Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 4, 24 October 1890, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, writcatholio ing from Spain, gives particulars of the heroism of a detotion. public functionary of that country such as ia hardly to be found except where the Catholic religion inspires devotion. The functionary in question is the Mayor of Arges, a small township, at> we are told, situated a short distance from the oity of Toledo, who has recently been decorated by the Queen Regent with the Cross of Beneficence for the services rendered by him daring the prevalence of the cholera. This Mayor, Don Bufiano Jimanez by name, says the corre pondent, " with the junior curate, Don Jose Sanchez Illesias, aided by the unwavering devotion of the Sisters of Charity, has bad for over two months to combat tb« grim monster that baa invaded tbe happy homes, and left desolate the once mirthful hearths of Arges." Mayor and curate not only attended* hour after hour at the bed-sides of the plague-stricken, but also dug the graves and buried the dead. The parish priest had died, and many of the Sisters of Cbarity, and the only son of the Mayor, whom also he himeelf had laid in the grave. — " Heart-broken, as naturally he should be," writes the correspondent, " Don Rufiano's cup of desolation was not full, for shortly after returning from the graveside of his son the Belf denying Oura had gone to his eternal reward, and to place his remainß in its last earthly dwelling is the labour of the evening— to repair again to that cemetery from which he issued disconsolate ; but yet, undismayed in this heroic labour of mercy, he returns to this abode of death, and there again renews another sad episode, the consignment of the body of one who some hours before shared his labours and his risks, and who tbat very morning cheered and consoled him in tbe midst of his domestic afflictions. Yes, this martyr in the cause of Christian charity has gone to join his fellow-labourers who have preceded him ; tbe poor Alcade is left alone to combat the cholera, which has made such sad havoc amidst his little constituency." — Such devotion, however, is the rule in those places where the influence of the Catholic religion is strongly felt. When the occasion for its exercise offers it is never fonnd wanting. The Liverpool Catholic Times of August 29, pub-un-christian Hshes testimony as to the condition of Italy that, resignation, to tell the truth, speaks very indifferently for the population of that country. Our contemporary quotes from the correspondent of the Manchester Courier a paragraph which he rightly puts forward as proving the real nature of the revolution so warmly supported by Englishmen, and from wbich he concludes, with equal justice, that another revolution, whether bloodless or bloody, must occur at no distant date. The paragraph is this :—": — " It is impossible for a Christain to live in Rome. The place is the headquarters of Atheism. The shop windows are full of shocking caricatures of the Deity ; and the licence allowed to blasphemy and indecency has never been surpassed, even in France in 1793." Tbe second testimony to which we refer takes the shape of a letter addressed to our contemporary, by a correspondent signing himself " Anglo-Italian," and who writes to contradict a statement made to the effect that ths country was "God-forsaken." " Regretting as dee ply as the writer the change of dynasty and absence of the old regime, so dear to Catholics, I would nevertheless pledge myself to prove that there yet remain in that land of saints — for has not Italy supplied half the Calendar? — enough earnest, pious devote! sons of the Church to turn the balance in favour of the old faith against modern creeds and infidelity ; and further that Signor CriHpi's tyrannical and irreligious liberalism has no influence over tbe best aristocracy, very little affects the respectable middle class, and has no power at all over the peasant, who is devoted in heart to his old Faith, and whose present apathy results more from the depression arising from want of food than from want of religion. We read in Holy Writ that God promised to spare the city if ten good men conld be found in it. Therefore, how cau Italy be spoken of as a God-J or saketi place while thousands in it worship Him faithfully, and their Holy Father, the Popa,

still remains ia it 1 To an impartial observe , rreligious liberalism has made quite as vigorous progress in Englt#> as ia Italy." Bat those tea good mea could nofc help themselves . Did they exist, they would be an infinitesimal minority, barely able^ preserve their own goodness, as a task of extreme merit. Aocordinyto this correspondent, on the contrary, a whole population starts not only quietly but devoutly and piously looking on, while morals are corrupted and faith is gapped, at least in the case of their children, and wickedness and abomination hold the mastery. The resignation, in short, shown in this instance, ia anything rather than a Christian resignation. It v a disgrace to the people among whom it exists, and nothing can excuse it,— not even the want of