The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3, 30 January 1908, Page 31

The Catholic World

BELGIUM— A Serious Loss The theft of Van Dy^'s superb pibture ' The Red ing of the Cross ' from the Church of Notre Dame, a u Courtrai, in Belgium, huS, as may be imagiuid, cieated a sensation. So impressed were- tha ecclesiastical" au- ' thorities by the enormity of the less that they telegraphed immediately to M. 1-lam.ard, the chief of the detective service in Paris, for h.s assistance, bo far, however, no traces have be.n found o; the picture or of the men who cut it iroai its frame and car.Ld it. off. ' The Raising of tWo Cross ' was painted by Van Dyck in 1631, at the older of Roger Braye, a Canon cf , Notre Dame, who paid the artist a .sum of one hundred livres for it. In 1794 it was ta .en to Paris, where il lemained antil 1815, when it was leslored to thj churc.i of Courtrai. * . ENGLAND— Death of a Catholic Lady The Hon. Mrs. Dundas, mo her of the Marquis of Zetland, died at We&t, feto* e House, Chi hester, on Sunday, December 8. Great regret was manifested oil receipt of the sad news at Richmond, where she was a familiar figure and a regular attender at the Catholic church, along with her daughters, Ladies Charlotte and Alice Dundas, dur.nj, their stay at Middle! on. The Hon. Mrs. Dundas was the daughter of James Talbot, of TaLbot Hall, Co. Wexfojd. She married in 1843, the Hon. Charles Dundas, who -dud in 1866. Catholic Interments Just a week afttcr the remains of Bislop B-.na\ei.t ure Giffard and his brother Andrew had -been- fin lly laid to rest in the chanel cloist~r at Si. Edmunds College, Ware, a faculty was granted by th- Chancellor of tne Anglican Diocese of London (says tin ' Catholic Times') for the transference to the college of the body af Bishop Dxpuglass, who hud been iargely instrumental in founding the institute n. With the exception of Dr. Leyburne and Dr. Challoner, all the Bishops who represented the London distiict during th>i period of ihe four Vicariates, that is, from 168S to 1840, are now intern d at St. Edmund's. For years past records pnd registeis have been examined to discover where Bis*©,) Douglass was buried. It was only en October 3 last, when the irrave at St. Pancras was o;)cnjd for th\j removal of the bodies of Bishops Bonaventu.re and Andrew Giffard that the coffin containing the body of Bishop Douglass was found. It is singular that none of th-» registers cf St. Pancras Parish Church a-d the Parish Church of ~ St.. Andrew's, Hoi' orn— the chisnh of • the parish in which he lived— contained a no' ice of his burial. "When in 1734 Bishop Bonaventure Giffard was in 'erred in the grave the Burial Sen ice of the Church of England was read, Catholics not being then allowed to use their own rite. May it be tin explanation of the absence cf Bishop Douglass's name from the registers Hint the Catholic service was quietly em' loyed at his interment in 181J, and that registration was on that account purposely avoided. ITALY— Anti- Religious Campaign The anti-religious 'bloc' (says the ' Caiholc Weekly ), not content with the absolute dominion it has acquired in France, is inaugurating a campaign in Italy, on lines identical wi'h those which have acheVed such' evil success in France. The Min : ster of PuMH Instruction (should it not he 'd structicn ?') is cmi'liting his French counterpart of the ' Fine Arts,' M. Briand, by ' preparing the public for a removal of artistic "treasures from the churches to which they belong, and for the appropriation by the Government of valuable documents preserved in ecclesiastical archives. In the, midst of all these storms, raised by the anti-Christ muMmA* of -the Lodges, the venerable figure of- Pius X. stands calm, firm and undaunted, knowing w. 11,, not merelv from ih:> promises of- Christ, buirfrom the t,e«h"ng o r his'ory as well daring nineteen centuries, that it is not .the Rock ■ of Peter that will be shattered in' the process. ROME— Revision of the Vulgate V TT , Th £ le *ter (says the ' Catholic Times ') which the Holy Father has a/\ dressed to Abbot Gas.q/uet and his colleagues en the Preparatory. Commission for the Revision of the Vulgate reveals his affection for the distinginshod Son of St. Benedict and h : s collaborators and his confidence in. their aMlity to execute their commission. He congratulates them on having entrust*! to them a work so difficult that men distin<ruifh»d for 1-ar-ning, and some of them even from "the rank of the Pon-

