The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 28 July 1910, Page 1195

The Catholic World

BELGlUM—Missionaries in the Congo The missionaries of the Belgian Congo, in a letter which has been made public, state that 325 missionaries and 130 Sisters are devoting themselves to the work in the Congo, where at present there are 35,270 Christians and 74,080 catechumens. A Prosperous Catholic Country Belgian legislation during the last twenty-six years has been more progressive and more democratic thah that of any other country in the world (says the Catholic Times). The country enjoys universal suffrage, proportional representation, excellent laws for the protection of the working classes, and so on. Its trade and commerce have increased phenomenally during this period until it has become the most successful country in Europe. Its government is worked with an economy which might be happily copied by every other civilised country. Its people are happy and prosperous. Catholic Belgium, governed by Catholic Deputies on Catholic principles for a period of time which has no parallel in modern parliamentary government, gives the lie direct to almost ail the current calumnies against the Catholic Church she is reactionary, opposed to democracy, a foe to progress and enlightenment. It is highly significant that Belgium is the one country which has sought to model its legislation on the principles laid down by Leo XIII. in his Encyclical Tterum No varum. ENGLAND—The Diocese of Southwark It is claimed that there are now’ more priests resident within the Southwark diocese than in any other single diocese in Great Britain, while the total number of priests is exactly.equal to that in the whole of Scotland. ROME—Private Audience A Reuter’s message from .Rome under date June 7 states:— Father Rogers, of the diocese of Maitland, and Rev. Father Stapleton, of Brisbane, have been received in private audience by the Pope. Father Rogers presented to his Holiness an offering from the Sisters of St. Joseph, of Lochinvar, New South Wales, composed of a beautiful stole and a handsomely bound History of their Order in the diocese of Maitland, and a second stole made by the Sisters of Mercy at Dunedin, New Zealand. The Sacred College At present the Sacred College consists of 52 Princes of the Church ; 23 of them reside in Rome, and are engaged in the various Roman Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices 31 Cardinals are Italians, two Germans, four Austrians, two Hungarians, four Spaniards, three French, and one each from the United States, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, and Ireland; all but five of the Cardinals have received episcopal consecration. Of the religious Orders the Friars Minor have two Cardinals, and the Benedictines, Oratorians, Carmelites, Augustihians, and Capuchins one each; of the present Cardinals one was created by Pius IX., thirty-six by Leo XIII., and fifteen by Pius X.; the oldest of the Cardinals is Cardinal Gruscha, Archbishop of Vienna, who will be ninety next November, and the youngest is Cardinal Merry del Val, who will be just half that age in October. The Holy Father’s Birthday From all parts of the world (writes a Rome correspondent) telegrams and messages of congratulation reached the Vatican on June 2, for on that day his Holiness Pope Pius X. completed the seventy-fifth year of his vigorous, active life. The Holy Father has aged considerably within the past five —how could it be otherwise, considering the trials that have fallen to his lot. But it is also true to say that the Pope enjoys perfect health and spirits, as ■‘several of those who recently saw his Holiness at close quarters assure the public. By the express wish of the Pope there was no official reception held on the occasion, the dignitaries of the Papal ante-chamber and the upper officers of the household alone being admitted to the Pope’s presence. From the more important of the Catholic associations in Rome telegrams of felicitation were received by the Cardinal Secretary of State, -who, as in the case of all such messages from Italy and other countries, replied to each one by order of the Pope. Receptions by the Holy Father On June 4 a group of. thirty officers and sailors belonging to the fleet of the United States were presented to the Sovereign Pontiff by the Right Rev. Bishop Kennedy, Rector of the American College, who interpreted to the Holy Father the sentiments of homage and affection of the chaplain, officers, and men for the Head of the Church. Pius X. received the marines with much kindness, and presented his ring to each of his visitors to kiss. On June 6 his Holiness received in audience 350‘ German pilgrims from Berlin and other districts of Prussia. In answer to an address of homage, he thanked them for the testimony of their faith and obedience. He then spoke of the great pleasure with which he had heard recently from the Pa-

