THE SHRINE OF LORBTO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 26, 18 October 1889, Page 7

THE SHRINE OF LORETO.

The Rome correspondent of the Liverpool Catholic Times writes in that paper: I have frequently made known to ths readers of the Catholic Times the public injustices of thd present rulers of Italy. It is a thing that t ie Catholic world should know, and the non-Catholic world also. It is not right that the policy of those who rule Italy should be carried out by stealth ; that tne Piedmontese brigandß should be allowed to impoverish the Roman States at their will and with impunity, without letting the outer world know all about it. If a man is h thief and a scoundrel, it is a public duty to denounce him ; and the B*me is true of Governments. But I think that of the many instances of Italian Governmental misdeeia that I have from time to time made known throngh the columns of the Catholic Times, this whica I now make known will perhaps sbxck your readers most of all. Every Catholic thinks of the Shrine of Loreto with affection. It is the house where Our Blessed Lady lived ; in which the Incarnation took place, and the angelic announcement of it was male. Since it was miraculously transpotted from Dalmatia to Loreto, it has been a place of pilgrimage to all the Catholic world. Votive offerings have been laid there by popes, emperors, kings, queens, and by persons of all ranks. Ihesa were almost priceless, when at the beginning of the pre*ent century Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, plundered its shrines, and took away to Paris the gold and Buyer votive offerings, and in fact every article of valne that he found in the Holy House of Loreto. He afterwards regretted what he had done, when defeat began to bring him to his senses.f But the gold and silver which he hid plundered from the Shrine o Loreto had already been turned into money. Oulj two articles remained of all he: had taken away, and tho^e he sent back to the Holy Houfle, and they are still to be seen there. But the faithful still continued to bnug their off arings, and during the present century these have so accumulated that they now fill toe glass-cases that surround an immense hall. Amongst them are presents from several members of royal houses, three magnificent chalices from three Popes ; and many will be interested to know that tbe watch of Daniel O'Connell and some objects of piety whica he had are there also.

The value of the Loreto Treasury can hardly be estimated. And these, be it remembered, belong to no nation or authority , ecclesiastical or lay. They have been placed there by persons of all nations, and offered to Our Blessed Lady. Notwithstanding this, the present Government in Italy regularly take an inventory of the latest votive offerings given there. There is not an article in the treasury nor in the Holy House itself that they have not a registry of. They claim them as under their administration and dominion, as they have claimed the convents and property of many religious bodies. Now, everybody knows that Italy is sunk hopelessly ia debt. What if a war comes? Wnat if the debts increased, and they must increase? Does anyone for a moment imagine that conscienceless men like Signor Cnspi would fora moment hesitate to do what Napole >n did? And yet this is the precise position in which the votive offerings of the faithful throughout the world are placed.

Tbe learned Jesuit, Father Cesare Decira, is to represent the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide at the coming Oriental Congress ftt Stockholm. He will present to the Congress a number of works bearing on Oriental studies recently published by the Propaganda Press. Tbe Voce della Verita, Catholic journal of Rome, relating the result of Mr. O'Biien's action against Lord Salisbury for defamation of character, when the court gave judgment that " Lord Salisbury had not gone beyond the limits of legitimate polemics," adds pertinently : " Beautiful legitimacy, which allows one to call his adversary a thief I"