CATHOLIC NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 9, 28 June 1895, Page 19

CATHOLIC NEWS.

(From the Catholic 'Mmes. May 4 )

Pbeachikq at St Augnßtine's, Preston, on Sunday evening, the Bey Father Paine, S J., said it was to be feared that England was becoming pagan rather than Christian.

The Very Bey Father Gregory, Provincial of the Passioniste, will sail on the 17th inst. for Australia to make the canonical -visitation of tbe members of the Congregation at Sydney and Gculbura. He wiJ return in October.

Bey J. G. F. Reuperr, whose conversion we announced last week, was born and educated abroad. He was ordained by the late Bishop of St Albans in 1887, and appointed to the curacy of a large parish in Essex. After that he held a cnracy in Kent for nearly tbiee years, and early in 1893 was appointed to an tncumbency in the West of England,

Abbe" Tolstoi, a Russian priest, who recantly j jined the Roman Church, is studying in the Grottaferatta Monas'ery and will probably be sent to take charge of the Oriental Seminary which has been formed at Constantinople by the Pope. The annual Roman esodas has begun, and although the city is s bill full of visitors of all nationalities, a marked thinning in the Pincio crowd is daily witnessed. Several Bishops, paying their ad liviina visits to Borne, were received in special audience by his Holiness this week.

When Cardinal Vaughan was in Borne he sowed tha first seeds of union and fraternity between many hitherto antagonistic elements. The gradual evolution witnessed in Borne of late is truly majvellous and we daily learn that parties who once refused to even recognise each other in the most ordinary social gatherings, now cordially seek each other's society in tbe evident wish to forget the past and be reconciled in the future.

The subscription opened under the auspices o£ the CardinalArchbishop of Paris for the decoration of tha French chapel of thj Basilica of Loretto.in Italy, having reacbe.i the earn of 50,000 franc, the work is about to be commenced. . It is believed that in tbe religions and artistic rivalry of various nations as regards the decoration of their various chapels iv the Basilica, France will take a very prominent, if not a pre-eminent place. His EmineDce Cardinal Vaughan has transmitted through the Rev Philip Fletcher, president, his blessing to the members of the Oatbolic Journalists' Guild. The first aanual Mass will be a rid (by kind permission of the Very Bsv Father, Bone) at Sc Etheldreda's, Ely-place, in the upper church, at 10 o'clock, on Sunday, May 19 h (the of St Duoetan), by the rev president. All members of the guild are requested to attend. The following is the full Hat of vice-presidents of the guild : Mrs M. Blundell, Mr Jamas Britten, Mr

Percy Fitzgerald, the Bey John Gerard, S J., Mrs A. M. Grange, Mrs K. Hinkson, Mrs Meynell, Mr J. C. Millaga, Mr B. Partridge, Mr Olemeat Scott, and Mr T, D. Sullivan, M.P.

On tbe 7th of May, at the Congress of the Congregation of Bites, the favourable decision for the beatification of the martyred Benedictine Abbots and their companions will be given, The same decision will be issued also with regard to Earl Percy and Sir Adrian Fortescue, who were martyred later, and whose beatification had been deferred also. The following is the list of the Benedictine martyrs : B. Ricaard Whiting, Abbot of Glastonbury ; B. Hugh Oooke, Abbot of Beading ; B. John Beche (or Marshall), Abbot of Colchester. Their four companions were : John Thome, Boger James, John Bugg, James Eynon— of whom the two former were Benedictines, the two latter possibly Benedictines, but more probably secular priests. There are consequently nine in the formal Decree whose beatification will be published shortly after tbe decision of May 7th.

