The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 10 February 1910, Page 231

The Catholic World

ENGLANDA Remarkable Event On a recent Sunday morning a remarkable sermon and a remarkable scene were events at the London Oratory worthy of record. Rev. Father Vaughan, S.J., preached on behalf t of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The offertory made to : the Sisters as the result of his appeal bore striking testimony to his persuasive power. To a sum of about £6O in coins was added a heap of jewels, gold lockets, chains, brooches, and medals. One lady put her jewelled prayer-book in the plate. Death of a Dowager Duchess The death is announced of the Rev, Mother Sophia Amelio Adelaide, of Lowenstein-Wertheim, formerly Dowager Duchess of Braganza, which occurred on December , 15, at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Cecile de Solesmes, R.yde, Isle of Wight. The late Duchess, who entered the Abbey on June 13, 1871, was born at Kleinheubach, Bavaria, on April 3, 1831, and married his Royal Highness Don Miguel, Prince of Braganza, Infante of Portugal, on September 24, 1851. She had seven children —the Infante Don Miguel, Duke of Braganza; the Infanta M%ria das Neves, who married Alphonse, Prince of Bourbon; the Infanta Maria Therese, who married Charles Louis, Archduke of Austria; the Infanta Maria Josephe, who married Charles-Theodore, Duke in “Bavaria; the Infanta n A]4,egonde, who married Henri, Prince of Bourbon, Count if Bardi; the Infanta Marie-Anna, who married Guillaume, Great Duke of Luxembourg; and the Infanta Maria-Antonia, who married Robert, Prince of Bourbon, Duke of Parma. Her niece, the-Princess Agnes of Lowetjstei n-AVertheim , and her granddaughter, Princess Adelaide of ! Bourhon-Parma, have also entered the Abbey of St. Cecile de Solesmes. Sympathy with French Catholics As President of the Executive Council of the Catholic Federation for the Westminster Diocese, the Hon. Charles Russell has forwarded to his Eminence Cardinal Coullid, Archbishop of Lyons, the vote of sympathy with the Catholics of France which was passed by the Federation at its meeting on December 6. Mr. Russell, in informing his Eminence of the vote, assures him that the Catholics of England sincerely condemn the injustice which has struck, and still strikes, at their co-religionists on the other side of the Channel, and that they have been profoundly edified by the fidelity of the Catholics of France — priests, and laymento the Holy Father, conduct which affords a splendid example to the Catholic world. The document ends with the hope that the' persecution will lessen, and soon disappear. ROME — Private Audience The Holy Father on December 17 received in private audience the Most Rev. Dr. Duhig, Bishop of Rockhampton, Queensland; Monsignor Vidal, Vicar Apostolic of the Fiji Islands; the Vicar Apostolic of Kenia, Zanzibar; and Monsignor O’Riordan, Rector of the Irish College, Rome. The Irish Christian Brothers One branch of work conducted by the Irish Christian Brothers in the Eternal City (writes a Rome correspondent) is the night schools, in which young men to the number of over 400 from all parts of the city are gratuitously taught the German, French, and English language, as a means of withdrawing them from the free schools opened by English and American proselytisers. The average Italian who has had a fair course of preliminary instruction shows great readiness in mastering modern languages, and many of these young men have already gained lucrative positions or obtained rapid promotion owing to their knowledge of tongues, _ acquired in the free schools conducted by the Brothers. It is only within the past two years, since the completion of their new premises in the Prati di Castelli, that the Brothers have had proper facilities for extending their beneficent work to the younger generation. if ' The Holy Father and the Orphans The Holy Father gave audience recently in the Ducal Hall to 400 children made orphans by the Messina earthquakes. These children, on the Pope’s initiative, were placed in different religious institutions in Rome and the neighborhood, and they had come to present Christmas greetings. On his entrance the Pope was greeted with applause by the children, who lined the hall. The Pope walked around, gave his hand to be kissed, and paternally caressed the children. Subsequently he sat on the throne while the youngest boy read an address, .thanking his Holiness for the interest he had shown, and, in the name of all, wishing him a happy Christmas. The youngest girl then advanced, and, standing on tiptoe, handed the Pope a beautiful bouquet. The Pope was deeply moved, and, in a talk to the children, reciprocated their greetings, exhorting them to be good and to follow their studies diligently. He said he hoped to live to see them again for many years to come. The children then knelt with bowed -heads and received the Pope’s blessing, which fie imparted moved to

