Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 13, 20 July 1888, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Oub attention has been drawn to an article in this TM Ctntem- Review entitled, — " The Power behind the Pope ; perary Revierc, The story of Lasserre's version," with a request that fob may tmis weshould giveour opinion of it. We comply with this YBA.R. request regretting that there arefoundm nwhoundeitake to write with great confidence on subjects which they do not understand. This article has been written by William Wright D.D., is in j last in the May number of the Contemporary this year, and begins at page 748. La9Berra some years ago wro'e, a charming hook called " Notre Dame de Lourdes," which his had an enormous sals, and, which, whilst making nib fortune.has made his name famousSome tima afterwards Lisserre published a translation into French of the Gospels. This, as might be expected from his literary abilities and acquirements, proved to be also a charming work. It wa? published with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Paris and secured the applause of maay Bishops and others in France. A copy was seat to His Holiness, who authorised Cardinal Jacobini to express to thu author His Holiness' approval of " the object with which you have been inspired in the execution and publication of that work, so full of interest." Nevertheless, this translation after due examination by the Congregation of the Index has been placed on the list of prohibited books, and the Decree ordering this to be done has been approved of by Leo XIII., and ordered by his Holiness to be published. William Wright, D.D., whom we should call the rev. reviewer, if we were certain of his being a clergy nun, gives this Decree in Latin, t ■_> which he subjuics an English translation, which bears on the face of it how little qualified he is to criticisa a document originally written in Latin, for he translates tho words a secretis, " secret councils," instead of secretary. But let this pass. la the last page, however, are to be found the real points abjut which the reviewer is principally interested. He says " Any additional words from me would only lessen the effect of this astounding Decree. A few points however, deserve consideration, (a) Does the Decree plase the Pofe in the Index 1 The Pope publicly and officially sanctioned and approved the book and its preface, and hia letter accompanies all the copies." Our answer is that the Pope is not in the ludex ; and ths Pope has not publicly and offici illy sanction id and approved the book and its preface. The Pope expresses his approval of the object with which the author bad been inspired in the execution of the work, and he makes known to the author his earnest desire that the object he pursues may be fully attained. That is all. There is no approval whatever of either the book or its preface. The Pope carefully abstains from saying a single word concerning the correctness of either the translation or the preface to it, but confines himself entirely t» an approval of the object the translator had in view, viz. the more general reading of the Gospels by the French Catholics— a very good and holy and desirable object. The Pope nevar gives his approbation to a book without having it first examined by the established authorities. (J) " How does the infallibility stand io tha translation ?" asks Dr. Wright. Our answer is— the infallibility, is not in the least involved, and this Dr Wright would at once perceite if he understood the Catholic doctrine on the subject, and attended to th^s words of Cardinal Jacobini. (o) Dr. Wright says, "We are told that the Pope is only infallible in the discharge of his teaching office: In officially blessing and applauding Lasserre's version of the Gospels he was acting in discharge of his teaching office. Is not the la Fallible teaching therefore in the Index?" The answer is no : beoanss the Pope was neither blessing nor applauding Lasserre's version of the Gospels. His Holiness merely approved of Lasserre'a object, not of his book ; and he was addressing a private individual, not the universal Church, in reference to either faith or

morals, id) " Can the Congregation of the Index annul the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Paris, given in accordance with the piecree of the Council of Trent ?" Our answer is, yes ; the Congregation of the Index issuing a Decree by order of the Pope can annul the imprimatur of the Archbishop, or of any other Bishop, (c) " Ona thing is certain : there is a power behind the Pope— the Bishops, the Press, and the people— still strong enough to jtrike the Gospels from

the hunds of ttiosa who would read them." Our answer is, if Dr. Wright is so certain of the existence of this power it is singular he has omitted naming the power. The truth ia, Dr. Wright is in a fog : because he has undertaken to write an article on a subject in reference to which he labours under the great disadvantage of not knowing what he writes about, and of not being able to translate the Latin version of an official document.

A wobd or two about the preliminary remark* with db. whiuht's which Dr. Wright introduces the argument to which PRMLMINA.BIHS, we have referred may not beoufcof place. Itiserident