- tiffs, devoted themselves to it without success. The « paleographies, and;, historical hcknce m wi.ich the Benedictines are . so eminent, is to him a peif ~et assurance that the researches of the N . Commission will be exhausbne. The libraries of Europe will ue ransacked, and noc only will all the old Cudices coma n ng Lci/un \eibioiiS s cf tin.Scii^tures be examined, 'but e..ery ehoit will t,c made to discover manuscripts which may throw fresh ii^ht on ancient Biblical texts. The Gregorian University On December 6 (whites a Rome coriespondcnt) the annual distribution •oi .pikes, following • the concarsas which too.v place in.Ji.ly, was h_ld t*y the Superiors' •_of,the Gregorian" briiveiSifcy, the Jesuii Fath rs, in the Church of bt. Ignatius,. Tho entire body of st.uueiits-, secular and regular, belonging to 1t..1y, France, Ausliia, Germany, the two Americas, Belgium, England, Scotland, b'pain, Ireland, Canada, Holland, ,VU..nd, Koumania, and Switzerland, to tne number of b . er oae tlwus- , and, were in attendance. Cardinal MartinJh, of .tfaj Auigustimian Order, who prodded, was accompanied fy Archbishop Seton, Bishop Gi.es (Rector of the English College). Monsi'gnar Fraser (Rector of the Scotch college), Father Wernz (General of the Sod.ty of Jesus), and the various Rectors of the Colleges affiliated to . the University. In the long list of those who have gained the -Doctorate of, Theology both the English and .Scotch. Colleges ha-\e bad two each. Two Englishmen,, one -Scotchman, and: a candidate from the Bude College have^ been awarded the Licentiate in, the Sam*} subject ; while two of the former and three of " the latter nation- _■ ality gained the bachelorship. It may be' mentioned that both the English and Scotch Colleges have secured sev- - eral brilliant triumphs at this last competition of nations. On an examination of "the list of premiums it -appears that in the Dogmatic Theology of the second . third, and fourth year's class a, Scotchman" comes fifth, and in that of iho first year another Le-ite of the Thistle is first. An En lhhiian leads the van in the Aramaic language, and a fellow countryman of his take's first premium in physiology. hi the li-,t of these to whom degrees in Ph'losolhy were awarded roth Ccl'e-es stand well to the front, as they alio do in the various classes. Cardinal Rampolia 'His Eminence Cardinal Rampofia attained on - Sun- ■ day, December 8, the 25th annhersaiy of his consecration as a Bishop. The Unpter of St." Petn-'s, of which ne is Archpriest. presented h'm with an ill imina ted address on the occasion. His Eminence thanvd the <.hipter in a few cordial words, in which he referred -to 'the English Cardinal,' Oarcliral Howaid.. by whom he was consecrated Bishoi in.St. Peters. Cardinal Ram,polla was only 39 at his ccn^ecration in 1882, so that he is still, comparatively, a jo ng man, lein«' iust-o-.cr sixty-four. UNITED STATES— The See£of New Ybrk , The See of ,New Yoric was erected by the Pope o;i April 8, 1808. It is thj dtsue of Archbishop Farley 4o celebrate the- centenary of Ihs e.ent,' by the consecra.tion of- St. Patrice "s Cathedral, j i\liini'nary prepara- .. i turns for . which . are now being made. The' interior- of. ."the great Gothic edifice is to he remodelL-d. - • A Catholic Millionaire's Bequests Final settlement of all controversy* over the will of the late Count Creiyhton, the, Irish-American millionaire, has been Tha estate is apprais< d ' at approximately £800,000., Se\en heirs not m-nlioncd in the cwill, who had fn 1 cphtcst^,- are patified with ±110,000. Ihe Little Sisters of' the Poor renounced a behest of £20,000 because the Mother-General in France was unable to spare Sisters to found a new branch of the Crder in Omaha. Creighton University is the Ldgs;cst bene.[ficiary. with £.250,000. A Princely Gift , It is reported that Mr. Charles. M. Schwab, tlu steel imagnate, has .made a .gift of Richmond- Beach, Statm islan.4, to the Sisters of St. Francis of. New York, who jwill ,'establish- a hospital for crippled children there The '.property is valued -at £30,000, and was purchased in 1900 .for the purpose of making it a s'immcr outing . Place for poor mothers and children. Five large two-ard-one-half r story frame hotels, two ri r rs and many bothine houses were built. - A steamboat to ply between the beach and New Yor'c w<s launch^ an r l c'hristrn^d ' ITappy Days,' but the collipse' of tho Shipbuilding Trust occurred and work on Richmond Beach was stopped The Philippines Reliable statistics sbow that the total Cath-licro"- • ula.tion in the Philippine Islands is 6,862,413. Minister-

ing to the needs of this vast body- are 1078 priests, an average of one priest fbi" 6365 Catholics. In the United States, with a Catholic population estimated at 13000,000 in round numbers, there are 15,093 priests, one priest for 867. Catholics. GENERAL The. Religious Orders It is interesting to note (says the New York ' Freeman's Journal ') that most of the great religious Orders are now governed by non-Italians. Only a few weeks ago the Augustinians re-elected as their General ihe Spanish Father Rodriguez ;. at their last general Chapter the Dominicans chose as their Master General the Frenoh Father Cormier ; the Friars Minor chose as th n ir General the German Father Schnler, who worked for a great many years in the United States ; the Minor Conventuals are governed by the American Father Dominick Reuter ; the Carmelites of ancient observance 'by the American Father % Pius Mayer ; the Redemiptorists by the Swiss Father Raus ; the Jesuits by the German- Father Wernz ; and so on.