Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 48, 30 March 1894, Page 1

Current Topics

Al IIOME AND ABROAD.

Pabticdlabs recently published of the cireer of ODDB AND ends. Adrian Lemmi, tbe newly-elected president of Palladic Masonry, show that the man is worthy of his post. Lemmi was born of Catholic parents at Leghorn in April, 1822, and the registration of his baptism as a Catholic is in existence. He was found guilty at Marseilles in 1844 of iobbery and swindling, and, in 1846, at Constantinople, no doubt under false pretences, he became a Jsw. Of the Masonic grade over which Lemmi presides things are told almost too bad for repetition, and which would be altogether iccredible were they not supported by tbe testimony of most reliable men, and the printed documents of the Society. Dr Bataille, for example, in his work " The Devil in the Nineteenth Century," gives an account of an outrage on the Blessed Eucharist which he witnessed during the reception of a Mistress Mason at Singapore, when God and His Christ were cursed, and Lucifer was invoked as thrice holy and a saint. Most truly does the Bishop of Grenoble declare that God is the enemy they pursue. "It is not," he says, " the nun, the priest, the Pope, they want to annihilate ; no, it is God ! The Lord could say to-day to bis religious congregations, as to Samuel :— " It is not you they reject, it is Me, that I reign no longer over them." Has not the Church, therefore, been wise in warding her people against tbe membership— even in tbe ou'er acd well-meaning' gradeE — of a Society which is capable of such developments? In contrast with thid evil picture of Freemasonry, we present our readers with a sketch of Catholic action as it ii given by a nonCatholic writer. The scene is laid in an island of the Lipari group lying betweeu Sicily and Italy. Tbe people are described as living a life of true Arcadian simplicity, in peice and plenty :— •" There is no lawyer and no piison ; jet there are no disputes over boundary lides, no quarrels between debtor and creditor, and no theft. There is no l:quor-Btller, nor tobacconist, nor tea-merchant ; and yet tne people are not unsocial nor gloomy. There is no alms-house and do beggar." The ruling spirit of this isle, which is named Panaria, is the palish priest. " When he came to Panaria he found no port, no pos', no school, no church, no anything, but a verdant and fertile island, »nd a people, not savage nor bad, bui utterly ilhtera c— i naif abet!, «s the Lalinns say. He has remained there unto this day, devoting bimseif to thiir welfare ac faithfully as Father Damieu to hie lepers— DaptisiDg. marrjing, buryine, preacbiop, teaching, and growing old serenely in his coueecrattd service. ThaDks to his untiling efforts, Panaria has njw a little port, and postal communication with the mainland, h submarine telegraph to Sicily, a schoo', and a commodious church, wherp, three hurdred and eixtj -five mornings of the year, and fifty-two afternoons, there is a service. All the public rffices are UDited in one person . . . Padre Michelangelo is ... priest, mayor, harboui-msster, postmaster, and master of the marine telegraph, aided in tbe last-named office, however, by his widowed niece." This testimony of a non-Catholic writer— Adelia Gates in the Leisure Hour for September or October —to the na ure of the people of Southern Italy and the worth of their pritgis is veiy much to the purp se just now when an rffort is being made to discredit both people and priests in the interests of those worthies of whom Adrian Lemmi and the Society over which he pre•idts are the friends and representatives. Mr P. L. Connellan, the Rome correspondent of tbe Boston Pilot, givefl a review of a book on the condition of Sicily, just published by a Member of the Italian Parliament, named San GiU(*H«no, who is himself a Sicilian. This author, we are toldi attributes a'l the evil to the wretchedness of the people, arisicg from landlordism and excessive taifctioi. To these caußes, he says, both socialism and brigandage are due, and not to any inherent wickedness in the character of tbe people, " That the Deputy San Giuliano is not partial t > tbe Catholic Church, and is no friend of the clergy," writes Mr Connellan, "are soon made evident. This renders his testimony to the miegovernment of the island all the more forcible.

