The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 9, 5 March 1908, Page 31

The Catholic World

BELGlUM— Sisters of Notre Dame At a General Chapter of the Sisters ol Notre Dame held . in Namur, the Rev. Soeur Marie Aloyse Van Laere was unanimously elected Mother-General of the' Congregation in place of the lamented Rev, Mere • - Aimee, who died in the early part of December. .The new Mother-General has for several years past been Superioress of the Notre Dame'' Convent at Namur. ENGLAND— An Appointment The Rev. Father Goggin, who- has been for several years engaged with Father Bans in the rescue.of Catholic children, has been appointed by the Archbishop of ' Westminster to St. Edmund's College. Father Goggin recently returned from an extensive tour on, behalf of the Catholic Rescue Society, which resulted in the collection of £1000. . . The Archdiocese of Westminster Monsignor Butt, who has- just been appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese" of Westminster, was for the past six years . Rector of the Southwark Diocesan Seminary, a well-known institution for .the education of aspirants to the priesthood. A former/Rector -of the seminary was Monsignor Butt's uncle, an esteenred prelate who won distinction during the Crimean "war by the zeal and devotion with .which he discharged the duties of a military chaplain. Archbishop Bourne was himself for some time Rector of the Southwark Seminary. , ; . . The Eucharistic Congress If the Catholics or this country (says the London ' Shield ') treat this unique occasion in a fitting manner, the Congress should prove "to be the most remarkable Catholic celebration which has ever taken place in the land. The Holy Father, it is hoped, will appoint a Papal Legate to preside over the Congress — probably a Cardinal from Rome. Last year at Metz the Papal - Legate was Cardinal Vincent Vannutelli. It is also hoped that Archbishops, Bishops, and prelates from Ireland, Scotland, America, France, Belgium, Spain,- Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries will take part in the proceedings. In fact such a testimony of the Church's Catholicity will never before have been witnessed in this land even in pre-Keformatlon days. St. Patrick's Day m It is intended this year "(says the ' Catholic Weekly '), with the sanction of the Archbishop,- to hold the Irish relteious celebration in Westminster Cathedral on Sunday, March 15. The feast of. St. Patrick has been celebrated in London each year since 1901 by a service of which the vernacular portions were all in the Irish language. The service has for the last three years been held in the Cathedral, and the vast congregation which on each occasion filled the Cathedral to overflowing, bore striking testimony to the devotion of- the Irish 'in London to the patron of Ireland. FRANCE— After Twelve Centuries From the beginning of the New Year (writes the Mar'q,uise de Fontenoy) "the Augusttnian nuns, who have enjoyed the privilege of tending and nursing the sick in the great hospital known as Hotel Dieu, at Paris, since the eighth century, will be excluded from that Institution, with which they have been so closely identified for twelve hundred years. The records of the hospital show that every ruler of France, from St. Louis to Napoleon 111., has visited the- institution, and has ; la.\4shed ip raise on these Augustinian.nuns, and so timedanored has been their charitable ministry in connection, with the place that even, the- Government of the great ■Revolution at the end of the eighteenth, did' not dare to expel them. They were "spared during the Reign of Terror, but now. must go. JAPAN—A Trapplst Monastery There - is a monastery established by the. • .Catholic monks of La Trappe, near the village of Tobetsu, in Hokkaido, Japan. It is not a building of any architectural pretensions. It consists of a white, barrir-like, one-storeyed structure, facing tlhe sea, behind which rises a church steeple sixty or eighty feet high, bearing on the summit a cross, and near the summit a large statue of the Madonna and Child. -There are twelve foreigners- in the community— two Dutchmen, one Italian, and the rest, including the Prior, Frenchmen. Strange to say, the Japanese -monks outnumber the foreigners, numbering, as they do," thirteen. The monks

