General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 238, 23 November 1877, Page 13

General News.

IHE Home correspondent of tlie London Tabh-t writes- "The frequent and impudent relations made by divers Italian and 'foreign newspapers concerning tbe attitude of the Vatican have at last met with an authoritative disclaimer. It is formally denied that any reunions of Cardinals have been held to make preparations for a future Conclave, or to lay down inles for the regulation of the Kacred College m the event of a vacancy in tho Pontificate. The statements that the Cardinals have determined under certain circumstances to alter the policy hitherto followed by the Holy See have likewise been nietby a formal contradiction. It is declared that the principles piofesscd by the \atican. and based upon truth and justice and'not upon expediency, are immutable, that tbe maxims enounced in the hyllahiw, the Vatican Council, and in tbe Pontifical acts, arc of force not only to-day but for all time, by the Divine aid. -will be renewed ngain and again, ami will rely for efficacy upon the Divine aid alone Ihe rights of the Holy Sec will not be surrendered to violence nor V: n »y COI "l>i-omiKe be accepted by the Kacred College now or beivotter Ihe principles which guide the Vatican do riot change with the vicissitudes of the world, and God will protect us He thinks lit the interests ot truth and of the Church. No accommodation, direct or indirect, will be made with those who hypocritically or otherwise have been partners in the spoliation of the Church and have trampled under foot all rights sacred and divine." «"»l»«-u Some of the so-called Liberal papers reported that His Holiness lope :lms IX showed himself nuch concerned about the accident which lately happened to the Duke- of Aosta, who was thrown out of Ins carnasre while riding. In tl is regard the Unit it Cattoh-m rew'!?i \ W o. nre T , llot nt »U sari risetl at such reports. The Holy Jather loves the Duke of Aosta f<.r more than one reason, because he is worthy ot his name, Amadm*; because he has become a victim of revolution m Spain, where Zorilla proved himself his Min^hotti • because the loss of his virtuous consort has thrown him into the greatest affliction, and finally because at the Episcopal Jubilee the Duke of Aosta manifested with the courage and magnanimity of a prince the ardor of his love for the Vicar of Christ, 'ihe Holy Father loves not only the Duke of Aosta Lut all the members of the house of !>avor, and bitterly regrets that he cannot show this affection openly His paternal heart still cherishes the dear memory of Charles Albert ot the qiieeiiK Mary Theresa and Adelaide, and, like David, he prays to the Lord a thousand times: 'Bare, O save my son Absalom.' 1 ins IX is rejoiced to love m the Duke of Aosta the grandson of the pius Charles Albert, and to know that he visits the churches and does not shrink from openly confessing himself a Catholic " A poor woman, aged eighty -two, went to one of the priests of JS C +TJ° U £ !U! U1 v ?P au \S* V 0 him «■ I>»™ of 8,000 francs, to be In C S yl ; ltll f; 1S h ? V Offcrh1 -' s^ iu S that if she should ; an ,W easily hud a home with the "Little Sisters of the i t?\ I' 0 ° ffonil S being made to the Holy Father with the above details be shed tears and aePuscd to accept the gift, until the good priest assured him that his refusal would inflict severe pain on the generous heart of tbe offeier. His Holinoss ndded : "Tell tho poor woman that the poor old man of the Vatican blesses her and will pray tor her. ' ' According to a Paris paper, a French lady of rank has iv.st died, at tho age of eighty-four, who has been accustomed for the last thirty years to smoke a pipe twice a day as a penance. In IS-F> she married a wealthy sea captain, and obtained from him a promi.se to abandon smoking, of which he was extremely fond. He kent his word, but died shortly after from regret— so it is alleged. His widow was so over A-hclme<l with grief and remorse that from that time to the day ot her death she smoked a couple of pipes a day, and desired at her death that her pipe should be buried with her

