CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 15, 11 August 1893, Page 29

CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own Correspondent.")

Tee death, which took place on Monday evening week, at his late residence on the Ferry road, of Mr John Olliver, one of Canterbury's oldest settlers, has caused a widespread feeling of regret. Mr Olliver was well known as a public-spirited man — as a man who indeotified himself with the people in all their lawful and clearly-expiMMd desires. He was born in England in 1811, and was consequently in the eighty-second year of his age at the time of his death, which severs a link which existed between old Canterbury and the present,

A large congregation assisted at the solemn Dirge and Requiem High Mass, which took place at the pro-Cathedral on Thursday morning last, for the repose of the soul of the Rev Mother Marie St Gabriel, late prioress of the convent io this city. The Very Rer Father Cumminge, V.G., was celebrant, and the Rev Fathers Hnrlin and O'Donnell assisted as deacon and sab-deacon. Amongst the clergy present were the Rev Fathers Ginaty, Goutenoire, Foley, Regnault, Hyland, B-ill, Marnane, Salvador, the chaplain of the Spanish warship, the Nautilu?, the Rev Father Jose Gonzalez, and Father H. G-. Bowerc, who waß master rf ceremonies. The church wag elaborately draped in mourning, graceful festoons of white and black were suspended the entire length of the building, and the pillars, pulpit, and the sanctuary were hung with the same drapery. A catafalque, which was covered with a black velvet pall and surrounded by lighted tapers, was erected in front of the altar rails. Near the bier was a draped prie dieu, on which a crucifix and a crown of thorns were placed, and the Sisters and the boarders occupied sea!s near the catafalque. The very impressive Gregorian music was effectively rendered by a numerous choir, under the direction of the Rev Father Briand, who, wuh Mr H H. Loughnan, took the incidental solos. At the conclusion of the Macs the Very Rev Father CummiDga preached a feeling and eloquent sermon on the many sterling virtues of the deceased prioress, and on the great number of good works effected by her during her long residence in this city.

A deputation, which consisted of the president Brother B. P. Lonargan, J.P, and the secretary, Brother W. O'Shaughnessy, waited at ihe convent on Wednesday evening last on the Rev Mother St Philomena to present the Sisters with a letter of condolence on the part of the local branch of the Hibernian Society. Brother O'Shaughneasy read the letter to her and afterwards presented it, and Brother Lonargan also expressed in a few well-cbosen words the great sorrow that the members of the Society feel for the Sisters in their present bereavement. The Very Rev Father Cummirjgs fittingly replied on behalf of the Rev Mother St Philomena and the Sisters generally, and then the deputation withdrew. The members of the Literary Society, the Children of Mary, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, and the St Aloysius Guild have also cent letters of condolence to the Sisters.

Oa account of a want of more interest and of finer weather the arrangements for celebrating Arbour Day were not of an elaborate character in this city. The members of various borough, city and county councils, also school children, did some planting, but the n ntnber of trees placed in the ground this year was far less than last, In Port Lyttelton, Bangiora, Southbridge, Ashbnrton and Geraldine more enthtsiasm waa shown and a fair number of suitable trees were planted in appropriate places and style.

Sir Robert Stout's recent speech on " New Liberalism " was repro. duced and commented upon during the past week by the Lyttslton Times. A near neighbour of mine, an octogenarian, who is in full possession of all his mental faculties and has been a newspaper reader for fifty years, declares with some vehemence after having read the

•ptech oarefolly throogb, that he has not seen such idiotic nonsense

on paper since the dayß of Bobert Owen, and that tbe latter gentle-

man'fl five fundamental facts and twen'y laws of human nature were more Utopian than the utterances in the speech of the gallant knight. Bobert Owen, after having made himself the laughing stock of all England, fell suddenly into profound oblivion, and this fate my neighbour thinks, must overtake Sir Bobort Stout's system of " New Liberalism."

