GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 217, 22 June 1877, Page 17

GENERAL NEWS.

If any one thinks that the Catholic Church cannot live, prosper, and civilise in this free country, let him watch how Lent is observed in the two or three cities which constitute the commercial metropolis of America. In the morning at Mass, in the evenings at the regular lectures, at the Rosary, at the Stations of the Cross, at the j other devotions of the season, the churches are crowded with devout j men. Certainly there are noble priests in New York and Brooklyn, [ and as certainly are their flocks worth working for by prayer, study, | and sacrifice. — If. Y. Tablet. Dr. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, is editing the Life and Letters of the late Very Rev. James Maher, D.D., parish priest of Graigue (Carlow), his kinsman, who was uncle to the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin. Dr. Maher'a career covered a long and deeply interesting period of the modern history of the Irish Church, from the accession of his bishop, the illustrious Dr. Doyle, to the overthrow of the Irish Protestant Church ; nor was his voice or his pen ever quiescent during that hah 9 century. The volume -will form an interesting contribution to the modern history of Ireland. The "Very Rev. Bernard Keenan, pastor of St. Mary's of the Assumption, Lancaster, Pa., died at his residence, Lancaster, on the 19th Feb. Father Keenan was remarkable as being, perhaps, the oldest priest in this country, having attained the venerable age of 98. "Very Rev. Bernard Keenan was a native of Tyrone, Ireland, and landed in this country at Baltimore, in 1820. He soon afterwards received Holy Orders, and for some years taught as a professor in the College of Mount St. Mary's, Emmittsburg, Md., where the present Cardinal Archbishop of New York was one of his class. Gratefully remembering this fact, Cardinal McCloskey, accompanied by other distinguished clergymen, paid a visit to his former professor, at Lancaster, last autumn. In 1823 Father Keenan was appointed to the Lancaster Mission, and has since been pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Chuich in that city. For fifty-four years hi 3 untiring labors in every good cause won the love of every class and every denomination, and the announcement of his decease will spread sorrow throughout the community. The reputation of Father Keenan was national, indeed, for he was long known as the oldest priest in the Catholic Church. He and the late Bishop Bowman, of the Episcopal Church, also a resident of Lancaster, were warm friends. As one of the founders of the free school system in Pennsylvania, and as a shining exemplar of the great truths he taught, the memory of Father Keenan will ever be held in profound veneration. If Hiram Taylor, of North Hampton, N. H., had not been a merciful man who was merciful to his beasts, the probabilities are that his oxen would not have remained for two hours during a bitter winter's night holding back a heavy load of wood that, had they advanced a foot, would have passed over his body and killed him. He had fallen from his load, and one arm caught under the runner so that he could not move, but he kept the cattle quiet till assistance by good fortune arrived. There are Blue Books, Red Books, Yellow Books, and Green Books, in any of which we should not object to be mentioned, but Heaven forfend that we should ever find our names recorded in the '•Black Book," the Register of Habitual Criminals, which lias been drawn up in England, in pursuance of two Acts passed in 1869 and 1871, and which contains the names and personal descriptions of no fewer than 12,174 individuals, the elite of the criminal Lists of convicted persons are kept at each of Her "^Majesty's prisons ; the gross number of known criminals amounts to nearly 1 80,000 j and when an offender has been twice convicted, a place is found for his or her name in the " Black Book." On St. Patrick's Day a demonstration upon an extensive scale was made in the city of Londonderry, in commemoration of the anniversary of Ireland's Patron Saint. Several thousand persons took part. A dreadful outrage was attempted to be perpetrated upon the processionists. Just as they were approaching that portion of the city wall between Walker's Pillar and the site of the Apprentice Boys' Hall, which is partially built, the police discovered a large earthenware jar, charged with powder and scraps of hard stones, with a fuse attached. One or two persons, known to be hostile to the demonstration, had been seen in the locality, and thus the police were attracted to the spot. The affair has caused much sensation. It must be zemembered that the Cardinal's Red Hat is something more than a mere article of costume made according to an ancient model, like, let us say, the parti-coloured coats of the Swiss Guard. Among " other grave matters " decided upon at the 13th General Council held by Innocent IV., 1245, when several Cardinals, three Patriarchs, and 140 Bishops were present, together with Baldwin 11., Emperor of the East, aad the Ambassadors of France and England, it was decreed that henceforth the Cardinals, as a special distinction of honour, should wear a red hat of the now well-known form, the colour being prescribed as a

symbol and constant remembrance to them that they were at all times to be prepared to shed their blood in the defence of ecclesiastical liberty and that of the Christian people. Up to this time the red colour had been exclusively reserved to the Pontiffs, who had occasionally accorded it to some Legate a latere, and it was not until 50 years later that Boniface VIII. directed that the Cardinals should be entirely dressed in red, or, to express it more correctly, in the sacred purple, to " render their dignity more conspicuous. The Hat, also, was placed as a special distinction above each Cardinal's coat-of-arms, and Innocent X. decreed that it should appear there in exclusion of, and superior to, any other symbol of dignity or nobility to which any individual Cardinals might by birth or otherwise be entitled, "solo pileo de pretioso Ohristi sanguine rubente insigniti et decorati" The Biretta was not given until the time of Paul 11., more than 200 years after the use of the Hat was decreed. — Mail. In the Chinese quarter of San Francisco there is a fine Maltese cat that has developed the habit of indulging in opium smoking. She makes her headquarters at one of the principal dens of the locality, and perching herself in front of the recumbent smoker, eagerly inhales the smoke escaping from his nostrils and mouth. She will keep her position for two or three hours, until, overcome by the fumes, she rolls herself up in a ball and sleeps oS the effects of the drug. Scotch landowners are at present making extensive plantations of trees. 20,000 acres of new trees are to be added to the 40,000 | already existing on an estate of Lord Seafield, and other similar plantations are being made of proportionate importance.

Persons desirous of finding comfortable and cheerful accommodation in a healthy situation, will do well to inquire at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, in Russell-street, where there is at present an opening for a few boarders. Messrs. Sheedy Brothers are now engaged in turning out most choice stocks of hams and bacon. The first-named articles, as cured by this firm, are acknowledged on all hands to be equal to the famous Limerick hams, so much sought after in the old country. The bacon prepared by them is also of very excellent quality, and may be had plain or smoked, to suit the requirements of all tastes. The goods in question are to be found at the establishments of all better class grocers, where they may be obtained on inquiry. Messrs. Goldstein & Moller have become the purchasers of the jewellery establishment lately carried on by Messrs. Harrop and Neill in Princes-street, Dunedin. The stock is a very fine one, and contains an unrivalled selection of silver and electro-plated ware, as well as gold and silver watches, and all the other articles included in the trade. The famous machinery also, which enabled the late owners to execute in such good style cups and medals, aud other matters pertaining to their art, has been acquired by the firm alluded to, so that they are prepared to furnish everything connected with the jeweller's and silversmith's calling, manufactured with the utmost taste, and at the most reasonable prices. Messes. Fbed. Chapitax and E. C. Strodk have entered into partnership as barristers and solicitors.