The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 46, 18 March 1898, Page 24

The Catholic World.

AMERICA.— GuiId Of Catholic Writers— The Most RevArchbishop Corrigan has given his approval to a movement to organise a guild of Catholic authors and writers of the United States. Those who are leading in the movement include Charles Hanson Towne, John Jerome Rooney, Dr. R. H. Clarke, Miss Agnes Sadlier and the Rev. John Talbot Smith. The objects of the guild will be to bring together ia fraternal union the Catholic authors and writers of New York and vicinity, and to establish better acquaintance and more intimate relations with Catholic writers throughout the country ; to aid young writers just setting out upon their literary career in every possible way ; for example, by placing at their disposal the experience of their elders, by bringing them into contact with their successful brethren, by directing them in the choice of literary work, and by guiding them in their dealings with editors, publishers and the public ; and finally to promote the more thorough cultivation of the true Catholic spirit in every department of letters.

ALGIERS- — Algiers is shortly to have a bronze statue of Car dinal Lavigeric. The great missionary is represented in a walking attitude, one hand holding a large cross, as though about to plant it in the ground.

BELGIUM- — The University of Louvain.— From the statistics given in the Atmuaire of the Catholic University which has just been published it may be seen that this great national seat of learning continues to attract to its halls a large number of the youth of the country, and that its recent educational work is up to the standard of its past high reputation. During the academical year 1896-97 there were 1,661 matriculated students in attendance ; the number entered in the first two months of the year 1897-98 was 1,610, while for the same period in the preceding year the number admitted to the University was 1,509, thus indicating a notable increase for the present year. Of these 1,610 undergraduates 52 follow the course of theology, 311 law, 372 medicine, 238 philosophy and letters, 246 science, 131 agriculture, and 257 attend the special schools. The number admitted to degrees laßt year waa 1,05)0. Judged by the number admitted to degrees, the work of the year was very satisfactory, since the figure has been previously exceeded on only two occasions, in 1886 and 1887, when the numberß were respectively 1,097 and 1,108. Of the 1,090 students who last year proceeded to degrees, 252 graduated in law, 420 in medicine, l<)0 in philosophy and letters, and 252 in science. In addition, the University conferred degrees on 17 students in theology.

ENGLAND— The New Cathedral —The Lord Chief Justice of England (Lord Russell of Killowen) has given a substantial donation to the new Catholic cathedral in London.

Death of a Literary Celebrity. — The death is announced of Mrs. Mary Cowden Clark, the well-known authority on Shakespearean text. Mrs. Clarke had lived to o venerable age, dying when she had almost attained her ninetieth year. Her " Concordance "on Shakespeare is a standard work, and is likely to remain so long as the subject of it keeps its place in literature. As Shakespeare is pretty well assured of literary immortality, Mrs. Cowden Clarke is to be regarded as one who has contributed to literature a work which will endure as long as letters are.

First Catholic Mayor since the Reformation. — The obituary list for the week (says the Catholic Herald), includes the name of Sir Polydore de Keyser, " the first Catholic Lord Mayor of London since the lleforniation." When he was Lord Mayor Sir Polydore's Catholicity was so invertebrate that he was generally regarded as a Freemason. For his own sake it is to be hoped he stiifened his back before setting out for the Hereafter. — R.I, P.

The Time for Prayer. — In a breach of promise case lately the defendant, a schoolmaster, declined to marry the lady whose hand he had sought, alleging as a reason for non-fulfilment that " he had made it a matter of prayer," and it " was the will of Providence that you (the lady) should be released." Damages, £100. Judgment accordingly. Moral — Pray before promising.