Re sa>B : 'Clericalism itself, even when it openly anathematizes or threatens tbe integrity of tbe country, is regarded by many with benevolence, because in its doctrines and in its tendencies they see ft cooseivative force, which auxiliary does not appear to them superfluous against the subversive current?, which become every day more menacing.' Well, I may add here that it was the constant practice! of the authorities, working under the favour of tbe Italian Government, to blacken and deride tbe Catholic clergy by all manner of falsehood and insinuation and, by implication, the religion of which they were the ministers, that have rendered the Sicilians to-day tosialiß's and members of the Fasci, over which neither clergy nor Government have any further a controlling or beneficial influence. So much for the truth in Ban Giuliano's snesr at what he terms 1 clericalism.' " Considerable anxiety (writes Mr Connellaa again) it felt concerning the fate of the Pope, if the revolutionary movement, now rapidly spreading throughout several districts of Italy, break ont in Borne. People are asking what are tbe guarantees and dtfences made for the safety of the Head of the Christian world. Every one here knows how tbe Italian Government, while pretending to extend all liberty and freedom to the Pontiff, has hampered his action at home. Every outrage committed against the rights and person of the Pope has either been permitted, or condoned or pardoned by this Government. One of the most widely-spread anti-Catholic journals published in Rome is allowed to publish this with impunity, After hnviDg published a glaring falsehood agaiost the Pops, it says let the Holy See profit by this as a warning that " whether compromisers or uncompromisers, «he enemies who are in the Vatican are all intent on profiting by every misfortune of ours for their crooked aims." Th« object of this wicked insinuation is evident : it is to instil in tho minds of the mob that the dwellers in the Vatican, beginning with the Pope, are the enemieß of Italy, and that they gloat over the sorrows and sufferings of the peiple. All this is allowed to pass unchecked because Italy enjoys a free press. Mr Connellan also points to a possibility that is of moment to the world at large " The Italian Government, in its « Law of Guarantees,' " he writec, " reserves to itself rights over tbe Vatican library and the museums and galleries of that Pontifical Palace. No one outride of Rome, and few in it consider what this means. It means that when the I alien Government, whether through want of money, or from a mere whim, decrees the taking possession of the Vatican library and the Vatican museums and galleries, the thing will be done — and the most valuable library, and most varied and rich— in an artistic and antiquarian point of view — of all the galleries in the world, will come to the possession of that Government. But that is not the worst of it. The same Government which made the Victor Emanuel Library, out of tbe spoils of fifty nine monastic libraries, losing thousands of precious volumes in tbe transformation, and losing other valuable objects besides, Buch as the first letter of Colambus — a document valued at 2000dois — has not learned much respect for Papal documents and books that show the evil fate that awaits the sacrilegious by appeal to tbe history of the world." A distinguished member of tbe American Catholic Press haa jast departed this life, in the person of Dr George Dering Wolff, editor of the Philadelphia Catholic Standard. Dr Wolff was of German descent, and the son of the Rev Bernard C Wolff, Bometime pro* fessor of theology in the German informed Seminary at Mercersburg, Pa. He bad himself alco been a minister of the German Reformed Church. He became a convert to Catholicism when 49 years of age, in tbe year 1871, and since then bad been occupied variously in Catholio literary pursuit-). He had been editor of tbe Catholio Standard since 1872.— R I. P. Some of the utterances made at meetings of the London unemployed in the beginning of February, though probably mere empty bluster, were ratber of an ugly kind. The men had been angered by being prevented by tbe police from marching from Tower Hill to Trafalgar b'quare through Fleet street acd tbe Strand. Mr John E. Williams, their organiser, declared, accordingly, that if blows were on the side of the police, chemicals were on the side of the workingmen. "If struck." be added, " the unemployed were determined to use (hem and send the police to heaven by chemical parcel post, with a piece of explosive tbe size of a penny which could be

