OUR ROMAN LETTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VIII, Issue 416, 1 April 1881, Page 19

OUR ROMAN LETTER.

(From onr own Correspondent.) The Feast of the Chair of Peter was celebrated at the Vatican Basilica (where Mass was sung by Cardinal Borrorneo at the Altar of the Chair), and also at the Ostrian Cemetery, situate a little beyond St. Agnes' Church, on the Porta Pia Road. This Ostrian Cemetery is most ancient, part of it being of the first century, and containing a chair hewn in the tufa, where St. Peter himself sat. This cemetery, the precise site of which was long a subject of investigation, was discovered two or three years ago by Monsignor Crostarosa, who searched for it in the places suggested by the wiitings of Professor De Uossi, the prince of living Christian archaeologists. These wonderful catacombs were illuminated on the 18th and 21st of January, and opened to the public. Masses were said on both days in the catacombs for tb.e first time for centuries. The Committe of Cardinals appointed to examine the questions of jurisdiction brtween the English and Scotch bishops and some of the religious Orders, have held five sittings (each 1 of four hours duration), the last of which was on the 17th January, and have sent in their report to the Pope, who in due time will make known his decision. I may mention that; Cardinals Bilio and Panebianco (both on the Committee) are Regulars, but no houses of their Orders are in Great Britain. Cardinals Franzelin and Martinelli, and other Cardinals belonging to religious Orders, having houses in England or Scotland were not on the Committee. The decision of his Holiness on the question is awaited with anxiety. The Generals and Procurators General of Orders, who are now in Rome, ha.d special audience of the Pope last week, and were received by Leo XIII with much sympathy for the sufferings of the Orders in France. A petition to the Italian Parliament, praying for the rejection of the Divorce Bill introduced by the Government, is prepared by the Catholic Associations and signed by influential persons in a.ll parts of the kingdom, and will be presented by Duke Salviati, the President of the Italian Catholic Societies in Italy. It is not expected that it will produce on the Parliament much effect, but it will at least show to the world that the Catholics of Italy are generally opposed to the legalization of divorce. The petitioners state :—": — " We, Italian Catholics, detest divorce with all our heart, and obeying as is just the teachings of the Church and her Supreme Head, demand that the sanctity of the sacrament shall not be violated among us, and that the stability of marriages, enacted by express will of its Divine Founder, shall be protected. In name of religion and the common weal we ask that no permission for divorce be granted in aDy case . Once the door be opened to divorce fhere will be no longer a check or restraint possible, and the most fatal results will follow." The petitioners conclude by pointing out that divorce will lead to family discord, shake the basis on which society rests, and ruin the country. General Melesoff, Director of the Public Worship Department in Russia, is expected in Rom c on the sth of February, to conclude a treaty or concord at between Russia and the Vatican. A new bank will be opened in a few days in Rome in the Piazza di Spagna, by two Catholic gentlemen of good families and fortunes. They are Mr. Francis Montague Handley, Private Chamberlain di Spada c Cappa to Leo XIII., and Mr. Bexley Vansittart, Chamberlain d' onore di Spada c Cappa. Both gentlemen are well known in Roman society. Mr. Handley is a sculptor of very considerable talent, and is no mean artist with the brush. Mr. Vansittart is a skilful chessplayer, and has much practical experience in finance. They will probably fill the vacancy occasioned by the disgraceful bankruptcy of Mr. Brown, and the somewhat less reprehensible failure of Dumaresq and Co. The Pope has already blessed the enterprise of his chamberlains, Messrs. Handley and Vansittart, Cardinal Bonomeo, Marchese Sacchetti, Duke Salviati, Prince Rospigliosi, Prince Borghese, and Count Pecci, with others, have formed a committee for the purpose of having a requiem mass for the soul of Pius IX. celebrated in the magnificent church of the Twelve Apostles, in the first week of February. Dr. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, is engaged in preparing a process for the canonization of Dermod O' Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, who was martyred in Dublin m 1583, by the English Governor of Ireland. Archbishop O'Hurley was brutally tortured by orders of the Protestant psoudo Archbishop, Loftus, ancestor of the Marquises of Ely. The Pope received a number of visitors this week, including the representatives of the Catholic Press of Madrid, and Mr. Mackey. the Californian millionaire.