Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 47, 20 March 1896, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

" Is Baithen mentioned in the topic in laßt issue the St Bathan's after {whom a town in Central X Otago is named ?" We cannot answer the question with certainty, Seyeral Baithrn'a are met with in Irish hagiology. Most likely the Baithen we mentioned in connection with lona is the St Bathan'B referred to. St Baithen was the successor of St Columba. He was a near relative — according to some the coußin, according to others the nephew — of Columcille. Colamba wae engaged in his favourite occupation of transcribing the Sacred Scriptures when bis fatal illness attacked him. Overcome by weakness he laid down the pen in the midlleof the 33rd Psalm. " Let Baithen write the rest," said the master. His wish was law with his monks. They saw clear indication of the desire of the dying saint that Baithen, whom he was wont to liken to John, the Beloved Disciple, Bhould succeed him at lona. The kinship, far from being a bar to the succession, was a qualification in those days when the spirit of clan was strong in the monasteries. So Baitben became Abbot where for many years he bad been Prior, and rnlfid lona with gentle sway for three years. He died in the year 600, and to this day is revered as the patron eaint of Taughboyne (Teach-Baithen), County Donegal.

BAIUT BAITHEN OB IONA.

The lives of the Irish missionary saints are full of interest. The history of Baithen, of lona, as student, monk, and abbot is no exception. He was a great saint und a great scholar. His angelic modesty and constant fervour, and ceaselees activity were constant sermons to the monks of lona and Heth. He took a full share of work in the fields His work was in itself a prayer, and was accompanied by prayer. He never lost a moment. Even as ha walked to and from the monastery with eyes cast down his hands were claßped beneath bis habit as he prayed. The old chronicler in the Salamanca MS., mentions many interesting details of his life. As an illustration of his spirit of prayer and mortification it is related that he was accustomed to recite a prayer between every two m^rßelsof food. When hfl accompanied Columba from Derry he became overseer of works at lona. His skill as a Scribe found him more occupation in the scriptorium or transcribing room than in the fields. It is said of Baithen that on one occasion he hurriedly copied the psalter. On revising the work it was found he had made but one mistake — he had omitted a dot over an i. Tbese monks were woderfully skilled in transcription. ' I have seen," says O'Flaherty, '' handwriting of St Columba, in Irish characters, as straight and as fair as any print of above 1000 years standing." To be a choice scribe" was high secommendatton for preferment. " Let Baithen write the rest." The " choice Scribe" ot lona Bpoke of the " choice Bcribe " Baithen, wbo was then Abbot of the monastery founded by Columba at MaghLunga— the plain of the sbip9— in Heth. This monastery was twenty miles from lona — a short distance for the hardy sailor monks of those northern seas. The writer of the life of St Baitheo says that his days were BpeDt in reading, prayer, and bodily labour. His scholarship wa,s universally acknowledged. "Be assured," wrote an old writer, "that he had no equal on this side of tbe Alps in his knowledge of sacred Scripture, and in the profundity of his science. He was a wonder worker, and many miracles are recorded by the Annalis's.

A STOBY yOU YOUN& AND OLD.

In bis admirable work, " Irish Schools and Scholars," the Most Rev Dr Healy, to whom we are indebted for information in the proceeding notep, tells a Btory of the tarly life of 8t Baithen which Bbowß that " spare the rod " was Dot the motto of masters in the schools of Erin. It were well that colonial children were more generally dealt with in ancient fashion. The birch generously applied is good corrective medicine for incipient larrikinifm.

ST BATHAN'S, CENTRAL OTAG<

Here is the story of Baitaens shortcoming, and bow the young saint was cured of the usual boyish laziness : — " We are told in the life of St Golman Bla, of Lynally, in the King's Connty, that he once punished St Baither, the nephew of Columcille, and his successor in the abbacy of Hy, for neglecting his studies. The boy, thereupon, fled from the church in which the school was, it seems, taught, to the woods to hide, no doubt, and avoid both bis lessons and the chastisement of his master. There he saw a man building one of the circular wicker-work houses then very common, and observed that, although he worked one rod at a time, the wicker-wall rose steadily to the roof. " Ah," said he, "if I only learned a little each day, I too should grow learned." Then he took shelter from a shower undar the spreading branches an of oak tree. While standing beneath the boughs he observed a drop of water dripping from a leaf and falling en the ground. He made a hole with his heel on the spot: where the drop was falling, and soon noticed that the hole was filled. Here he made a similar mental reflection, and vowing that never again would he neglect his daily task, he returned lo bis master and grew up to be a very learned and a very holy man (O'Curry, M. and 0. vol ii, p 83).

