The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 39, 28 January 1898, Page 24

The Catholic World.

CANADA.— The Manitoba Schools.— Those of our readers who perused Father Gillan's able discourse in nur last week's issue are aware that the Manitoba schools trouble is still a very live quettion in the politics of the Dominion. It has recently been the source of much discussion, owing to the publication in English and Canadian newspapers of what purported to be the substance of the Pope's decision in the controversy. Undoubtedly the presence in Rome of Mgr. Bruchesi, Archbi»hop of Montreal, had some influence in reviving the question. It was reported a few weeks ago that the Holy Father had a document on the matter ready, and that he deferred publishing 1 it only until he should have seen in person the Canadian dignitary, who was then on his way to Rome. It will easily be understood that no small son.-ation was afterwards caused by the announcement that previous to its publication in Rome the foreign Press had already cognisance of an alleged encyclical which the Holy Father proposed issuing. " I have had the favour," writes the Rome correspondent of the Liverpool Catholic T'tmrx, "of conversing more than once within these last days with the Archbishop of Montreal, and have learned from him that the reports on this matter were not founded on precise fact. The Archbishop's audience with the Holy Father was of the most satisfactory kind, but it brought him absolutely no information regarding the promulgation of a Pontifical decision. Furthermore, he was informed from the Vatican that, in spite of all journalistic assertion to the contrary, no Papal document had been given to the world. I may add that from other well-informed sources I was assured no such document has even been pn pared. More than this it would be mere conjecture for the moment to assert."

Tho '98 Centenary. — The celebration of the centennial of the Insurrection of 1798 seems to have fairly "caught on" among our cousins in Canada. A meeting of delegates from the Irish societies of Montreal was held in Hibernia Hall recently, and organised to celebrate, in a patriotic spirit, the coming centenary of 1798, and to commemorate in a becoming manner the heroic efforts of the martyrs to the cause of Irish liberty of that sad but glorious period. Representatives were present from thirteen societies. A large and influential committee was elected, and the celebrations, no doubt, will be carried out in a manner befitting this great occasion.

ENGLAND.— The Clergy and Divorce.— The divorce question has long since assumed an acute stage in the Establishment. Our readers will recollect that sever.il Anglican clergymen objected to marrying divorced persons, while others of them entered a solemn protest in public against the performance of the ceremony by brother clergy. Others are now coming forward to tight against the law of divorce. The vicar of St. Stephen's, South Kensington, has publicly proclaimed that he does not intend to assist at the marriage of any divorced persons, whether they be innocent or guilty. And a similar attitude was taken up some days previously by Canon Pennefather, vicar of Kensington. The gentlemen who act thus have our entire sympathy, and we should like much to be able to hope that ttuy will succeed in leavening the Church of England with their opinions. But let us frankly say we see no good ground for enteitaining such a hope. You cannot bring order out of chaos, and chaos is but another name for the Established Church. One vicar holds that the law of divo cc is an intolerable evil ; the neighbouring vicar is ready to marry as many divorced per&ons as will present themselves. The licence for the marriage by which Canon Pennefather has been so greatly scandalised bcre the name, and was issued with the authority of, the Anglican Primate.

It's an 111 Wind, etc. — Some remarkable stories are being told in London of the effects of the great fire in Cripplegate on the insurance business The manager of one ot the largest offices on Wednesday declared that never within so short a space of time had 80 much business been transacted. Even on Saturday morning he said, there were crowds of applicants lor policies, amongst them btiing persons who had never before insured. The great fire, in fact. to far from being an unmitigated disaster for the insurance offices, is proving for the bulk of them which were not affected, or only slightly affected, a boon of no small magnitude.

Barney and the Street Singer — To the memoir of the late Barney Barnato, which Mr. Harry Raymond has written, and which has just been published by Messrs Isbister, Mr. Louis Cohen contributes some reminiscences and anecdotes of his millionaire friend. Barney was ever mindful of the blind, and was particularly distressed at the exhibition of children in the streets. Mr. Cohen says — " One winter evening early in Januaiy. l.v.M>, the streets were like glass, there was some fog, and he decided to walk with me home irom the city insteid of riding, in Oxtoid street we saw a woman carrying a child of perhaps two yeais old. and singing. He stepped up to her saying. ' There is a uulk shop over there. Here is sixpence ; get some hot milk for the child " " Barney and Mr. Cohen stood up in a doorway a little distance oil' to sco that this was done. Then the usual thing in such ca^es happened. The woman, thinking her benefactor had gone, walked into a bar, had some jj in, and gave the child nothing. " Barnato walked straight across and stood close up by the door-post, waiting for her to couie out. When she appeared he caught hold of her arm, almost voiceless with anger — ' You. you, you scoundrel ! 1 gave you money to get hot milk — hot milk, d'ye understand .' — tor the (hild. You deserse to be given in charge. Here, come here !" Snatching the child away Imm her, he walked into the milk-shop, set it upon the count' r. and ted the shivering little mite with hot milk and buns with his own hand. Then be gave it back to the woman with a further donation ' Now you go stright, away home" This little incident — ai.d \<y no means the only one of its kind — is altogether creditable to the late Barney.

