Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 40, 2 October 1902, Page 24

Catholic World

AFRICA — A Scourge. Among the difficulties with which the Mill Hill missionaries have to contend at Busoga, in the Nile country, is a terrible scourge called the sleeping sickness, in which the sufferer gradually fades away, and for which no cure is known. ENGLAND. The Rev. E. Burton has been appointed by his Eminence Cardinal Vaughan Vice-President of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, Ware ; the Rev. A. O'Leary, Procurator, and the Rev. w. Thomson a memben of the professional staff. The Coronation. By order of his Eminence Cardinal Vaughan, in all the Catholic churches of the Archdiocese of Westminster on Sunday a ' Te Deum ' of thanksgiving was sung for tha King's recovery, and also for his cononation. The most elaborate of these services was held at Brompton Oratory, where Verdi's 'Te Deum ' was sung (its first rendering in any London church) by the superb Oratory choir, accompanied by a picked orchestra and a fine band of the Oratory Boys' Brigade. A Requiem Mass. By order of Cardiinal Vaughan, a Solemn Requiem Mass for the late Cardinal Ledochowski, Prefect of the Propaganda, was sung in the Cathedral Hall, attached to Archbishop's House, Westminster, on August 14, at which his Eminence assisted in the presence of all the members of his Cathedral Chapter. The Holy Father pleased. A telegram received in London; from Rome stated that the Pope, on the newa( reaching him that th-0 King Was actually crowned, said, ; Thank God ho has stirmounted hia illness. I join his people in hoping that he may long be spared to them.' FRANCE.— Violent Scenes. A Paris correspondent writing under date August 11, says : The expulsion of the nuns continues, but in the country things have noi gone on as smoothly as in Paris. In Normandy and Brittany especially there has been trouble, and the soldiery havo had to be .called out to help the police. The scenes at Landerneau, when the Sistens of the Holy Ghost werq expelled from the School of St. Julien, were typical of what happened in many parts of the country. The police had already been obliged once, to withdraw before popular opposition, but on instructions from Paris, they camo back accompanied by 200 soldiers at 45.30 in the mornjing. Night watchmen had, however been put up, and aa soon as the arrival of the soldiers was noticed the alarm was given, and the population camo out, some even armed with axes and pitchforks. Tho local Member of Parliament, who was present, formally protested against the carrying out of Ministerial instructions, and recommended tho people to be quiet, but when tha Police Commissioner .came forward to order the opening of the doors, tho crowd rushed on the soldiers', and a scXiffio took place, in which a few people were injured. The commanding officer did the French equivalent for the reading of the Riot Act, but at the same time requested the Deputy to do his best to restrain tho crowd before he gave the order to charge. M. Villiens, the Deputy, succeeded to a certain extent, and avoided bloodshed, but women threw themselves on the ground, and declared the police and soldiers would have to trample them under foot before reaching the Coiv* vent School.

