The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Issue 3, 6 August 1908, Page 31

The Catholic World

AUSTRIA— -The Emperor's Jubilee 5- Tlie description by the daily journals of the great pageant which 'took place at Vienna in honor of the Emperor's Jubilee reads (says the ' Catholic Times ') like a page of Aristo or Tasso converted into prose, such was the array of knights and dames representative of centuries that are gone. From the days of Rudolph of Hapsburg, the founder of the dynasty, the chief historical incidents connected with the fortunes of the Royal House were portrayed by groups of processionists. Through what vicissitudes that house has passed! Vienna twice be- v sieged by the Turks, frequent campaigns .againsF the Turkish invaders along the Hungarian frontier at the end of the sixteenth century, battles during the Thirty Years' JVar, and the rising of the peasants in the Tyrol were some *qf the scenes presented. For centuries Vienna was a storm-centre of Europe, and it is one of the highest of the present Emperor's titles to the affections of his people that he has succeeded in firmly establishing peace amidst the gravest difficulties. The inhabitants of the city took a pride in watching, as they passed, the different groups composed of the various peoples within th^ monarchy, wearing their national costumes. It is doubtful fi any other man except the Emperor Francis Joseph could ha.-c bound them all so closely together in the bonds of a common allegiance. ENGLAND— Charitable Bequests Among the wills just proved is that of Mr. Clifton Stanislaus West, aged 74, of Southport, who left estate of the gross' value of £1 83,661. He bequeathed upon trust for th» Convents of the Good Shepherd at Liverpool and Manchester, and there are also bequests to servants. The residue of his estate is left to Dean CahiH, of Southport, to be dealt with in accordance with instructions given to him, and it is believed this amount is intended for charitable and other uses of the Catholic Church. Death of a Catholic Judge

The late Sir John Day, like other Catholic judges of recent times, was a man of marked individuality (says the '< Catholic limes ). It is to his strength of character he owed his distinct.en. Whether people admired him or differed from him they recognised that he had clear, definite views on the subjects that came before him, that these views were based on solid principles, and that his judgments were ever formed in a spirit of perfect independence. His biographer in 'The Times ' observes that the depth of his religious convictions led to the im position of stern sentences, especially for offences against women and children, and for such crimes as blackmailing. This is true. Judge Day's mind was constantly influenced by a sense of moral duty, and it was his obedience to its dictates that won him a name for severity. To his success in wiping ou* he Liverpool High Rip Gang he could point as a justification of the discipline to wh.ch he subjected' law-breakers. But whilst he had no mercy for the perpetrators" of crimes and outrage which come under the title of ruffianism, he was full of rfth for lesser offences due to human weakness, and he was at ah time, anxious at whatever personal sacrifice, to help those who had lapsed along the path of reform. In tact and «od judgment when they were specially called for, as during^ Belfast and the Parnell Commissions, he was never wanting! nor did he for a moment allow hfaCpolifical views to warp his legal opinions. Sir John Day by liis sterling adhesion to fhe higS clop" S 7 raditio " S . ° f the English- Bench did honor t Z Catholic religion which may be said to have been the welK zsssjsjzr and of which two ° f ws ~« " FRANCE— Cures at Lourdes A note by the Archbishop' of Paris is published with regard De attributed to the special intervention of God obtained hv *t, intercession of the. Blessed Virgin; obtained by_the Restoration of Church Plunder

