CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 25, 20 October 1893, Page 29

CATHOLIC NEW S.

(From the Liverpool Catholic Times.)

BBPOBTS from Molokai state that Fathers Conrady and Wendelin are in good health notwithstanding reports to the contrary. It is also taid that leprosy is on the decrease.

We understand that Dr Mivart has expressed his complete willingness to submit himself to tbe ecclesiastical authorities in the matter of bis articles on " The happiness in hell." The names of several well-known Catholic artists occur in the official list of British painters to whom medals have been awarded At the World's Fair at Chicago, notably those of Lady Butler, Mr Adrian Btokes, and Mr Obevalliei Taylor.

The labours of the Congregation of Bites with regard to tbe process for the canonisation of tbe Cuie of Ars are far advanced, and the Holy Father has expressed the hope of soon being able to publish the decree of beatification,

The Honourable Roger Gordon Molyneux, youngest son of the late Karl of Sefton, was received into the Oatholio Church by Mgr d'Abbadie d'Arrest at Bt Jean de Lou on the 29th July. In his grave Ulaees he has received an especial blessing from the Holy Father.

Mm Prole, tbe wife of the Vicar of Albrough, was received into the Catholic Church on the Feast of the Assumption, at St Mary's Church, Hull, by tbe Rev Father Hassan, B.J.

Mr Krnest Seymour Jones, of 77, Ladbroke road, Nottinghill, London, W., formerly of Christ's College, Cambridge, his wife, Mrs Sarah Jane Olifiord Jonep, and their child, Arthur Seymour Jone , have been received into (he Church.

Mr Bdwin B. Russell was received into the Church about a month ago by Archbishop Oorrigan, at 8t Francis Xavier'e, New York. Hit conversion is said to be due in a great measure to the friendly offices of the Bey Henry Van Rennselaer, 8.J., himself a convert from the ministry of tbe Episcopal Church. Mr Russell is very well known in New York, though bis last ministrations were at the American chapel in Florence. It is a curious fact that Mr Russell's predecessor in tbe chapel at Florence, Mr Pierce Connelly, also became a Catholic.

Sir Hubert Jerningham, Governor of Mauritius, has received through bis Grace Archbishop Meurin, a brief from his Holiness the Pope conferring on his Excellency tbe Cbevahership of the Order of St Gregory the Great. This distinction is the just reward for the generous solicitude extended by bis Excellency towards the Catholics during the recent cyclone in Mauritius.

Mother Katherine Drexel, of Philadelphia, has a booth at the World's Fair filled with the work of pupils of the schools she has established in her Order of the Blessed Sacrament for Indian and negro races. In anoiber section arc some beautiful laces and embroideriee, the work of Miss Mary Caldwell, the heirese, who, with her sister, endowed the Catholic University of America.

The Rev at. BoniD, vicar of St Didier, with three companion*, inoluding two priests, and accompanied by three guides, carrying the stone for an altar which had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Turin, left Oournuyeur, Piedmont, last week to make the abcent of Mont Blanc. On B»turday morning they reached the highest point, 4,816 metres above sea level, whera they celebrated Masa. The party returned to Oourmayeur at 7.30 on Saturday. One of the most interesting candidatures at tbe French elections is that of tbe Abbe Gamier. The Abte has been nominated in Paris and for tbe district of Clignancourt, a great iudustrul centre. As a young man he served in the Pontifical Z juaves, and fought in the Army of the Loire, when he was wounded in action. He was ordained a few years later, and after making a special study of social and economic questions, began to attend workingmen's meetings and lectured on the Catholic solution of the labour question. He is a brilliant speaker, and very popular with the working men. The publication of a collection of poems by Mr Francis Thompton, perhaps the most brilliant of our younger Catholic poeis, will be a literary event of no small interest to bis many admirer?, who so far have only been able to study his remarkable verses in the various reviews and magazines in which they have made their appearance. It it interesting to remember that four years ago the late Robert Browning predicted a brilliant future for the gifted young poet. Mr Albert Chevalier, the popular vocalist, whose "coster" ballads have been all the rage, was educated at the Catholic College near Windsor, and is of French extraction. He was formerly a schoolmaster, but relinquished this vocation to go on the stage, where he has achieved considerable success, especially during bis engagement at the Strand Theatre, London. On the advice of Borne friends Mr Chevalier left tbe "legitimate" drama, and has taken to the " variety " halls, where bis songs, rendered with more than ordinary artistic effect, have brought him both fame and fortune.