food to which the correspondent refers, a hungry man being often in a worse cause, as the old saying has it, an angry man. Hkbb is a mortification for a highly respectable A db lisle of family, A nephew of the famous Mr. Edwin de Lisle another sort. M.P., has been accepted as Home Rule candidate for the Wirral division of Cheshire. With MrEdwin de Lisle we have all been long acquainted, Hardly any opponent of the Irish nationalists has gone to greater lengthi. Nothing was too hot or too heavy for him to denounce against them, and, although his pretensions were to be himself a fervent Catholic, not even the Irish hierarchy escaped his rabid declamations, The Archbishop of Cashel was the especial object of his fnry and it almost seemed that he would not have been unwilling tj see the gallows at Tyburn restored for his Grace's benefit. What, therefore, mast be Mr. Edwin de Lisle l s feelings at finding a near relative coming forward to tread bo crushingly on his corns ? Sentimental people might almost fiud it in their hearts to pity him in his affliction. To do them justice, however, the family to whom Mr. de Lisle belongs, and who, we understand — with the exception referred to— are of bis way of thinking, if, fortunately, not of his way of expressing themselves, at least in public, have been almost equal to the occasion. It il rbmarktd as a very significant fact thdt Mr. Bernard de Lisle, the recalcitrant member, who had so far always lived at horne — has, since his defalcation occurred, left Leicestershire where the family seat is situated, to take up his residence in London. Irish Catholics, meantime, and Catholics generally who are in sympathy with. Ireland, and who necessarily hold in reverence the memory of Mr. de Lißle's grandfather, tne late Mr. Ambrose Phillips de Lisle, as that of a notable convert to the Catholic Church, and one, moreover, who was instrumental in the convesrson of the late Father Ignatius Spencer, the Paseionist, and a true friend of Ireland, will rejoice to find the stigma cast on his name by his notorious son in some degree lightenedUnder the circumstances the mortification oi a highly respectable family haß also its more favourable features. Let us hope it may prove for them a salutary and enlightening discipline. The Czar has been getting it pretty hotly of late. the conscience Mr. Swinburn6 has denounced him in an ode pubOF EUROPE, liahei in the Fortnightly Reciere, as surpassing by far any fiend to be found any where— even by Dante in bis most gruesome imaginings. Mr, Swinburne, moreover, has called upon the Nihilists to bid his lute Majesty, Czar Alexander 11., light his present Majesty, Czar Alexander 111., down the " way of Czars "" — not a very comfortable path to tread, if we recollect how Alexander 11. fared upon it. And have the Nihilists neglected the command 1 Probabilities seem to be that they hpve bean prompt to obey. At least tbe report received the other day of another attempt on the Czar's life is rather suggestive. Mr. Hwinburne, meantime, has been taken to task in Parliament by Mr. P. O'Brien, the Government ignoring his existence and his verses being excused by the Speaker aa the " vapouring of a feather-brained poet." It has, nevertheless, been pointed out that the German anarchist, Most, had a few years ago received at the Old Baily a sentence of eighteen monthh' penal servitude for an article to a similar effect published ia his newspaper, the Freilieit. But the Government, perhaps, are justified in regarding Mr. Swinburne's effusions as empty vapouring. A poet, at least, who Bhriekß terribly at the sight of tyranny abroad, but who sides with and abets it at home is hardly to be taken leriously, Mr,

Swinburne has always) been — as, indeed, have a good many other true" born Britons— a revolutionist of an extreme type on the Continent, but a strict Conservative at borne— and when Ireland is concerned he if % Ooercioniit of the most determined type, and a henchman of Mr. Balfour's. If the Nihilists in Russia take him seriously that is the Czar's affair. And the Ciar should hare his hands full. Mr. Swinburne attacks him because of the atrocities in Siberia, hounding the Nihilistc on bis track as if they were wolves to be excited by a fresh ■cent of blood. Mr. Gladstone denounces his Majesty's treatment of the Jews, and declares tbat, if the edicts reported are proved genuine, be will nrge that steps be taken to rouse the conscience of Europe •gainst them. What, then, is the Caar's position ? The horrors of Siberia are certainly terrible. Mr. Swinburne's ode, terrific a shrieking ai it consists of, hardly denounces them too strongly. But would matters be amended were the Nihilists to attain thsir object by kill, ing the Gsar, and not merely, as the chances are, to make room for his successor, and a renewed Cear-baiting ? An extension of atrocities, worse, if possible, might be the result. As to the conscience of Europe, it is difficult to say of what tbat consists. When some years ago Mr. Gladstone roused the conscience of Europe agaimt the Turks, the form its manifestation took was that of a war undertaken by Russia with