New Zealand Tablet.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 27, 10 November 1898, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet.

AMERICA —A Lie Exposed.— The Tablet says :— Some weeks ago a letter sent from Puebla, Mexico, by a Methodist preacher, was published in the Advocate, a St. Louis Methodist paper, and republished in sectarian papers generally. This Methodist preacher. Barton by name, wrote from Puebla that he saw a placard on a church door in Mexico announcing a raffle for the rescue of souls from Purgatory, in which was guaranteed the release of any partioular soul on the payment of a certain sum of money. Father J. M Luoey of Pine Bluff, Ark., sent a paper containing the letter to the Bishop of Puebla. He received the following letter in reply : ♦ Puebla, Mexico, Aug. 5, 1898. Rev. and dear Father : Yours of recent date directed to the Right Rev. Bishop of this city, has been ref eix'ed to me for reply, and in answer to same I would say : It is a lie from beginning to end, and there is Dot the least foundation to •warrant such a statement. Here we do not know anything about Mr Barton's utterances— as a rule, all statements made by American missionaries in regard to the Catholic Church in Mexico are nothing but lies made out of the whole cloth. They report things which they know to be utterly false, such as their report about making proselytes in this country. Their work here does not amount to anything and the number of their proselytes is proportioned to the ] size of their purse. The report a few slanders about Catholic practices and have it published abroad, and that helps the money to come in. It is of no concern to those that thus slander the Church how the' money comes, provided it does come and help them to buy a few more coffee and vanilla lands. The spiritual part comes in only as on after-thought. They never specify where they saw the horrid things. This is related as is the case with the present utterance He only states that he saw it, but where and when he does not know. Yours respectfully, Senou Presbitero Don Jose GoUECY, Fuente de Belen, 9, Puebla, Mexico.' Education -Catholic education is making 'great strides in Los Angeles. Within the current year Bishop Montgomery dedicated five new schools. AUSTRlA.— Cardinal Logue and the Late Empress.— Cardinal Lo°-ue, Primate of All Ireland, has addressed the following telegram to" the Emperor of Austria :' I beg to convey to your Imperial Majesty the heartfelt sympathy of Catholic Ireland, where the noble-hearted Empress rendered herself so loved, especially by the poor.' His Majesty has replied as follows : 'My heartfelt thanks for kind expressions of sympathy.— Francis Joseph.' ENGLAND-— Mitred Abbots— By the solemn ' benediction' of Abbot Geudens, which took place recently in the Premonstratensian Priory of Corpus Christi, at Miles Platting, Manchester, the number of mitred abbots in Great Britain is now raised to four — the others being, \»e understand, Abbot Hipwood (Cistercian), of Mount St. Bernard's ; Abbot Liuse, 0.5.8., of Fort Augustus ; and Abbot Bergh, 0.5.8., of Ramsgate. In one respect the ' benediction' of Abbot Geudens was probably a unique event since the Reformation inasmuch as the function was carried out, not by a bishop, but by three Norbertine Abbots, those namely of Tongerloo, Averbode and Grimbergen, all in Belgium. Judging from the lists in Dom Aidan Gasquet's EnglLth Monasteries there seem to have been no less than 28 Premonstratensian Abbots in England before the Reformation. A Picturesque Procession-— Recently the Church of the English" Martyrs, situated in Great Prescot street, Tower Hill, London, held its seventh annual Solemn Public Procession in Honour of our Blessed Lady, which marched through a considerable part of the neighbourhood. To give an idea of the procession it may be said that its first rank was preceded by four League Guards, followed by the thurifer and the cross-bearer, with two acolytes in attendance. Then followed in order twelve acolytes of the Blessed *" English Martyrß, the banner of the Guild of our Lady of Ransom, the Tower Hill Brass Band, Men Ransomers, Blue Cross banner Tower Hill Drum and Fife Band, Women Ransomers, Holy Family Confraternity of Women, another band, Tower Hill Social Union Girls Italian Church Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament still another band, banner of St. Francis, Third Order of St. Francis Children of Mary with banners, thurifer, cross-bearer attended bj

two acolytes, twelve acolytes of oar. Blessed Lady; tVelVjejchildren in white, statue of the Blessed of God, flanked on either tide with three children in white with baskets of flowers, ohildren in white with bannerets, another band, Children of Mary, choir, altar boys, White Cross banner, clergy, twelve League of the Cross Guards. The whole of the procession also was lined by League of the Cross Guards, under the command of Major Kelly, with district and local captains of the various branches. ' The Conversion of England.' This procession, which this year is held in commemoration of the thirteenth centenary of the conversion of England to the Catholic and Roman faith, under Pope Gregory and St. Augustine of Canterbury, made a very imposing appearance, and its attractions were not diminished by the excellent rendering by an excellent choir of some seven hymns, etc., including, of course, 'Aye Maria. 1 There waa no lack of instrumental music, as we have indicated. GENERAL. It is expected that the new Catholic Cathedral of Westminster will be completed in 1900. The Freeman '» Journal (Dublin), speaking of the Intermediate examinations held recently, says : We find that Catholic students continue to hold the position achieved by them last' year, and that over 78 per cent, in number and over 75 per cent, in money value of the prizes awarded have been gained by Catholic Btudents. The fact that the gross total of these awards reaches the very handsome figure of £10,140 indicates how very important is such a comparison. Our last table for the Boys' Lists gives ah exhaustive analysis of the total distinctions gained by students of the various colleges, so carefully tabulated that a glance will suffice to show the absolute and relative position of any school or college in the Intermediate Prize Lists for 1898. The report shows that eleven out of fifteen gold medals were won by Catholic schools.