carried in the pocket." At one of the meetings it wag »Ibo asserted that, if work were denied them, the unemployed were morally justified in helping themselves to the accumulations of wealth created by their own toi l All this, as we have said, may, indeed, be mere sound and fury. Considering, however, the temper of the time?, elsewhere! it may possibly have a more sinister significance. During the past few years (says the Melbourne Advocate) a considerable number of Catholics who worsnip according ho tbe Greek rite have arrived in this city, and as their numbers increased tbe want of a priest who could minister to their spiiitusl needs »as keenly felt. Early last year a meeting of Oriental Catholics whs held, under the presidency of Mr Abraham Khaled, Vice-Consul for Turkey, and it was resolved to petition tbe Patriarch of Jerusalem to send a missionary priest of the Greek rite with the object o f permanent 'y>Bt»blishing a church here for the benefit of the Orienta 1 residents. Accordingly the Patriarch was pleased to appoint the Bey Malathois Nammur, a priest of the Order of St Basil of Jerusalem' to the position, and the rev gentleman arrived in Melbourne recently' i Oo his arrival he waited upon the Archbishop of Melbourne and | received the usual faculties for ihe discharge of his sacerdotal functions in the Archdiocese. His Grace also kindly placed his own private chapel at the disposal of Father Nanomar, where he haa since celebrated Mass according to the Oriental rite for the benefit of his compatriots. Since his arrival Father Nananmr has been actively engaged in the duties of bis mission, and has been most cordially received by bis people, who greatly appreciate his ministration?, and who, owing to the good Father's thorough acquaintance with tbe various Eastern dialects, have been enabled to receive tbe consolations of religion in their own language. Father Nammar was ordained to tbe priesthood eighteen years ago by his Beatitude Gregory Joseph Patriarch of Antiocb, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and all the Orien*! From the clergy and laity in Melbourne he has received many generous donations for his pious objecf, and he hopes very shortly to be able to open a temporary building for the use of his congregationAs we foresaw and predicted, the licensing elections have proved favourable to tbe Prohibition party. If the full measure has not been carried, sufficient, at least, has been done to strengthen the bands of its advocates and nerve them for renewed efforts. So fax, however, as their anxiety is Bincere and their object is wise we may wish them success. What we doubt ie both the one and the other. We question whether a great many of these people have anything in view except ends of their own. And we believe that there is hardly room to question the folly of the extreme on wbioh they insist. Carried to its logical conclusions, it means a considerable alteration of the face of the world, and a general revolution in trade and indusry. Breweries and distilleries most be closed as well as public bonses. Barley-growera must change their crop. Vineyards and bopyards must be rooted out. A vast deal, in fac f , that it is absurd even to propose must take place. Meantime, the elec ions have proved once more the necessity that exists for an amendment in the Franchise Act, with regard to the method of voting. It is absolutely necessary to protect the polling booths againet the presence of touts and tricksters. Above all the fanatical woman must be forced to ply her importunities elsewhere. The elector?, in a word, must be protected against the impudent interference, that, both in the general election and that held last week, was rampant— to the great annoyance of many voteie, and, we doubt not, tbe complete confusion and misdirection of some. Fanaticism cannot be suppressed by law— or by anything else for the matter of that— but, at hasr, it may be held in check. As things now are, if the ballot is observed in the letter it is, in the spirit, glaringly violated. Our contemporary the Cromwell Argus quotes from a writer in JJlaekwood's Magazine a paragraph which for unscrupulous calumny it would be hard to beat. The writer accuses the Chinese literati of designing, «• like the Irish agitatorp," to get rid of intruder?, whom accordingly they denounce as desirable objects of murder to their counfrymeD. The Mandarins afterwards extend to the murderers " the same protection which is extended to Irish criminals by the Land League." It is of course vain to complain of the license indulged in by a writer who belongs to t4e party whose self -a turned privilege is carte blanche in the matter of calutnnima tyir g. A|newspaper, however, which provides its readers with p ibulum to rival that supplied by the late Mr Pigott to the London Times is hardly to be congratulated for its good taste. The renders of the Cromwell Argus perhaps may be particularly interested in the morality of ihe Chinese. It would nevertheless be lit.le to their disadvantage to pursue their inquiries without partaking in a falsa and infamous accusation against men who possess the confi lence and s>mpathy of many of their fellow-colonists. Possibly our contempoiary also aspires to the privilege to which we have referr< d. Our frieod at Keokuk has made a new departure. Ha now furnishes the Dunedin Star with a rigmarole in which palaver tukes a distinguished place. Our friend, it appears, entertains quite an admiration for tbe Catholic Church, and iB ready to bestow on her a certain amount of patronage. Has our friend forgotten those words of hia that we have here etill before us, as written by him under date

