The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 11 May 1899, Page 28

The Catholic World.

CHINA-— Fearful Treatment of a Catholic Missionary —Dr. Robertson, an English medical man, who arrive 1 iccently in Victoria, British Columbia, from China, on being interviewed respecting the treatment of foreign missionaries there, haid ' I examined the body of Father Victorien, the Belgian pries)-, who was murdered at Hweifi. The murderers led Father Victorica to the post in front of his home and cut slices from his thighs and conked and ate them in his presence. They then fired bullets into non-vital parts, after which they destroyed his eyes by burning them. Next they disembowelled him, and, finally, they decapitated him. The unfortunate priest was thirty years of ago.'

ENGLAND-— Temperance Mission-— The Very Rev. Father Hays, Rector of the Church of the Sacred Heart. West Brid»ford, who last year lectured on temperance in various centres in Ireland! and has won for himself the name of ' The Seco- d Father Mathew,' concluded recently an extended temperance mission among the Irish Catholics in the North of England. At St. George's Hall, Millorn, he gathered an audience of over one thousand persons of all classes! creeds, and politic?, and the local Press declared it was the largest and most representative meeting ever held in the town. Father Hays said that the highest and holiest and best aspirations and interests of the people were bound up with the temperance movement, which was so closely connected with the great social questions of the age which to-day were casting their bhadows over the land. Evidence in its favour was drawn from every sphere of human intelligence. The blighting, blasting, withering curse of drunkenness was like a deadly cancer eating into the heart of the nation, poisoning its life-blood, and bringing upon it decay and death. It was a frightful curse^and more than any other causes or complication of causes it frustrated the efforts and baffled the hopes of all who had at heart the happiness, the social, moral, and religious welfare of the people.

FRANCE.— Abbe Perosi in Paris —Abbe Perosi's stay in Paris, during the early part of March, was a series of triumphs. Before his departure M. Delcasse conferred on him the decoration of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

Soldiers and their Easter Duty -The French military authorities issued a circular, before the commencement of Lent, to all the garrisons ordering the officers to give their men all the facilities necessary for the fulfilment of tho r Easter duty. \N hile for ordinary Catholics tho limits prescribed by tho Church 'in France are from Passion Sunday to Easter, for soldiers the period extends from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost.

