The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 2, 10 January 1901, Page 24

The Catholic World.

AUSTRlA.— Presentation to the Holy Father.— The Catholio associations of Vienna presented to the Holy Father a beautiful gold cross on the occasion of the closing of the Porta Santa. ENGLAND— Proposed Monument to Pope Adrian — In connection with the recent pilgrimage to Borne of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, under the auspices of the Duke of Norfolk, a movement has been Bet on foot to erect a monument in St. Peter's to the memory of Pops Adrian IV., the only Englishman who has ever held the office of Pope. The Holy Father and the Guild of Ransom-— On the occasion of ths reoent pilgrimage to Rome, organised by the Catholic Association, Leo XIII. received in private audience the Rev. Philip Fletcher and Mr. Lister Drummond, both converts, and founders of Our Lady's Ouild of Ransom for the Conversion of England, a guild which numbers over 100,000 members. On hearing from Father Fletcher the aims and objects of the guild, and his desire that he (the Pope) should accept its presidency, Leo XIII. replied : 4 Not only am I willing to be president of your association, but among the 100,000 members you may insoribe the name of Leo XIII.' The Diocese Of Salford-— As the result of the Bishop of Salford's appeal on behalf of the Salford Catholic Protection and Rescue Society, and the general collection in the churohea of the diocese on October 21, a sum of £618 7s 9d has been raised towards clearing off the debt of * 1,200 on the society '■ aooounts.

The First Mayor of Bethnal Green —Mr. Loughlin, the first Mayor of Bethnal Green, is a Catholio and an Irishman. He has been a member of the Bethnal Green Vestry for seven years, and was chairman of that body. Previous to settling in London, he took an act ye part in publio affiairs at Warrington, where he was a Poor Law Guardian. A Popular Catholic Mayor.— Councillor Preston has been Mayor of Lancaster since November, 1898, and, unanimously urged by his oolleagues, he has promised to retain the chief seat for another year. The municipality has just enlarged itself, and the inauguration of an electric tramway system, extension of markets, and other projects make it very desirable tbat the Mayor should have plenty of spare time as well as marked administrative capacity. Mr Preston is chairman of the School Board, a Liberal, and a devout catholic. A Priest Elected Alderman.— At the first meeting of the Hammersmith Borough Council the election of Aldermen took place under the chairmanship of Mr. C. Pascal. The Very Rev. Canon A. White, of Holy Trinity Church, Brook Green, was elected to tha aldermanic bench, receiving 22 votes, while Mr. C. Pascall, who headed the list, received 23. The new Council and the burgesses of Hammersmith are to be congratulated upon having chosen such an ideal representative for the aldermanic bench as the respected rector JT° V. ? lty Church ' who9e services in the past are well known and no doubt appreciated by his fellow-citizens without distinction of creed or class. FRANCE.— The Passionist Church to be Taxed.— it is stated that the measures projected against religious congregations m France will include the Pasaionist Church, in the Avenue Hoohe, Pans. The clergy doing duty there are supplied by the Passionißt Fathers at Highgate, England. They are consequently congregationists, and the French Government has now called upon them to pay the special tax imposed on all congregations. Not only this, but they are required to pay four years' arrears of the tax, amounting to 20,000 francs, failing which the church and the property will be seized. The Fathers have refused to comply on the soora that, whatever may be their status when in London, in Paris they are purely and simply chaplains to the English-speaking Catholics. Their funds are not derived from French sources, the mission being entirely supported by English and American Catholics living in Paris. When the religious Orders were expelled some 20 years ago the Fathers had a narrow escape. Thanks to Count Benst and Lord Lyons the powerful intervention of Gambetta was secured, and a card from the great Tribune to M. Constans, then Minister of the Interior, had the desired effect. In fact it was recognised that they were chaplains only. The Avenue Hoche clergy are hard-working and unobtrusive, occupy themselves in looking after poor servants and in rescue work, and, in fact, may be said to supply a publio want, and M. Waldeck-Rousseau might well follow the example sat by his intimate friend, Leon Gambetta, a generation ago. The Pope and the Working Classes.— The interest taken by the Holy Father in the condition of the working classes and in the labor question (writes a Paris correspondent) need not be insißted upon when we remember that masterpiece, the Encyclical De Conditione Opificum.' But a further proof that time has not lessened this interest, and that all that relates to labor appeals to the heart of the Pontiff, will be found in the fact that his Holiness has instructed the Papal Nuncio at Paris to pay a visit to the chief industrial and manufacturing centres of France— Lyons, Lille, Koubaix, Tourcomg— and to address a report to him on the present condition of the working classes in France. His Excellency has accordingly started on this visit of inquiry, and is now at Roubaix. where all the manufacturers have opened their factories to him, and where he was given a reception and presented with an address from the workmen on last Thursday. Hia Excellency will stay a week at Roubaix, and study with special care this great centre of the French woollen trade. I am informed from a reliable source that instructions similar to those sent to the Paris Nunoio have been sent to all Papal Nuncios, and that his Holiness is thus collecting materials for another Encyclical on the Labor question, which he intends to make the continuation and completion of the Encychcal' De Conditione Opificum.' ROME.-Received by the Holy Father-Andreas, the peasant who personated Oar Lord at the Ober Ammenrau Passion Play, was recently on a visit to Rome. He was received by tha Holy Father in the costume which he wore in the mystery play At the close of the audience the Pope presented him with aJubilee medal m gold Andreas is startingly like the figure of Christ drawn by the Italian masters. Leo XIII. receives English Nuns— On November 6 (writes a Rome correspondent) the Holy Father granted a special audience to the English Sisters of the Blessed Vinrin receiving the Mothers Superior of Rome, Spain, Ireland, and Ana. tralia in the Throne Rome. Owing to the Holy Father's numerous engagements of late, the audience had been postponed for a lonir time, so that the American, English, Bavarian, and Austrian renre. sentative of the Order were not able to assist at the audience, having already left Rome for their respective provinoss Leo XIII entered the Throne Room on foot, and seating himself on the throne received the homage of the Sisters, whom he warmly congratulated on their zeal in the Catholio cause, and especially on the campaign which they are successfully carrying on against the Protestant invasion in Rome by means of schools and pious institutions where the children of the poor are saved from the insiduous advances of the enemies of the Churoh. The audience, which was extremely cordial, was brought to a olose by the bestowal of the Apostolic Benediction, which the Holy Father imparted to tha Orderand all it* members, *■

The Holy Father's activity- — The London Morning Leader tells the followfhg to Bhow the Holy Father's extraordinary activity : — A certain cardinal occupied rooms close to those of the Pope in the Vatican, and his Eminence frequently had the honor of being consulted on matters in which the Pontiff was engaged or interested. As time went on, however, the cardinal found the Pope's energy not a little trying It was by no means confined to the daytime. Very often during the night bis Holiness would send his faithful man-Bcrvant to request the cardinal's kind attendance for a few moments to talk over, it might be, au eltsgunt passage in some Latin verses or the turn of a sentence in an encyclical. This was an exceedingly high honor for the cardinal. Only the wore he marvelled at the energy of Leo XIII. the more he felt the necessity of undisturbed rest for himself. The unfortunate cleric was nearly worn to a shadow before he surrendered the honor and glory of his rooms to an unsuspecting brother, and himself fled to a dwelling less distinguished and less disturbed. A Prisoner Of the Mahdi- — Many of our readers will remember the trials and sufferings undergone by a brave Italian missionary, Father P. Rossignoli, who was for 12 years a prisoner of the Mahdi in the Soudan. They will be glad to hear that the Holy Father has just appointed him a Canon of the Liber ian Basilica.