The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 3, 21 January 1904, Page 27

The Catholic World

BELGIUM.— The Ballot-box Prosperous Belgium continues to accentuate the lesson which she gives to all the Catholic nations of the intelligent and conscientious use of the ballot-box. The tyranny of Combes has been a useful ccbtject-lesson to the gallant little people. In the recent commercial elec-tions—all-important in Belgium— the victory has been complete against the secularising Liberals and their more Radical yoke-fellows, the Socialists. In many of tho larger towns these latter have been driven out by, Catholic majorities, and nearly everywhere Catholics have at least held their own. The Belgians, as our readers recall, regulate the suffrage so that it cannot be so easily bought as elsewhere. A man may have as many as four votes upon the required qualifications of education, profession, and prosperity. The patriotic people follow intelligently and vigilantly the public questions which affect them, and see that these are decided as the conservative majority desire. The recent elections will ensure Christian education and the religious safeguards of the people. CANADA.— Catholic University Destroyed Details are now to hand, in the • Montreal True Witness,' of the burning of the Catholic University, of

Washington on the morning of December 2. The fire 6roke out while the students were at breakfast, and was one of the most swiftly disastrous conflagrat/ions that Ottawa has ever witnessed. In less time than it takes to write the entire vast edifice was in flames. The pupils could not find exit by the doors, and had to jump from the windows. Some priests who were in the upper storeys were forced to jump down, from distances of thirty, forty, and sixty feet. The fire moved as rapidly as a man could walk from end to end of the institution. In an hour and a-half not one square inch of that magnificent pile of buildings was left. Nothing was saved, and the miracle was that no lives were lost. Three priests who were in upper storeys, and three domestics in the basement, were badly injured, some of them probalbly fatally. But had the fire taken place during the eaTly morning or the night there is every likelihood that many lives would have been lost. An immense pile of ruins is all that remains to tell the tale of 50 years of the labor, sacrifices, and untold privations of the Oblate Fathers to build up a Catholic University worthy of Ontario, of the Capital, and of Canada. The loss on the building is estimated at £50,000 ;on contents, including the handsome chapel, library, etc., according to Rev. Father Emery's estimate— £so,ooo. The total estimated loss is £100,000. The loss is covered by- insurance to the extent of £40,000. ENGLAND.— Death of a noted Convert We regret to announce the death' of the Rev. W. R. Carson, who recently passed away suddenly at Davos Platz. Father Carson was a convert. He was the second son of the late Rev. R. B. Carson, Vicar of Haynes, Bedfordshire. The reunion of the Anglican Church with the Catholic Church was one of his fondest hopes, and with great literary ability he fostered the reunion movement, writing ' A Eucharistic Eirenicon,' ' Reuntiojn Essifys,' and also articled and reviews on the subject for the Catholic press. Beda College A distinction has been conferred on Beda College, Rome, by the Pope, who has raised Monsignor Prior, Rector of the College, to the digtaity of a Domestic Prelate of the Pope. His nomination has been received with great satisfaction. His Holiness Pius X. has also appointed Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli to the post of Protector of the English and Beda Colleges in Rome. FRANCE.— Joan of Arc The ' Daily Chronicle's ' Rome correspondent telegraphed some weeks ago : The Pope has summoned Monsignor Panici, and said— l have finally decided on beatifying Joan of Arc on January 6th next I wish to give this pledge of my affection for Franco on thji.t date because it is the birthday anniversary of the .heroic Maid of Orleans. lam notifying President Loubet and the French bishops of my intention On the morning of that day the decree of beatification will be solemnly published in the Sistine Chapel, and afterwards I shall go down to St Peter's to recei\e a monster pilgrimage of French Catholics ITALY. The St. I ou'S Exposition The Holy See will be officially represented at the St Louis Exposition The negotiations initiated by the Rev. D R O'Connell, Rector of the Catholic University, Washington, were continued by W E Curtis, and have resulted in a promise Ihat the Vatican will send a high Church dignitary to represent it at St Louis. Monument to Leo XIII. Ernesto Biondi, one of the best Known Italian sculptors, has been chosen to model the monument winch is to be erected by international subscription to the memory of Pope Leo XIII. on top of Sempre Visa, thehighest mountain of the Lepim chain The figure will represent Pope Leo, in bronze, standing and blessing the land and sea It will have an enormous pedestal, with bas-reliefs, representing the woild of suflerers appealing to the Gospel, which will be represented by an enormous figure of an angel, on whose wings the statue of Pope Leo will rise. Australian Prelates Received As already stated in our columns, the Pope recently received in private audience Dr Gallagher, Bishop of Goulburn, New South Wales, and Dr. Higggns, Bishop of Rockhaonpton, Queensland. Both Bishops afterwards visited Cardinal Merry del Val, Papal Secretary of State. The Pope was most pleased with the account of the progress of Catholicism in Australia given by Dr. Gallagher and Dr. Iligigins, and expressed his satisfae-, tion at such encouraging news from a far away part of the world, whiie nearer and older countries often caused pain to his heart. Dr. Gallagher presented two Australian students. UNITED STATES.— A Great Sacrifice The Right Rev. Bishop McQuaid, of Rochester, N.Y.,