The Right End Of the Stick.— The East Anglian Daily Times appears to think that Catholic controversialists can give points to their opponents — more especially their Anglican opponents — and still " beat them hands down." " Thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel just," which ancient proverb we may be permitted to paraphrase in this instance as " thrice armed is he who hath the right cud of the stick." Says the journal in question : — "Catholics are notoriously able controversialists. They have had so very much the bettor of the High in the controversy about the validity of Orders that the last rejoinder by Cardinal Vaughan and the bishops of hia province will probably not excite very much attention. Yet the invitation to the English clergy to state clearly what their view is on the doctrine of the Real Presence is extremely clever, and shows how keenly the Catholic bishops appreciate the immense internal differences which separate those who talk so much about the Unity of Christendom. But the passage which outsiders — iiuluding the bulk of the English people — will most enjoy is the piously worded thrust with which Cardinal Vaughan and his colleagues close their rejoinder: — 'And, oh, that the happy day might come when you could be in accord with us also in perceiving [ that the secret of visible unity is to be sought, not in the system which during its comparatively short-lived existence has been the fertile mother of division, but rather in that system which has stood firm through the ages, holding the nations together in a unity so conspicuous as to excite admiration oven where it fails to secure obedience.' "

Newcastle School Board Election— The three Catholic candididates at the School Board election in Newcastle have been successful. Dr. George Foggin secured 14,793 votes, Father Lewis Thompson 14,793, and Mr. John Collins 13,554. The result of this election is (says the Newcastle Chronicle') that the non-sectarians have secured the return of the whole of their six candidates ; the Church party have returned four of the five candidates ; the three Catholic candidates are returned, and two Independents out of six. The result is a decided gain for the non-sectarians, and a gain of one member for the Catholics. The relative position of the parties, however, has not been appreciably altered. The four Churchmen and the three Catholics make the JJenominationalists seven in number ; the non-sectarians are six, and the Independents are two. Upon any question, therefore, arising between the two parties the Independents will hold the balance.

The Custody Of Children-— ln the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, Mr. Justice Kekewich has had before him an adjourned summons in the action of /« re Hoolahan, infants, which raised several interesting points. It appeared that Patrick Hoolahan, a practising Catholic living at Birkenhead, married a woman named Morgan, who became a Catholic on her marriage with him. They had three children, now aged eleven, nine, and five respectively. The children were baptised as Catholics at St. Werburgh's, Birkenhead, and the wife continued to practise the Catholic religion and helped to educate the children in that religion until the father's death in 1891. Soon after that the mother was admitted into the Union Workhouse, and the children were there at the time of her death in 1895. In August of that year the two eldest children were boarded out with a Mrs. Jones, the youngest with Mrs. Morgan, maternal grandmother. The children were registered at the workhouse as Protestants, but in November, 1896, the registrar was altered and they were entered as Catholics. The court was now asked to appoint as guardians of the children David Hoolahan, a paternal uncle, and Mr. Young, of Rock Ferry. Mr. Justice Kekewich would not displace the paternal authority. There was no doubt the father was a Catholic. There would, therefore, be an order appointing the two gentlemen named guardians of the children, Mr. Young undertaking that the children should be provided for in accordance with their station until such time as they were able to provide for themselves.

A Public Penance- — The Abbe Mai tier, vicar of Boistrudan, near Rennes, astonished his congregation on a recent Sunday by announcing that during the week he intended to abandon his ministry for a short time and publicly do penance. The following morning he started stone-breaking on the highway, and toiled hard all day on a loaf of bread and some water. He continued his fast on the following days, rising each morning at 4 o'clock to celebrate Mass before commencing his self-imposed work. After three days he held a thanksgiving service, and was then entertained to a substantial repast by his parishioners.

FRANCE.— Venerable Mary Pelletier — News has been received of the foundress of the Good Shepherd Order, Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia Pelletier having been declared Venerable. The decree was signed by his Holiness Pope Leo XIII., on the Uth of December, 1897. The zealous Postular of the Cause, Mgr. Savelli-Spinola, dispatched the news to Angers, France, where the mother-house of the Order is located, and from thence the glad tidings were sent to the various houses throughout the world where the work of the Good Shepherd has been established. Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia, foundress and first Superioress-General of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd, died twenty-five years ago at Angers, France, and the 110 monasteries which she had, in the course of thirty-eight years, founded and scattered over the globe, remain as standing witnesses of her gre it eminence of character and her remarkable virtues. The great mission intrusted to Mother Pelletier is strikingly manifested, no doubt, in the number of her foundations, but, records the author of her life, "her sanctity is known fully only to her in my daughters in religion, for only they know with what admirable patience and heroic charity she bore contradictions throughout her whole life."

