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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 46, 11 March 1887, Page 18

Addressing a temperance meeting at Blackburn, the Bishop of Salford said the moral condition of English society, both with respect to divorce and impurity, dishonesty and intemperance was far lower than was generally supposed. ' The Pope has signified his intention of co-operating in the celebration of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America, by collecting and publishing all documents in the Vatican Library referring to or in any way connected with the history of that discovery. There is' no estimating the value of such a publication. In France there are four holidays of obligation : Christmas, the Ascension, the Assumption and All Saints. In England there are eight • The Circumcision, the Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and, SS. Peter and Paul in addition to the four observed in Francp. Ireland has ten which include the eight observed in England, and with them the Annunciation and St. Patrick's Day. A correspondent writes from Naples to the Time.? : — " I have to announce the arrival of the Zampognari. who have come with their rude bagpipes to celebrate ' Natale,' or the advent of Jesus Christ They tell us too by their presence that another year is drawing to its' close, and clad in their shaggy sheepskins they ask us to believe that it is Christmas. Truth to say the Zampognari are only preluding the birth of Christ. They are here now to celebrate the most miraculous fete of the Church, that of the Madonna Immacolata and for nine days we shall have our ears dinned with the wild and shrill music of the Abruzzi shepherds. As regards the customs of a people rendered venerable by the observances of centuries, I am a strict Conservative, and have got a small picture of the Madonna in my hall, surrounded with lights, before which the shepherds will play every morning for the better part of the month. They will offend only my ears, but they will gratify the religious sentiment of many who come to listen and to pray."