ulterior objects, and not altogether for the deliverance of the Bulgarian people. How the conscience of Europe would be affected by the condition of the Bussian Jews it is impossible to say. Indeed, it seems inconceivable if the Jews have the power in Europe generally with which they are accredited, that it has not already been manifested, and its quiescence in the matter seems a proof that some exaggeration on the subject has been made. The age, however, of Crusades M3ms to have passed by. Matters that more narrowly affect the conscience of Europe, at least, have done little towards effectively rousing it, and not a blow has been struck in its interests. We may conclude, therefore, that unless something of greater interest tban conscience is at stake among the European Powers, the Russian Jews bay« little to hope for. A war for their deliverance— of course in such a connection it would be mockery to speak of a Crusade — will not be undertaken. A Catholio Congresi has been held recently with TMK CONTEBBION great succtss at Antwerp, the attendance of preor England, latjs, not only from Belgium itself but from other countries being numerous. A special correspondent of the Liverpool Catholic Timss, gives a summary of proceedings, chief among which we find a magnificent procession of the Blessed Sacrament, in which representations of all classes of society, Irom the highest to the lowest, marched, the city being brilliantly illuminated in the evening. Among the more interesting addresses reported is that of the Bishop of Salford, who was also present, and in which his Lordship referred especially to the hopes he entertained for the conversion of England. This is a subject concernfng which the Bishop of Salford is evidently very sanguine. " Speaking of the conversions of the last fifty years he stated that 550 Protestant ministers and a vast number of distinguished laymen had been received into the Church." la tho summary of the address given by the correspondent we find nothing of the corresponding movement among the masses, to which doubtless the Bishop also referred, and which should be even more significant than that among the higher classes. Yas estak hoste dooeri. We remember a few years ago when some allusion to the spread of the Catholic Church was made in the House of Commons, a certain hon. Member remarked, by way of restoring confidence to the timorous, that conversions to. Catholicism were taking place only among parsons and peers, members of the community, added he, whose influence wa9 not growing stronger in ' the country. It is true, indeed, that, at the time of the Reformation, the upper classes took tho lead in apostasy and the people followed them, but things are not now as they were then. The people are more independent, and the movement among them is the thing to be looked for. It is here also that the leakage of the church which takes place among the Catholic workiag-classes, Ir'sh, for the most part, ev»n yet as we may naturally suppose, and to which the Bishop of Salford himsalf has called attention, must be supplied for. The Bishop, however, a i wa have said, is very sanguine as to the event. " If, said he, in concluding, the next fifty years see as much progress as the fifty years which have just p»Bß3d, then in less than a century the principal religion recognised and honoured in England will be the Citholic religion. And if Eagland were once practically Catholic how great would be its influence throughout the missionary countries of the world 1 It would bring multitudes of souls into the bosom of the Catholic Church." Great, indeed, would be the aid given to Catholic missions were the generosity with which the English people subscribe towards the ineff jctaal efforts of Protestant missionaries turned into the better channel. The prestige also of the direct support of the British Government must bi of infinite advantage. Meantime the marvel should not be overlooked that, even without the support of the English Government or the aid of the English people, or, perhaps, on the contrary, in spite of their opposition, the > Catholic religion has obtained such a hold in English speaking

countries. Irish devotion and Irish faith have done maoh to atone for English faithlessness. Indeed, one of those missionary piieitato whom the Bishop of Salford referred as instrumental in the work that bad bsen done in England, and who was a son of St. Paul of the Gross, whose vision relating to the conversion of the country the Bishop also spoke of. tbat is Father Ignatius Spencer, relied greatly •n the prayers of the Irish people for the furtherance of hit objeot and constantly begged for them. How far the appeal of the holy Panionist was complied with, on what its bearing on the result has been, it is not for us to say. One, nevertheless, who walked bo faultlessly in the steps of his saintly founder conld bardly have been mistaken in his inspiration. It is devoutly ti be desired, meantime, that the Bishop of Salf ord's previsions may be fulfilled, and that the prayers in Belgian convents and schools for which he asked with such an intention may be beard and answered.