the verge of tears. He left the hall waving his hand towards the children, who applauded and cheered vociferously. A Zulu Priest r At the ordination held on November 1 in the Church of the Prnnnff & V & young , ull< * a student at the College of the Propaganda, was ordained a priest. The Zulu is the son of the chieftain of an African tribe which is almost entirely pagan. While attending the schools of the Propaganda he distinguished himself both in philosophy and theology. While at Rome ho took the opportSnfty of itudelTtf nf m of the-languages by conversation wit/ the students of other countries, and speaks, in addition to his native tongue, Italian, French, and English. His future fnr d +li/ labor '• 111 b . e , 1 . 11 So «th Africa, where he will work irth/fourth 1 "of "i ? f F 1?, own tribe - , This young Zulu priest the last ten years tr ' be to . be ordanied * Some during SCOTLAND—A Benefactor of Edinburgh University CO ! ,T SPOndent ' wting ' to th « ataman, says:Which among us now knows who was the earliest bene factor of the Edinburgh University? Which among us realises that our ‘‘ Protestant University,” like all its three earher founded sister Universities-St Andrews Glasgow spirsHo/p min? 8 f tS existence to a Catholic spiration. Which of 118 thinks gratefully or admiringly of the. generosity of Robert Reidt Abbot of KinSss and hneVc P °/ V iey ’ l scholar and diplomatist and lover of books, who, when he died 450 years ago, left 8000 marks (a big sum in those days, remember) to found a College of Edinburgh? Robert Reid was born at Akynhead and of® Flodden J ° h n ? ei ?’ Was , amo,1 l K the slain ‘on the field Official of the S?e f rt St Wa A l « ht "P b y. his uncle, an tinnnf+T.lirT- of St. Andrews, and received his educaSnel of £ri i At a P roper a « e he was elected 811,1 ;* ean °t Moray, and later on he was anointed as Abbot °^ J v , nblss l a t Greyfriars, Edinburgh. He was a scholar collected books, built churches, gathered libraries encouraged art and learning, founded a college at Kirkwall for instructing the youth of the country in grammar and three S T kept a celebrated artist of the time busy for tree years painting, altar pieces and decorating his own _ amber and oratory; and brought over a gardener from ranee to plant and graft fruit trees in the North of Scotland. It is evident that he must also have been a man of singular tact and ability and , dignity of presence a™ vm Se „'r^ d , for , ™ny. difficult to SSFo+o VIII. of England, to arrange treaties of peace, and some to Francis T • of France, to negotiate marriage treaties between King James V., The Red Tod,” and his first rfltirnfr lr ,de ’ Madeline. ,It was at Dieppe, on his re,urn from France on his last royal missionthat of witnessing the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and the Dauphin that Bishop Robert Reid died, on September 15, innn yd . in „ hls , la " t will and testament lie bequeathed 8000 marks to found “a College of Edinburgh.” ’ q UNITED STATES —A Talented Religious , r +? GS r bas m been received of the death .in Mobile of Mother Mary Theresa Austin Carroll, Superior of the Sisters of Mercy m that city Mother Austin, who was an author of considerable celebrity, was born in Clonmel, and was one ?Lp n r slsters 75? embraced the religious life. She entered the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy at an early age, and left for America at the invitation of the Redemptorist .bathers, arriving m New Orleans in 1869. For fifteen years she served as Superior in the house of the Order in JNew Orleans, afterwards founding communities in various parts of the Southern States. A woman of great intellect and a facile writer, her literary productions cover a wide held of historical and biographical subjects, and, she made many translations from the French and Spanish. Missionaries for the Philippines According to the Philippine Catholic, six priests and tour Brothers, missionaries of the Sacred Heart from Tilburg, Holland, and six priests from the Mill Hill congregation, England, of whom four are also natives of Holland, have arrived at Manila to take up the work of attending to the scattered congregations of the Filipinos. Nearly all speak several languages, and those from Tilburg had with them various outfits of tools and implements for building and agricultural purposes, for which they intend to start schools and classes for the instruction of the natives. A Christmas Gift Mr. James Stillman, the American banker, has sent a Christmas cheque of 10,000 dollars to a Catholic church in New York, directing that the income-on the money is to be. used each year in buying Christmas presents for the poor children of the parish. Gifts for more than a thousand children will be purchased with the money every year.