The report of the proceedings of the twenty-third annual meeting held in Adelaide, South Australia, in April last, of the executive directory and deputies of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Beoe-

fit Society shows a great amount of progress made during the past

year, and an account of the ex'eosive and varied iuformation contained therein is well worthy of careful perusal and examination. The total vaknof the funds, it seams, is about eighty thousand pounds, and the number of members, taken collectively, is considerably over eleven thousand. The local branch of tha Society in this city numbers •bout eighty members. The various branches of the Bociety in the Colony of New Zealand include from eight to nine hundred members and their funds amount to about ten thousand pounds. Several local reports appear in the publication, and from the executive directory officers' report, it appears, that the Society throughout Australasia is preparing an address, which Cardinal Moran, who will thereby confer a great honour on tbe Society, will present to his Holiness Pope Leo XIII, who has already given the Society his especial Pontifical blessing. After speaking of the address to be sent to the Pope, the writer of the report in question, continues : " We also tendered to the Bight Hon W. B. Gladstone our very grateful thanks for the warm interest he is taking in granting to dear old Ireland its just rights ; and we likewise tendered our congratulations to Ireland's leader, Justin McCarthy, Esq., to which we have received replies which will be tnbmitted to you. There is no doubt it is cheering to every true sjn of Erin to see the warm support that is given by our co-religionists to the Home Rule cause, and we feel justified in quoting from the Advocate the remarks of the chairman of the Congregational Union of churches in Tasmania io his annual address, delivered lately in Hobart. He saye : — ' I belitve in the wisdom and lam confident of the loyalty of those who are supporting the present measure of justice for Ireland, and I fear that much of the clamour whioh has been raised against Mr Gladstone's proposals has no better foundation than that which waa long before opposed to every step in Boman Catholic Emancipation. The latter was accomplished and still the Empire stands. The demand for Home Rule I believe to be both reasonable and right. It iB the instinctive yearning of the people for the management of its own affairs. lam certain tbat if there be one section of the Christian Chnrch and British nation more than another tbat, from its principles and history, should look with kindly sympathy on the struggle of liberty in which Ireland is now engaged, that section must inevitably include Congregationalists.' " Want of Bpace prevents me from making further remarks about the report, wbicb, as I bave already stated, is well worthy of the attention of every Catholic. The members of all the societieß iv the parish and a large concourse of the faithful approached Holy Communion, for the repose of the toul of the late prioreep, at the various Masses which were said for her at the pro-Cathedral on Sunday last, and the scene was most touching and edifying. The asual monthly procession of the Bleßsed Bacrament took place at Vesperp, and tbe Spanish chaplain, the Rev Fatner Gonzalez, who bore the Sacred Host under a rich canopy around the interior of the church, was celebrant, There was a very large congregation. Many non-Catholics were present, and the Very Bey Father Cummings preached a mist impressive sermon from words which occur in the gospel of the day. At the invitation of the Very Bey Father Cummingp, the members of the various societies and a large number of tbe faithful remained in the church after Vespers, in order that Father Gonzalez might address a few words to them. Father Gonzalez spoke for about twenty minutes in a most eloquent manner in tbe Latin tongue, which, vrith the exception of Spanish, is the only lanuage that he can speak, and when the discourse waa ended the Very Rev Father Cum wings expressed the ■übstance of it in the vernacular. Father Gonzalez, who has been a naval chaplain for years, aod seems fond of a life on the sea, said among other things that he was very much pleased to have an, opportunity to speak to them, and that he made it a point to make himself acquainted with all Catholics ia every place he visited. He was much struck with the material prosperity of the Austra'ian colonies, but not more so than with the success and progress, which were equallj as great, of the Catholic faith in them. Everywhere be found Catholics, everywhere he found churches, many of which would compare very favourably with tbe splendid sacred structures which adorned bis own native land, and everywhere the marks of tbe Church were as visible as the noon-day gan— that she is one, boly, Catholic, and apostolic. He earnestly exhorted his lißtners to practise the Catholic faith, to make an open profession of it, to have an especial devotion to the Bleesed Virgin, to 8t Joseph, and especially to the Blessed Sacrament.