CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 23, 6 October 1893, Page 20

CATHOLIC NEWS.

(Liverpool Catholic Times, August 11th.) The Catholics in Austria hwe realised the importance of united astion. A Catholic party ih being formed in the Austrian Reichsrath similar to the Cantra Party in Germany. The Rev. Dona Sauton, the Benedictine monk and doctor, left Pariß on Tuesday for Yakoutsk, to commence his Bpecial mission for tbe cure of leprosy. Father Sauton travels under the auspices of the Pasteur Institute, his expenses being paid by hia Order. Religtous/eie* have been held in Binson and Chfitillon in honour of Pope Urban IJ., the Pope of the Crusadep, presided over by Cardinal Langenieux. He was a Frenchman, originally a monk of the famous Benedictine monastery at Clugny, waa elected Pope in 1088, proclaimed the first Crusade in 1095, held a Council at Bari in 1098, and died in 1099. The Catkolic Reference Library of America is represented in the World's Fair by bonnd volumes of early Catholic newspapers and magazines, rare pamphlets and books relating to the Americas, North and South. A number cf rare bibles, many of them printed in German before Luther commenced his " Reformation, " specimens of bibles published in the Dnited States in 1790 and 1806, the latter owned and used by Mother SetoD, the first Sißter of Charity, and founder of her Order in America, are the centre of much interest. One of.the greatest dangers which now threaten the Oriental Churches is the influence of Protestantism, supported by appirently inexhaustible wealth. This influence is chit fly ex°,rc S'_>d through the medium of Bchools. The Catholic Cburchts of the East also suffer more or less from it. But the Cnurches united to the Hjly See are strong enough to defend themselves ; those which do not rest upon the Rock of Peter are in a ciitical situation. The Protestants are Striving to imbue the Oriental clergy with idem and sentiments which would iend< r reunion with Home impossible. Tho old weapons of falsehood and c-ilumny are being employed to this en I. In spite of the protests of 'hose moat interested in bis welfare, says a contemporary, the Pope persists in occupying the historic Tower of Leo, which has lately been restored for him. Apart from the fact that the paint and mora: are not ccmplrtely dry, the doctors find the difference between the temperature inside and outside too considerable, owing to the thicknesß of the walls, while those whose duties compel them to be near hia Holiness are discontented with the ground floor, which has been assigned to them. At present the Pope spends only v few hours a day in the tower, being earned thither in a Bedaen chair, and returning in a carriage. Among the furniture which his Holimss wishte to transport to the tower an i ihe pavilion adjoining it, is an armchair in the Byzintine style, which he received from tbe Sultan on the occasion cf h'9 jubilee Siam is, ecclestas'ically, a Vicariate Apostolic c ltm-ted for more than two hundred years to the Mission Etran_r-es of P.ini. In 1800 it contained 2,300 Catholics; in 1850, 7,200; in 181)0. 18,200 and has now 22,000. In 1841, Pope Gregory XVI. divided tt into two, Eastern Siam with Bangkok as the residence of the Vicai-Apoitolic ; and Western Siam, or the peninsula of Malacca, with Singapore as the Vicar's head-qaarters. The ancient capital. Aji lhja, had 40 000 inhabitants , Bangkok, which is the capital since 17G(>, has a population of 500,000, including 3,000 La holic, whi have fivo churches. The cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption, dates frjm 1811. The entire populaiiun of the kingdom is 6 000.000, The religious fu es in honour of Urban 11., of which Binson and Ca&tillon have been the scene, ODened at the pri iry of limson on tbe anniversary of the birthday of Urban 11 , preside 1 over by Cardinal Langeaieux, attended by some Eistern b<s u> s ,\ii a ur,'c b uiy of clergy. They weie continued on the following day at C .Villon, the church being garlanded with flowers within and witnout Tnu event of the day was the erection of a cro=s of Jerusalem by Card ual Langenieux. The ceremony closed with the Papal HI. ssing, given to some thousands of persons whom trains had Ivought togethei from different parts By the preachers at tht<=e fries, one of whom wis the Syrian Archbishop of Bagdad, Urban 11., the Pope of nearly a thousand years ago, was regarded as the originator of the present great Catholic movement iv tbe East. A historical celebration recently took place in Vienna, when the Abbot of the BenediCina Convent ot the Scots celebrated thu fiftieth. anniversary of hia priesthood. At the same time a monument was unveiled which h is b»en erecie 1 to th • memoiy of the founder, Duke Henry, of the Franconian lino of tbe Badenbergers. All Vienna took

part in the celebration, becausa Duke Henry, who reigned between 1141 and 1177, was the real founder of the Austrian capital. Many of these Benedictine " Scots " were really Irish and Welshmen, They wa dered to Southern Germany and across the Alps to Austria, spreading culiure and faith everywhere. As early as 767 an Irishman Darned Virgihus occupied the See of Salzburg. He was the apostle of the Austrian Alps. At Uegedsburg Irish and Scotch Benedictines held the Convent of St Jacob, and it was thence Duke Henry brought the Scotch and Irish monks, for whom he built a convent and church outside the walls of Vienna. The population called the foreign monks " Scots," and the name has been preserved to this day» although there have been no monks from Qreat Britain since the fifteenth centuiy. There is a phase of the present French military law in its application to priests which is especially odious, It was bad enough to see young seminarists go off, knapsacks on their backs, to spend a year of promiscuous barrack life with common soldiers. When thia part of the law was first put in force there was a cry of indignation from the Catholics of France, and especially from its bishops and priests. But to see young priests compelled to perform the twentyeight days' military service at recurrent intervals like other Frenchmen under thirty-five is still more revolting. This part of the law is now being carried into effect in the diocese of Seez. The Bishop of Seez, addressing his Bub- leacon«, and young priests about to leave for the twenty-eight days' military service, says :—": — " My childien, if your bishop's sorrow three years ago was so poignant and so cruel on seeing you leave for your year of barrack life, what most his feelings be now? When, three years ago, you were victims of a law which deeply wounded the Catholic conscience in general. You were only in the vestibule of the sanctuary. No solemn vow bound you to God. Now the case is different. You are God's for ever, and no human power can rightfully come betwetn you and Him. The law that attacks you is that of might against right, ' and woe to him who dares to interfere with the rights of God. This law bears the stamp of the Masonic loiges. Defying God Himself, it tears you violently from the altar where it is your duty to offer daily the Divine Victim for the salvation of the world, It then forces you into scenes where you may have an opportunity of practising charity it is true, but where also you will be brought into contact with frightful corruption, an 1 hwe to witness scenes which your priesi'd eyes Bhould never look upon." Thia violation of the sacred ministry beinj; deplored by the Bi9hop Seez is being repeated in other dioceses.