The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 8 December 1910, Page 2031

The Catholic World

CANADA—Montreal Catholics Protest Twenty thousand people gathered in the Champ de Mars, Montreal, on Sunday night, October 16, to listen to speeches of protest against the reported remarks of Signor Nathan, Mayor of Rome, on September 20. Archbishop Bruchesi presided, and a telegram was sent to the Pope from the Catholic population of Montreal. ENGLAND—ExiIed Portuguese Religious A large farmhouse called Staple Oak, near Clithcroe, and close by Stonylmrst College, is being prepared for the reception of refugee nuns from Portugal. The property belongs to the Townsley family. Death of a Vicar-General Mgr. Provost Beesly, Vicar-General of the diocese of Salford, died on October 18, after an illness of some duration. A native of Liverpool, he was educated at the Jesuit College there, and afterwards at Ushaw. Ordained in 1862, he died in his 75th year. A Fashionable Wedding The marriage of Lord Lovat and the Hon. Laura Lister was' solemnised on October 15, at the Oratory, London. Long before the hour fixed for the ceremony the church was well filled with people, and when the bride arrived there was scarcely a vacant seat. A detachment of Lovat Scouts lined the passage up the nave. Lord Lovat, who was in full Highland costume, was attended by his brother, the Hon. Hugh Fraser, Scots Guards, as best man. The bride, who drove to the church with her father, Lord Ribblosdale, in an old family coach with postillions, was met at the door by her maids (the Hon. Diana Lister, her sister, and the Hon. Muriel Fraser, sister to the bridegroom), and her page, Master Matthew Wilson, her nephew. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Aberdeen, assisted by the Rev. Sebastian Bowden and the Rev. Donald Chisholm (chaplain at Beaufort Castle). The register was signed by the Prime Minister, Earl Roberts, Lord Ribblesdale, the Rev. Sir David Hunter-Blair, Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and Major the Hon. Hugh Fraser as witnesses. The Nuptial Mass was sung by the Rev. Dom Adrian Weld-Blundell, 0.5.8., assisted by the Rev. Dom E. Benedict WeloBlundell, 0.5.8. (uncles of the bridegroom), and the Rev. Dom John Lane-Fox, 0.5.8. (cousin of the bridegroom), while the Bishop of Menevia assisted in the sanctuary. As the bride and bridegroom left the church they were preceded to their carriage by the pipers from Beaufort Castle, who played the ‘ Lovat March.’ FRANCE—Teaching Christian Doctrine In compliance with the expressed wish of the Sovereign Pontiff that Catholics shall not be left in ignorance of their religious belief and obligations, the Bishop of Bordeaux has just enjoined on all his clergy the duty of giving catechetical instructions during Sunday Mass in every public church and chapel of his diocese. These instructions are to last fifteen minutes at the Parochial Mass and five minutes at each of the _ other Masses. There is to he a fixed programme of subjects, which will be so drawn up that the whole of the Christian Doctrine will be reviewed every four years. PORTUGAL—Disgraceful Brutalities . Amongst Catholics in this country (says the Catholic Times) there will be deep sympathy with the relatives of Sister Tipping, of Preston, who lost her reason and her life through her sufferings during the Portuguese revolution. Sister Tipping served the country faithfully, and her requital was martyrdom. She was but one of a number of victims of the anti-clerical fury of the revolutionists. Pere Espinonza, of the Lazarist College of St. Vincent Arroyos Lisbon, who has made his escape to Paris, gives a harrowing description of the fate of several of his colleagues. A crowd of insurgents burst into the college and called for the superior. Pere Fragile, provincial, who was confess to the King and Queen Amelia, presented himself, accompanied by the Portuguese superior. They were shot dead immediately. , Another Father was then murdered and a fourth was thrown into a well. Many other priests and not only priests, but also nuns of gentle, retiring habits suffered such ill-treatment that it must seriously affect their health for the rest of their lives. They were'hunted from place- to place, hustled and mocked at or crowded together in rooms and barracks, where they were subjected to every species of insult. _ In the light of incontestable information as to these facts, it is easy to see what the boast of the new Government that the revolution was not disgraced by brutalities is worth. J ROME—The Irish Christian Brothers The Irish Christian Brothers (says a Rome correspondent) have just commenced the scholastic year by reopenimr their schools in the Prati district. The work in this estab hshment commenced only three years ago, but already the schools have gained an excellent reputation, and pupils are coming in ever-increasing numbers, notwithstanding the