PRANCE.— Catholic v. Godless Schools.— Things are apparently not looking gay for the godless schools of the French - Republic. Despite the disadvantages under which they are labouring, the Catholic schools are making their influence more and more felt, and the good fight they make is going on as gaily as it is in England, Australia, and New Zealand. The report on Secondary Education presented to the Chamber quite recently points to a diminution during the past year of 675 in the number of scholars attending the State schools, and to an increase of 4,327 in the attendance at private or religious schools. Last year a sum of 20,223,596 francs was spent over 85,514 scholars, and yet it is now proposed to increase that sum by 775,250 francs. The Abbe Gayraud drove home the moral of this to the assembled Deputies. There seemed to be amazement at the shrinking attendance at the State-aided schools. The shrinkage would have been still greater were it not for unmistakable hostility of the State towards the religious schools, which were educating 06.000 scholars without a penny from the public purse. This hostility was vehemently disclaimed by the Left. The Abbe retorted smartly by begging that the two sets of schools might change places ; Deputies would then soon see what amount of freedom was allowed to the ccoles libres. He followed up his advantage by blandly proposing that these schools Bhould be allo* ed their fair share of the education grant. The reply to this, shouted by the Left, was that the Republic would perish within a week. The Left, says the London Tablet, evidently persists in the wrong-headed notion that the Republic is nothing if not antireligious.

Honours for Nuns. — The French Government, which has been banishing the nuns from hospitals and schools, has sufficient sanity left to decorate them for their heroic devotion to the sick in times of war and pestilence. A new list of honours has been recently published, and includes the names of four nuns whose official titles to distinction are also set forth. Soeur Alphonse, of the Order of St. Charles of Nancy, has served nine years in the military hospital at Toul, where she has distinguished herself by her devotedness during several epidemics of typhoid fever. Sceur Felix, of the same Order, gains her distinction for work at Verdun. Still another member of the same congregation, Sceur MarieAugustine, has thirty-two years of devoted work behind her at Or,m, Montelimar, and Vienne. The last of the four is Soeur Clementine, of the Daughters of Charity, whose labours seem to have been confined to the military hospital at Marseilles.

A Centenarian Nun. — One of the Sisters of the Ursuline Convent at Boulogne will, towards the end of this year, attain her hundredth birthday. It is eighty years since she took the vows, and since then she has not left the convent. Some Tablet readers may recollect the story told of the Trappists whose vigorous rule one of the Popes wished to see relaxed to the extent of permitting the Fathers consumption of flesh meat. The holy men, wishing to preserve their ancient discipline intact, sent to the Pope a deputation of six ot the Fathers, the youngest of whom had attained the patriachal age of eighty-four ytars. Abstinence, after all, does not kill, and even medical men who do not recognise the spiritual side of the Catholic Church, sidrnire the wisdom of her days and periods of fast and abstinence as au important aid to health and length of days.

A Panic Averted. — A serious panic was only averted at the charity theatrical performance in the Geographical Society's hall in the Boulevard St. Germain, Paris, recently, by the presence of mind of a prit&t, the Abbe Viallet. One of the performers, when rushing on the eta»e, knocked over a small lamp, which immediately flared up. Several of the audience, mostly ladies, sitting in the front seats, jumped up in great alarm, and some one 6houted, '• Run ft.r your lives 1 " The whole audience thereupon rose to their feet and an ugly rush for the doors was beginning when the Abbe appeared on the stage, threw off his cassock and wrapped it round the blazing lamp, quickly smothering the flames. At the same time he cried, in stentorian tones, that there was no danger. Luckily he acted ju&t in time, and the frightened spectators were induced to return.

HOLLAND.— Monument to Thomas a Kempis.— There was scarcely any need of a monument to the holy author of 'llw Imitation of Chrht. His book is a monument more lasting th.ni any memorial in stone or bronze, and, next to the Sacred Scripture--, is perhaps the book which the world could least afford to lose. Our New Zealand readers will, however, be interested to learn that Holland has done itself honour in erecting at Zwolle, by means of a national subscription, a monument to the immortal monk. Dr. Schrepmann delivered a literary address and the Archbishop of Utrecht, as Metropolitan, officiated at the religious ceremonies, Mr. de Stuers, director of the Fine Arts, being present as a representative of the Government. In the name of the Queen-Regent Mr. de Stuers conferred the Order of Orange-Nassau on the parish priest of the Church of S<\ Michael, where it had been decided to raise the monument, w hich is in Caen stone and black marble, and to the cost of which the Pope, the Queen of Saxony and other eminent personages, as well as the Queen-Regent, have contributed. This i& an age in which men delight to honour the great, and surely if Thomas a Kempis was the author of The Imd'ition, there never was a writer who better deserved a monument. The spirit it breathes is iv the fullest sense apostolic, an I after the inspired writings probably no other book has created so many saints.