HOW BOYS WEBB FED OP OLD.

Cn the same page of Dr Healy'g work, from which we take the foregoing quotation, we find some in* formation about the food of lads at the ancient Irish monastic schools, which will intereßt oar modern school boys, who like flesh meat three times a day. The law compelled the teachers to supply wholesom* food according to the rank of the parents of their pupils. " What are their victuals?" asks the writer in the Lenchus Afor. " Stirabout (lithe") is given to them all, but the flivouring is to b« different." It was salt butter for the eons of inferior grades ; fre«h butter (or the sons of chieftains ; honey for the sons of kings. Tbe sterabout of oat-meal might be made on water, or on butter-milk, or on new milk, and given to the different classes in like manner,

MORE ABOUT THE SHADOWGBAPH.

A COPY of a shadowgraph or ph itograph according to Professor Loatgen's invention, baa attracted a deal of attention in Dunedin, where it is exhibited in the shop of Mr P. Hyams, jeweller. It was takpn in Hamborg, and represents a human hand. The hand of a liviog person was photographed, with the result that a skeleton hand with shadows where the flesh should be, appeared diatincly in the negative. The phot >graph was taken by the Professor himself. D. Speißs, of Vienna, at a recent lecture, exhibited, "amoog other photographs, a very interesting one, showiDg the band of a Bervant belonging to tha institution. This man, years ugo, ran into his hand a piece of glass, which could not be extr cted, and which alw-iyg penetrated dreper. The photograph of the skeleton of the hand produced by Professor Poentgea'a method showed tbis bit of glass quite distinctly."

DESCENDANT OF JOHN KNOX.

A tew years ago the conversion of a lineal descendant of Martin Luther vaa chronicled. It will interest our readers, especially of the lectures, "Catholicism add Presbyterianism," now published in our columns to learn that the only lineal descendant of Joho Knox ia a member of the congregation of the Holy Gross. Brother Philip was aMethodistpreacherinhisearly manhood.bnt forthirty years past he has been a teacher in various Catholic Bchools. He has in hie possession a snnfE-box which belonged to his ancestor.

A good man, the head of a Roman Catholic collegr, ODD 3 AND ENDS, was walking home in the failing light when ha beheld in the middle of the road a dark object in the snow. Drawing near, he found a little cobbler from the neighbouring hamlet, lying unconsciously drunk. The Jesuit could not leave him to perish. So with great difficulty he raised him from the ground, and with great difficulty he managed to steer the helpless fellow -mortal to his house, half a mile off. Though unconscious «t starting, he had partly regained his senses when he reached his own

door; and he uttered come words of thanks. The good-natured priest (aid : " Maybe ye wad not be bo ceevil if ye kenned who I am." But the answer wai ready. Not without dignity, the balf-articulate cobbler replied : •• Oa ay, I ken ye fine. Y«'re a Oawthlic priest. But I'm a man aboon a' prejudice I"

A service for the conversion of England took place on Sunday last (says the Roman correspondent of the London Tablet, February 1) in the Chursh of St George and the English Saints, in tbe Via S. Sebastiano. The church was crowded with people, both during the sermon delivered by the Rev Philip Fletcher, Master of tbe Guild of Ransom, and tbe Benediction given by tbe Cardinal Logne, Primate of All Ireland; The preacher dealt at the outset with the thoughts suggested by the celebration of the service for the conversion of England in a church dedicated to St George and the English Saints in Rome, and on the feast of tbe Holy Name of Jesur Alluding to Lady Georgiana Fullerton, he said that Bhe was perhaps the greatest of all the holy women who had been converted to the Church in England during the present century, Much as her memory was venerated, it was nowhere preserved with such fondness and affection aB in tbe houses of tbe Poor Servants of tbe Mother of God. The painting copied from the primitive Madonna in tbe Catacombs, and venerated in this church under the title of Refina Prophetarum, suggested the continuity of faith and devotion which characterizes the true Church. The Reformation tad robbed the Mother of God of her dowry and had striven to detach her devotion from that due to her Divine Son. The Tower of London, Wisbeach Cajtlt, Tyburne, York, and other place? had been as catacombs to the Catholics of England in the centuries of persecution, and from these hiding-places Catholicism had come forth to triumph as see had issued from the Roman Catacombs of old. The prophet Isaias, represented in tbe picture Regvna Prophetarum, might be taken to symbolise the Bible, which England still receives, though she rejects the living voice of the Church. But the figure of Isaias here represented pointed to the living Word, whose authority is perpetuated and made manifest to us in the authority of the ChurchAfter the Benediction, Cardinal Logne held a reception in the convent, when all the leading mambers of the English-speaking colony were presented to him,