work with their -bands for six hours a day, and pray a little more than six hours, the rest of their time being ■devoted to domestic affairs or to reading. In winter, study is the principal occupation, which means that they study a great deal, for winter lasts six .months in tltfs part of Japan. During that period of the year the cold is intense, and the snow sometimes attains a' great, height, so that the monks have to issue' forth. in straw snowshoes.to gather fuel an the mounr tains. ROME-r-A Commemorative Medal A modal commemorative of the acts of his pontifi..cate is presented each year to the Pope. In the latest modal, which is the work of Signor B.ianchi, engraver "of tlie Apostolic Palaces, appears a symbol, indicative * of the Encyclical on, Modernism. Pilgrimages to the Eternal City Now that the positive prohibition of .Pius X» has been withdrawn against bodies of pilgrims cominghere (writes a Rome correspondent), some, of the organisers lose no time in availing themselves of the comparative . tranquility in the Eternal City. A body :of Germans have already arrived here, and havte been received with much warmth by the Holy Father. In general -' /the Catholics of Germany have decided to abstain from organising further pilgrimages, intending instead ta send -to Rome a -sir&ll deputation -in the name of ' the . "entire body to lay their homage at the feet of Pius Xy .-^ From .County d'Ursel, President of the National Commitsee of Belgfani Pilgrims, a communication has been received at the Vatican intimating that a large pilgrimage of his countrymen will reach Rome for the rejoicings in connection with the Pope's* name-day, March 10. No decision has been come to yet by the Austrian -pilgrimage, but it- is likely it will follow the example set by the Belgians, With regard to the Austrians,. it is .-well to recall here the report spread abroad by a portion of the press, of a pretended gift of the Emperor Francis Joseph to Pius X. Rumor had it that in thanksgiving far his complete recovery the aged.-- Emperor forwarded over a million francs as a subscription towards Peter's Pence. The Austrian Embassy here declares *it has no knowledge of the matter, and considers the report unfounded ; while the morning papers state unreservedly that the ' news ' is quite .false. Of late years the habit of setting such a rumor afloat from time to time has become fashionable. However, it is not difficult to discern the intention of those with whom it originates. UNITED STATES— Catholic Census The census of the Catholics of the United • States, which Archbishop Glennon, of St. Louis, has been supervising for the Government, is (says the. ' Irish American '): almost complete, and its figures will be one of the surprises of the New Year. In the archdiocese* of New York the total is 1,250,000, and in Brooklyn it is 700,000. A Promoter of Temperance : , The Rev. James Hayes, S. Jv,-:J v ,- : of St. Ignatius' College, Chicago, has just been celebrating the fiftieth an-'-niversary of his ordinaitiora. The. venerable Jesuit was the first to introduce into the United States tlie.American League of tne Cross. It is said .he-Jiad axtainistered more temperance pledges than any priest in the United States since the days of Father MatheW. The Philippines A year ago five Redemptorist priests .went .lrqm- Ireland to the Philippines. They are now .in ch.arge.of the parish of Opong, with about 18,000 people scattered through seven islands, which -the missionaries have to reach _in cockshell canoes. Bishop HendricK soon asked them to attend to the people of " Co'mpostela, which, like sixty other' parishes of the diocese, was without a resident 'priest. Two of the missionaries wlhio had mastered tlie language sufficiently .went to the place : for a week's visit, and the • visit became at once transformed into a mission. All day -long- they were emgiaged in preaching, marrying, baptizing,' and hearing confessions, and when they took their leave it was only with the promise that they would soon, returir. The second band of Redemptorists, who have just gone -'out, will find a fruitful field -as soon as they have learned the Filipino tongue, (says- an American exchange). They certainly deserve the sympathy, help, and prayers, especially of Irish Catholics here in the United States, in whose possessions they are laboring. Ireland, England, and little Holland have provided the majority of the priests who have thus far gone to the islands, and America has sent a goodly share of the money ,, to ;carry on- the works. The latter should, it > <e»m*" to us, send both the men and -the money.