September 8 1:—"1 :— " Thin (>t best a garbled quotation from the Catholic World, number or date not given) is an honest ata'ement of tbe position of tbe Roman Oburch on the question of universal education. It enforces one of her mottoes that ' ignorance is the mother of devotion.' Rome never changes. Her methods are adapted to limes, conditionp, and circumstances, but through the ages, with sleepless vigilance, she fixes her policy, and pursues it to success through temporary defeat, There is no question thcit Rome wonld destroy our public Bchool system if she could." And tgain : " Our h >pc is that another generate n of Ca'holic children taught in the public schools will turn the tide against Rome for ever."' Yet now our friend says : " I am not blind to tbe great merit and inestimable service of the Roman Catholic Church." He goes on to quote with an assumption of Bympathy all sorts of civil things said of the Church at tbe late Parliament of Religions by one Dr. Bchi»af. Did our Keckuk fri*> <i then pay a visit to the counterfeit Blarrey-stuue at the rec;nt Exhibition in Chicago? Even his blarney seems of a spurious kind. Our friend, moreover, accuses the Tablet of making use of "vituperative epithets and lying personal abuse," An accusi. tion which, although we cannot class it as blarney of any kind, is undoubtedly spurious. All that the Tablet was accountable for was an exposure in adequate and well-merited terms of false and unscrupulous assertions and impudently garbled quotations. As to our friend's denial that the parochial schools ever equal those of the State, a suilicient refutation of it is the fact that in America, as eleewberr, whenever the two are brought into competition the parochial schools are the victors, which was again the case, for example, the other day at Chicago, where their exhibit was infinitely better than that of tbe more pretentious system. Of the qualifications of our friend to explain tbe attitude or disposition of Catholics, notwithstanding his declaration that side by side with his Catbolis brother he has marched to battle-and perhaps showed that brother the way in retiring therefrcm~we may judge from the tone of bis previous utterances. However, it may suit him now to adopt a strain of palaver his bitterness remans in black and white. With our friend's claims on behalf of the justice of the secular system and hie statements in general as to its excellence, we may contrast, for instance, a passage quoted by Chief Inspector Fitcb, in his recent report to the Imperial Parliament on education in America. Mr Fitch quotes from an article contributed by Dr John Baacon, formerly president of the Wisconsin Universersity, to the Forum, He dea. cribes the writer as one " whose long experience and whose interest in the whole subject of public instruction give exceptional weight to his opinion." Dr Bascon condemns the enforced snpport of the public schools by those who do not accept them ap, broadly, taxation without representation. " Now." he adds, •' when religious instruc tion is coming to be distinctly disclaimed in the public schools, when priva-e instruction mikes this disclaimer a ground of its own exietence, and when parochial training is first defined and then accepted in place of public instruction, this policy assumes the appearance of extended and glaring injustice. . . The sense of iojustica will deepen year by year, the religious sentiments which underlie the parochial school will be fed by the very opposition which they meef and the public feeling arrayed against these schools will itself become an intolerant ssntiment of belief or unbelief assocnted with religion No condition could well be more hostile to the steady growth of public instruction than this policy." Tnere is common sense, to be contrasted with rigmarole and palaver.

•Bankrupt Italy ! ' is the startling caption ro be seen on mo«r items of news now coming from King Humbert's kingdom " Unite-d Italj " and " Italy redeemed " were watchwords in the nast bnt £ seemi pretty clear now that Italy, when it consisted of three kinedome, had a muco happier and more conteated population than it has ever had since. There is a very serious dtficit in the Italian Budget this year, and this deficit, which amounts to one hundred and ibir'y million lire, the Government propose to make good by laviiu? additional taxes upon the over-burdened tax-payers of the DeninsnU The financial troubles of Italy »re, it is stated, lik«ly to have for one of their side effec a the development of anew iodustry. The duty on imported mineral oil is so heavy as to render it prohibitive in price, and it is being substituted by that extracted from eran« stones, which yield from 10 to 15 per cent of clear, colourless in odorous oil, burning without smoke. Peasants have been in' the habit of making this in small quantities after every vintage for home consumption, but now it is engaging the attention of commerce The time has come when the claim of the Lords to block demo cratic legislation most be Bternly challenged. A Liberal Government c.nnot allow the rights of the people to be niched by a permanent Tory committee, nnd the Daily Chronicle gives some excellent advioa to Miuisiers on this subject :— " If they present the country with a set of botched measures ihey will not get a hand from the men on whom alone they could reckon for support. If this applies to the Bills of this session it applies still mure forcibly to the measures of the new. Let us have short, strong, simply drafted B lit— draitic registration reform, one man one vote, and a big popular Badeet Let these measures be firmly pressed through the Commons and Bub.' mitted to the Lords to take or leave, Then the Government can bo to the country with a record of their administrative work which tbe House of Lords could not stop atd the democratic Bills which tbe Lords have spoiled. We shall then get a clean straight issue, and in our opinion the Government can reckon on a great victory. 1 '