Oae of the most learned English scholars and Latinista in Borne has made the following strictly literal translation of the Holy Father's prayer for Eogland which terminates bis recent letter : *'O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, our sweetest Queen and Mother, tnrn thine eyes of Mercy upon England, named thy 'dowry,' turn them on us who trust in tbee with an entire confidence. To. rough thee wa9 given Christ the Savionr of the world, in whom our hope was to be grounded : by Him in return wast thou then given to us that this hope might be increased. Pray for us, whom tbou, most sorrowful Mother, didst take as thy children at the foot of the Lord's Cross. Intercede for oar separated brethren, that in one .true fold they may be united with us to the Chief Shepherd, the earthly Vicar of tby S;n. Pray for us all, most loving Mother, that by Faith, fruitful in good works, we may all merit with thee to behold God in the heavenly Fatherland, and to praise Him for all eternity. AmeD."

The Abbe Gamier, commenting on the letter of his Holiness Leo XIII. , to the English nation, observes that the language ia in the largest sense that of an apostle and priest speaking to a people by eiucation and custom religious, to a people formed by the Bible and n 111 1 nchriatianised by pagan literature. Tbe English institutions, he sajs, rv;,t upon the Holy Scriptures and Canon law and not like those of France on Roman law. '• Tbe Pope," adds the leading spirit of the Peuple Ffangais " does not treat as between one power and another ; hs does not speak of the conditions of a rapprocliment, Tbe Catholic Church — as the Times has perfectly understood — cannot accept any compromise. It is, therefore, on the supernatural power of prayer alone that Leo XIII. rests the supreme hope of hia pontifica'e. And a great and touching spectacle is that of the glorious Pontiff foreseeing ' an end th it cannot be long delayed,' and filled with love for the grrat flock of Christians, appealing to a people that repudiate his

authority to kneel with him before God, Who, in His Almightioess' can make the ' Papal dream ' a triumphant reality."

It is fitting that the Catholics of the Eternal City should have taken the initiative and lending part in the celebration of the third centenary of the immoralr al author of the " Gerusalemme Liberate." They are the proper custodians of tbe lUerarary and artistic traditions of days whpn trie glories of Italy wera bread-basid upon religion and found exp-nents such as Raphael, Titian, Michael Angelo, Gaudeczio Fenari, Ariosto and Tas^o, Bembo and Annibal Cam, Leo X, and Cosimo the Greit. In Tasao's troubled career the brightest feature, was the protection afforded him by the Papal Court. At that time the greatest ornaments of literature looked to the Sovereigo Pontiff for inspiration and encouragement and looked not n vain. There was not a department of art, science or letters in Iwhich the Papal influence was not felt. How many works full of genius were dedicated to the Pope and o'her ecclesiastical patrons — the d'Estes, Aldobrandinis, Gonzagas, and otberg ; and, as the result) how thoroughly tbe writings of the most eminent poets and litterateurs were permeated by the Christian spirit. Tasso was prond of having obtained a laurel crown in Campidoglio from Clemeat VIII, but as a faithful son of the Church he was prouder and more grateful at having in bis final moments received tbe Papal Benediction.

Father Procter decidtdly deserves fie thanks of Catholics for the telling exposure of Dean Farrar's caricature of Savonarola, and the Daily Chronicle is entitled to no small share of gratitude for giving the same space and prominenca to the reply as to the original discourse, Of Father Procter's address, we need only Bay it renders it quite clear that, thjugh Dean Farrar may be an excellent band at romance, he has but a vrfry poor grasp of the solid facts of history. Tbe irony with which Father Procter treats him is apparently gentle, but in reality it is terribly severe. The Dean, said the rev gentleman, did well in preparing his bearers for lofty flights of imagination by stating that oue of his authorities was the "noble and powerful romance "of " Romola." Had he read Pico de la Mirandola, Burlemacchi, Pere Bayonne's " Etude," or even Savonarola's own works, instead of George Eliot's, he might have sten that the sainted Dominican would hive regardel the Reformation as an act of apostacy, a religious revolt. It is probable that tbe Dean will be a little more cautijus and self-res'rained when he next feels inclined to rommce on subjects affecting the Catholic Church. It is pleasant, no doub', to win plaudits by appeals to bigotry, but such an experience is not likely to be repeated when it is discovered that this can only be done at the loss of reputation.