People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10, 9 March 1905, Page 10

People We Hear About

Madame Lou be I, the mother of the Frenob. President, who died early m January, was a simple country pea-s-ant, with exceptional strength of mind and character ; pr<uud of her son and of the eminence he attained, but always profoundly regretful that his political associations made him even the figurehead of antagonism to the Church and taith his mother loved. Loubet was greatly devoted (o his mother— a fact which won In the) friendship of many who had but little liking for his political associates and their misfcleeds. The death is announced of a well known novelist, (ivy Newell Bootlhby. He was born at Adelaide (South Australia) in 1867, and was therefore 37 years of age. In 1891 he crossed Australia from Noith to South, and travelled some time in the East. He was a prolific author. His first work, 'On the Wallaby,' appeared in 1891, and was followed by •In Strange Comoany ' in the same year. The following year three novels from his pen were published, including ' A Bid for Fortune.' In 18i))5 ' The Beautiful White Be\il ' and ' Dr. Nikola,' probiably two of his best known works, made their appearance. Neitther the Lord Chief Justice, who presided at the nn-veil'nj of the statue of the late Lord Kusseli of Killowen in the Law Courts, nor the Lord Chaocellor, who jjcrformed the unveiling, attempted anything like a critical estimate of Lord Russell, and but for <\ C hoate's speech the proceedings would have been little more t<han formal. The American Ambassador thought tiic occasion so important that he departed from m^ usual custom and read what he had to say. He spoke of Lwrd Russell as • the greatest advocate of his time the world over,' and an inspiring influence to his brcthleji everywhere. In ' the dangerous art ' of crossexamination, Mr Choate s^aid, he was not only without neer in his own tune, but his superior could not be found in the annals of forensic history. The two listers of the Pope, Hosa and Maria Sarto, have been obliged to leave their apartments on the ground floor in the C'oiso \ ittorio at Rome (says the correspondent of the ' Kolnischc Volkzeitung ') owing to the tH)wds of idlers and bcggais who hung about the house, staring or tin owing begging letters in at the wnylow They are now living rear the Vatican, in the Palay/o Rus-ticucci, winch belongs to the Pope's Private Chamberlain, Mon.signor Mar/ohni The sisters, one of whom is about fifty and the other some years older, live with great simplicity, their furniture and dress being alike of the plainest. 'We live like nuns,' said one of them ; ' we gx> to Mass and sometimes \isit the Holy Father, but otherwise we go out very seldom, and pee no one ' In reply to a question whether they would not pieier to 1 1\ e in Venice, they replied : ' Indeed no. Here wo are quite close to the Holy Father. At any moment we can ha\e news of him, either through his secretaries oi over the telephone.' St Pat lick's Day will be the 31st anniversary of the consecration of the Most Rev. Dr Redwood as Bishop of Wellington His Grace will be 66 years of age on tihe Bbh prox., having been born at the Lower Hanyard, Tixall, Stiaflordshiie, on April 8, 1830. He arrived with his parents in New Zealand in November, 1812 The late Mr. II P. Redwood settled soon after his arrniul in the Coloiiiy in Nelson, and the future Archbishop studied therefor a while under the late Archpfiest (iarin, S M , and afterwards in France and Ireland. He was ordained priest at Maynooth College nearly forly years *igo (June 6, 1865), and was consecrated Bishop of Wellington by Caidinal Manning en Maxell 17, 1874. Dr Redwood was appointed first Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand on May 13, 1887. The present Pope (says a writer in ' M.A.P.) is a subicct of never-failing interest and delight to me ; he is, I think, one of the most essentially human and kinldly and modest men that have ever held his tremendous position. Indeed, I don't wonder that he wept and trembled when he first began tto perceive that he was being pushed by sheer force of circumstances into a position of such awful responsibility, for he had the training of a simple paiish priest, and also the usual and limited culture of that position. Compare him, with his knowledge of Italian only— and that, I dare say, sp»oi\en in something of Whc patois style of a Venetian—compare him with those men who had lived in almost B\ery court of Europe, and could exipress themsel. \es with equal facility in nearly every language of the Continent ' The explanation of his choice, of course, is —as it was put by Cardinal CSibboirs, the American Cardinal—that the Conclave ..wanted a ' religious ' as distinguished from a diplomatist Pope.