Here and There

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 8, 4 March 1925, Page 45

Here and There

IgM: Act of Justice.— court at Jernsaleu\ has at last given its judgment in the case of;the ; action brought by Mgr. Barlassina, against the Zionist newspaper, Door Haypm, for publishing an article containing scandalous and blasphemous insults against Our Lord and IT is Virgin Mth . The act ill was. brought under the provisions of the' law which treats as a criminal offence the publication of insulting attacks upon any of "the recognised religions of Palestine. The bearts, of the evidence and the pleas of counsel on both , sides closed on November 26, when the court reserved its decision. It has fined the editor five pounds sterling and the writer of the article twenty-five pounds, further sentencing tho writer to 125 days’ imprisonment. The defence tried to show that the article had been a misunderstood, and . that some of-its -allusions were misinterpreted by Catholics, and that it was really only a matter, of fair controversy. Amongst the witnesses called in support of the Patriarch’s case : against tho Zionist journalists were two Anglicans, Canon Dauby, of the. English Church, and Professor Albright, of the American School of Archaeology. It is interesting to add that the presiding magistrate was a Jewish lawyer. ■

A ; Catholic President for Switzerland.—The Catholics of Switzerland, a "little more (ban a million and a half .in number, form 41 per cent, of its people.. In several of the cantons they are in a majority. Lucerne an:l the Forest Cantons, the original homo of Swiss freedom, are almost entirely Catholic. The President of the Republic is elected annually by the legislature at Berne, and in December the choice of the President for 1925 fell upon M. , Jean Mario ; Musy, one of the Catholic deputies of the Canton of Fribourg. Tie is a native, of the canton, where he was born in. 1881. He made hi studies at the Catholic University ' there, and at the age of; 30 was, elected to,.the local "Council of the Canton. In 191-1 he, was elected as one of its deputies to the Swiss Parliament. In 1919. he was placed, at the head of the Ministry of Finance, and held thai position till his election as President. lie was chosen by ,172 votes against 50. Tie ' returned' to -Fribourg immediately after the voting and was given an enthusiastic public welcome. The whole city was, hung with flags and at 'the' railway station represents of. all the public bodies and local organisations awaited his'' arrival, accompanied by crowds 'of-stu-dents and citizens with bands and banners. A' procession through the streets, a reception at the city; hall, 'a Te Denm in a neighboring church," and a general illumination in the evening made up the day's programme. ■3s'!s'! *■'■''■ '-i' '-•"■'■ '■ '■■'»•■■• •''■.. v.;b ;■■■ ••■'■" ■ ■ .The War Orphans r of Italy. The war orphans of Italy form an army of more than " three hundred aild.-fifty thousand boys and girls who lost their fathers in the Croat 'War. '. The State pays an annual allowance towards

their maintenance and education, and this is supplemented by a well-organised system of voluntary help. Its chief promoters and directors have been from the first two priests, Father Semeria, who'was attached, as chaplain to the Italian, headquarters at the front (hiring the war, and Father. Minozzi, who was during the same time tho principal organiser of the soldiers' clubs. The chief agency that has co-operated with them. is a Catholic*iassociation which was formed some fifty years ago for assisting orphans, and since Italy, entered ,-tho Avar has specialised on help for "its'child victims. A long list of agencies, which have given help of various kinds to the association in this charitable and patriotic work, shows that- most of them are religious communities or Catholic social organisations,, all over Italy. In connection will] the convents many" new orphanages have been founded and existing institutions onlarged. But tens of thousands of. the children are not gathered together in orphanages but, where the mother survives or some other relative can give, the child a ' home, help is given and education provided a! a meal day school. There, has been a very widespread and successful endeavor lo train the children (if" the '•workers'-. peasants for 1 heir future.. self-support-.- - Many farm schools lone been 'organised, "and in several districts a plan is at work by which the boys, when they become men, will acquire as their own a cottage farm. : Others are learning trades in technical schools. ■ '

