CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 24, 7 October 1887, Page 5

CATHOLIC NEWS.

Thb Catholics of Holland have formed a central committee at Amsterdam, and local ones in all their chief towns to forward gifts to the Pope, after they have been exhibited locally and in the Dutch capital. A Dutch pilgrimage will be received at the Vatican at the end of next April. The pilgrimage has been organised by a committee comprising two representatives from each diocese and two officers of the Pontifical Zouaves. Several bishops will accompany the pilgrims to Borne.

Mother Catherine, of the Convent of Mercy, Dover, N.H., has just been elected Mother Superior of all the Convents of Mercy in the diocese of Manchester, N.H. Some years ago she filled for three years the same office in the diocese of Portland, Me, when that diocese comprised the States of Maine and New Hampshire. Many converts from Judaism, Episcopal ianism, and Methodism were made during a recent mission at Gabriel's Church, New York, in which the Jesuits were active workers.

Lately, during a pilgrimage of the people of Nicolet diocese, having at their head their honoured bishop.three miracles were wrought in the sanctuary at Beaupre. A man who bad had bis knee cut with a blow from an axe, and who could not walk, was completely healed. A deaf and dumb child of five years of age suddenly recovered its hearing. A little girl of eleven years of age, whose side was paralysed, was restored to perfect health.

The Nun of Kenmare has opened a new summer retreat for working girls on the brow of the palisades at Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The home, which has been named " Paradise House,"' is situated in Paradise Park.

The Church of St. Paul, 18 miles from Fort Madison, lowa, was totally destroyed by a cyclone which lately swept over that section. Herr Chelius, lieutenant of the Berlin Hussars of the Guard, has been nominated by his Holiness Commander of the Order of Pius IX. Herr Chelius belongs to an ancient Catholic family, who, during the Kulturkampf in Baden, made great sacrifices for the cause of their faith. He is affianced to the daughter of Herr Puttkamer, the present Prussian Prime Minister.

The corner-stone of the first German Catholic Church in Orange, N. J., was laid recently by Bishop Wigger, assisted by many priests of the diocese.

Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn, ia the senior Catholic prelate of America. He has worn the purple for 34 years. In appointing Bißhop Meurin, S.J., to the Bishopric of Port Louis in the place of Bishop Scarisbrick, who has resigned, the Holy See, says the Weekly Register, has given effect to a decision, registered some months ago, that this important and well-endowed see should be transferred from the Benedictines, who have supplied its last five bishops, to the Jesuits. Bishop Scarisbrick, who has done long and good service, has for some time meditated the step now finally taken, and his return to England, where his presence will be very welcome to his many friends, will not be long delayed. The new bishop, who was for many years Vicar Apostolic of Bombay, though born in Germany is of French extraction, his father being a native of Lille. A magnificent golden chalice, in the Gothic fifteenth century style, has been executed at Buda-Pesth as an offering to the Holy Father on the occasion of his Sacerdotal Jubilee. The delicate chasings, the exquisite enamels, and the artistic ensemble of the work are very remarkable. It is adorned with 120 pearls, and with representations of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of Hungary ; of the Pontifical tiara, and of the arms of Hungary. " Bedemisti nos Deo in sanguine tua " is the inscription, in Gothic letters, upon the base. The first university of learning in America was established by Archbishop Jerome de Loaysa, a Dominican, in Lima, Peru, in 1551, ninety years before the foundation of Harvard near Boston. The University of Lima was recognised and assisted by the Spanish home gyvernment, and was especially intended for the education of the Indians.

Moritz Moies, a Jew, was baptised recently in the Catholic faith by the Bey. P. Decker, of Milwaukee, at St. Anthony '■ Church. His father is a rabbi at Galheim, Bavaria. Padre Antcnio Riccardi, one of Dom Bosco's missionaries in Patagonia, writes from Carmen that the various Indian tribes of the Bio Negro are engaged in preparing several objects of native make and use as their offering to the Sovereign Pontiff. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd are about to found a house of their Order in Kansas City, Mo.

On the 27th of August eighteen young priests were to leave the American College of the University of Louvain for New York, and thence take their way to the Rocky Mountains. The immense territory of Montana will be divided amongst them in parishes of vast extent but sparse population. The town of Helena, the seat of the bishop, has a population of but 700 or 800 inhabitants.

A conference of all the Catholic bishops of Prussia assembled at Fulda on Wednesday August 2ud. The deliberations of the prelates were opened with the celebration of divine service in St. Boniface crypt.

There is a rumour abroad that Archbishop Labastida, of Mexico, will soon be made a cardinal.

