The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 14 July 1910, Page 1111

The Catholic World

BELGIUMThe Result erf the Elections The result of the Belgian elections is that the status quo is maintained except at Nivelles, where a Liberal has won a seat, thus reducing the Government’s majority to six. Such figures as are at present available show :a considerable increase in the Socialist vote. CANADACatholics in the Western Provinces ■K7 The increase of the general Catholic population in Western Canada is, surprising. Fifteen years ago there were bu 29,000 Catholics in the diocese of St. Boniface. At the present moment (says the Catholic Times ) there are ldd,ooo. The priests have increased in number from 76 to 235 the churches with a resident priest from 35 to 104the communities of teaching Brothers from one to four; the convents from 14 to 30. The fine College of St. Boniface (French and English), under the Jesuit Fathers, grows in importance year after year. We are indebted for these particulars to those two excellent Catholic publications, the Winnipeg h-West Bevieiv and Les Cloches de Saint Boniface. Besides these papers, the priests and people of Winnipeg forming the •*West Canada Publishing Company,’ print every week a German and a Polish Catholic newspaper. . Father Cofdes, 0.M.1., is the founder and managing director of the company. He has almost completed his arrangements for the publication of another weekly journal, a . Ruthenian gazette, for which an Irishman in Winnipeg has promised Archbishop Langevin a large subscription. The progress further West, namely, in the civil Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, comprising the dioceses of Prince Albert and St. Albert, would no doubt be shown to be equally remarkable, if statistics were available - The Redemptorist Fathers, who serve the church at Brandon, in Manitoba, are now building a church at Yorkton, in South; Saskatchewan. Yorkton is central for about 5000 Polish and Hungarian Catholic colonists. The missionaries of La Salette are opening a school-chapel at r illmore. The number of secular and regular priests is now very large in Western Canada, where until lately almost Hie only priests were those devoted missionary Fathers, British Empire We have known how to appreciate, 'We read that when Father Leduc, 0.M.1. (now V.G. St. Albert), went to Edmondton, in Alberta, 43 years ago, there were in all that country only four mission stations, with five priests and eight nuns. Priests are numerous now in Alberta, and there are at least eight different Orders of nuns working there.

ENGLAND—The late Kind’s Generosity n j.iAv a * evidence of the late King’s sympathy with the Catholic faith, it is interesting to recall the fact that his Majesty; once gave a donation of £SO towards the building fund of the church at King’s Lynn. Owing to sonm d ®he°t in the foundations it was found necessary to rebuild the church. His late Majesty, on hearing of the circumstances and knowing that many of his guests from Sandringham attended the church from time to time, sent his subscription to the building fund, thus manifesting his interest in and appreciation of the work carried on there. The Holy Father’s Sympathy The following is a copy of the Holy Father’s letter to the Prince of Wales when the news of King Edward’s death became known at the Vatican:—‘Sorrowfully pained on learning the death of your august father, King Edward Y . v whose great and noble qualities as Sovereign of the British Empire We have known how to appreciate. We with Our whole heart share in the sorrow of the Royal Family and .of the whole English nation, and We beg her Majesty Queen Alexandra and your Royal Highness to accept the very sincere expression of Our deep condolence.— Pius PP. X.’

GERMANY—Preparations for the * Catholic Day ' Among German Catholics attention is centring upon the preparations being made for the Catholic Day (Katholikentag) to be held in Augsburg, in Bavaria, next August. Begun in the revolutionary days of 1848-49, they have been during the. past sixty years a principal means of cementing the union of Catholics in Germany and of strengthening their courage and faith. Year after year they have grown in importance and enthusiasm, and the inhabitants of the city of Augsburg are already planning to make the present year congress surpass all of its predecessors in imposing splendor. D

ROME—An Aeroplane in the Vatican Gardens

The London Universe states that the Holy Father Avas present on June 1 at an aeroplane flight in the Vatican gardens. The flying machine Avas the invention of the parish priest of Spoleto. The trial was the first made in the presence of the Holy Father, and Avas completely successful. His Holiness Avarmly congratulated the inventor.

St. Patrick’s Church

Along with the two churches built in Rome during the past year in quarters that have sprung into life since 1870