"triunes of Bcsson (Allier) and SUrcy-Sevy .to restore part of the ill-gotten goods acquired under the recent legislation of the Masonic Government of France. -The -fast case to come before the court was that of the lieirsjof M. Collas, who laid claim to the principal, producing a yearly dividend of 150 francs, which .had been bequeathed for the use of the local church, and which . the Municipality of Besson had appropriated. As shown by tl-«j verdict, some vestige of- justice is yet lefc in France for those who insist upon having a share in it. The commune was ordered by the court to restore to the plaintiffs' the principal claimed as well as arrears in dividend, and to bear all costs connected with the trial. The" other case Is one- of a class which we may expect to *ear of frequently in the' near future. It was a suit brought by Madame Thuret, heir-at-law of .Madame Fould, against the commune of Surcy-Sevy for the possession of a valuable tapestry. The tapestry, which cost -about -30,060 francs, was bestowed in 1865 by Madame Fould on the parish church through the officials, of" the commune. The court .has ordered the restitution of the article and the payment of all legal expenses. Both verdicts have caused something of a sensation. 9 ■ ROME— The Holy Father and Scots College As might be expected from recent events" (writes a Rome .correspondent), the reception by Pius X,_ of the Superiors and students of the Scots College excited a good deal of public interest. Before meeting the general' body of the students, the ■Holy Father received Mgr. Fraser, the Rector, the Vice-Rector, two recently ordained priests of the College, and the two young men who have been the victims of the stabbing outrage. His Holiness accorded a most hearty welcome to the wounded students, and repeatedly expressed his' sorrow at the occurrence. At the conclusion of this audience, the Pope, accompanied by the little group of Scottish ecclesiastics, ' left his private apartments and- adjourned to the Consistorial Hall, where the main body of the students awaited his .arrival. Mgr. Fraser then presented each student individually, after which he asked permission to read an address _ to his Holiness in the name of the national institution. • For three centuries,' ran part of th» address, • the Scotch College has rejoiced in the title of Pontifical, and, therefore, cannot but experience a feeling of joy on this happy occasion when the Sovereign Pontiff .celebrates the fiftieth year of his .priestly ordination. As for the space of five years we have prayed the Lord to grant a long life \o a Pope so benign, so we shall never tire of pouring out fervent prayers that God may continue to bless a Pontificate so rich in benefits for the Church and for the world.' Mgr. Fraser then, as already stated, offered the' Pope for the use of poor churches some Missals, vestments, and altar covers. His Holiness replied 10 the address in affectionate terms, thanking the superiors and students of the College for their expressions of congratulation and giving them thanks also in the name of the poor churches to which their gifts are to be despatched. SCOTLAND— The Founder of Glasgow University Lord Rosebery's striking picture of the circumstances under which the University of Glasgow was founded deserves notice. When he was installed Chancellor of the University in succession to the late Lord Kelvin, he said :-' Our founder, Pope Nicholas V., who was also the real founder of the Vatican Library and the magnificent patron of learning, while he was signing the bull of our foundation he was inditing with the same pen energetic appeals to the Powers of Europe to stem that Turkish torrent of invasion which was about to .swallow up the gorgeous cafiital of Constantine and obliterate the" Christian Empire of the Easf ' UNITED STATES-A Venerable Priest Chicago has the distinction of having as a resident probably the oldest pnest in the world, Very Rev. Canon J. C. Moynihan LeT: ° t f K T urk> who is lO ° ycars of •*• «* *5£X age is quite active. " Missions to Non- Catholics witJ 11 - 1 ' 6 TV" thC UnitCd StateS 2 * dloccs <* equipped CafihoUcT' 00 " d masnly tO the W ° rk ° f convert^ W: The Growth of the Church in a Century Preaching in the Quecnstown Cathedral on his return' from America. his Eminence Cardinal Logue said that to give them IU I°[ th * Pr ° greSS ° f the Cathol * Church J " the uSS States he took down a few statistics to bring before their minds what he himself had seen. Before xBoB there was one sTshoo in the United States, Bishop Carroll, who had taken %uch a leading part in the, great movement- which ended in the inde! pendence of the United States. He was the on!y Bishop, and

the handful of Catholics there were scattered over the wide country, almost without priests, and to a great extent without Mass, without the sacraments. In the year 1808 four bishops were appointed by the' Pope, one for Boston, one for New York, and two others for some other dioceses which were constituted. What did they see at the present day? They saw 14 archbishops in the United States, 90 bishops, 10,789 secular priests, 3655 of the regular clergy, making a total of There were 7643 churches, that was to say, parish churches, with pastors ; there were 3941 mission churches and .churches which" had Masses occasionally, and, as far as could be ascertained, the total of Catholics in the United States, which had grown out of the handful in 1808, was now, some say, 15 millions.; but it was thought that when the census which is being taken now by one of the American Bishops commissioned by the Government had been made out, it would reach nearly 20 millions. The Church in Philadelphia - The celebration of Philadelphia's centenary as a diocese (says an American exchange) recalls the trying daj's through which the Church in that city passed during the first half of the last century. One of the early pastors of St. Augustine's Church was Rev. Dr. Hurley, 0.5.A. , who died in 1837. During his incumbency the cholera raged through the city. Father Hurley transformed the rectory into a cholera hospital. Out of 367 patients which he and his assistants attended, only forty-eight were Catholics, the remainder were. Protestants, and yet a few years afterwards, on May 8, 1844, the Church, with this very rectory, was burnt to the ground by a non-Catholic mdb. Mr. Goodman, a Protestant, writes, thus in his pamphlet published at the time: 'With confusion of face, yet with impartial justice before men and angels, the writer will state that in the season of that terrible scourge Rev. Mr. Hurley, priest of St. Augustine's, converted the rectory, thus in his occupancy, into a hospital. Every room was appropriated to this divine work. His own chamber was given to the dying, and that study where he learned his Master's will was made the practical commentary of the judgment he had formed of it.' Further on, the Rev. Mr. Goodman says : ' Go to the rectory, mark that it is in ruins ; that the very hospital has been burned by miscreants who dared to profane the name of Protestantism, when they .applied the torch to the home of Catholic priests.' On the blackened walls of St. Augustine's Church there remained only the inscription, ' The Lord Seeih.'