then, that although he speaks highly of the manner in which M . Lasserre's first book, Notre Dame de Lourdes, is written, he has never real it. If he had he woald know that M. Lasserre did not go to Lourdes to obtain his cura, but that he was cured in Pariif where, on the solicitation of M. deFreycinet, he applied the miraculous water sent to him, at M. de Freycinet's request, by M. Peyramale, cure of Lourdes, to his diseased eyes, and was healed immediately. He would also know that before ever M. Lasserre had heard a word about the apparition or the miraculous founUia, a determined attempt had bsen made by the Government authorities to put an end to the pilgrimage and suppress the whole affair. M. Lasserre'a book, it ii true, made the apparicionand the miraculous occurrences immediately following it more widely known, but before it had ever been thought oE ihe pilgrimage was established, and the celebrity or the book is in great part due to that of the sanctuaiy. We may add besides, that, had not miraculous events occurred afterwards, the pilgrimage would long since have corns to a:i end, or at least wjuld have been restricted to the piou9 people of the neighbouring districts. The sanctuary tram its o>vu merits enjoys a celebrity that M. Lasserre never could have coaferred upon ie, and which, much leas, could his book have sustained. But, as to the writer's assertion that M. Laaserre " discovered Jth^ Gospels," ie is a remark that we might expect from one of his particular calibre, wao, plainly without posiassing much knowledge or wisdom of any sort, writes under the influence of strong prejudices concerning things which ha does not understand. Or a similar kind is his remark as to M. Lasserre's translation ot the Greek word inetanteiU— •' repent " rather thau "do penance," at commonly translated by Catholic authorities. Bat points like this had better be left to skilled theologians. Their discussion, at any rate, would come but ill from any ordinary member of tnose sects whose learned men have lately revised the authomed Protestant translation of the Bible, leaving still a good maay points dombtful and, in some disputed points, acknowledging the CDrrectness of the Uatholic interpretation. We are not acquainted with the grounds on which M. Lasaerra'a w >rk has been condemned, but a sufficient caoss would be his giving in any instanca a diff j-ent signification to the words of Holy Writ from that p'jned upon them by competent theologians, and which they are prepared to vindicate by conclusive proofs. We should, however, bo surprised |to learn that M. Lastem had done anything of the sort. As to M. Lasserre's complaining that Holy Scripture is not sufficiently studied by Catholic readers* aid condemning pious publication* in ordinary use, we, for oar pirt, have nothing to find fault with in his doing so, and we hare no hesitation in a winning that on neither of these points has bis work been condemned by the Holy Office. Cardinal Manning, for example, la accredited with a con lecnaation of pious publications a a being, in many instances, an injury to roligion, and no one has thought of questioning his Eminence's decision. But we doubt as to whether Dr, Wright can make very much out of this. The Evangelical world also abounds with pious publications, or " goody books " as they are commonly called. Is it possible, in fact, to avoid the übiquitous tract, and is there, in black and white, anything to be found more silly, sodden, stupid, or more calculated to turn the mind of any one possessed of a grain of wit againat the doctrines so advocated? We may readily admit, moreover, that Catholics as a rula do not sufficiently study Holy Bcripture. But what of the Protestant world itself that makes so great a boast of doing so ? Will Dr. Wright pretend that »ny members of the sects except those who lay claim to " conversion " are habitual students of the Word. We admit, however, that much is lost to Catholics by their neglect, and that, with a more frequent study, they would become more fervent and better instructed in their Catholic faith. It was this object, that of increasing the study of Holy Scripture among them, as we have already said, and this only, of which the Pope approved in connection with M. Lasserre's work.

The movement towards the Catholic Church which A. HOPBFDL has existed in Turkish Armenia for some thirty years motjiment. and which, during the last five or six, has become,

more pronounced, and is still increasing, has aroused the alarm of the schismatic authorities. The schismatic Press is fnl 1 of remonstrances and explanations on the subject, which only serve to prove the manner in which conversions axe extending, and, otherwise, bear falsehood plainly marked on their face. The promise of temporal advantages made by the Catholic patriarch, the connivance and encouragement of the Tnrkiih Government, tbe schemes of the Jesuits ; such are among the causes assigned. Each of them, however, is palpably false, and the true reason is to be sought elsewhere* It may be found in the mercy of God which is leading people, seriously desirous of living Christian lives, out of a lifeless and ineffective system, betraying all the rottenness and drynees of the branch ■eparated from the living tree, into the Church in which alone healthy rigour and true life are to be found. The conversions are taking place, not by individual cases, but by whole communities and villages at a time. It will be a danger to Mohammedanism when it has no longer the deadness of a schism, but the life and strength of the Catholic Church to contend with.

It should be profitable to study the manners, as A brilliant well at home as abroad, of the thriflyand indusexample. trious who are held up as aa example wiich the

great majority of colonists might follow with advantage. Or do the Chinese, contrary to the nature of all tha rett of mankind, chacge their character when they change their climate? If this is not the case, there should be some instruction for us in the recent massacres in the province of Fo Kien. The Dominican mis. sion there has been attacked with great violence, its churches burnt, its converts and adherents slaughtered, and its missionaries put to flight. The French consul had exerted himself to give tbe Fathers some protection but, according to the latest accounts, it was impossible to say how far he could succeed, and an infuriated population were continuing their work of desiruction and threatening not to spare one Ghristian life. Do the Chinese, then, who emigrate leave all their evil disposition behind them, or ia it only the force of circumstances that restrains them for the time being? We should know the whole truth concerning a people whose immigration is advocated as advantageous to the colonies, and whose example is held up to us for imitation.

