CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 22, 18 March 1892, Page 31

CATHOLIC NEWS.

The Catholics of Berlin are sadly in want of more churches, and of larger ones where churches already exist, on account of the enormoni and rapid increase of the population of the capital. The congregation of St. Sebastian, finding their present accommodation utterly inadequate, are collecting money for a new church, and they made a direct apppal to the emparor for the funi. On Christmas Day, the good pastor of the church was enabled after the sermon to inform his people that he had received an answer to that appeal (dated the prevtona day), in which the Emperor granted a contribution of 60,000 marks (£3,000) to tht petitioner, and he asked for the ipecial prayers of the congregrtion for the noble donor and his family. The Emperor is winning more and more the golden opinions of bis Catholic subjects. Professor Janssen, who died at Frank-fort-on-Main two days before Christmas, waa one of the most eminent of the modern school of scientific historians. During the Eulturktmpf he was elected a member of the Beichstag, where he took part in the long fight carried on by the Centre against Bismarck. In 1880 the Pope made him a domestic prelate, and on the death of Hergenrother, bis Holiness offered him the post of librarian to the Vatican. The great work of Janssen's life was his " History of the German People." It begins with the Reformation period, and it has had the effect of changing completely the view accepted by competent critics of many of the men and events of that time. Of course it takes some years for the general public to feel the influence of such a change, and old prejudices die hard. It says little for the enterprise of our Catholic publishers that this truly " epoch-making " book has not yet appeared in an English version. Several correspondents write to ask us why the Jesuits and other religions orders meet with such inveterate hostility in France and other countries which are Catholic or nominally so. There are three main reasons as clear as the noonday sun. First, -he members of the religious orders are often the protagonists in the Church's warfare against the world ; and being in " the gap of danger " they are the first to be assailed. Secondly, religious communities are admirable agencies for the distribution of charity, and funds are from time to time placed at their disposal for this purpose by pious and humane persons. Hence arises the onpidity of the modern infidel, whose disposition was pretty much the same as that of the lion in the fable, or Henry VIII. and his courtiers. Thirdly, the religious orders profess poverty, chastity, and obedience, and your hater of religion can tolerate anything but these virtues. In a letter to the Abbe Pinier, ths It»t3 Mgr. Freppel's private secretary, the Comte de Munsays :— " It is not now that the void he. Mgr. Freppel leaves among us can be estimated at its full extent. We shall feel his losa more and more as tho^e topics of discussion arise concerning which it was our habit to rely oa him, knowing that he was always prepared, always armed, always ready, body ana soul.' 1 Farther on, alluding to the late painful scenes in the Chamber M. de Mun says : " Seeing him exhausted, bent double with pain, and almost death depicted on his face, I begged him not to ascjnd the Tribune to speak. I shall never forget the expression of his face or the tone of his voice as he answered me :" I must sp^ak. I owe it to the Church and to the clergy." And to another friend who entreated him a 8 I had done, he replied, with one foot already on the step of the Tribune : " I know that it will fatigue me, but I mu9t speak even should I die in a week from now." This was on the 12th and he died on the 22cd. "In this, his last lesson to us," continues the faithful friend who had laboured by his side for ten years, " he rtmairs more truly great than by his eloquence, his knowledge, or by all the qualities of the mind put togetaer. He was truely a priest and a Bishop : Ecce sacerdos magniis." The Sitanic hatred of the Christian religion which seems to poßße6B continental unbelievers has just manifeatel -tself in Spain and Italy in a manner more than usually revolting. During the celebration of midnight Mass on Chrismas Eve in Valencia four bombs were simultaneous!} exploded in different parts of the city, causing injuries in several cases as well as great consternation and alarmOne of the bombs was exploded in a chapel baside the Cathedral and an altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin uader the Spanish invocation of Nuestra Senora de los Desamqarados, patron of Valencia. was destroyed. Senor Paredes, a provincial deputy, and his wife and children were seriously wounded. A similar outrage was perpetrated in the Church of St. Andrew. At Kimini, in Italy, a sacrilegious play was performed on Christmas oi^ht in tie Victor Emmanuel Theatre, purporting to represent the principle incidents in the life of Christ. It was called " Naz<\reno " ; and while the actor who sustained the title role was hissed by the audience, the scene in which the kiss of peace is given by Judas was sympathetically and significantly applauded. Suadente diabolo is a phrase which used to be frequently employed in former days to account for the inspiration of wicked deeds ; in these instances there can scarcely be a doubt that it is entirely applicable.