*- Thoby Priory, the old historical part of which was entirely destroyed by fire on the evening of Sunday last, lies in the parish of Mountnessing, in Essex, and was founded for Augusiine Canons, by Miebael do Capua, between the years 1141 and 1151. On the sup-

pression of the smaller monasteries in 1625, its revenues were appropriated to the colleges begun by Cardinal Wolsey. After bis fall, tbe manor of Thoby was granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Richard Page, knight, since which it has passed tbrongh various families to the present owner— the Arkwrights.

The Most Rev Father Fruhwirth, Master General of tht Order of Friars Preachers, has just addressed to the Superiors of the different convents of the Oraer a circular inviting them to celebrate a solemn tridnum in honour of the Blessed Peter Sanz and his heroic companions, martyred in China io the middle of the last oentory, and lately elevated to the honours of the altar. At Rome the sons of 8t Dominie will celebrate tbe triduum at the Church of Santa Maria-super-Minerva in October with great splendour and solemnity. At the present moment the Congregation of Rites is examining the causes of beatification and cmonizition of fire other martyrs of tbe Dominican Order. They belonged to Province of the Holy Rosary, in the Phillipine Isles, and were massacred in China and Too kin.

Daring the weak the Bishop of Zeon, domestic Prelate to the Royal household, baa been summoned from Madrid to San Sebastian, not only to dedicate the new Church of the Royal Palace at Miramar, but also to make arrangements for the Confirmation of the King.' At first it was considered probable that the ceremony would be performed in the historic Church of La Oueva, Cavedontja, amidst the Austrian " Picos," but this has been abandoned, for tbe nearer sanctuary of Loyoia. Already the Infanta Isabella has within the week visited the noble Basilica, and has met with a most cordial and enthusiastic reception not only from the Very Rev Father Redo? and the Fathers of the Order, but from tbe vast crowd of " Vascos" who had assembled to greet her. The Fathers conducted her through tbe entire co»ven\ and the Royal visitor expressed her admiration at the historic Deauties which tbe monastery encloses, and admired the beautiful order which prevailed everywhere, within and without. Father Frederick Fauri, 8.J., and Father Algae", S.J., kavs left the College of La Oueva, Manresa, via Barcelona and Liverpool, en route for the United States, in order to assist at the Meteorological Congress to be held at Chicago on the 21st. The scientific achievement of these sons of 8t Ignatius have made the honour of Spain and the glory of the Society. At the oongress of the world's savants they will be accredited rspresentativep, not only of the Spanish nation, but in a particular manner they will go to extend the fame of their Alma Mater—the astronomical observatory of Manilla whose present dis inguisaed position in the scientific world is solely due to the labours and researches of Father Fauri. They were to be joined at the Congress by Father Vines, S.J., director of tbe celebrated observatory of Beten, Havanns forming a galaxy of astronomical talent unequalled in the aonals of the Order, but Almighty God, in His own wise designs, willed otherwise. On the eve of his departure Father Vims has been called to his eternal reward, and science, philosophy, and reghion to-day mourn the loss of whose scientific erudition was frankly recognised by the greatest astronomical authorities of the age. Death has not left such another void since that of Proctor and Father Perry, B.J, in the calendar of astronomical science, as that of the humble son of St Ignatius, Father Vines, B.J.