The Holy Father's Anxiety. There can bo no doubt (writes tho Rome correspondent of the ' Catholic Times ') that the Holy Father is much disturbed by the situation in France. From many quarters suggestions como to him to address a public protest to the French Go\ernment but his Holiness, of course, ltefore taking such a step, most carefully weighs the probable consequences At present he feels that, owing to the tension between the French Government and the clergy, a public protest from tho Holy See might endangen the Concordat. Some people will say, ' What then ? May it not be well that the Concordat!, which simply fetters the energy of the Church and prevents free acttion, should go 9 ' That may be so. but ere it goes — if go it must — it is tho duty of tho ecclesiastical authorities to see that the people are prepared for such a great change. English, Irish, and Americans Catholics think it natural enough that lay Catholics should put their hands into their pockets for tho support of their pniests and should act upon a s.\ stem of Home Rule, so far as thenreligion is concerned, but it must not be foigollun that Catholics m France are accustomed to look to the State for the maintenance of tho clergy, and in thinking out! the question of the abolition of the Concordat the Holy Father has to consider whether tho severance of the tie between Church and State might not increase religious indifference;, already far too great This, it may bo safely said, is largely the reason why his Holiness lias not made a public protest lie sympathises verj deeply with the sufferers, and in conversing with members of the persecuted Orders has freely expressed tho pain caused him by the action of tho French Go\ eminent. Good Advice. We ("Catholic Tunes ) aie not sure that the Catholics in Franco ane wise in allowing Royalists to champion their just claims against/ the Ministry of M Combes. Thosegentlemen care \ cry much more for tho King than they do for tho Church. We should luue prefei red to see our co-religionist s fighting out their quarrel on the bnond ground of ci\ ie liberty and political justice. Tho intrusion of Rovahsts'inust inevitably tend to weaken sympathy among those Republicans who recognise the t\iann\ which M Combos ypid h|s CaiUmet are 'showing ?tp Catholics .md their schools Nor, perhaps, 1=; theie much good to bo expected ft om the displays however atlecting. by which certain districts ha\e protested against the evictiion of ilie teaching Sisters from their-" premises A group of women on their knees, or c\en lying- down beforo the doors of the school, will make little mrpi ession upon the hardened souls of the persecuting Ministry. Nor are such acts as breakiing the official seals, tumultuoiLsly escorting tho e\ icted muis to the nearest railway st.it ion of any greatj moment m deciding anything bo\ ond tho fact that they number sympathisers among the population The real and effecti\e way to protest is at the polls. Until Trench Catholics are willing and pi epared to do that, they can do nothing Under, the constitution of the countr,\ . a Catholic has as much power at tho polls as any other indi\ ulual. bo he I'reeth inker. or Freemason, and it is precisely thero that tho Catholics fail to (\o their duty. » At the lat« r elections! they either abstained or \oted wrong, or were clearly impotent to affect tho issues before tin* count rv The policy to adopt iis union Let thorn sink their differences, rally to tho Republic, exert their powers m a jusb and correct democratic fashion, antr they will meet the fate they deserve. ITALY.— Socialism. The London ' Morning Post ' recently published an editorial se"\erely

condemning the work of Socialists in Rome and other parts of Italy. It writes : — ' It is not too much to say that by the lack of honesty and fair play among all grades of the conifiiunity men are driven to desperation, and the future of the country is imperilled. The curse of dishonesty lies on the land like a heavy cloud charged with electricity, threatening the present, obscuring the future, and likely to burst at any moment with a force which m.iy carry awuy existing institutions in its fury. Many courts of lustico in Italy have become the hot-bed of 'intrigue where influential persona are permitted to prostitute the law for pnivato ends, and complaisant judges weakly concede what is demanded of them either through fear or through hope of favors in return.' ROME. The appointment of Cardinal Gotti as Prefect of Propaganda was something of a surprise. The Roman correspondent of tho Fribourg ' Libento ' says he learns on good authority that it waa intended by tho Pope to bo a mark of his confidence in tho religious Orders. In many quarters it was assumed that the Prcfqct of Propaganda would either be Cardinal Satolli, who held the important post of Apostolic Delegate at Washington, or Cardinal Vincent Vannutelli, who has become Econome of tho Propaganda. Last winten, when Cardinal Ledochowski was at the point of death, it was stated by those who had opportunities of knowing the' Holy Father's mind that he had then determined to give tho Prefecture of Propaganda to Cardinal Rampolla in the event) of Cardinal Ledochowski's death. Tho persecution of the Orders in France, however, induced his Holiness to pay a .special compliment to tho religious communities, and he carried out his intention by tho selection of Cardinal Gotti. an austere Carmelite, as successor to Cardinal JLedochoWvSki The new Prefect is highly esteemed as a Canonist. A man of reserve, he has tho reputation of possessing- a linn will, n qualification particularly -\ aluabjo m tho direction of the affairs of the great ecclesiastical organisation now under Ill's control. A Present. Tho Holy Father has received as a present from a Spanish lady, tho Duchess of Villa Ilermosa, a beautiful sii\er model of the IHichoss's historic Castle of Xavier, in Navarn> This Castle was tho birthplaco of JSt Francis Xci\ ier. m memory of whom the Duchess deteumined' to transform the castle into a cathedral. Tho Pope readily ga\e tho necessary permission, and tho transformation is now imished. The Duchess then determined to present Leo XjHI with a model of the new castle cathedral in siker, and a reproduction exact as to the minutest pinnaret-has now armed at the Vatican The Pope is so pleased with the present that he has ordered it to bo placed in his pn\ ate apartments It is made of solid sil\er, and is \ alued at £200 The Holy Father's Health. A Homo correspondent writing under dato August 10 says : — Tho Holy Father is enjoying excellent health and takes his aftennoon walks and drives in the), Vatican gardens 'regularly. Ho continues to grant numerous audiences daily, and the prelates and personages who arc pri"\ileged to see him are unanimous m their opinion that Loo XIII. 'is stronger and morcacti\e than ho was before he underwent the surgical operation performed by Professor Mazzoni. The Church and the Age. The ' Osservatorc Romano ' has published an article which is worthy of note. The anti-clerical Italian pressmen are pointing to the agitatiions against the Church in various countries, calling them uprisings

