Roman Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 20, 6 September 1889, Page 2

Roman Notes.

Thk i'ope has given another proof of tho all embracing nature of the sympathy which he feels for misfortune and suffering of all kinds, lie haß taken an opportunity of expressing bis sorrow for the railway accident near Armagh, by which the children of the Protestant Sunday schools of the city suffered so terribly. His Holiness also expressed himself much pleased at the part taken in the Teliel of the sufferers by the Catholic Primate and his clergy.

Monsignor Agliardi, Apostolic Nuncio at Munich, has been commissioned by the Pope to present the King of Wurtemburg and the King of Saxony each with a gift in commemoration of the jubilee of the one King, and of the eighth centennial of tbe foundation of the other's dynasty. The gifts consist of magnificent pictures in mosaic wrought for the special purpose at the Vatican manufactory. That offered to the King of Wurtemburg, a Protestant, is a basket of flowers ; Our Lord and the infant St. John being the subject of that presented to the King of Saxony, who is a Catholic.

Some resistance made to a decree of the Pope's, condemning certain propositions of the Rosiminian philosophy, basled to the issue by His Holiness of a letter in which he reiterates the condemnation and takea on himself the whole responsibility of the decree. The Pope especially exhorts the editors of Catholic newspapers to conform tnemßelvea strictly to his iD junctions on the matter in question.

The Roman populace are showing a wholesome dread of the newly erected statue of Giordano Bruno. Aa a work of art, the Btatue is a fine one, but so fierce is the expression of its face that, aB the people pass bj within sight of it, they cross themselves. It would, however, be raeh to condemn as superstitious an action performed as a safeguard in presence of a monument appropriately erected under the direct invocation of the devil. Among the fitting celebrations of the event, meantime, the illtreatment given to a Sister of Charity is narrated. Tois lady had gone on an errand of mercy to the railway terminus, where she was insulted and actually struck by one of the re j dicing crowd— while others of them looked approvingly on. It ia aomewhat ominous to learn that among tbgeo pympathiflers repre-

■ented at the blasphemous and impiousceremonies was the Evangelical Society of Berlin. A ceremony of a different kind, but one very proper to the occasion, waß the inauguration made on tne same day, in the church of St. Silvester in capite, of the Confraternity of Expiation. The Pope has received from the Catholic world 60,000 messages of condolence and sympathy.

a* i£ ? Medal struck this year as usual on the Feast of St. Peter and Bt. Paul commemorates the restoration by the Holy Father of the cloister of 8L John Lateran. Tnis work which waß begun by Pope Pius IX, has been completed by Leo XIII. It has been carried out in a manner consistent with the splendour which has always been •.feature of the basilica. A bas-relief of the portico is represented on one side of the medal, thejprofile of the|Holy Father occupying the ■. other.

M. Henri Lassere, who had been for some time a visitor to Borne, has jast returned to France. He takes back with him permission for another edition of bis translation of the Gospels, which had been recently condemned by the Congregation of the Index. It may be remembered that the condemnation of this work was hailed by a portion of the non-Catholic world as a proof of Rome's fear and hatred of Holy Writ, the fact being that the translation contained many glaring errors. An erratum will be added in the new edition. For those who respect M. Latserre, and appreciate his works, as most educated Catholics do, it is pleasant news to hear that he has been •bit so satisfactorily to arrange a matter which must have cost him • great deal of anxiety and chagrin.

The Vatican Museum has been enriched by the addition of the ancient reliquary presented as a jubilee offering to the Pope by Cardinal Lavigerie. It was found among the ruins of an ancient basilica in Numidia, and has been pronounced by De Roßsi, the famous archaeologist, to date from the fifth or sixth century. It is of solid silver, and bean tifully adorned with symbolic tracery. Da Bossi further gives hiß opinion that it had contained the relics of some martyr. The style of the work is Byzantine.

One of the facts worthy of being recorded and kept in active memory for continual use, with regard to the erection— among diabolical surroundings— of the statue of Giordano Bruno, is that a •urn of £12,000 was subscribed by the Freemasons for the purpose. One hundred and fifty Masonic banners, moreover, were carried in company with that which bore the device of Satan overthrowing the Church. This is a fact that should be, to Catholics at least, a sufficient warning as to the true nature of Masonry.

tP? 6 P® hM conferred tQe "OSS pro Eoclesia et Pontifice on the Princess Clementine, mother of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria' in recognition of the labours undertaken by her in her son's principality for the support and propagation of the Catholic religion. The work done in this direction by the Princess is the more meritorious since it subjects her to the enmity of Russia, whose interest it is to encourage the Russo-Greek Church only in the country alluded to. Tbe Princess is said to be extremely popular among the Bulgarians, which must further her efforts among them for thy advancement of the Catholic religion,

Nothing but evil continues to be reported concerning the financial condition of Italy. The indebtedness of the city of Rjme itself is enormous. As a proof of the general state of misery that prevails the fact may be taken tnat the number of applicants for sixty small Government places, hardly yielding a Bupport above the level of starvation, recently vacant, was ten thousand. Suicide also, as a means of escape from wretchedness, is largely on the increase.

Signor Crispi has made a virulent attack in the Senate on Cardinal Lavigerie. In speaking of Catholic schools in the East, which the Italian Franciscans had refused to make an agency of his policy, and for which he had made a vain attempt to substitute secular schools, he denounced the Cardinal as a political agent of France, and found an excessive grievance in his obtaining aid in Italy for carrying on his crusade against African slavery. It is, however, hardly so much jealousy of France as a desire to thwart an illustrious ecclesiastic in an undertaking that must briug additional glory to the Church and make the Catholic religion more respected in all civilised countries that actuates Signor Crispi. His motives are not difficult to discern.

A protest was made by the Catholics of Rome on St. Peter and St. Paul's day against the profane and infamous demonstration that took place on Whit Sunday. It assumed the shape of an attendance at St. Peter's, where alone of all the churches in Rome Benediction of the Moßt Holy Sacrament was given. The Catholic life of the city was never more evident. Streams of people poured through the streets into the piazza and the great church was thronged. Cardinal Monaco La Valletta officiated. The Tantum Ergo which waß intoned without accompaniment by the immense congregation was overpowering in its effect. In the evening the fagades of the churches, tne Catholic colleges, and many private houses, were illuminated.

The efforts made to bias the Pope against Irelaod have resulted in finally inducing his Holiness to make up his mind to a very contrary effect. He haß declared that in future when any Irish question demands his special attention, he will consult not only the hierarchy in Ireland, but also that in America and Austialia. The Holy Father evidently sees the unity of the Irish race and recognises in all its significance the greater Ireland. This fact is a full guarantee against anti-Irißh intrigue at Rome.

The sudden summoning by the Pope of a secret consistory on June 30, caused great alarm. The Italian Government were

principally affected, and still remain in anxious doubt as to what decisions were arrived at. The allocution delivered on the occasion by the Pope had special reference to the enormities of the Bruno demonstration, and complained of the position occupied by his Holiness as nnendurable and unsafe. But nothing has transpired as to the resolutions adopted respecting the Holy Father's action. Beport speaks of a decision formed to leave Borne— at least on the outbreak of war. But the matter for the time must remain uncertain.