident. Miss Spring Rice played a nohle part in the struggle for Ireland’s liberation. A remarkable tribute was paid to her at the funeral, when both the Free State. Party and the Republican Party joined in mourning her loss to the nation. 9 « 9 Passing of a Great American Prelate. —A Cincinnati message to the Irish World (New York) under date January 6, says: —The Most Rev. Henry Moeller, Archbishop of Cincinnati, died here last night. He was seventy-five years old and had been Archbishop of Cincinnati since 1904. He was the fourth Ordinary of the Cincinnati diocese and the third Archbishop to rule over it since it was raised to the dignity of an archiepiscopal see. The late Archbishop was

a native of Cincinnati and practically all of liis life, which included forty-nine years in the priesthood, was spent within the limits of the archdiocese over which he later filled. . After being graduated from St. Xavier’s College here in 1869 the then young v Henry Moeller was sent to Rome as one of the first students at the American Col- ' lege there. In that institution he won the highest scholastic honors in competitive examination with students from other colleges in the Eternal City. On June 10, 1876, the future Archbishop was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in the Archbasiliea of St. John Lateran in Rome. Returning to the United States, he was appointed 'by Archbishop Purcell as pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Bellefontaine, Ohio, and a few months later was made a member of the faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary, Cincinnati, where he remained for two years. For a short time in 1880 he was secretary to the late Bishop Chatard of Indianapolis, and was then named secretary to the Archbishop of Cincinnati and Chan- * cell or of the archdiocese. In August, 1900, came his elevation to the ranks of the Episcopate, as Bishop of Columbus. Three years later he was made titular Archbishop of Arepolis and Coadjutor cum successionis to Archbishop Elder of Cincinnati. On October 31, 1904, when Archbishop Elder died, Archbishop Moeller succeeded to the see. Under the rule of Archbishop Moeller the Cincinnati archdiocese grew steadily in numbers and prosperity. When Archbishop Elder died there were 312 priests in the archdiocese; to-day there are 450, Twenty years ago there were 184 churches under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Cincinnati; today there are 221. Schools and colleges, asylums and charitable institutions have increased in proportion and in efficient service adapted to changing needs. Three great projects for which the late Archbishop had a particular devotion have all been realised during his lifetime. They were the establishment of a Grand Seminary, now realised in the new Mount St. Mary Seminary of the West; a club for young men, which has become a reality in the famous Fenwick Club; and a school for the deaf which has also been realised in the Rita School for the Deaf. In Catholic activities outside of his own archdiocese the late Archbishop took a prominent part. He was closely identified with Catholic missionary activities and was President of the Executive Board of ..the Catholic Students’ Mission Crusade. Archbishop Moeller and Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland were chosen by their fellow members of the hierarchy in 1922 to go to Rome and lay before the Pope the attitude of the American Bishops concerning the National Catholic Welfare Council. In this mission they were eminently successful Pope Pius XI honored Archbishop Moeller last year with an appointment, as Assistant to the Pontifical Throne. Catholic organisations always found : a warm friend in Archbishop Moeller as was illustrated by his hearty support for the National - Council of Catholic Men, Through his encouragement the Cincinnati Council of this organisation has become one of the most efficient diocesan bodies in the United States. _ ; , < :