The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 16, 23 April 1908, Page 31

The Catholic World

BELGlUM— University of Louvain ■ The annual report of the Catholic University of Louvain, just published, shows a very flourishing condition in that famous institute of learning. ' The number of students inscribed for' the year 1907 reached therecord figure of 21-14, of whom 139 were students ot theology, 427 of law, 429 of medicine, 294 of philosophy and letters, 278 of science, 431 of special , sub-, jects, and 146 of agronomy. Ail but 260 of the stu-, dents are Belgians, and of the ioreigners there are &5,' from the United States, 30 from Spain, 40 from Hoi-: land, 22 from Germany, 26 from France, 20 from Luxembourg, and 11 Poles, ' ''- The Congo A complete agreement has been arrived at between the Belgian Government and King Leopold regarding the Convention additional to the Treaty for the annexation of the Congo. The most important concession obtained from the King by the Premier is that King Leopold agrees to the Congo Budgets being voted by tfhe Belgian Parliament. . - _ ■ " ENGLAND— The fight for the Schools ~~ In the course of a leading article on the Govern- - : ment's Education policy the ' Catholic Times ' says :—,• The education in the Council sohool is as unmistak- •- ably Protestant and Nonconformist as the education - in our schools is< Catholic. Why, then, differentiate against the Catholic and in fa\or of the Noriconform- • ist ? We have before us the syllabus of Bible instruc- ' tion in the schools of, the London. County- Council, • which is to be taken as the programme for religious instruction- in the public" schools. In looking through it a ny one can see at a glance that though teachers , are warned that no attempt must be made to ' attach children to any particular denomination, the informa-. tion imparted to them musi necessarily have a denomi-. ... national complexion. The Bible is to be read and the teachers are to give from it such explanations and . instruction in the principles of the Christian, religion and of morality as are suited to the capacities of the young. The ' Lord's Prayer,' the Psalms, the Ten Comm a ndn:ents, leading facts in the life of our Lord, and various verses and passages in the Old xend. the - New Testament are to be learned by the children and made subjects for exposition by the teachers. How could a teacher upon whom lies the duty of laying these explanations before -the- pupils avoid giving a dis- ' tinctive doctrinal and denominational color to them ? . He migtht as well pretend to describe the human, countenance without referring to the most notable features— the eyes, the nose, "and the mouth. Well nigh all the more important truths in the teaching of the " .. Catholic Church would^ inevitably come into a proper explanation of the 'Lord's Prayer,' the Psalms, and • the Ten Commandments alone. The Council school syl- . labus is then for tQie Nonconformist child what the syllabus of the Catholic school is for the Catholic child ; and who with any respect for logic or common, sense will say that the Government would be justified, in giving the parent in one case all that he desires -~ and in penalising the parent in the other ? FRANCE— A Change for the Better It looks as if tWe intolerance of the French Gov- ' ernment was diminishing. Ah order has-been given that five Franciscan Fathers who have gone to Morocco shall be allowed to minister spiritually to the Catholic " soldiers. ITALY— A Lenient Sentence After years of suspense (writes a Rome correspondent) Nunzio Nasi has been dealt with by Italian law for malversation of public funds during his connection with the Ministry. " Although the attention of Rome is concentrated every second week on some extraordinary event, few have seen the minds of the population so intensely absorbed in ariy matter as \n the result of the Nasi trial. Nasi's sentence of eleven months' imprisonirient and four and^ a half years' exclusion frompublic office is not regarded by any means as heavy for a Minister the extent of whose peculation ran. into millions. But in Italy it. -is a strange fact that sympathy usually goes out to criminals, especially if they have belonged to certain spheres; r and the address of the accused previous to the declaration of the Senate's verdict made no slight impression, seeing that it moved' many in the visitors' gallery to tears. The fact th a t already no less than one .hundred . and seventy deputies hay© signed a petition to the King requesting the re-