speaking at the recent golden jubilee of the diocese of Newark, N.Y., of James Roosevelt Bayley, its first Bishop, said : ♦ Very few men knew Dr. Bayley as well as Monsignor Doane and myself, and we are the only ones now living who can speak of him as he was. He was a true gentleman, an educated man of good family, and he loved the poor and always worked for their betterment. He was a Catholic in mind, walk, talk, and in every fibre of his body. He sacrificed a fortune of £20,000 by joining our faith, because he believed in heart and soul it was the only true faith. He believed in education, and brought the Sisters of Charity here to teach the young children. He established Seton Hall College to educate young men for the priesthood, and St. Elizabeth's Convent for educating young women as Sisters to teach your daughters.' Christian Education The good example set by Catholics in bringing up their children under Christian influences during their schooldays has been extensively followed by the Lutherans throughout the United States. According to the Lutheran Almanac for North America, this denomination has 5244 parochial schools, with 3350 teachers and 234,175 pupils. This represents a gain of nearly 100,000 pupils during the past fifteen years. The Lutherans take as strong a stand in' the matter of religion in education as do the Catholics. An Appointment Bishop Messmer, of Green Bay, Wis., has been appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee, Wis., in succession to the late Archbishop Katzer. The Catholic University A collection was taken in the Catholic churches of. the United States on Sunday, November 29, for the funds for the Catholic University, Washington. In a let^ ter on the subject Cardinal Gibbons, as Chancellor, wrote : ' The University has a plant and endowments, amounting in all to about $2,000,000, contributed by the generosity of our clergy and laity. It is now necessary that we make good what has already been done, by addnng such endowments as will complete the faculties, meet extraordinary expenses-, and place the institution on' a self-sustaining basis.' A Venerable Convert Dr. Benjamin I. De Costa, who was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Rome on Sunday, November 29, at the age of 72 years, is a native of Charlestown, Mass., and was until a few years ago an Episcopalian, a clergyman at that, being the Rector of the Church of St. Jo/hn the Evangelist, New York City. Left a widower about two years' after his conversion', Dr. De Costa decided, notwithstanding his age, to study for the (priesthood, and have the happiness, if but for a brief space, of exercising its highest function. His health is very ■delicate, but he has attained his heart's desire. Dr. De Costa had an aunt a convert to the Faith and a nun in (he Ursuline Convent atCharlestown, at the time it was burned down by an anti-Catholic mob. We have (says the ' Catholic Citizen ') heard the venerable convert describe a visit made by him as a little child to this relative, and express his conviction that her prayers had hioue;ht him into the Church The case of Dr. De Costa naturally recalls that of the Rev William Hoyt, who's life story has been so beautifully told by the late Bishop De Goeshriand, of Burlington, "Vt., in his ' Catholic Memoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire ' Dr. Hoyt was a native of Sandwich, NH, and in 1838, at Ihe age of 25, wa^ Rector of the Episcopal Church at Si Albans, Vt. He was married the same year. In IX Hi he resigned his position and became a Catholic, his wife following his example. For 29 years this admirable convert lived the layman's life He was a model husband and father and an apostolic man in his zeal for the spread of the faith. In 1875 his wife died, and early in the following year he entered Seton Hall Seminary. On May 26, 1877, he was ordained priest, being then 64 years of age. He exercised his sacred functions for six years, chiefly in New York City, and died at the altar of St. Anne's Church, where he was celebrating Mass, on December 8, 1883.