An editor— What is he 7 The question once elicited tbe following reply :— Johnnie : An editor is a man what pots things in the paper, isn't he, pa 1 Pa : On no, my son. An editor is the man that keeps things out of the paper.

Why was the Pope's mediation sought in the Venezuela difficulty ? It may not be generally known that the country is very Catholic there are 2,000,000 Oai holies in Venezuela, The country is studded with beautiful churches. In Caracas, the capital, there are sixteen cb arches and a magnificent cathedral.

Profeßsor Brewer of Yale recently told a good Bnake story. Years ago he was in California and had his tripod and other sur▼eyor's instruments in the field, Stepping along the bashes he felt a movement under hie feet and found that be was standing on a 41-2 foot lattleinake, a large, vicious and fighting fellow. But the snake was so pinioned that he could not strike the thick boot that held him fast. Professor Brewer held the rattler's head down with his tripod and cut it off. Then he cut off tbe rattles. S.epping aßide, he mw the body of the enake, partly ailed, lying very stiff. Taking out a rule to measure its length, the Professor grasped the serpent to straighten it out. " Quick as an electric shock," said Professor Brewer, " that headless snake brought tbe bloody stump over and struck a hard blow on tbe back of my hand, I knew that bis head was off aod that he could not poison me, but that quick and hard blow of the rattler made my hair stand on end." An even more dramatic incident of this kind is George Catlin's adventure on the Bio Trombuli, one of tbe tributaries of the Amaion Biver in South America. Tbe story as told by Mr Catlin's companion is to the effect that Mr Catlin, having shot at the head of a huge rattlesnake, apparently missed it, for the snake was seen to strike and hit him in the breast, where it left a bloody spot on the shirt. His shirt was torn open and one of his half-breed compai ions prepared to suck the poison oat of tbe supposed wound ; but looking a moment for the puncture, he got np, and with a smile of exultation, said .— " Tbera is no harm; you will nnd the snake without a head." la tbe woods near by the snake waa found oosely coiled up where it had fallen, with is 'headless trunk erect and ready for another spring. The bead had really been shot eft, but tbe snake was still able to strike.

A voyage to the moon ia the latest project seriously advanced ac the crowning point of tbe Paris Exhibition of 1900. Mon Mantois, the author, expects to brirg down the moon to, the people say, six miles from the earth. The plan is to construct a telescope two hundred feet in length. The objective glass will bave a diameter of something over four feet three inches, the largest in the world, The

colossal tube will balplaced horizontally, and the image of the moon will be reflected by a mirror plane, six feet in diameter and fiftejf inches thick. The weight would be B,ooolbs. The special feature of the idea is that the image of the moon should be thrown upon a screen placed in a hall large enough to hold six hundred spectators. Astronomers calculate that with an apparatus of these dimensions it will be possible to discern easily objects of the size of the Notre Dame Cathedral towers, and to distinguish the evolutions of a lunar regiment. Should the opening of the twentieth century be signalised by volcanic eruptions of the moon, visitors to the exhibition wonld have a grand spectacle.— Exchange.