The school- children of Ottawa, under the direction of the Christian Brothers, are signing an address of congratulation to the Pope in honour of his Jubilee year. Half a million children attending schools under the direction of the Christian Brothers throughout the world will also sign addresses. The children will make a Jubilee offering to the Pope.

The London Guardian contains the following interesting note on the Catholic Church in Holland :—": — " We are accustomed to associate the idea of Protestantism very strongly with Holland, and the visitor to that country fresh from reading Matley would naturally expect to find nothing but signs of the Reformation. Tet a tourist passing through the Netherlands will be surprised by the evidences that meet his eyes of the strong position that the Roman Catholic Church has there at the present day. The large number of priests and religious that he sees in the streets, and the importance of the modern churches belonging to the Roman communion, will show him that a considerable proportion of the inhabitants still hold to the ante- Reformation faith, or have been won over to Rome from the cold and cheerless Calvinism that is the form of Protestantism that holds sway in Holland. Tnere are a few congregations of the Jansenist Church and some of the Lutheran in some of the large towns, but practically the people are divided between Calvinistic Protestantism and Romanism. A splendid altar, costing 16,000 dols, was lately presented to the Church of St. Fancois de Sales, Walnut City, Cincinnati, by Mr. and Mrs. Kleine, members of the congregation. The advocates of plain chant or Ccacilian music in church services are rejoicing over the new Mass that Gounod composed in honour of Joan of Arc, and which was performed on Sunday, July 24, in the cathedral of Rheims, in the presence of Cardinal Langenieox the Papal Nuncio, and a great gathering of bishops and musical celebrities.

By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, ratified by his Holiness Leo XIII. the inscription upon the registers of the names of those enrolled in the Confraternity of Our Bles3ed Lady of Mount Carmel has been made obligatory. This formality will, it is hoped, inspire more esteem for the scapular by rendering the engagement to wear it more solemn.

During the year ending July 28, 1887, forty -four converts were admitted to baptism in St. Augustine's Church, for coloured Catholics, Louisville, Ky., of which the Rev. John P. White has pastoral charge.

Mgr Persico was present at the celebration of the feast of St. Dominic in St. Saviour's, Newry. The panegyric of St. Dominic was preached byiheßev. E. H. Fitzgerald, 0.P., prior, Dundalk, who took as his text, " God ia wonderful in His saints." The sacred edifice was thronged to its utmost limits by a large and devout congregation. At the conclusion of the devotions, Monsignor Persico addressed a few touching words to the congregation, and afterwards imparted the Papal blessing. His Lordship the Most Rev. Dr. M'Givern, Coadjutor Bishop of the diocese, presided during the devotions.

An interesting ceremony is about to take place at Lindisfarne (Holy Island), one of the most picturesque spots on the Northumbrian coast. The Catholics of the North, with small contingents from other parts of the country and from Ireland, are going thither on a pilgrimage to celebrate the twelfth centenary of the death of St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of Lindisfarne, Chester-le-Street, and Durham. The pilgrims will tramp barefooted for three miles and a quarter over wet sands — the men first and t the women behind. In some places they will probably have to wade almost knee-deep in 'he Bea.

A new species of devotion has been introduced. Ifc originated from an incident in the life of the great St. Thomas of Aquin, who assailed with temptations in one of his ecstacies, triumphed therein, and was visited by two Angels who girt his waist with a liven cord. Thence was established the Confraternity of the " Blessed Girdle of St Thomas, or the Angelic warfare." It is enriched with many indulgences. The way to become a member is : Get a St, Thomas Cord blessed by a Dominican Father (or by a secular priest authorised to bless by the Provincial of that Order), give your name to be registered, and say fifteen Hail Marys every day.

Rough ok Piles.— Why suffer piles 1 immediate relief and complete cure guaranteed. Ask for " Rough on Piles." Sure cure for itching, protruding, bleeding, or any form of piles. The Berlin Tageilett says it has information that General Boulanger is concerned in an intrigue with the Russian Ambassador, who is now staying at Royal, near Boulanger'i residence, and that the Russian Government, baing convinced that BoulangeT will return to power, is hounding him on to take concerted action with Russia against Germany. It predicts an early state of anarcny in France, I and the establishment of a reign of terror, when it is certain, says the paper, the gap in the Vosges will play the roll of safety-valve, for which emergency Germany must be ready. A Standard Odessa despatch states that a British subject, Dr Dillon, has been arrested for sitting on the same seat in a public tramcar with the governor of the city, whom he did not know. He was subsequently released, but was threatened with expulsion. The governor publicly made some offensive remarks respecting English* men.