Ad American ''Apologia". —Reference in Father O'Neill's lecture (reprinted in 'last week's issue, of the Tabthffii&o' a Collet in Australia, haincd after : Cardinal Newman serves as a reminder of another eminent convert, whose? '"'apologia'' /caused a sensation in America about the middle of the 'la£t century (writes ? "Lim .';'*iit the .1/ mister X e ws for December 10). ;Move .than:' seventy-one years ago— on-October ■> bl,* "JBs3—-Levi Silli.'man 'Won, D.D., no fo thai date Bishop . of;, North,CarolipA, ll;S;'A..'Hiwas solemnly deposed.'lvy fife r G i OTiyenl.ion of the Fpisoopah Church;'' silting "in New York;., his olt'ence. being .tjiat;, lie. Had been received into the Catholic' Church in Rome on Christinas ( Day; 1852;. Dr. !vcs .Had been deeply influenced by : the. Tractarian Movement -in,.England and ]iis. :^W^/Aro/^rt', Mind, written after his conversion,'- mightdie called an American • "Apologia^'^which tells;of the struggles and uncertainties of a perturbed soul, just 'as ' Cardinal'., Newman's more famous r work ' did in 'his case.' Dr. Ives, who belonged"; to an . old Puritan stock, must : have been a model Protestant Bishop, as .he showed., great; con* corn for the, poor 'trie'jowly, the absence, of the love of whom 'his Church was one of his early stumbling-blocks. . As.,in r. the rise of Cardinal Newman, the Writings of the Fathers exercised great-'influence" in drawing him to' Rome; He had no correspondence with Catholics on the subject of his'doubts

and his apologia was written without help of any kind. He states that he consulted the following■. hollo. authors—-Passaglia’s j ~ ■ ;— ~ ’f Commentary. ' Perrbnc’s Pradonesh and Cardinal Mains’ hook on the ! Fathers. T)r; lyes died in 1867. The Rev..' W. ,B.7Hhnrion|a native of Limerick, edited Trials of a Mind’, which was published at 15 : cents’by the (Jatholic Truth Society of Canada,, which also brought out a neat booklet entitled Mcmoi't of a- Convert, with a short but pregnant preface by Dr. F. J. Kinsman, one of the latest American convert Bishops:- . . • '

Porto Rico's First Catholic Church.—Qne of the most ancient churches in the Western' Hemisphere, held by many to be the second oldest in the two Americas, is to be restored and honored as one of the shrines of the Catholic Church in the New World, according? to the plan now being perfected, .by; Senor Gabriel Corre. a native and resident of San. German, Porto Rico, the little village where the church stands. A commission 'is being' formed which will soon 'seek.' authorisation from Right Rev. George.J. Caruana, Bishop of Porto Rico. The church, called the Porta Coeli (the Gate ..of- Heaven),- was., built- by Dominican missionaries in 1537, forty-five years after the discovery of "America. ' It stands oh a little knoll overlooking the'.village and is reached by twenty-seven decaying brick and stone steps from the .street}below. Adjoining it on the left is the ruined front wall of the old monastery of the Dominican Fathers. The rest of : the ; . monastery has disappeared. The church .'.is, built in. the typical style of the old Spanish churches"of Latin America and is made of brick and plaster. It. is still strong,, its solid walls, having withstood the wear of time and storms, and .the shock of earthquakes for. nearly four centuries. The> afc andly ceiling > are .;.- of native woods and great plain pillars of native hardwood support the roof and decorate the tilde interior. - The town of; San German was founded by Diego Columbus, the ; son of the discoverer of America, in 1512. It stands but -'a,; few miles from the sea in the hill country of southwestern Porto Rico. In early days it was a military stronghold and a training camp for Spanish soldiers in the West .Indies. ■ The people of; the town awl. the surrounding. 1 country', are now,.most of them,] day-laborers in' the great . siigar : plarit lions' of +l}|' district;"* Spanish Augus'tiniahsare in. charge of the parish. '-''''Mass 'is shid no; longer ' in the old church of Porta Goeli. The wooden altar has been 'dismantled and .■■■ the statues-removed ' from 1 their niches :•'/ :Miiss/ for the; villages is said .instead in a larger church dn the; centre of; the town. •: l The only. use to which Porta., Coeli is now' put- is to house.^tho' '/'Svuiday ' School classes 1 of: the l vilia-g^ ; ■, /'.'.'''■■}][''.■, ,\ ■• ..■■'■■' • ; ' ■ r ' l ■>■■■'! " •.:'.;';