That Cardinal Ledocbowski should be revisiting Prussia this month as the specially invited guest of the German Emperor, certainly indicates a most remarkable transform** ion in the position of the Catholic Church in Prussia, and it is not surprising that the Holy Father should have shown his appreciation of the importance of the event by granting the Cardinal leave of absence from Rome for over a week, a permission very rarely accorded to the much-occupied Prefect of Propaganda. It will be within the memory of all that as Archbishop of Posen Cardinal Ledochowski was at once one of the most determined opponents and distinguished victims of the KulturJcampf, and that he was arrested in bis very palace at Posen in order to be hurried •cross the frontier. To-day his Eminence makes a triumphal «ntry into his former Episcopal See with the full concurrence of the Prussian Government. Happily religious persecution is, for the noncr, non-existent in Germany, and of the old bitterness against Catholics in the Protestant portions of the Empire the only trace still to be found is the yet unrepealed law against the Jesuits. It may be argued that political considerations alone have prompted the young Emperor to adopt his present conciliatory attitude towards his Catholic subjects, but it is only fair to give him credit for that which promises to become one of the leading features of his reign : strict and impartial justice to the many and various creeds existing within his dominions.

Lord Emly has had a correspondence in the Times with Sir A. B Kemball with regard to the action of the servants of the British East Africa Company in Uganda. His Lordship writes :— " I will only add that your able and impartial correspondent's letter which appeared on the same day as Sir A. KemballV, throws a flood of light on the situation in Uganda. He states that the Protestant estimate of natives under Proteotant influence was 200,000. This estimate he takes to be exaggerated. I take the number, then, as 100,000. The Catholic natives he puts a*. 50,000. Just before the

war there were— Oatholic3, 70,000 ; Protestants, 2,000 ; and, on the testimony not only of Mgr Hirtb, but also of Captain William*, the fymer were increasing rapidly. How was this stupendous change between their relative numbers produced 1 The result of issuing by the Company's officers of 450 rifles, 150 being sniders, to the faction and letting them loose on the badly-armed Catholics is thus described by the Bey John Roscoe :— ' The whole country was lighted up with the flames of the burning houses. Very few of the Roman Catholic houses have been left standing.' 'It was a wonderful thing to see the whole country in a blaze with the Boman Catholic housee, which were fired by the Protestants. For three days and nights they were going.' It would be well if the weighty words of Sir B. Palmer, now Lord Selborne, were placed in the manual of every officer in the employment of our African companies— July 31st, 1865 — ' Exactly In the degree that those who administer martial law are removed from the responsibilities attending the ordinary administration, in that Tery degree it is the duty of those who are in charge over them to watch and severely repress all excesses and abuses which may be committed in the operation of martial law.' "

It will be remembered that a few weeks ago in his address at the distribution of the vacation prizes at the Notre Dame Convent. Bickdale, Monsignor Nugent referred pathetically to the order which has gone forth that the Notre Dame nuns should send a contingent to the Congo. " The Congo "is a very innooent expression in itself but it metns a great deal— great dangers as well as vast possibilities for Christian endeavour. It is a wide indefinite expression, too, for the country through which that wonderful river runs contains thou•snds of square miles. It is to be hoped that the nuns will be sent to tome corner of that vast territory where civilisation is entrenched or, in plain, literal language, they may be eaten up. According to M. de Meuse, the Belgian explorer, cannibalism is practised in most repultlve forms in the upper reaches of the Congo. He says that during the three years and three months he was travelling in the country he everywhere saw that human life was held in the lightest possible regard— indeed human beings, boih men and women were lor sale in every village for the purpose of being killed and eaten. Purchasers could come and select which part of the living man's lesh they would buy, and when the poor fellow was killed the flesh indicated was apportioned out. The victim sat down with a tree branch round his neck and was generally killed by a sharp inetrunent being thrust into his side near the heart. Every effort was mtdi to prevent the body losing blood so that the flash would be more moist to eat. What an enormous task lies before tte nuns and missionaries in trying to Christianise such beings. And yet the Church has done such things over and over from China to Peru. It Is not frivolous maidens such as Miss Cusack has depicted that could dare to face the task. They must be and they are women of rare strength of mind and an all pervading sense of duty.