The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 22, 6 October 1898, Page 24

The Catholic World.

AUSTRALIA.— A Reminiscence.— ln the report of the funeral ceremonies of the late Rev. Mother Gertrude, head of the Good Samaritan nuns in Sydney last week the following incident was brought to light in connection with the Rev. Mother and Lady Duff. During Christmas week, 1895, the late Mother Gertrude received from England a very interesting Christmas card. It was a beautiful design in forget-me-nots and pansies, and came from Lady Dutf, who sent with it her best wishes for 'St. Magdalen's Refuge at Tempo, and all your other excellent institutions.' During her residence in Sydney, Dady Duff was a true friend to the Good Samaritan nuns, and the Refuge at Ternpe had in her both a practical and a sympathetic supporter. On the death of her husband (then Governor of New South Wales), Lady Duff left Government House weighed down by grief, and her last recollections of Sydney must have been very «ad ones. It was characteristic of her kindly nature that while still in her great sorrow Lady Duff should have .shown this gentle and graceful remembrance of the nuns at Teuipe and the poor penitents. In sending her forget-me-nots to Mother Gertrude Lady Duff may have been thinking of the special mission of these Good Samaritans :—: — ' To pluck the amaranthine flower Of faith, and round the sufferer's temples bind Wreaths that endure affection's heaviest shower, j And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind.' COLOMBO.— Nomination of a Co-Adjutor.— His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo finding it difficult, owing to failing health, to perform without the help of an auxiliary bishop, the arduous duties of the episcopate in this important diocese, solicited some time back from the Holy See the favour of a co-adjutor with right of succession beiug appointed to relieve him of part of his responsibility. His Grace has now learned that his request has been granted, and the choice of the Holy Father has fallen on the Very Rev. Father A. Coudert, 0.M.1., at present superior of the districts of Chilaw of Puttalam. ENGLAND— Sir Wm. Harcourt and the ArchbishoD of Canterbury.— Sir William Harcourt, in a letter to the Tunes, headed ' The Archbishop of Canterbury and ths Act of Uniformity ' says— By a reading of the plain words of the statute which occurred to the present Archbishop of Canterbury when Bishop of London whereby additional services are to be governed by the individusM (•pinions and ideas of each bishop for the time being, is to be fouiijcl the true cause of the lawlessness and chaos in the Church, and o£ this illegal confusion. The Episcopate are avowedly the causa canxaits and the Ritualistic clergy the cansa efficients. To my mind the most formidable feature in the present crisis is not so much the irregual conduct of individual parsons as the open disregard of the law by the Bishops. The principal author and promoter of this chaos is the Primate of the Church of England. He seemed to regard the Established Church as an experimental field for Ritualistic essays and reviews. It is much to be desired that this

( pretension on the part of the bishops may be brought to the legal s jgfcf legal decision. The Church of England doss not consist of, 'z-i^pVc; it at the disposal of the bishops and clergy. They, happily, * flrenot its masters or its lawgivers. The law has provided against their sacerdotal usurpation, for the protection of the laity, who will do well to enforce its sanctions. GBRMANY.--General Catholic Congress.— The fortyfifth general Congress of the Catholics of Germany was held at Crefeld from the 21st to the 26th of August. The members of the local committee who made preparations in conjunction with the ecclesiastical authorities and Prince Charles of Lowenstein, commissary of the Congress, issued a cordial invitation to Catholics far and near to attend the gathering. The proceedings of the assemblage partook of the character of a jubilee celebration. It was in 1848, the year of revolutions, that the first general Congress took place at Mainz for the defence of Catholic interests. From that event dates the reawakening of Catholic life in Germany. Under gravest difficulties and amidst the storm and' stress of persecution the German Catholics have steadily progressed. Thuy have attained such a position in the body politic that it would only provoke a smile to fling at them now the old reproach of inferiority, and the late elections have proved that their power is not at all likely to diminish. The Crefeld Congress was one of the most memorable of those annual reunions, for though it can point to no great historical monuments, this ancient seat of the German silk industry is a notable centre of Catholic social life. ROME.— The Pope's Seal.— The seal worn by the Pope, and used by him on official documents to which his signature is attached. has on it the engraving of a fish, with the cipher of the wearer. Since the thirteenth century every Pope has worn a ring of this character, and it is shattered with a hammer when the wearer dies to prevent its use on a forged document. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS -Work Amongst Lepers—ln the Sandwich Islands, as elsewhere, the Catholic Church is increasing and multiplying. Writing in a missionary journal, Father Aelen tells us that Catholics have grown in a short space of time to the respectable number of forty thousand. The islands have been sanctified, as we know, by the heroic labours of Father Damien, the apostle of the lepers. Two priests, six lay brothers, and ten Sisters are now attending to these poor people ; but Bishop Ropert states that there is not one Protestant missionary to be found among them. • One stayed with them for six weeks, but he left his post, and did not again return to it.' It was from the luxury of his h>me in Honolulu that a Presbyteiian 'raissioner' sent forth a slander on him who died a martyr to Christian charity amongst the outcasts of Molokai, a slander still exploited by 'evangelists,' though the slanderer was figuratively rent limb from limb by Robert Louis Stevenson in that unrivalled piece of controversial eloquence, 4 Father Damien : An Open Letter, 1 wherein the very sublimity of scorn is reached. Leper hospitals are about to be started in Upper India, and seventeen lepers in the Rangoon Hospital have recently been baptised by Father Dousen. Also in Persia the number of Catholics is steadily increasing ; Lazarist Fathers and Sisters of Mercy are stationed throughout the empire, conducting seminaries, orphanages, boarding establishments, and elementary schools.

Beanch of the London Dental Institute, on the ground and first floors of the Government Life Insurance Buildings revolu tionising dentistry. Sets from three guineas are supplied. First prize gold medal teeth at half the usual cost, guaranteed 10 years ; money refunded if work not satisfactory ; a nurse in attendance for ladies ; the latest appliances. The residing principal studied under Dr. Tatton, of the Great Northern Hospital London University, and has the highest qualifications. — »% The curious old Latin phrase, ' Habpt b^vem in lingua.' which is interpreted as, ' he has a cow on his tongue,' has puzzled many good Latin scholars, who have attempted to ferret out its real signification. The following is believed to be the true explanation : An ancient Roman coin was stamped upon one side with the portrait of the Emperor and upon the other with the figure of a cow. These coins were locally known as ' cows.' When one was bribed to ' keep mum ' or was given ' hush money,' it was common to speak of such an individual as a man ' with a cow on his tongue.'