CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 46, 21 August 1891, Page 13

CATHOLIC NEWS.

(From the Liverpool Catholic Times.) Thb Bight Bey. Dr. Herbert Vaughan, Bishop of Salford, has been in Borne to arrange some matters with the Propaganda regarding the Maori missions. The mother of Olive Schreioer, the well-known South African novelist, has bscome a Catholic. She is living in a convent at Grahamstown. The medal commemorating tbe fourteenth year of the Pontificate of Leo XIII. is about to be struck as usual at St. Peter's. This year the Vatican Observatory, restored by the munificence of Leo XIII., will be represented on tbe medal. Matilda Baccelli of Lucca, a yonng woman bedridden with paralysis for three yean, is reported by the Civxlta CatUMoa to have been miraculously cured on Taesday, the 16th June, through the intercession of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. The investiture of Cardinal Botel'i, Papal Nuncio, with a red bat by President Carnot, took pUce recently at the Elysee, Paris, when the Cross of the Legion of Honour was presented to Mgr. Oelli and the Chevalier's Cross to Count Negroni, the Papal representative. The centenary fetes in honour of St. Bernard of Clairvaux opened on Sunday, June 14, at Dijon. Two Cardinals, two Archbishops, fifteen Bishops and over twenty Cistercian Abbots were present. There were 40,000 people in tbe town. Pere Didon, 0.P., preached the panegyric. Mrs Alice Miriam O'Connor, wife of Mr Charles O'Connor, Boscommon, has been received into tbe Church by the Bey Father Mullarkey, at the Servite Church, Falham road, London, S.W. The Bey Thomas E. Cato, M.A., of Oriel College, Oxfoid, has also been received into the Church. Tbe session of the Prussian Diet was closed on Saturday afternoon, June 13, with a Speech from the Throne. Beferring to ecclesiastical affairs, bis Majesty noted with pleasure that by the restitution to the Catholic Church of tbe clerical stipends which were stopped during the Eulturkampf the settlement of the differences between Church and State had been essentially advanced. The Annalet de Notre Dane de Lourdes states that Viori-Dury, a Frenchman, has miraculously received bis sight through the application of Lourdes water. He lost his sight whilst rescuing four persons at tbe Town Hall Cafe of Dijon, and a number of doctors whom he had consulted had declared that a remedy was impossible. In an article upon the recent serious riots at Wubu, in which the Catholic orphanage was burnt down by tbe Chinese, and the British Consul only escaped in disguise, the North China Herald expresses its strong disapproval of the policy of the Foreign Office with regard to China. Our contemporary complains that China is treated as if it were a thoroughly civilised country in which British lives and property are quiet safe. All this is said apropos of tbe fact that of the twenty vessels of the British naval foice in the far East only one small gunboat was left to protect British interests in the northern and river ports of the country. Cardinal Lavigerie'e now famous speech at Algiers, and the subsequent manifesto of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris in the same sense, have borne fruit in the foundation of a new movement in France to be known as the " Union of Christian France. " In their programme the founders of the nnion say :— " We ask for the union of Christians, of all upright men, whatever their political opinions, for the defence and security in a common accord of the civil, social, and religious liberty of which they have been deprived. The only means of recovering this vital liberty is to appoint to the municipal and general councils and to the Chamber and Senate only those men who are frankly devoted to this great cause." There was a time — not so long ago— when Protestant bigotry would have been alarmingly excited by the interesting correspondence between the Queen and tbe Supreme Pontiff given in tbe Parliamentary papers just published. The Protestants of Great Britain, whilst gratified if the Qaeen should cultivate kindly relations with the Sultan, or even tbe Grand Lama of Thibet, would have regarded it as intolerable that their sovereign should be a wellwisher of the head of the greatest Church in Christendom. But, fortunately, the spirit of the times is altered. The courtesies so pleasantly interchanged between her Majesty and his Holiness will excite no commotion save, possibly, amongst a small number of fanatics to whose furious outcries their countrymen pay but little heed. The celebrated German explorer, Major von Wissmann, has received the decoration of the Ordine Piano from the Holy Father, who granted him the other day the honour of a private audience. It will be remembered that some time ago this enlightened Protestant caused a storm amongst his co-religionists by testifying, like our own Mr Oaine, to the superiority of Catholic missionaries over their Protestant competitors. He was bitterly assailed for this honest intimation of the results of his experience, but Wissmann held firmly to his assertion, and it has been confirmed by other famour travellers, .