Some months ago several wealthy Corsicans offered, the Pope two palaces, one at Bnstia and the other at Ajaccio. This offer was made m the belief that the future Conclave will he held outside of Borne, and recently the palaces were again placed at the disposal of the Holy Jathcr. He declined gratefully, but resolutely, saving that it was almost a matter of certainty that the Conclave would be held at the Vatican. The London World says that the Pope never laughed so heartily as when he read in an Italian paper the translation of an article of the Jtrpttbligue I'rancahe, stating that Pio Nouo had been dead fora long time, and that the cardinals had put in bis place a priest whb, by his resemblance to the late Pope, could play the role of the defunct. Ihe Pope was so clelightgd that he exclaimed : " Our Catholic papers are nevor so witty and amusing ! " and he ordered a subscription for hve years to be takan in his own name to the Rejmbllqm Franca w. We shall see," he added, " who will last the longer, the Gambettist paper or I." It is a sic, aificant fact of common occurrence that the opponents of the Church are favourable to Catholic education. The French statesman, Thicrs, whose recent death has delivered France from a great embarrassment, published in 1848 the following significant words m a manifesto to his constituents on the occasion of an approaching election :— « It has always been my conviction that a positive religion, Divine worship, and a clergy, are necessary, and that here the ancient institutions are the best. To-day, when all social ideas are about to be reversed, and every village 'receives a schoolmaster who is an infidel as well as a communist, I consider the parish priest indispensable for the rectification of the public sentiment. Since the University is in the hands of infidels and socialists, and is teaching our youth a ?ittle of mathematics, of physical and natural science, with a vast amount of demagogy, I sec no other remedy but the free. Uom to give public instruction (independent of the Government). Ihe instruction given by the clergy, wHch I do not like, seems to me, nevertheless, for weighty reasons, better than what has of late attempted to replace it. My resistance is directed where the enemy is to be found. This enemy is demagog}', and I shall he the last to sacrifice before it the last bulwark of social order, the Catholic religion. — Arc Man i. A boy named Frank Hanafin, who was recently injured in a sawmill at Auburn, N. V., and had been almost skinned alive, has been supplied with a new skin by taking pieces from the arms of other boys. In the accident a very large wound was made in his back, the surface being one mass of red, quivering flesh, though healthy in appearance, llie wound, ot course, was very sensitive, and the operation must have been very painful to him. Drs. Picot and Maynavd and an assistant performed tbe operation, around the bed were gathered six or eight boys, from eight to fi ' een years of age, from whos«e arm had been taken, or was to be taken, the skin needed to replace that which was lost. As each was called on by the doctor, he came forward, and bearing his arm, a small piece of sl-in was skilfully cut out with tho laiicet and gently placed upon the raw flesh. About thirty pieces iv all were so put on. n « A ,? AC ? of V nhonrd of despotism is being perpetrated against a Catholic priest by a Prussian judge. Parish priest Gieburowski, of the province of Posen, went to Home at the time of the Pope's Jubi- ' le< ?\ Dimil S "is absence another priest unknoM-n to his congregation said Mass in the parish church. This " unlay "ul " act was denounced to the Government by a base informer. What did the authorities do/ lucy summoned the llev. Gieburowski, and demanded to know the name ot the priest who had transgressed the May laws durin" his absence. The reverend gentleman refused to obey their command whereupon he was immediately arrested, and informed hy the Jud^e •ot Aosten that he would be kept in prison until he revealed the name axu 1111 C" 11CS * wbo lmd transgressed the May laws during his absence. As the Key. Gieburowski will never be so base as to betray another priest, who is innocent before God and the whole civilised world, ho is sure, if the sentence of the judge is not overruled, to be imprisoned tor the rest of his life ! Do worse things happen in ltossia / v n lHE l^ u ''"V L'hurvhman, a Protestant paper, says, very frankly, Our public schools have no moral teaching at all ; their tendency is to produce intellectual rascals of the sharpest kind. Intellectual training alone never did aiid never will produce honest God-fearin« men. ° The rapid and almost gigantic increase of the population of London is beginning to cause a little uneasiness to those concerned in the management of the water supply of the mighty city. We learn from a paper recently read by Mr. lhamwell, a man of repute in the scientific world, before the Economic Science Section of the British Association at Plymouth, that whilst in 1874 the population of London was 3 ) ('iu5 l (KH) living in 511,000 honses, in the brief space of something less than two years it has grown to 3,706,000, living in 533,000 houses, lor this huge community the supply required each day reaches the enormous quantity of 132,500.000 gallons. For a week this would amount to over 900,000,000 gallons. Mlts. Gen. Khermax docs not approve of " round dancin" " and docs not allow her daughters to participate in it. She says •— " The advocates of this dance have had their way long enough— absorbing all entertainments— sneering upon and ridiculing those who quietly decline to participate. They have been ridiculing, aiul scornin'r, and slighting every xnode&t and obedient girl, who failed to participate with them these many years." Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster king-at-arms, writes to a Paris paper concerning the vexed question of MacMahon's ancestors : " Ireland is too proud of the great names she has contributed to the military glory of France, such as Sarsfiekl, Mahony, Thomond, and MacMahon not to be interested in establishing their Irish descent. Now, Mahon' second son of Mortogh O-Brien, King of Ireland, who died at Lismore ?i)-i MmT A T L SJ"? a H'randson of the famous Brian Boroimhe (killed JOl4, on defeating the Danes at Clontarf), fouuded the Mac. Mahon branch chiefs of Corcaviskin and Clonderalaw, county Clare Ihese MacMahon-s were the ancestors of Jean Baptise MacMahon' the Marshal s grandfather, who hecame Seigneur of Eguilly, and who by a document, dated 174<J, established his descent froiu the O'Briens Kings ot Ireland, ' ' '