PERSIA.— The Catholic Mission-— The Ne.-torian Church is the oldest sect still surviving. The Anglican and the Amerii an Presbyterian Missions have in late years spent enormous sums of money, and have used streunous efforts to hinder these people irom accepting the Catholic faith. The Americans, having labour^ among the Nestorians tor over sixty-five years without a satisfactory re.-ult, have now clo;>ed their magnificent college, their seminary for giil^, their high school, their hospital, and printing office. The m.iioriiy of their native pastors and j reachera are now no longer employed for want of funds; for the American Board cannot by

its constitution continue to help any mission beyond a period of fifty years. As to the Anglican mission, notwithstanding its schools and publications, it is after all proving a failure. The first object of this mission is to educate the Nestorians, and thus to restore the fallen Church to its former self. But as the Anglicans in Urmi teach many Catholic doctrines, with regard, for example, to the Council of Ephesus and the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ?>., the " Mother of God," they are not now trusted. As a consequence, Nestorians prefer to join with Rome rather than have intercommunion with Canterbury. Unfortunately the Catholic mission is too poor to supply the means to meet their educational and temporal wants ; thus it is impossible, under present circumstances, to do much towards converting them. There are only about thirty village schools for 130 villages belonging to the Catholic mission. Besides this, there are now in Umri over 1,"i,00U Christian refugees from Kurdistan in a heartrending condition, without food, clothes, or shelter, on the verge of starvation. What is more, the Kurds often attack Christian villages in Ernii and Salmas, committing barbarous atrocities. Help must be looked for somewhere. It is to be feared that, unless immediate assistance is lound to strengthen Mgr. Lesne, the Apostolic Delegate, Nestorians may be induced to embrace the Russian orthodox faith. We understand from the Tablet that Father Benjamin, Archpriest of Urmi. has recently been in England soliciting subscriptions on behalf of his suffering flock. ITALY- — The English and American Methodists have been long carrying on an active propaganda in Rome for the purpose of getting a hold upon the youth of that city, and thus undoing the curse of barrenness that has hitherto fallen upon their work in Italy. The nature of tueir efforts may be gauged from the countermove which has been inaugurated against it, with successful results, by Father ne Mandato, S.J. Through his instrumentality, and that of Mr. W. O. Christmas, a Catholic committee has been formed and established, and with the aid of the Cardinal Vicar and the ViceGerent of Rome. The beginning of this useful work was privately announced as follows :—": — " To prevent Catholic young men frequenting, with serious danger to their faith, the free Protestant night schools in Rome for teaching foreign languages, it is proposed to open a free Catholic night school on the same lines, and all Catholics are earnestly begged to come forward generously with offerings to enable the committee to open this school at once. This Protestant propaganda having 1 been started by English and Ameri- . cans, it is incumbent on the Catholics of these nationalities to do their utmost to counteract this evil work." Meantime, a new foundation has been added to the number of English convents in Rome by the opening of an institute of Les Dames Anglaises at 87, Via Nazionale. These ladies give gratuitous lessons in English, French, and German, so that the girls and young women of Rome may enjoy the advantages produced for the young men and boys by the committed mentionee above. The religious have also opened an elementary Italian school, and schools of foreign languages, pianoforte, and singing. Progress and Poverty. — Readers of our last week's issue will recollect the figures which we gave as to | the heavy incidence of taxation on the Italian population. The steadily increasing burden is already threatening with extinction the far-famed marble industry of Carrara. The pinioipal owners of the quarries recently held a meeting in which a re-olution was adopted in favour of closing all }he works in connection with them, in consequence of the enormus increase in the tax on personal property, unless measures can be adopted for dminibhing the exactions under this head. A committee was appointed with powers to negotiate with the Government with a view to obtaining some redres«. La^t yeas the Government promised an alleviation or a more equable distribvtionof the burden of taxation. That promise has nnt been fulfilled. On the contrary, according to the TabUt, there ha* been an inrcease in many branches and there have been such contrasts as a tax-riot and a voting of funds for new ironclads. The Artitjr. of Verona, has enumerated the imposts placed upon the taxpayer. They are twenty-one in number, and they affect such different values, real or hypothetical, as revenue, buildings, movable wealth or chattels, the right of selling, animals, beasts of burden, the right or the power of letting, family condition, servants, succession or inheritance, alienation, transfer of chattels, judicial acts, enjoyment of the privilege ot dispensing Government monopolies, manufacture of spirits, Customs dues, weights and measures, etc. The members of the clergy while obviou&ly precluded from paying some of these imposts, have such special burdens as the tax of mortmain, while even the Cardinals in the Curia are obliged to paj' the family tax. Finally, if any abosulte proof of the interminable progression of taxation in Italy be needed, this is supplied by a table drawn up by the L'nita Cathollca, in which it is shown that the expenditure has gone on increasing till the excess of 18% over Is 7."> stands at no loss than .">ll millions of lire. The statement of the Minister of the Treasury in the approaching discussion on the Budget will show how effectively the proportion of increase has been maintained during 181)6-5)7. The rate of thirteen and a half per cent, added to the assessment of incomes in October labt speaks well for the second half of 1 85)7. The guarantees for the future are to be found in the euphemistic forecast of the Minister. To add to the misery of the situation, recent cables announce that bread riots have broken out in Ancona. and the agitation is spreading in other cities in the peninsula. UNITED STATES —Decision re Bequests for Masses — In some ways the Ameriian Courts of Justice have thrown oft happily the traditions they inherited from this country. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin, in a recent judgment upholding a bequest for Massis. said : " We know of no legal reason why any person of the Catholic faith, believing in the efficiency of Masse-<, may not make a direct gift or bequest to any bishop or priest of any sum out of his property or estate for Masses far the repose of his soul or the souls of others, as he may choose. Such gifts or bequests, when made in clear, direct and legal form, should be upheld, and