Cardinal Cascajare's career.— The principles^ phrenology (lays tbe New York Freeman's Journal) aa laid down by Gall, Lavater and other teachers, bave their ardent disciples as well as their disbelievers ; but whether they we true or false, there is a cardinal, a member of the present college, who ascribes to their theories tbe crowning success of his life. Some weeks ago Don Antonio Cascajsree, Archbishop of Valladolid, Bpain, called upon Senor Bosch, the Spanish Minister of Public Works, to announce his elevation to tbe rank of Cardinal and receive the Minister's congratulations. They were heartily given, and the new Cardinal then made the following explanation of his visit : " I wished yon to be the first to congratulate me. I shall tell you why. One day, when you, Senor Bosob, were about 12 years old, your father, Miguel Bosch, took yon to bis friend, Senor Indalecio Mateo, the master of ceremonies at the court in order to have him admire your peculiar talent for the exact sciences. As you and your father sntered the room of Mateo tbe latter was talking to a captain of artillery. You were subjected to an examination, and the thrtt men, Senor Mateo, yonr father and the captain, were astonished at the unusual talent of tbe boy. The subject of phrenology then came np. Yonr father was an 'ardent advocate of the teachings of Gall, but the captain, on the other hand had no faith in them. After your father had defended his point of view with all possible arguments, he proposed, half in jest and half in earnest, to examine the head of bis adversary, the captain. The latter readily submitted. After Senor Bosch had passed his fingers over the captain's cranium, he said : ' My examination proves that you will never amount to muck as a soldier. The bump of combativeness is unusually small. On the other band, mildness, humility and religion are extremely highly developed. I feel certain that if you exchange the sword for the stole and the uniform for the priest's coat, you will become a cardinal.' A short time after this meeting tbe captain resigned from the army and entered a seminary, and the prophecy of your father was fulfilled. The captain is a cardinal— for I was the captain.

B.ack and another Glasgow miniister, having a holiday in Cumberland, found there was a little Scotch kirk near: and on a Sunday morning came to service rather late, and got into a remote corner of the little building. But the eagle eye of the minister spotted them, and in the intercessory prayers he so expressed himself as to make quite sure of some aid from them. For the good man's words were these : •' Lord, have mercy on Thy ministering servants, who have popped in npoa as so unexpectedly : one of whom will preach in the afternoon, and the other in the evening."

The late Professor Blackie used to relate, with great gußto, the following siory. As every one knows, the genial old professor used to be a picturesque and striking figure in the streets of Edinburgh. A wiry-framed old patriarch, with strikingly-handsome features and loDg hair that fell in ringlets about his shoulders, no one, once having seen him, could forget him, Passing one day along one of the principal Edinburgh streets, he was accosted by a very dirfy little boy with, " Shine your boots, sir ? ' The urchin was very importunate ; and the professor, being impressed by the extreme filthiness of the boy's face, remarked, "1 don't want a shine, my lad ; but, if you'll go and wash your face, I'll give you a sixpence." " A'richt, air I" was the lad's reply ; and going over to an adjacent drinking-fountain he made his abluticn. " Well, my lad," said the professor, when he returned, "you've earned your money ; here it is." •« I dinna want it, auld chap," returned the urchin, with a lordly air ; " ye can keep it atd git yer hair cut."

The ancient city of Rouen, France, owns the very earliest »pscfmen of the larger varities of the ancient clockmaking triumphs. It was made by Jehan de Felains, and was finished and set going in September, 1389 So perfect in construction is this ancient time* recording macbine that, althougb it has bten regularly striking the hourf , halves, and quarters for more than 500 years, it is still used aa a regulator,

Napoleon Buonaparte amused himself on St Helena by building a fishpond ; but the oopperas used in the work poisoned the fish traoaplated into it. and their lose drow from him that bitter expression of pain : " Everything I love, everything that belongs to me is immediately struck. Heaven and mankind unite to afflict me."

It is stated that in the Vatican at Rome there is including tbe ecclesiastical treasures, as mnch if not more gold than is in circulation or existing in a coined Btate in the entire world.

" Johnny," called his mother, "quit using that bad language." "Why," replied the boy, "Shakespeare said what I just did." " Well," replied the mother, growing infuriated, you should quit going with him ; he's no compani jn for you." — Louisville Pott,

The Strand Magazine has an article on noses. Illustration of tbe nost s of notable personages, from Plato to Gladstone, are given, The writer says that early in the last centa«-y Thomas Wedders (or, rather, Wodhonse) with ft, nose seven and a half inches l«ng was exhibited through Yorkshire.