A tbrt remarkable boy, indeed, is he bred, and, as queer urchins, it would appear, left for the most part to rear, or

raise himself among our Yankee cousins. Tnis boy, it seem", cannot read a tale of adventure but his inspiration is to start off and emulate the heroes described in it. There is a danger in making him acquainted with the details, or imaginary detail^ of life on the distant prairies, or in the back-woods, lest he should incontinently conceive an inordinate desire to possess the scalps of Indians, and set about preparing himself to take them by a career of robbery and violence among bis present neighbour. .And yet— alas, for poor human nature I— it may be asked whether into the nature of any people that are destined to play a great part in the history of the world something of the adventurous spirit and ardent imagination of the Yankee boy must not enter. Distorted end all awry aa his mini is shown *o be, it is perhaps the material out of which the minds are developed of true heroes, of men capable in any walk of life of giving themselves up to something besides a grovelling pursuit of personal interests, and devoting! hern selve3 to the public good— either as states" men, or soldiers, or sailors, or in some other capacity. The devil-may" ciro element, in a word, may but be the ono extreme of a nature of which self-levotioi and heroic service may be the other. The boy whom the dime novel excites to marvellous and hazardous undertakings, as he exists in America, may be a nuisance, and a being to b e relentlessly repressed, but possibly there is more hope for the people that produces him than there ia for the people whose averaga boy can be excited to nothing more heroic than, for example, a lounge at the street-corner with a pipe in his mouth, and other such like relaxations. But let us hope tha boy who wants to take scalps and "fools around " in a blood-thirsty manner generally may not be about to be replaced by a still more astonishing: and much mon; confounding phenomenon. What, for example, are we to think of the boy theologian who is a doctor of divinity while he is cutting his teeth, and learn 3 to spe&k only that he may at once begin to preach sermons ? But Buch a boy as this, more wonderful than the outcome of the dime novel, even wer« he hung from head to foot with Indian scalps, ha just turned up in Kentucky. And do we not know from Topsy that the State in ques ioo produces strange growths? Hia n.ima is Pascal Porter ; he is twelva yews old, and for the last thrxs years he has been eagaged with marvellous success in tne work of the ministry. He could have gone at it, much younger they boast on bis behalf. Discerning nurses in fact, read jis powers while he was yet almost a baby in arms. But modesty or eomothing el*3 induced bis parents to restrain him until he had reached the mature age in

question, when he was launched as a full fledged minister upon the Evangelical waters. Little cares the Rev. Pascal Porter for the scalps of Indians; the soul 3of white men ara the objects of his chase. ' Logical, doctrinal, and deep," so do they describe the rev. Pascal's

ermons. Bat is not the impudence of the young scalp-hunter also nnfathomable, and are not both of them American boys ? If the American boy, with the encouragement of his elders, can take as much noDsense, to be adventurously pursued, out of the Bible, as without the encouragment of his elders and to their great chagrin, be can take out of a dime novel, it is evidently all in the boy. and the boy is the father of the man. Ia it, therefore, to be wondered at if our American cousins bid fair to continue a remarkable people.

A renewal of confidenca took place lately all

A shady through the empire when it was published that the transaction. Nizamof Hyderabad had offered to contribute a sum

of six lakhs of rupees towards the British defences of the Indian frontier.— The offer was taken as a sure proof of the friendly disposition of the native princes towards British rule, and as it was said to have been quite spontaneous, also as an intimation to' Russia that she could entertain no hopes of sympathy in the quarter concerned. People, meantime, who were a little better informed, felfc slightly doubtful concerning the matter, because they knew, in the first place, that the Nizam had not the mon^y to contribute, and, ia the second, that he was a ruler not quite capable of acting spontaneously in anything. It has now, however, finally come out that this magnificent and reassuring offer was certainly not spontaneous, and that the probabilities are it was made at the suggestion of a Cabinet Minister, desirous of producing a favourable impression, and making use of an Indian official present at the time in England. The Indian official, moreover, may have been a willing instrument, as he had an object of his own to serve, and whose interests could be forwarded by bringing the affairs of the State of Hyderabad into good repute among the English reople. His special object was the floating of a company to work the mines of the State, he, in conjunction with certain English gentlemen, as clever as himself, having obtained a concession of the mining rights in question for a term of thirty years, and having already made a very profitable speculation of the matter— more particularly by inducing the Government of the Nizam to purchase back at a high price property which they had parted with for almost a nominal price. However it be, and the probabilities are, as we have said, that the origin of the ofifer was the desire of a Cabinet Minister to produce a favourable impression as to the Indian policy of his Government, it is cert in that the action of the Nizam cannot be regarded as affording any clue to the disposition of. the native princes. The offer was made by him on solicitation and on the assurance given that it would not be accepted, but would be taken merely as a proof of good will. At best, thea, this reassuring offer means nothing, and all the meaning it can possibly have is of a very shady nature. It was tbe result of a piece of scheming on the part of the Indian official Abdul Huk, either alone or in cjmbiuationwith a Minister of the Tory Government.