triarch of Jerusalem of the work accomplished there by Germans under the auspices of their Emperor. SCOTLAND—Caledonian Catholic Association . The Caledonian Catholic Association of Edinburgh, in a resoiutxon of sympathy with the Queen Mother, recalled with reelings of the deepest pleasure the regard and kindly consideration which his late Majesty ever displayed for his Catholic subjects and the Catholic faith. In a resolution to King George V. they state it is a source of the greatest gratification to them, his Majesty’s Catholic and loyal subjects, to feel that at his hands their faith would receive that same regard and kindly consideration it had received at the instance of his illustrious father. SPAIN— Modern School After the Barcelona outbreak last year and Ferrer’s execution, several of the ‘.modern schools’ which he had founded were closed by the Government. The English press was ail but unanimous in declaring that the closing of the schools was due only to ‘sacerdotal’ dislike for free education, and the statement of the Spanish Government that the schools had been hotbeds of Anarchism was treated as a fiction. Ihe new Liberal Government allowed the suppressed schools to be reopened. But during the last few weeks (says - the Catholic Times of June 11) there has been a recrudescence of the Anarchist agitation, and an incident that occurred last week in a small town near Saragossa throws a strange light on the character of the Ferrerist schools. Uue of them had been opened in the town, and last Saturday local feeling against it led to an outbreak of disorder. Ihe people declared the teachers were propagandists of Anarchism, and expressed an intention of wrecking the buildings and lynching the staff. The mob was held at bay by revolver-fire from the school, pistols being apparently a part of its equipment. Presently the Civil Guard, police of Spain, came to the rescue, and drove off the assailants. But for the revolver-armed school staff it was a ease of £ out of the frying-pan into the fire,’ for the Civil Guard, proceeding to an inspection of the buildings with a view to drawing up their report, discovered, not only a store of Anarchist literature, but also a quantity i of , explosives and what are described as models of infernal machines.’ This is the story sent from Madrid, not by a Catholic journalist, but by Reuter’s Agency. The result is the closing of this ‘ modern school,’ a i IC L: e rrn r . r ®st of Hie ‘ enlightened ’ educators who formed its staff, 1 his suggests that after all it was something more than sacerdotal prejudices against scientific education ’ that led the Maura Cabinet to close schools of this type after the Barcelona revolt, UNITED STATES—QuiId of Catholic Doctors The congress of Catholic doctors practising in the Boston Archdiocese has had a practical result. Under the of Archbishop O’Connell, about 100 Catholic physicians of Boston have formed a guild under the patronage of St. Luke, the general purpose of which is to combat the Pagan tendencies of the times in the practice of medicine. Church Progress In connection with the recent simultaneous consecration of six Bishops at St. Paul, Minn,, by Archbishop Ireland, it is interesting to recall that the first Bishop of St. Paul was consecrated only sixty years ago, and had but nine priests and six thousand Catholics then in his jurisdiction. Archbishop Ireland, who officiated as consecrator of the new Bishops, and Bishop O’Gorman, who preached the i. sermon, were the first two seminarians accepted, for the diocese of St. Paul by its first Bishop. Marble from Ireland :-:: T ‘ _ ...... • ■ ■' A block of marble _ weighing about one-third of a ton has reached Philadelphia from" Armagh, to be used as the corner-stone for the new St. Patrick’s Church in that city. It is the gift of Cardinal Logue. Care of the Lepers Louisiana is one of the few North American States that make provision for the segregation, care, and medical treatment of lepers. It is under the charge of the Sisters of .Charity. There are 70 lepers, white and colored. The Archbishop of New York The clergy and laity of the great archdiocese of New York (says the New York Catholic News) all unite in extending their best wishes to his Grace Archbishop Farley on the fortieth anniversary of his ordination. The Archbishop is in every sense the beloved spiritual father of his people. But he is, in addition, one of New York’s foremost citizens, and all the people, non-Catholics as well as Catholics, honor him as such. The universal wish is that his Grace be spared to New York for many, many- years. When the golden jubilee of his priesthood comes round there will be a celebration without parallel in the history of the Church in this country. GENERAL The Eucharistic Congress "' Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, Papal Legate to the Montreal Eucharistic Congress,, intends leaving Ostend on

August 25, and spending the night in Loudon. The next day he will go to Liverpool in the company of the Most Rev. Francis Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, and the Duke of Norfolk, where the three will embark on the Empress of Ireland, in which their cabins are already reserved. On this steamship there will be ten portable altars, on which Masses may be said from 5 to 8 every morning of the voyage. On Sunday there will be Pontifical High Mass at 8 o’clock on the third class deck. His Eminence will be received incognito at Rimouski by the General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who has invited him and a party of invited guests to visit Niagara Falls on September 1. Thence the Cardinal and his companions will go to Toronto, leaving that city by steamboat on September 4 and arriving in Montreal on the evening of September 5.