GREECE.— Pilgrimage to Rome-— Mgr. de Angelis, Archbishop of Athens, is organising i» first general Pilgrimage of the Catholics of Greece to the- shrinea of the Apostles It is expected that the pilgrimage will arrive in Rome some time this month. ROME-— The College Of St. Bede.— The College of St. Bede, for the training of converts from the Anglican ministry who deeire to become priests, continues to flourish. The works are now almost completed (writes a correspondent) and the new apartments may be put in n quisition before long. It is expected that there will be a large number of students next year, and that some may even come before the present year is up. Those now in the College are well satisfied with it, and seem to very much enjoy their rightful liberties which the Papal Constitutions allow them on account of their age and previous conditions. SCOTLAND. — Consecration of the Bishop of Aberdeen. — There was a distinguished congregation in the Catholic Cathedral of the Granite City on the occasion of the consecration of Mgr. Chisholm as Bishop of Scotland's Northern See. His connection with the diocese, the eminent position he occupied as Principal of Blairs, his scholarly attainments, crowned a3 they were by an honorary degree from Aberdeen University, and his general suitability for the Episcopal office, all combined to render the appointment made by the Holy Father a singularly felicitous one. Not alone in the Catholic body, but outside of it was there evidence that the consecration of the Bishop was regarded as an event of public importance. The City Chamberlain of Aberdeen, the Chief Constable, the president of the Society of Advocates, as well a 8 representatives of the non -Catholic clergy and of the Professoriate of Aberdeen University, were among those who formed the congregation. Archbishop Macdonald was the consecrating prelate. Bishop Maguire, of Glasgow, preached the coneecration sermon, and the attendance also included Bishop Smith, of Dunkeld, Bishop Turner, of Galloway, Bishop George J. Smith, of Argyll and the Isles, the Lord Abbot of Fort Au^ustu". Mgri. Clapperton. Dundee ; Grady, Edinburgh ; and LL-nnon. Father Chishilm, of St, Peter's, Aberdeen, was the M-isW of Cei-einonit.s. and father McGregor, of tLe Cathedral. \v*is asM^taiit-pri. st to in- Binhop-elect. SOUTH AMERICA— TLe Plenary Council— The South American prelates who have ni-uhol • ueir intention to tf<.rve part, in the Plenary Council of South Aim 1 1 itu meet in Rome on the 2Stn inst. are as it.llows : — From Bo.ivn, one arcabishop and three I bishops ; from Brazil, two archbishops and 1 ! bishop 3 ; from Chile, I one archbishop and three bishops : from the Argentine, one archbishop andtiyht bishops ; from Peru, one archbishop and seven bishops ; from Columbia, one archbishop and 11 bibhops ; from Uruguay, one archbishop and two bishops ; from Venezuela, one archbishop and five bishops ; from Ecuador, one archbishop and six bishops ; thu.i making a total of 10 archbishops and 59 bishops from every part of the Continent. It is almoot impossible (says the London Tablet} to exaggerate the far-reaching consequences which a Council of this magnitude may have on the future of the Church in South America. SWEDEN.— The Sisters of St. Elizabeth-— The Sisters of St. Elizabeth completed last February (says the London Tablet) the silver jubilee of their charitable work for the sick in Malmo, the well-known seaport of South Sweden. How highly their services are appreciated in this thoroughly Lutheran to*n is seen from the gratifying circumstance that the local association of medical men ; sent a deputation of their number, ccm-isting of Dr. Lindan, Dr. 1 Lindberg, and Dr. Bjorling, to represent them at the jubilee festivities, and to present the following address : — ' On this auspicious | (?ay, when you are able to look back upon five-and-twenty years of i labour in the care of the sick, the Association of Physicians in Malmo feels impelled to express to you its full appreciation of the i self-denying and unwearying zeal with which you have exercised 1 your philanthropic and beneficent activity, for which the Association feels itself obliged to offer you the expression of its most especial J gratitude. On behalf of the Association of Physicians of Malmo, L. I Nilson, president, E. Bjorling, secretary.' Things are indeed changed i since the days when in one of the Malmo churches was to be seen a life-size painting of Luther, under which was written the verse :—: — Ptstls cram, rivenx, moricnx tua mors ero Papa .' which translated is — ' Living I was a peat to you, dying I will be your death, 0 Pope|p Luther is dead, and the religion which he established is split up in*o hundreds of opposing seationp, whist the Papacy exists, more people acknowledging to-day the spiritual sovereignty of the Pope than at any other time in the history of the Church. UNITED STATES.— Death of a Distinguished Nun.— The death is reported of Rev. Mother Mary Isidore, of Mercy

Hospital, lowa City, lowa. The deceased, whose name in the world was Letitia O'Connor, was a remarkable woman in many ways. Despite the fact that she had almost reached four score years, desp^^.he agony consequent upon a fall over II ye.rs ae'O— -inee whi[^Rme she had never known a really pain]"-.-, day — M ther Alary IsicM^was as active and energetic, as thought! ul and caulul in her business affairs as many a woman a generation younger. She was a woman of wonderful intellectuality. A brilliant French scholar, she translated many works, especially historical ones, from the Gallic tcnorue into that of her adoped country. She was the author of I'he L'fi' <ij 'Mother Francm and numerous other productions of gitat interest and value. Hpr knowledge of the languages was equalled only by that of law and medicine. Indeed, as a literary and scientific woman, in all fields, her rounded education made her phenomenal. The reverend mother was educated in a convent in Dublin, where her father was a lawyer of eminence.