such it Carl Peters. On his return to Borne from Berlin be wm accorded an audienoo by the Emperor, who cordially congratulated him on the mark of favour bestowed on him by the Sovereign Pontiff. From pulpit, press, and platform we have daring the past fortnight heard of the iniquity of playing baccarat. The trustees of the Ohantrey Bequest some time ago purchased Mr Oalderon's " picture " of St. Elizabeth, which ia not only an error historically, but a representation of the nude repulsive to every instinct of modesty ; yet tba British publio remains practically indifferent to the fact that this obscene caricature has been added to a national collection of pictures. The fact is, that the virtuous impulses of the British public are, as we said last week, spasmodic and uncertain. To bis honour, however, be it ssid the Bey. Dr. Lake, Anglican Dean of Durham, protest! vigorously against Kir Oalieron's" painful act of indecency against a great Christian saint." If the Anglicans as a whole were animated by Dean Lake's spirit we would then balieve that their outcry against baccarat was not mere cant. Hit Holiness Leo XIII. has raised the Very Bey. F. Biekerstaffa Drew, of Bt, Wilfrid's, Ventuor, to the dignity of Chamberlain to the Court of the Vatican. The young Prelate is a representative of two families distinguished from the time of the Crusades for their loyalty to the Church. Monsignor Drew is not the first Court Chamberlain of his family, Drew, of Drewsteigaton, having been Chamberlain to the Empress Matilda, mother of our Heary 11., seven centuries ago. An extraordinary case of sudden care when apparently at the point of death took place recently at a convent near Dahlia. One of the boarders was suffering from a very acute form of spinal disease, and was given over by three doctors, who told the Superioress to prepare for the worst. The last Sacraments were administered, and when the physician who attends the convent and had charge of the caw called the next day, expecting to bear of her death, he was amazed to meat his patient in the hall in apparently as good health as she had ever been before she took ill. The doctor has been the recipient of numerous letters from Bishops, priests, and nuos asking for particulars. The enemies of the Sacred Heart at Paris are bo enraged by the presence of the great basilica on Montmartre, that they have actually introduced a Bill into the French Chamber to revoke the permission to erect it — in other words to seize it and pull it down, with or without compensation. The Bill never had much chance of becoming law, Dut what little chance it had must have been destroyed by tba unexpected revelation which was made a few days ago of the method and temper of these anti-clericala. A meeting of tbe supporters of this bill of demolition was called and largely attended. Bat it soon became apparent that the body of godless men was composed of two factions, and even their hatred of the Church could not keep them from quarrelling. Some were Socialists, others red-hot Anarchists. From words they came to blows, using the chairs in the hall as weapons. Finally, tbe Socialists triumphed and expelled the Ararchists. Well might the Minister of the Interior contrast, as ha di 1 during the debate on the Montmartre processions, the peaceful and law-abiding character of the Christian functions with the turbulent and lawless demonstrations of the enemies of the Church. Whenever the loyalty of a Catholic priest to the Church is suspected to be weak or unsettled he becomes a hero in the opinion of the editors cf the Protestant press. It is for this raason, no doubt, that wefiod Father Curci, who has just passed awaj, described as " the greatest Italian Churchman of his time, whose learning ranked with that of Dollinger, whose controversial skill equalled Newman's, and whose brilliant work on Christian Socialism foreshadowed much of what is best in the recent Encyclical." Father Curci does not merit such an extravagant eulogium as this, but be was undoubtedly a writer and pulpit orator of very high ability. His contributions to the dvilta Cattolicamtie marked not only by literary grace, bat by a thorough and statesmanlike comprehension. Though his views with regard to the temporal power were mistaken, he was at all times a faithful son of the Church. Ooe of the most remarkable eulogies of the Papal Encyclical on tbe Labour Question which has yet been published coiies, in the shape of a letter to the National Preu, from Mr John Ferguson, of Glasgow, a Protestant. Mr Ferguson haila the words of the Sovereign Pontiff as " echoes of the Mount of Olives endorsing the economies of our highest scientists." He then recounts in glowing language how the rights of democracy have at all times been recognised and protested by the Papal See, and bow a Saxon blacksmith's son was elected Sovereign Pontiff in what was called the darkest of the ages. Borne, be frankly avows, gave more martyrs to tbe stake, more patriots to nationhood, more lives to sanctity, more self-sacrifice to philanthropy, and more intellect to philosophy than all other Churches. The Catholic world, he adds, has reason to be proud of its position with Manning in England, Gibbons in America, and Leo XIII. in Borne, princes of the Church and, better still, " soldiers of humanity." Asa Protestant he hopes to see some of his own great religious teachers enter into a noble competition with Borne upon the lints of tbe Pope's Encyclical in the Master's work,