againsfj the methods adopted by the Church, )wid predicting that the Church will have ' either to renew itself or die.' The 'Osservatore's article is a reply to these comments and attack/*. It states that the presont condiition of affairs is nothing new — that the dominating spirit, doctyMnal and practical, against which the Church has to contend was always in the world, being due not to faults or defects in the eternal law*?, but to the "intolerance of corrupt nature— so corrupt that a mijracle of omnipotence took place to heal it radically. That niiraclo will never be renewed under the same circumstances of time, place, and fact, but its miraculous power should make any other intrinsic renovation unnecessary. Father Ventura, the Theatine, had in mind tho true character of the modern spirit when he said : ' What is new in philosophy is error ; what is new in theology is heresy ; what is new in politics is revolution. If, adds the ' Osservatore,' the renovation be interpreted as simply meaning that renewal of spirit commanded in the Gospel we are at one with those who raise tho cry, but if it be otherwise interpreted we cannot agree with them. In conclusion, the ' Osservatore' says- ' \Vo shall never cease to oppose laiaism especially, which de-sit-ies to introduce materialism everywhere, to " emancipate " people from the Gospel, and to bning them to the knowledge of the fruit of good and evil, contaminating the whole of life, individual, domestic, and social.' SCOTLAND.— GIasgow Glasgow's new Archbishop, in the person of Dr. A. J. Maguire (writes a correspondent) is a fitting successor to tho illustrious dead. During tho archiepiscopate of Dr. Eyre the diocese, as is well known, flourished exceedingly ; and within the lastj decade of years a gneat share in this work has been taken by Dr. Maguire as Auxiliany-Bishop of Glasgow. Now £hat< he has been appointed Archbishop of the See, we may confidently look forward to Glasgow and its spiritual dependencies flourishing still more. The Most Rev. John Aloysius Maguire is now in his 51st year, having been born at Glasgow on the 4th of September, 1851, of Irish parents. His early education was attended to first by the Marist Brothers of Townhead, and then by tho Jesuit Fathers, both ab Glasgow and Stonyhurst. After returning to Glasgow from Stonyhurst he conceived the idea of becoming a lawyer, entered an office and began hi^ studies at the Glasgow University for this purpose. In 1870, howeven, he abandoned tho law in fa\ or of religion and determined to seek the sacred office of the priesthood, proceeding in 1871 to Rome, where, at the College of the Propaganda, he entered on a course of ecclesiastical studies, which lasted four years. He was ordained priest on Holy Saturday, 1875, in the Church of St. John Lateran by his Eminence Cardinal Patrizi. His firstl appointment was n^ curate at St. Andrew's, Great Clyde street. In 1870 Archbishop Eyre selected him as his secretary. Tn this capacity for four years he proved himself of invaluable assistance to his Grace, who afterwards appointed him to tho pastorate of St. Peter's, Patrick, in 18XX, and. two years later oal'led him to Iho Vicar-Generalship of tho archdiocese, prio.ii to which promotion he had been created a Canon. On the death of Monsignor Munro ho was elected Provost of the Western Chapter, and in 1894 was chosen Bishop-Auxiliary to his Grace, his* evisceration taking place in St. Andrew's Cathedral on the 11th June. Sinco his elovatiion to tho episcopate) Dr. Maguire lias shown himself to bo an excellent organiser as well as a hard worker.

UNITED STATES.— Brooklyn. Mgr. Munderlin, Chancellor of the diocese of Brooklyn, states that there are at least 39,000 attendants at the various Catholic churches in Brooklyn. There are 78 churches in the city, and the Chancellor that an attendance of 5000 cadi is an ex. tremely conservative estimate Chicago Diocese. gslPiSI A census of Chicago just completed shows that it has 951 churches. The Catholics stand first in the l^t with 126 churches. The Methodist Episcopal is second with 82 churches. The Congregational third with 70, and the BaptJist fourth with 69.