CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 46, 15 March 1895, Page 8

CATHOLIC NEWS.

(From the Catholic Times.')

The Daily Nem is in error with regard to the new French President* M. Faure belongs to a Catholic family and is a Catholic himself Last year he was amongst those who want to Jerusalem at the Paschal Beason. The many Catholic friends of Mis Fr^nk Tussaud, of the Exhibition, Biker street, London, will he phase* to hear th-it she h-is been received into the Church by Father O'Halloran .»t Baling. The Catholic deputies of the German Centre and many Catholic inhabitants of Berlin attended a Boleinu Requiem Mass for thd late Dr Windthorst on Sunday, January 20, lour years having eUpsed since his deaib. His Holiness Leo XIII , writing in reply t > an ad3rea* from the Catholic editors in the United States, says nothing could be mora desirable than that sound reading shou.d be tcUtered broadcast amoDg the people. He accords to the Catholic editurs a " tribute of well-earned praise." Key D. A. Qainc, who made a noble record daring the jellow fever epidemic in Na-ih?ille some yeais ago, being one ot three priests who survived the plague which carried off tweoty-eight of his brethren in tbe ministry, has added new laurels to bis fame by the invention of stenotype for use by typewriters. Mother Katherice Drcxel, on January 9, m de bpr final vows as a religeuse in the community which she fouade i for the special woik of evangelism? the Indians and negroes of the Umted States. Arch, bishop Ryan offi-Ut-'d at the solemn servic, wni'h tjok pLce at the Convent of the Blessed Sacrament, rear Philadelphia. Tbe Osservatore lloniano lately published an arLic'e oa the Armenian question, in which all the blame for the recent disorders was tani t i tho charge of the Armenians lhera9elves. 111 1 \Jonatantinople it was reported that tbn article was written by no lisa a personage than Mgr. Azarian, tho Patriarch of the Catholic Armenians. Laßt week tha Patriarch wrote a letter formally denyirg that he had wntten or inspired the article. TV c c^DJect of the appoiotment ol S uor Cabrera as Bishop of tbo Piotestaut Reformal Church in Ma.lnd, cime up for diacußsion in the bpanifh OKamber ot Deputies on Monday, January 14 win n the Maiquis del Vadillo lmerpellated the Govprnraunt in the matter. He considered it shameful on the part of Dr Piunk^t 111 1 select Spain as the cockpit of Anglican Propaganda disputes, The Minister of Jag ice, in reply, said th^re had bean fio violation of the laws of the land. He considered the consecration t) be devoid of political

importance, inasmuch as Senor Cabrera waa no more a Biahop after than before the ceremony, His Eminence Cardinal Vaughaa had an audience* with the Holy Father on Monday, January 21. In an interview with a Press orrespoodent on Tuesday his Eminence contiadicted the statement lately made by various papera that he was anticipating an immediate return of all England to the Faith. It would ba difficult, he eaid, to bring about such a conversion en masse, " inasmuch as every Protestant is his own Pop 9." Tne conversion of England means the conversion of individuals, an 1 his Emine-ico 1 expects that there will be a marked increase in these individual conversions. The pro* ing influence of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre in moving the religious spirit of the French nation is an amazing fact, not to be explained by the poor reason of an excited curiosity. In 1893 the annual register of Masses showed 7,000 ; last year th.i figure had n>-en to 11,000. In 1883 there were 60,000 commun'oante, and in 1894 therj were 93,000. More than 109 bi-hopa encouraged the perpetual adora ion of the Sacred Heart in this basilica, and 294 religious house 3 have affiliated their communities to the devotion. The devotions and off irings of various kinds during the past year represent over a million of francs. It must be owaed, even by those least disposed to make the admission, that theae are not figures of decliDing faith. Death has called aw*y one of the oldest members of the Catholic colony in Rome, Mihs Miry Rillca. Hit long life in that city — the last years of which weie fiiU-d with illncis— was p^sse 1 in pio is and retired usefulness. Born ff a staunchly Catholic Scotch family, a relative by par^n'aj; a of Flora Mac 1 >uald and the historic Lord LTvat, " she,knew, nevertheless, the pun thit is born of religious d.ifjrpnc s" O.io of h r last acts w-ia to entrust to a friend her translation of Pr jfeesor Nittis' " Catholic Socialism," a work which Oiidinal Manning dec aied tj bo '' th • bee', the most candid, and the most interesting book published on the subject, and a perfect synthesis of the Cithohc social movement." In a lecture at Havre the Abbe Gamier said that the great cause of the present feeling of social uneasiness was the violation of the r.ghtH of the individual, the result of the omnipotence of the State, which discourages the association of individuals, legally crushes the citiz-D, and alienates his liberty by taking a part of his fortune. This deplorable state of things was not of modern origin. II it bad reappi ared it was because the salutary influence of Christianity, which bai caused it to disappear hud been attacked afresh. Tht liberty of association instituted by Christianity had been suppressed and tbere hid be>n a return to the ancient errors of Socialism. The evils of to-day were very similar tj those of old times. There was

but one remedy for this crisis of medern Bociety— a return to the sa'utnry doctrines of the Gospel that gave to the world, in addition to equality, individual liberty, and, as its corollary, the liberty of association. Mr Lister Drumraond has done a useful action once more in warning the Hampptcad pub ie ngainpt being deluded by the appeal for the so-called '■ Figuer >■ Viasion,' and in calling- attention to the circumstances brought to Herb* some time ago in Truth. A b >ok called "Buried Ali"e ; rr -i Modern Btovy of Romish TvranLy." is sold for the benefit of tbi>- rnisßion. The precious proJuc'ion gives an account ot ashocki g rritne alleged to have been committed in a convent at Barcelona tv 1885 Si ion? ago as 1891 the story was reluted by Pastor and Madamn Rodriguee at a lecture in Hampstead. On being aeked for the authority of their statements they were only able to mention come Spanish papera, Inquiries were then made at Barcelona, and it was found that the story had indeed appeared in certain local prints, but that at tha request of the Bishop, it was investigated by a magistrate, with therpsult that it was proved to be a malicious and baseless fabrication. This fact mast have been long sines known to the parties who carry on the Figueras Mission, yet the book is still advertised, and sympathy sought for the mission on the score of its lying contents Of all tha European nations Russia has the highest birth rate, viz., 49.5 per 1,000. The German Empire stands at 39 0, England at £ -1, and France, with 25 2, is at tho bottom of the list. Tha difference of the rate between Franca and Germany is so enormous that the French, knowing well what this may mean to them in another decade or so, have good reason to feel uncomfortable. The birth i" rate in Franca differs enormously in various provinces, and even in departments which are almost contiguous. The statistics on thia head are very significant. The rate rung as high ag 34 par thousand in Brittany, and as low as 17 per thousand in some parts of southern France. Everywhere it is noticed that where the people are generally poor the birth rate is generally high, and where they are prosperous it is low. This is the statistical answer to the argument that the increasing difficulties of existence expluin the decline of the population. In Paris we fiad that the birth rate in quarter?, almost exclusively inhabited by workiog people, is over 30, wtureas in the quarters favoured by the rich and prosperous it is as low as 25. In the provinces, where the religious fee'i'jg is strong, the birth rate is high, and wherever ieligion languishes the population declines Another fact to be notfd is that where the conditions of life are hardest in France — leaving cities out of coa < >ld' j Mti )n —the religious feeling is strongest, and where there is mnch distributed prosperity are to be found the churches that are least frequently fi led.