The issue of the municipal elections which bare just taken place in Borne is practically a victory for the Catholics. Of the nine candidates they pat forward seven were elected, whilst of the twelve Liberal candidates, only ten have been returned. The writer of the article which was lately published in the Contemporary Review, and which has been attributed to Bignor Crispi, argued that the Papal claim to the sovereignty of Borne was untenable, because the people of the Sternal City are averse to the exercise of temporal authority by the Holy See. The results of the municipal elections prove clearly enough that the argument has really do force. If with "little organisation and despite the opposition of the Government and the powerful Masonic sect the Catholics succeed in securing a large representation on the Municipal body, we may well conclude that under conditions in which perfect freedom would be allowed to the doctors, the great majority of them would cast their votes in favour of Catholic candidates. We were astonished to learn — but it is evidently a fact — that there are those who disapprove of Lady Burton's destruction of her husband's manuscript of his last work, " A Scented Garden," translated from the Arabic. To us it appears that she performed what may well be called a noble act. She had been offered six thousand guineas for the manuscript, but knowing that whilst some might peruse the work in the spirit in which it was written, hundreds would read it for filth's sake, she rejected the offer and committed the manuscript sheet by sheet to the flames. The deed should reflect everlasting honour on her name. A writer in the Morning Pott says she should first have consulted some of Ler husband 'a clever and distinguished relatives. Lady Burton is herself talented and accomplished And quite capable of forming a sound judgment in such a matter. In 1875 she wrote the " Inner Life of Syria " ; in 1879 she published " Arabia, Egypt, India " ; in conjunction with her husband she wrote " Unexplored Syria," and she brought out in six large volumes an edition of Sir Richard's " Arabian Nights " for household reaaing. If in an out-of-the-way village of Spain or Italy a difference ariies between a Protestant and the Catholic inhabitants, it is at once attributed by the Protestant Press to the bigotry of Catholics, forms a fertile theme for sermonß, lectures, and leading articles, and "makes the tour of the world." Protestants themselves, however, onblusingly parade the rubric, "No toleration for Catholics." In every position in life men have to pay penalties for the treason of being Catholics. The latest instance is reported from Canada. By far the strongest and ablect of the Conservative leaders fitted to fill the position of the late Sir John Macdonald is Sir John Thompson. Bnt Sir John Thompson is a Oatholic — a convert from Presbyterianism — and as a consequence an outcry has been raised against him by the ultra-Protestants of Ontario. He has, accordingly, been forced to recognise that he would enter on a hopeless task in attempting to form a Ministry, and must be content to be the leader of the party in the Lower House, whilst Mr Abbott, a Senator, buc a politician of inferior power and distinction, occupies the post of Prime Minister. In the face of such glaring examples of their own narrow-mindedness, Protestants might well be silent about Catholic intolerance. The following paragraph appears in the St James Gazette : — " Most of us have accepted the announcement of Sister Bose Gertrude's marriage with tbe German doctor as a happy termination to her unfortunate dispute with the authorities of the leper island, It is, however, only ft>ir to remember that we have heard only the young lady's version of the qnarrel, and the following quotation from a sketch of her life published in the Rosary Magatine, a Roman Catholic periodical, nukes us hesitate to accept her unsupported evidence : ' Before leaving England Miss Fowler made her profession of vows as a Dominican Sister, in the Dominican Church, Haverstock hill, London, into the hands of the Very Bey Father Gregory Kelly, 0.P., Prior Provincial of England, taking tbe name of Sister Rose Gertrude ' Sister Rose's friends have repeatedly aaaerted that she never took regular vows." Of course " Sister Rose's " friends are right, notwithstanding the correctness of tbe statement in tbe Rosary Afagaeine, though the St. James's Qezette iB not to be blamed for not understanding it. Catholics will see at once that the profession spoken of was that of the Third Order of St . Dominic, of which thousands of married people are members, and whose vows are something very different from the regular vows of a religious Order in the ordinary sense of the words. A unique event occurred recently in Cleveland, Ohio. A great gathering called by eighteen leading Protestant citizens, was held in the Cleveland Music Hal), to honour the memory of the late Ca'holic Bishop of the diocese, Bight Rev. Dr. Gilmour. Th 6 eighteen originators of the meeting included two judges, the City Law Director, a Presbyterian minister, a bank president, and a retired millionaire. A passage from the report of the Committee on Resolution which was read to tbe crowded assemblage is a tingular proof of the high appreciation in which Bishop Gilmour was held by the people nmongst whom he lived :—": — " The committee to whom was entruste 1 thiß delicate duty, in obedience to your mandate, and to an inn v *<* spontaneous aod heartfelt of the general public and of this guai asaem*

>■ ■■»■ 'i * ?,' 'i — ■ — ■ j\\ bl«ge, moved thereto by a s«nse of their common bereavement, in words altogether inadequate, and briefly as befits the occasion, respectfully reports and states as follows :— Forasmuch, as in the death of the Right Rev. Richard Gilmour, late Catholic Bishop of Cleveland, this community is profoundly sensible of its great losa, in that a prelate of distinguished mark and rank in the Church, and of strongly stamped individuality ; an upright, strenuous and conscientious administrator ; scholarly, sober, vigilant, apt to teach and having a good report of those without ; a citizen, eminent, public-spirited and jast ; to the commonwealth devoted ;to his Faith and convictions ti ue— in a word, a strong, earnest man ; and withal tender of heart to the call of suffering or mercy, and gentle as a onild ; and worthy the highest esteem and honour of all considerate men— forasmuch , we say, as this good Bishop has gone hence taddenly from mortal sight forever in the ripe mid-autumn of his usefulness. Therefore, it is resolved, that we, the citisens and people of Cleveland, irrespective of class, of religion, or of race, In this memorial convention, do hereby publicly testify and commemorate out profound sorrow for his loss ; and offer this willing tribute of our sincere regard for his blameless life, and to his memory in death." No man could desire a higher testimony to the usefulness of hia life* work than this heartfelt tribute from citizens of every class and creed.