grievous restrictions imposed on private schools by an unscrupulous educational authority which aims at gathering all children into the public institutions, where the only references made to religion are sneers and calumnies. The work in this institution of , the Brothers in the new quarter of the city beyond the Tiber is entirely different from that of the free night classes for languages which they conduct in Via Rasella. In the«Prati schools the Brothers receive children of six years and upwards. As these boys go through their whole course of primary and secondary education under the watchful care of the Irishmen, they have a solid foundation of practical religion before leaving to begin a business career or to ; further prosecute their studies.. The night classes are attended by boys of larger growth, the minimum age for admission being fourteen. The youths are attracted to the classes by the advantage to be derived from a knowledge of tongues in whatever walk in life they choose. In providing this opportunity for tho boys the Christian Brothers make much additional labor for themselves; but they have the consolation of aiding the youths spiritually and of keeping them away from similar institutions established with the object, more or less openly avowed, of wrecking their faith. SOUTH AFRICA—A Diamond Jubilee , The Rev. Mother Rose, of Holy Rosary Convent, Port Elizabeth, reached the sixtieth anniversary of her. religious profession on September 25 (says the Catholic Magazine of South Africa). This event is rare enough in itself to be matter of congratulation; but in the case of one who has done so much for the advance of education it was a subject or general rejoicing. Mother M. Rose Whitt,y, was bom on November 24, 1831, in Dublin. She entered St. Catherine’s Dominican Convent, Blackrock, County Dublin, on March 25, 1849, being therefore in her nineteenth year. She made her profession in the same convent on September, 25, 1850. _ Having spent seventeen years of her young life laboring in the cause of education to which the Dominican Sisterhood is specially devoted, she was selected at the invitation of the Right Rev. Bishop Moran, the then Bishop of the Eastern Vicariate of.the Cape of Good Hope, to establish a branch of the Dominican Convent in Port Elizabeth, and with this purpose she arrived here with five other Sisters on November 23, 1867. She was thus the foundress of Holy Rosary Convent, Bird street, and she is the sole survivor of that devoted band of six pioneers in the cause of Catholic education in Port Elisabeth. SPAIN—The Premier and the Revolutionists Sen or Canalejas, whatever be his failings, is not wanting in loyalty to the throne. He. is a convinced supporter of the monarchical regime, a faithful subject of the King. By his anti-clerical policy' (says the Catholic Times) he has endeavored to conciliate the Spanish extremist, but these madcaps are moved by the leaders of a secret organisation which thinks that so long as the throne is preserved its hope of seeing the altars overturned in Spain will not be realised. The Grand Orient in Paris is therefore dissatisfied with the Premier’s programme, and is stirring up revolutionary sentiment against him. In a speech which he delivered in the Chamber on October 15 lie courageously denounced these tactics. He affirmed that an active antipatriotic movement is propagated in the Spanish barracks, and that subversive manifestoes, printed in Paris, are circulated amongst the soldiers. In a suburb of Madrid a centre of operations in connection with the French capital has been established, and here seditious schemes are hatched and measures are taken to wean the Spaniards from their allegiance to King Alfonso. Senor Canalejas intimated that legal action will be taken for the suppression of these hotbeds of conspiracy, whereupon a Socialist deputy cried that the revolution will come ! if it is so ordained.’ If the Grand Orient so ordains there will be an outbreak, but the Premier’s friends may make him acquainted with the secrets of the lodges and thus enable him to ward off the danger. UNITED STATES—A Corner-stone from Armagh His Eminence Cardinal Logue laid the corner-stone of the new St. Patrick’s Church, Philadelphia, on October 2. The stone was a huge block of granite from St. Patrick’s Hill, Armagh, Ireland, and was sent by his Eminence to the pastor, the Right Rev. Mgr. Win. Kieran, D.D. Italian Catholics That the organisation of Italian congregations is making encouraging progress in the United States would appear to be evident from the facts shown here. We quote from the Freeman’s Journal:—* Baltimore has 3 Italian churches and 3 Italian priests; Boston has 8 Italian churches 15 priests, 2 parochial schools, attended by 750 pupils; Chicago 10 churches, 17 priests, 1 parochial school, with 850 pupilsCincinnati has 1 church and 1 priest; Milwaukee, 2 churches’ 2 priests; New Orleans, 1 church, 5 priests; New York 26 churches, 55 priests, 6 parochial schools, with nearly 4000 pupils; Philadelphia, 13 churches, 21 priests, 3 parochial schools and 1600 pupils. Fifty other cities also posses their several churches and their flourishing parochial schools. Altogether there are ’219 Italian churches 315 priests, 41 parochial schools, 254 teachers, and 13,000 Italian pupils scattered throughout the Union. There are two Italian Catholic weeklies ip America, the Italiano in America and the Venta. 7

Descendants of Chinese Converts Archbishop Farley, of New York (says the Catholic Standard And Times), is accustomed to visits from pilgrims of every clime, but he was waited on the other day by a delegation unusual in its character. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Woo and their two little daughters, the Misses Lucy and Mary Woo, called to pay their respects. All are from China, although Mr. Woo for a year has been catechist under Rev. Vincent H. Montauar, the French priest in charge of the Chinese Catholic Mission, 103 Park street, New York. Mrs. Woo and the two little girls arrived from China the other day. Mrs. Woo’s ancestors for 400 years have been loyal Catholics, having been converted by .St. Francis Xavier. Mr. Woo’s progenitors have been ot the faith for 200 years. New York Cathedra! The, Catholic, News in the course of an article on the consecration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, says:In the three decades of years that have lapsed since the Cathedral was opened God has blessed in a special manner the archdiocese of New York. The poor arc indeed with us, numerously, the rank and file of our people are blessed only with moderate means, but the growth of the Catholic population as a whole in wealth and influence has been nothing short of prodigious. Thank God, prosperity has not spoiled the descendants of the, heroic Catholics who made such sacrifices for God and religion. His Grace, the present zealous and beloved _ Archbishop of New \oik, knows well the temper of his clergy and people. His heart’s desire has been to see the Cathedral free of debt and consecrated. It was a. mighty undertaking, but at,; 1 the Archbishop’s behest it has been done. Within a. few months 800,000 dollars have been contributed to free St. Patrick’s from the last vestige of its indebtedness. Rich and poor have given liberally, according to their several means to bring this about. Catholic New York responded nobly to the call of its Archbishop, as it has ever done. Wednesday, October 5, added another golden day to those which are kept sacred in Church annals in the diocese. Nothing occurred to mar the splendor of the occasion. Blue skies, sunlight, and ideal weather gladdened the hearts of all. Such an assemblage of ecclesiastics was never en before at any religious function in this city. Three members of the College of Cardinals, more than sixty Archbishops and Bishops from home and abroad, hundreds of the regular and secular clergy, and countless thousands of laymen came together to add grandeur to the scene and to share in the joyous solemnities. Not in numbers alone, but in the personnel of the Church dignitaries in attendance did this stately religious function eclipse in norap and circumstance all others held in this diocese. The majestic figure of Cardinal Vannutelli, who will carry back to the Holv Father an account of the proceedings, lent a prestige all its own to the occasion. His colleagues, Cardinals Gibbons and Logue, warmly beloved bv Americans of all classes, the Most Rev. Archbishop Falconio, officially representing the Holy Father, numerous members of the hierarchy who travelled from far distances to assist at these services— suggest how vastly more than local was the significance of the consecration ceremony.