mission of the term of imprisonment that still remains to- bife .uind-ergone .by the -ex-Ministerr-the ,la.st . seven months passed by Signor Nasi under guard in his own residence in Rome are to be, counted— shows that a good deal of misplaced sympathy is given to a man whose war upon everything pertaining to Christianity during his years of power was carried on relentlessly. , Religious Education . . ■, . A* discussion which has just taken place in the' Italian Chamber' (says the ' Catholic Times ') affords an, obiject Jesison the significance, of which • will not, it '• is to be hoped, be lost on the Catholics of France, and • of the Continent generally. The -Freethinkers,, latgely • .composed of, Freemasons and Socialists, • repulsed; -owheri' they recently - attempted to secularise Italian^ primary instruction, returned to the attack. On the- motion "of Signor Bissolati a proposal for banishing s religion fromthe schools was brought forward and debated- ia theCham>ber. -The Catholics-had .made due preparations' for the event. They appealed to the .people -in every part of the country, asking whether, they would allow* the enemies of religion to have their way by tolerating a godless system, of -education. The response wasmost .gratifying. Petitions by $he hundred pouredrinto the Chamber. Local plebiscites were taken and proved that the godless, system found little favor Wi-th' the masses of the" Italians. The discovery of .the popular sentiment on the subject produced, a- marvellous change in the legislators. . Men who ,at first sided with .the 1 Freethinkers spoke eloquently against them, and on F.ebruary .27, at the end of a debate which extended over several days, the Bissolati motion was- defeated' by.-., a .majority of 303 to 100 votes. Here assuredly;., the -voice of the people was the voice of God. The defenr ders of religion, in the schools ought not to rest con^ tent with this victory. They should continue their, agitation till public education in Italy is thoroughly Christianised. v ' , .>-„,. ;,-"-• ROME— lnternational Sports "■* ' -' Preparations" for the international-.. sports -in -Rofiae in honor of the Pope's Jubilee are actively going Orf, and it is hoped, that there will be a large number of competitors from" the En^lish-speaMng world. \.The full progxamime, - has just fcperi published in-'ltalifcri-'lind ' French: ' ' — "' ~ "' The Holy Father's Counsel —' , • Pope Pius X., in receiying the Lenten preachers of Rome on Sunday, March 1, counselled them to, confine themselves to the principles and rules of the Christian life. * •-.- • \ . , . A Jubilee Gift • "- ' One of the most beautiful presents to be offered to " the Holy F a ther by the world of art on the occasion of 'Ms Golden Jubilee is expected to be the marble' .bust of his . ; Holiness which the young French sculptor, Jean Larrive, is just completing. Xarrive,- who- be- ■ longs, to the Villa Medici, Rome, as the winner of the Grand Prix chose as his ' subject 1 the Pope holding an open book before him, in which - the motto ' Iftsttaurare omni'a in Christo ' is found. . The bust, -which is not - yet finished," and will not be,, ready Jor. presentation for., a couple of months, is said by*those who have : ,. seen "it to. be' an excellent likeness. It" is already arranged, that a special; commissioji will come from Paris to' Rome to make the presentation. M. Larrive, who;' by the way, completed' some months ago. bustsof Merry del Val and Monsignor Bisletti, has been the -recipient, of many congratulations on . . his. latest artistic achievement. " .. . . -- . „•■--■ The Sacred College ' , The issue at the . be&inniti'e; of the week of *La . Gerarclra-.C&ttollca ' (writes the Rome correspondent of the Dublin 'Freeman's Jourral^" under.. data February 22), which furnishes a list oE- the Cardinals, ' Patriarchs; ArcWbisHlops', Bishops and Prelates of the whole Catholic world in communioni witih the Holy See; is a work which ~iv.es cause for 'thought and ' admiration.. 'At the •; present moment there are sixty-one members in the Sacred College—the "death of Cardinal Rirhard occurred sinee ~ the • Gerarchia ' was drawn uo. Of this number, one — '^Cardinal 'OfeeUa di Santo Stefano-was created^ by Pius IX;.. jn, December, 1873,— thirty-five years afco-. Of Leo -me Thirteenth's" creation, he who filled- the-Sacred? College^twice over, forty-five still remainl,;s!arid^he' 'present Pontiff has created fifteen Cardinals since he- was electeded.'.Nineteen cardinals have died since that warm day in "- the early A ueust of 190-V when - Cardinal Macchi announced from the bialconv of St Peter's to tKe crowds beneath the election of Pore Pins the ; Tenth. Since that day the Pontiff has erected f|ve .Episcopal SeesinV to Archdioceses, eleven new Diooeses, two Abbacies and

P-relatures, four Vacariates- Apostolic from Prefectures already existing, three. new Vicariaies ApostcAxe, and new Prefectures Apostolic, thus ma'king^an incsease of thirtythree in the Hierarchy. UNITED STATES— The Philippines 1 Representative Cooper, of Wisconsin, U.S.A-. T chairmam 1 of this Committee on Insular Affairs, has made -an elaborate report on the bill for the payment of the claims of the Catholic Church in the Philippine Islands. After many hearings; the committee has recommended the allowance of 103,030.19 dollars. American Converts Ao, l^ St. Louis publisher, under the -title .of /Distinguished Converts to Rome in America the names of three thousand c o nverts are "vT™ °^ W T^ m ? Ue Wa! ? a Biyhop ' 372 Protestant clerS?T?n»i* SJ"? r f blS ' 2 i 5 P h y si^ns,.l26 lawyers, c»r« Sr d ■?£*&. + Army officers ' 32 C ' S ' A - -*nny offi- £. 2 L ' ni ted- States n*vy oißcers, 45 United States Senators and Congressmen, 12 Governors of St^tps r Mayors of catks, 21 members of tta "Sploinatte service 28 educators and 206 authors, musicians, and paSrs Twenty-five mjem^ers of Anglican Religious Orders one f^Zf- *?«£ °T^e An Afen SfflkiS Tr££*s3r estaiblished reiißioul ass: |« ss n w?rs in a c &s a t^i and more striking tribute to Ms memory P RepreSntaCha c s B s f Tt%ir ar[ T reHgiOUS b ° dieS beld a StmT in Chase s Theatre to commemorate his work .on behalf of the citizens. Mr. Roosevelt, the President of ml' Republic as one who worked with Dr. Stafford for many different objects, wrote saying how eminently fitting it was that men of widely different creeds—rrotestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile— should meet in memory of a servant of God who in his lifetime strove manfully to do good to a ll men. . Then speaker after speaker of local and national prormnenoe arose, and addressing the assemblage, which packed the building to tJhe doors, eulogised the qualities of the deceased priest. Vice-President Fairbanks spoke of him as ' The Citizen,' the Rev. Dr. Van Scharck, of the Universalist Church, as ' The Friend,' Rabbi Abram Simon, of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, as « The Philanthropist,' and so on. N o . man was more faithful to his Church and to the dictates' of conscience than. Dr. Stafford, but he longed for the day when the members of different creeds would cease to entertain prejudices and bitterness towards one another. No more appropriate tribute, therefore, could have been paid to his rriemory than this joint commemoration of his labors by the citizens of Washington without distinction of creed.