they are not to be considered as impeachable or invalid under the rule that prevailed in England, by which they were held void as gifts to superstitious uses. No such rule or principle obtains here. Had the testator made a plain, direct bequest of the sum in question to Bishop Messmer or to any other bishop or priest for Masses for the repose of the souls of the persons named in his will in that behalf, it would certainly be our duty to declare it valid and to give full effect to it." Gift to the Pope. — A unique Christmas gift, the work of a New York jeweller, will be offered to his Holiness the Pope by a number of American Catholic societies. It is a magnificent crucifix of gold and diamond?, and is valued at £9,000. It is six inches in length, and the cross bars measure four inches each. Its framework of gold is filled with diamonds. There is a small opening at the back covered with a removable cap. In this receptacle it ia believed the Pope will place a piece of the true cross. There are ninety diamonds in all, forty of which, each weiging two and a half carats, are set one above the other in the centre of the cross. The other fifty, each weighing one half carat, are set in the edges. The central diamond is one of rare brilliancy, and weighs thirty carats. All the stones are blue-white. They are absolutely without flaw and they have been cut to. match one another exactly. Celebration of the Close of the Century.— The Right Rev. Dr. McDonnell, Bishop of Brooklyn, has directed his clergy to abstain from the giving of missions in their several churches during the whole course of the year 1898. With the close of the coming December, therefore, these occasional periods of special interest in religious affairs, analogous in many ways to the so-called revival services in Protestant churches, in the administration of Catholic parishes, will be abandoned for a twelvemonth in the diocese of Brooklyn. Bishop McDonnell and his board of consulters determined upon this course at a recent meeting, in order that they might better prepare for a great spiritual awakening among their people in the year 1899, the last of the century, when the cause of religion will be presented from their pulpits, from January to December, by the most powerful and eloquent mission preachers in the land. In reaching the conclusion to make the year 1899 memorable in the history of the Catholic Church in America by this long: series of missions, Bishop McDonnell becomes the first American bishop to take definite action with relation to the desire of the Pope on the question, as is evinced in a letter which was addressed to the bishops throughout the world a short time ago. Although the general plan of work has been decided upon, Bishop McDonnell has done little with the details of his proposed scheme for 1899. In England there has been for a time a custom of massing missionary forces on some particular city at the same time. Cardinal Vaughan, when Bishop of Salford, on several occasions summoned all of the missionary strength at his command to the city of Manchester, where he had the missionaries stationed at all the churches simultaneously and all preaching against the drink evil, Sunday desecration or some other subject which he wished to impress especially upon the minds of the people. In the diocese of Brooklyn the work will be much larger. There are 78 churches in the diocese, so that there will be as many as 78 missions going on at the same time. Each mission requires the services of four preachers to a parish, thus making the presence of a small army of missionaries necessary. Already the work of engaging the services of some of the most distinguished missionary preachers in the land has been begun. Later on Bishop McDonnell will instruct the missionaries and his clergy in the special work he wishes to accomplish in the course of the extended undertaking, and will arrange a schedule of topics upon which they will preach.