GERMANY-— More Statistical Jugglery-— Some months ago a good deal was said by the Protestant Press about the decrease in the membership of the Catholic Church in Germany. A publication called the T/icologixehe* Jahrbuch was quoted as giving official government statistics. Of this Jahrbuch, Dr. Einig of the Seminary at Treves says : "Itis to be remarked that the statistics of Thra-

logisehes Jahrbuch are in no wise authentic or reliable. The Jahrbuch is a compilation of a Protestant preacher, who himself does not appeal to State official sources. The assertion that ' each convert is obliged to notify official authority of his conversion ' is simply a fiction. There is no such obligation even in Prussia. Besides, conversions to the Catholic faith are reported only in cases when special reasons induce the newly converted to do so. This may suffice to show how reliable is the report of the nunibar of conversions to

Protestantism in Germany."

ITALY-— The Papal Observatory— The Rev. Gea. M. Searie. of the Paulists, New York City, has been proposed for the directorship of the Papal Observatory at Rome. Father Searie has a reputation in astronomical circles, and has contributed miny articles to

scientific periodicals. In 1858 he was assistant to Dr. Gould at the

Albany Observatory, where ho discovered the asteroid Pandora, ' which is said to have bean the first discovery made by search in this

country. From 1830 to 188S he was assistant at Harvard Observatory, and later he was made director of the observatory at the Catholic University at Washington. He gave a course of astronomical lectures at the Catholic Summer School, Cliff Haven, X.V., during the session of 18'Jl. King Humbert and Queen Margherita are about to unlerfcako a royal progress through the island of Sicily with the object of reviving the loyalty to the throne in that neglected portion of their

dominions. If the Sicilians find a remedy for starvation and overtaxation in a few royal smiles bestowed here and there they must be the invisible inhabitants who peopled Prospero's Isle.

The Efficacy of Prayer- — An instance of a Providential answer to prayer is narrated by the Italian papers as having been afforded by the experience of the Franciscan Sisterhood of San Girolaino, at Ceverciano. Christmas found them in dire financial straits, so much so that they did not know where to turn for money to pay the taxes, and they all united in prayer for some relief in this emergency. Towards dusk, on the eve of the Epiphany a letter without address was handed in through the wicket by an unknown individual, who refused to state from whom it came. The surprise and joy of the Reverend Mother may be imagined, when on opening it she found enclosed six notes of 500 francs each. A Te Dvuvi in solemn thanksgiving for the answer to their petitions was sung.

MEXICO —A State Trial- — Ex-Governor Crairoto, of Hidalgo, Mexico, is to be tried by military court-martial. Large stores of arms and ammunition were found in the State of Hidalgo. It is alleged that these supplies were hidden by order of Crairoto, while Governor, and that he was hatching a revolution which had for its object the overthrow of the present national government and placing of himself in the chief executive's chair.

ROME- — Death Of OapOCCi- — A genial and venerable figure has been removed from the musical and ecclesiastical sphere of Rome by the death of Comm. Gaetano Capocci, the Maestro of the Lateran Choir. He was born in Rome on October 16, 1811. As a mere youth he was declared a Maestro Compositore by the Roman Academy of St. Cecilia. His first musical employment was that of organist at the Liberian Basilica, Rome. In 1854, he was appointed to the same charge in the Lateran Basilica. His title of composer, received at so early a period in his life, was no idle one. He wrote his famous Laudato for the Feast of St. Philip at the Chiesa Nuova in 1856. Three of these his compositions are equal in fame, if not in excellence ; his Miserere, Cantantibus Organis, Laudate ; while, taken together, they represent the highest level of the modern musical compositions of Rome. He had received Holy Communion every morning during his illness. Dying, he disposed that hia funeral should take place in the most private way, at eight a.m., and without the pomp of a Solemn Requiem. sThis his pious wish was frustrated when his Requiem and funeral were attended by thousands of people representing every class of Roman society.