a third L be . .finished, •it is expected, within the next Patrick’? o^ 18 ft the Irish - Augustinians. Since St. ratncK s Church was recommenced some eighteen months ago splendid progress has been made with the building, p oWever ’ t( ? tbe strike of the stonemasons of the SSLJ? Rome, it is apprehended that the work will be thrown back somewhat, as the general body of the men have remained on strike for a considerable time and seem in no way inclined to withdraw their demand for shorter hours. Still, it may be possible to make up for lost time, since it 18 a decided to push the building o? the burned labor 1 !" 6 ” 4 TEM “ s °°" 38 the ‘“ikfrsha™ Pilgrimages Q+ . A l ar ge pilgrimage of Germans residing in the United Association l^. o p ßll promoted j> y the Central German Association (says a Rome correspondent, writing under date May 16), was received in audience last Week. After allowmg all present to kiss his ring, the Holy Father listened to addresses read by Monsignor Eis and by Father WeyIben’ mi Je J S fu City, to Avluch he graciously replied, aifd then blessed the pilgrims and the various good and great works they represented. A large assembly of pilgrims from Had“n Mav a i]ld h F S H preaie P ° nt / ff m the Consistorial Se Pnnp’J m 11; 1 d +l tie Rey - Father Assons, who asked arm ip? blessing on those present and also on a gilgrimage about to go from Piedmont to Venice, where they hoped to sing a solemn ‘Te Deum ’ in St. Mark’s on June 2 in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Pope’s birthday Thus we will prove, said the good priest, the sincerity with You *-en of Catholic Piedmont: P pr„v*e IhrtT are ind ° y F tie - r A v docility and obedience, in fervor ana zeal in works, with You in prayer, with You in iova and in sorrows. His Holiness, much moved, thanked J f^e parted B to 6 them a ?i? th f . in their nobJe works, and im-' ipo^iS° B SSdicSn. and *° their dlStant d6ar : 01108 the UNITED STATES Old Diocese Kmc S i" C tL t !‘al„ & K S p A T ri g*. n V ar (says the Catholic territory r,,„ i f , Puerto *f lc ° has been United States territory. Only lately several of the dioceses of America foundation cele |^ l ” g f: th e hundredth anniversary of their San d Van ' *l, But tl -! 0 “nonary committee just formed at ntuiV J la ’ t l le capital of Puerto Rico, is preparing to celebrate next year the four hundredth anniversary of the nsOtutmn of the See by Pope Julius 11. on August f Q ere L lß 9 nJ y °i ie old er diocese in the New World that of San Domingo, founded by Pope Paul 111 in 1508’ 1511 th? e qnS,-° f / an Juan de Puerto Rico was founded in oil the Spaniards were just making good their hold of the mainland of America, and the island bishopric had jurisdiction also over the ‘ Terra Firma.’ The centenary celebratlTnll 11 ! remind ~the world that the Catholic Church is the oldest institution in America, where also its children community bj f llllons ,t he adherents of any other Christian S Sbedrni AS rt pr f lm J nar y to T the celebration the venerrestored Du? I + ]? UrCl ° f San Juan is to he . thoroughly restored and the centenary committee, under the presidency of the Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Jones, has arranged of C the P,l l PUbllSh 111 Spanish and in English the records

The Dignity of Labor

Speaking to a Confirmation class at St. Joseph’s m lme ’ re j 3en - Iy> 1 y> Cardinal Gibbons said: Above all, my boys and girls, be industrious. It is an honorable thing to work, and honorable and industrious work is what has made this great nation. Never be ashamed to work, and always be ready to do your share issa AouW <*-“*; -""it New York Cathedral It has been finally decided by Archbishop Farlev that rfck's V^tbS 6 f° arrange for . the consecration of St Patrick s Cathedral some time in October, There has re mained for some years a debt of 800,000 dollars necessarv entire P cost WzsSS&s%. ters** forty years have passed since the foundation work and the beginning of the structure of the cathedral -nroS? de New' York lth K■ w° M St - Pack’s Cathedra??„ P Lm™ r ' „ Y ° f k, / h ? for many years was the home of the Bishop of the diocese > was to be established upon Unner Fifth avenue not far from the Central Park plaza Afmnf thirty years ago the cathedral was so far completed roofed in, that it was possible to begin to hold services in it It seemed, however, to offer .almost staggering problems to the communicants and members of the parish! The architects had planned a cathedral to last for 'ages, always to remain an .admirable specimen of modern architectural beaut? S design The twin spires, which of themselves cost a gree amount of money and furnish one of the most gratifying the architectural features of New York Citv mio-ht l g * been cut down, thereby saving a large item in the cost of

construction. But there never was a moment when the Bishop or the Archbishop, or Cardinal McCloskey himself, had a thought of deviating from the original plan. GENERAL Catholic Missionaries and the Science of Language It is interesting to note (says the Catholic Times) that this year the French Academy has awarded the Stanislas Julien Prize, founded for the encouragement of research into Oriental languages, to a Catholic missionary of the Far. East, Pere Vial, for his dictionary of the Lolo dialect, spoken by some of the aboriginal tribes of Tonkin. This is the first dictionary of the kind. It has been compiled by Pere Vial not from books, for the tribes have no literature, but by taking down the words as spoken by the tribesmen. Like so many other missionaries of the Catholic Church, who have done valuable scientific work of this kind, his object was simply to enable other missionaries more easily to acquire the language of the people among whom they go to preach. It is remarkable how much pioneer work of the kind our missionaries have done. It was a Jesuit missionary, the famous De’ Nobili, who discovered the very existence of the sacred language of the Brahmans of India, and so laid the foundation of the whole modern science of language. The Protestant missionary, Morrison, is generally spoken of as the translator of the Bible into Chinese, but his memoirs show that he transcribed most of his version from a Chinese Bible, the work of one of the early Catholic missionaries. And most of the languages of the American Indians and not a few African languages were first reduced to writing by our Catholic missionaries.