The Catholic World.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 10, 7 March 1901, Page 27

The Catholic World.

BELGIUM.— The Sisters of Charity.— On the nth Decem ber at the Mother-house of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, Ghent, a very imposing ceremony took place ; 25 novices were professed, and 20 postulants received the religious habit, amongst the former being an Irish lady. The newly-professed Irieh Sister is Miss Nora Catherine Cahill (in religion Sister Mary Winefride), daughter of Mr. Michael Cahill, Limerick. She has been appointed to take up her duties at Courtrai, the convent where she had been educated. On the occasion of the profession the beautiful convent chapel was crowded with the friends of the newly-professed Sisters. Among those present were Mr. and Mrs. Cahill, Limerick ; Miss O'Connor, and Miss Ellie O'Connor, of Kildimo, County Limerick, who are boarders at Saffalaere, one of the houses of the Order. The Sisters of Charity are of one the oldest and largest Orders in Belgium, having a Community of over a thousand professed Sisters. They have several branch houses in Belgium, including Brussels, Courtrai, Ecloo, and Mons, to which there are boarding-schools attached. At the invitation of Cardinal Vaughan, in 1888, the Sißters founded a large convent at Tottington (near Manchester) and at the request of the Belgian Government some of the Sisters went to the missions of Congo, in Africa, where they have already five houses. They have several select boarding-schools in India and The Punjaub, under the presidency of the Bishop of Lahore. Their Community embraces several Irish and English members. ENGLAND— London Catholics and the Temporal Power-— At a recent meeting of the Catholic League of South London, of which Dr. Bourne, Bishop of Southwark, ie president, the following resolution was adopted: — ' That the Catholic League of South London, composed of the clergy and elected representatives of the Catholic missions of the South Metropolitan District, beg to tender thanks to the Duke of Norfolk for his having, on behalf of the Catholics of all parties in the United Kingdom, given expression to the hope of Catholics in all the civilised countries of the world for the restoration to the Sovereign Pontiff of the temporal independence, of which the Popes have been unjustifiably deprived by the Sardinian occupation of Rome.'

Relinquishing Some of his Labors.— After many years of aotive life in many fields, Canon Greaney, of Birmingham, has had to relinquish some of his labors, owing to indifferent health. In the work of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children he will be greatly missed, and in presenting him with an illuminated address, voted by the Birmingham Branch on hia retirement from the presidency, Sir James Sawyer paid feeling tribute to the Canon'g great service to the society. Death of a Catholic Judge— The announcement of the death of Judge Meynell created a painful sensation in Durham. The late judge, who was born in 1 «2f>, wan r Catholic and a familiar figure at St. Cuthbert's Church, Durham. He was the head of an old and well-known Catholic family of the North Riding which suffered for the Faith in the days of persecution and has given several members to the priesthood. When deceased was 48 years of age he became Durham circnit county court judge. He was also Recorder of Doncaster. Declines the Honor.— The Very Rev. Dean O'Callaghan, of Oldham, was proposed recently to be chairman of the Oldham School Board, but declined the honor. Dean O'Callaghan's nomination was made by Canon Rountree, an Anglican clergyman, who was subsequently himself elected chairman. The Dean was unanimously elected to the vioe-chair. Changes in the Jesuit Order.— The Rev. Father O'Hare, S.J., of St. Wilfrid's, Preston, has been appointed Rector at Wimbledon, and the Rev. Father Clayton, S.J., of Wimbledon, has gone to St. Beuno's, in place of the Rev. Father Reeve who has been appointed to Beaumont. Catholicism in Great Britain.— During his visit to Rome Cardinal Vaaghan submitted the following statistics of Catholicism in Great Britain to the Pope : — There are 25 Catholic Episcopal Sees, 3300 clergymen, and about two million Catholic laymen. Throughout the British Empire the Catholics are above 12 millions, with 172 diocesan bishops and apostolic-vicars. Death of a Catholic Officer.