SCOTLAND.— Bishop Turner in Spain.— News has beeu recieved that the Right Rev. Dr. Turner, Bishop of Dumfries, Scotland, has passed through the " Condal city " on his way from the Eternal City, en route to Madrid, and the historic College of the " Royal Scots" at Vallidolid, founded in the years of religious persecution by Colonel Sir William Semple and his noble Senora. For over two centuries Scotland's Spanish Alma Mater has added many a distinguished name to the long and illustrious roll of the hierarchy and clergy of " Bonnie Scotland,' 1 not a few of whom hailed from the land of St. Patrick, or were children o! Irish parents.

A Glasgow Bazaar- — A. representative committee to organise abaziar in aid of the propose 1 new church of St. Alphonsus has been appointed. Rev. T. P. O'Reilly is president, and Mr. John Fanning secretary. A ladies' section has been in existence in the parish for some time past, and has done excellent work in providing articles for the bazaar. Meetings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays. The Young Men's Society has already raised £70 in aid of the funds by concerts, lectures, etc.

UNITED STATES. — Collecting a Debt— Near twentynine Palms, in the heart of the Colorado desert (says the New York Freeman) is a man whose novel way of collecting a debt has brought him into conflict with the United States Government. Tne man has been working for a stage company which runs mail coaches between Twenty-Xine Palms and some desert mining camp. The company owed him money and was slow in paying. So when the stage left a few days ago he was at a convenient place with a shotgun and ordered the driver to stop. He did not molest the treasure box or mail pouches. He simply said he wanted his pay and intended to take the stage horses as security. So he unharnessed the animals and drove them to his corral, and has been caring for them ever since. The mail and coach are standing on the desert, but it is expected the horses will be restored, as Deputy United States Marshal Pourade has gone to the scene. The man who committed this offence has a ranch and stock, but was evidently unaware of his crime in interfering with the mails.

The Tallest Union Soldier. — A. very extraordinary Pension Bill was presented in the House recently by Representative Acheson, of Pennslyvania. It provides a pension of BOdols. per month for Patrick Bane, known throughout Pennsylvania as " The Greene County Giant," who stands seven feet four inches in his stockings, and is equally large in proportion. He has participated in several inaugural parades and always attracts great attention. Bane enlisted in the Union army and when it came to supplying him with a uniform the officers were sorely puzzled. They could find nothing roomy enough. After persistent search pieces of different uniforms were found that would cover his ponderous frame, though leaving certain portions, top, bottom and middle of his anatomy scantily provided for. Bane did not care for ridicule and wore thia

kind of a costume through the war. Now the ground on which Representative Acheson asks a pension for Bane is that he contracted rheumatism, because of insufficient clothing. He rates the disability at 30dols. per month. Honouring the Brave- — Mr. Michael J. O'Rourke, a driver of a chemical engine in the fire department of Portland (Me.), was honoured on the (ith inst. for a heroic deed. During a fire in a tenement, it happened that Honora Linnehan, an old woman, was on the fourth door of the building while the flames were raging on the floor below. The house was filled with blinding smoke, but

despite this fact O'Rourke dashed up the narrow stairways and at the risk of his life rescued the woman. For this meritorious act he was publicly complimented by Chief Eldridge, and he also received a two weeks' leave of absence with pay The gallant fireman was to be honoured sbill more, for Bishop Healy, in admiration of his heroism, presente 1 him a solid gold medal, in the centre of which, was a precious stone.

A Beautiful Pont— The iVtfw Y,>rlt Hn-i'd d3i3i-ib3i what it terms the mo3t curious piece of ecclesiastical art ever imported to America. It is a baptismal font for the handsome new marble Church of Our Lady, Help of Christians, in Ewt Orange. N.,T, The baptismal font is made of the finest Carrara marble, bjing executed in the ateliers of Mr. Colotnb.ini in Piofcr i Santa, Italy, from designs furnished by him. It is in the sbap<3 of angel, the figure holding the font in one hand, the other ar.n bsing raised aloft, the hand holding an incandescent lamp. The figure, which rests on a low pedestal, is eight feet high the bowl baing at a convenient height from the floor. The angel is represented as looking down in an encouraging way on the candidates for baptism, with her arm pointing to heaven, typifying the reward that will be theirs if they live up to the promises made at baptism. The electric light represents the light of heaven and the beatific vision given them hereafter.