ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 6, 7 February 1901, Page 6

ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON.

(From our own correspondent.) February 2. The Rev. Father Costello for some years stationed in Thorndon and Bub3eqncntly at Westport leaves for Home nert month. Throughout the archdiocese memorial services were held by direction of the Archbishop on Sunday lact, and speoial referenoe was in each church made to the loss which the British nation had sustained by the death of tho Queen. The re-opening of St. Patrick's College has been postponed to the 7th February. It is expected that the Very Rev. Father Keogh, S.M., M.A., the new rector, will have arrived by that date, and that the roll of students will be considerably larger than daring the past few years. The retreat of the priests of the archdiocese concluded this morning. There were 40 present at the exercises and with those who have come from other districts for the opening of the Sacred Heart Church the clergy of New Zealand are strongly represented in the Empire City just now. Great preparations are being made by the Hibernian Society for this year's celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The use of the Basin Reserve has been granted for the occasion by the City Council, and it is intended that the celebration to take place on the eve of the feast of Ireland's Patron Saint will eclipse any hitherto attempted here. A national concert is also being arranged for the evening of the same day. With the exception of St. Mary's Convent, which resume* next week, the schools of the city were re-opened last Monday. In deference however to the desire that the accession day of the TTing should be one of rejoicing a special holiday was immediately granted tbe children, and on Tuesday teachers and pupils began in earnest their year's labor. It ia pleasing to record that the attendance during the first week has been highly satisfactory. The Very Rev. Father Lane, who leaves for his trip to the Old Country and Europe to-day, was on Wednesday evening entertained at the Oddfellows' Hall by his Lower Hutt parishioners. Mr. B. P. Bunny, who occupied the chair, presented the guest with a pane of sovereigns as a token of the parishioners' appreciation of his untiring zeal oa their behalf during his many years at the Hutt. Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.H.R. also presented, on behalf of the nune donors, a travelling rug and cap, and in a felicitous speech wished Father Lane a pleasant holiday and a safe return to his legion of friends in the district. When the movement for a united local religious demonstration on the day of the Queen's funeral was begun, his Grace Archbishop Redwood accepted an invitation to offer a prayer at the memorial service to be held in the grounds surrounding the Parliamentary Buildings this afternoon. Subsequently, however, he addressed to his Excellency the Governor the following letter : — ' I have reconsidered the matter of the memorial service on the occasion of the Queen's funeral, and, after consultation with my clergy, assembled ia their annual retreat and synod, I find that it will be more consistent with the course usually adopted by the Catholic Church, and with what is being done by Cardinal Vaughan and other dignitaries in England, to have a memorial service of our own on Saturday, at the same hour, attended by over 40 of my clergy in synod assembled.' In accordance with this intimation, a 'solemn memorial service' will be held in St. Joseph's Church this afternoon.