— Colonel R. c. guiow, of Castle Park, Lancaster, died on January 14. Deceased belonged to a distinguished Lancashire Catholic family, his father being Mr. R. T. Gillow, of Leighton Hall, near Carnforth, who survives at a venerable age, being one of the oldest oounty magistrates in Lancashire. The late Mgr. Charles Gillow, and Father George Gillow, the wellknown preacher, were uncles — Father F. Gillow, of the Willows, Kirkham, is a brother. Deceased was county magistrate for South Lonsdaie, and was a keen sportsman. He was 04, and leaves a widow and family. FRANCE — The Other Side of the Picture— The Paris Seviaine Religieuae estimates that the suppression of the religious Orders and the confiscation of their property would bring in to the State 300.000 000 f a \ ear, but would entail an annual expense of 270,000 OOOf tor an allowance of a franc a day to 30,000 monks and 130,000 nunp, the support of 110,000 aged and infirm persons, 60,000 orphans, 12.000 penitent women, aud 68,000 lunatics, blind, and deaf and dumb. Assisting the Passionist Fathers-— Mrs. Mackay has given 20,000 francs to the English Passionists of the Avenue Hoche to help them out of their present difficulty with the French Government. But, eenerous as the offering is, it only helps the Fathers to tide over their emergency. Another similar sum ia wanting. And when this is obtained they will continue to be ground down by the odious fiscal laws in work against the Congregations. ROME— The Electric Light in St. Peter's —Many of English Pilgrims in St. Peter'a the other day saw the Pope for the first time. But the Pope himself had a new sensation. For, the Daily Chronicle notes, the first time he saw the twinkling of innumerable electric lights under Michael Angelo's dome. The great work of illuminating St. Peter's by the most modern of methods, begun long ago, was completed at the New Year ; and not all the delighted surprise baaruing from the face of Leo X III. as he was borne through the basilica, and raised himself again and again in his chair, was the special perquisite of the pilgrims The old torches used in St. Peter's were splendidly picturesque ; but the new light has its own serene beauty. The Health of the Holy Father —A Rome correspondent writes : — Professor Mazzoni, tha surgeon who attended the Pope during the operation he underwent some time ugo, has expressed his opinion of the Pope's health in conversation as follows : — ' He is very well, and, I believe, will live to be a hundred. His heart is like that of a boy, and his lungs are like steel. His mind is more luoid than can be imagined. Listen to this fact. One day when his Holiness was conversing with me we happened to speak of surgery and surgical operations. All at once he Bhowed me one of his fingers, saying, " Look at this little scar, Professor. It is the Boar of a small wound I brought on myself 75 years ago. I was then a seminarist, and during recreation hours we were allowed to play boccia in the garden of the Piazza Colonna. While I was Flaying I was struck by a ball on my hand, and rather badly hurt, was taken to have my hand boundto Rolh's shop in the Piazza S. Maroello." Is it not,' said Professor Mazzoni, ' a grand memory that can reoall a trifling incident, and that after 75 years ? ' The Pope's Latest Ode* — The Catholic papers in Rome have juit published the text of the ode which Leo XIII. has written for the opening of the new oeitury. It consists of 14 verses and bears the title ' A Jesu Christo Ineuntis Sseculi Außpioia.' His Holiness reviews the character of the century whioh has just elapsed and, whilst acknowledging that it has been remarkable in the promotion of the arts and in revealing the powers of nature, he draws a lurid picture of its moral condition. It has, he points oat, been fertile in

bloodshed, has seen sceptres fall and licence stalking abroad. The outrage committed on the See of Peter is noted, and hia Holiness proceeds to dwell on the terrible effects of divorcing law and faith. Man was thus reduced to the level of the beast, aDd impotent human pride was in its blindness cast down into an abyss of shame. Then his Holineeß offerß up a sublime prayer for the now century, begging of our Lord to nourish the seeds of peace and to grant that wars may cease, that the schemes of the wicked may be defeated, and that there may be but one Fold and one Pastor. The poem is an act of homage to Christ the Redeemer. Essays and Poems in Forty Languages— One of the most characteristic and iutereatiug ueleuralioua in connection with the solemn homage to the Redeemer was the Polyglot Academy (writes a Rome correspondent) held at the Propaganda College. Poems and essays, chiefly dealing with the Jubilee Year and with the new century, were recited by the pupils in 40 different languages, the orators for the most part being natives of the oountry whose language they spoke. Mr. Louis Ingram worthily upheld the traditions of English eloquence, and it is satisfactory to observe that the Latin speech was pronounced by an Irishman, Mr. John Tyndal. Another Irish pupil, Mr. Michael MacCormac, spoke in Gaelic, and Gaelic waa also the language in which Mr. Daniel Maodonald addressed an impassioned speech to his interested if not wholly appreciative audience. Other poems and addresses followed in Hebrew, Greek, Chaldaßan, Syrian, Armenian, German, Curd, Sanscrit, Norwegian, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Slav, Asforio (an Arabian dialect), Dutch, Copt, Roumanian, Turkish, Romance, Malabaree, Spanish, Albanian, Danish, Tamulio, Icelandish, and even in such little-known languages as Algonquin (American Indian), Kaffir, Baoca, and Zulu. This South African trinity was represented respectively by Messrs. Julius Umkomanzi (Kaffir), Andrew Ngidi and L. Manshonga (Zulus). The olose of the academy was a dialogue on the Anno Santo recited by these three dusky pupils, who were heartily applauded. It will be remembered that the first Zulu priest, Rev. Father Muller, left the the Propaganda for his native land two years ago. He is now doing excellent work in South Africa. As usual on these occasions, the elite of Rome was present. SCOTLAND.— A. Priest Appointed Justice of the Peace.— The Rev. Father Angus Macdonald, Arisaig, has, on the recommendation of the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, been made a Justice of the Peace for Invernesa-shire. He is not the only priestmagistrate in Scotland, there being at least one other — Canon Holder, of Dundee. Enthronement of the Archbishop of Edinburgh.— The solemn reception, enthronement, and investiture with the Pallium of the Most Rev. James Smith, the new Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, took place ou January 15 in St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, in the presence of a larg-e .cngregation. In anticipation of the important event the entire church had been painted, decoiated and gilded throughout in a most artistic way, and, in addition to this, quite a festive appearance was imparted to the interior of the sacred edifice by a display of festoons and evergreens, studded with white flowers. The altar was richly laid out with candelabra and flowers. The ceremony began at 11.30 a.m. with a solemn procession, headed by the Very Rev. Canon Donlevy, who was chief Master of Ceremonies. The priests taking part in the procession, numbering close on 100, were all in choir habit, while the Canons were in purple, the officiating clergy in rich vestments, and the Bishops bringing up the rear in full Pontifical*. The celebrant of the Mass was the Right Rev. Dr. Smith, Bishop of Argyll and the Isle 9. The assistant priest of the Mass was the Very Rev. Canon Smith, of Stirling, while the deacon and sub-deacon respectively were the Rev. Fathers McGrail and O'Raw, of the Cathedral, with Father McDermott acting as master of ceremonies. Bishop Maguire, Glasgow diocese, and Bishop Turner, diocese of Galloway, occupied seats in the sanctuary. The occasional sermon was preached by Bishop Chisholm of Aberdeen, who after referring to the lors sustained by the archdiocese on the death of Archbishop Macdonald, tendered the congratulations of tho bishops, priests, and laity to the new Metropolitan. At the close of the Mass Archbishop Smith took hip place upon his hitherto vacant throne, and was solemnly vested in full pontificals in presence of the entire assemblage. The vesting completed, Bishop Smith, Oban, returned to the altar, and seated himself in a chair facing the people, whilst the new Archbishop, quitting hie throne, knelt before his oldest suffragan, and recited his profession of faith in Latin. At the conclusion of this profesbion — which, by the way, included a declaration of fidelity to Queen Victoria — Bishop Smith, to the accompaniment of the prescribed prayers, passed the pallium over the Archbishop's neck, placed it in position upon his shoulders, and allowed Canon Donlevy to pin it in position with the traditional three jewelled pins corresponding in the Church's symbolism to the nails by which Our Lord was fixed to the cross. The new Archbishop, in mitre and orozier, then mounted the altar stepH, and turning to the people imparted to them the Benediction, with which the ceremony proper was brought to a termination. After the ceremony a dinner was given to the clergy in the Royal Hotel, and an illuminated address waa presented to Archbishop Smith. The new Metropolitan is in his sixtieth year. Of Irish parentage, he is a native of Edinburgh, and was an altar* boy in the Cathedral where he now receives the Pallium. Educated at Lochee, Dundee, Blairs College, Aberdeen, and the Scots College, Rome, he was ordained priest in 18t>6. Shortly afterwards he waß appointed to a professorship at Blairs College, which be occupied for 22 years. In 1890 he was appoiuted to the See of Dunkeld, where he has displayed great ability, learning, and organibing and administrative power. His selection to be Archbishop Macdonald's successor was no surprise, and has evoked tha heartiest rejoicing from both priests and people.