The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 16 February 1911, Page 303

The Catholic World

ENGLAND—Heavy Catholic Death Roll In the mine disaster at Over Hulton, near Bolton, during the week before .Christmas, over 100 Catholic miners lost their lives . Catholic Statistics The Catholic directory for Great Britain, which has just been published by Burns and Gates, gives a general . summary of ecclesiastical statistics for the years (says the Glasgow Observer). In England and Wales there are 19 Archbishops and Bishops, in Scotland six, making a total of 25 for Great Britain. In England the priests number 3747, in Scotland 555—a total of 4302. Of these, 2758 are secular clergy—that is, ordinary parochial clergy; 1544 are Regulars. These Regulars include many French exiles, who are mostly to be found in the Diocese of Southwark. The churches and chapels in England number 1773, in Scotland 394 being a total for the whole country of 2167. Of the 555 priests in Scotland, the Archdiocese of Glasgow has 284 more than half. Of the churches in Scotland the; archdiocese of Glasgow claims 124, St. Andrew's and Edinburgh 87, Aberdeen 63, Argyll and the Isles 45, Galloway 41, and Dunkeld 34. GERMANY—A Former Centre Leader Count Ballestrem, a former President of the German Reichstag, died on December 23, at Plawniowitz Castle, Silesia, at the age of 76. He was a member of the Centre Party, and for the prominent part he took in the defence of the Church during the Kulturkampf was appointed by the Pope a Private Chamberlain "di spada e cappa." From 1890 till 1893 he was a leader of the Centre Party. As a cavalry officer he took part in the campaign of 1870-71. . The "Kaiser sent a telegram of condolence. PORTUGAL— Republicans' Ideas of Liberty The Portuguese who govern the new Republic have the same ideas of liberty as their French models. _ They have forbidden in Portugal the sale of the Jesuit Provincial's letter. In the press they tolerate nothing but praise of their own conduct, and when the eulogies are not abundant enough they are manufactured on an extensive scale.. A lady resident in Portugal has written a letter on the subject, which appears in the Freeman's Journal, and through it we obtain glimpses of the extraordinary tyranny exercised by the Provisional Government and the hypocrisy that accompanies it. If it is suspected that letters intended for persons in foreign countries contain any criticism of the new regime, they are opened at the post office and detained. This is one of the Masonic conceptions of liberty. In order to _ keep the common people in good spirits, favourable foreign opinion on the revolution is freely quoted and concocted. We are not aware that any Manchester paper has been publishing absurd nonsense about the Portuguese, but it appears that one of them is reported in Portugal to have declared in enthusiastic admiration that ' the heroic and brilliant fighting of the Portuguese soldiers is unparalleled in history,' and that 'the navy showed the world once more it was without an equal.' The Monarchy must have been in a very bad state if under it the people were fooled to a greater extent than they are at present. ROME— Holy Father's Christmas The Christmas of Pins X. (writes a Rome correspondent), may be truly called a very simple affairhis three Christmas Masses in a private chapel celebrated in the presence of some privileged friends and distinguished foreigners, a conversation for a half-hour with his sisters, a brief rest, and to work again! But there is one other item in the Christmas programme of the Head of the Church that must not be omittedviz., the reception of the members of the Sacred College who bear their greetings to his Holiness. On Friday the time-honoured ceremony was held in the Pope's private library, where all the Cardinals of the Court assembled to wish the Pontiff the same old wish that has been wished the Pope for so many centuries. Pius X., after receiving each Prince of the Church at the entrance, chatted for half an hour with his Senate oh the affairs of the Church and the Sacred'College, and heartily reciprocated their good wishes. Sacerdotal Golden Jubilee It was 50 years on December 22 since their Eminences Cardinals Serafino and Vincenzo Vannutelli were ordained priests by Cardinal Patrizi. The Cardinals wished the jubilee to pass without special notice, but their numerous friends felt that they could not allow the occasion to go by without sending expressions of their cordial esteem. The brothers received a great many messages of good will and affection. A large number of friends and representatives of the Sacred Penitentiary and of the religious institutions of which his Eminence is protector were present at Cardinal Serafino's Mass in his private chapel. Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli celebrated Mass at the Collegio Capranica, and afterwards, in response to an afldress from the students to himself and Ins brother, delivered some graceful remarks heartily thanking them for this testimony of their feelings. •

The Pope's Advice to Young Catholics It is well that at the present time, when human respect so often damps religious zeal, that Catholic youth ' should take to heart the advice of the Holy Father as to how they should act in promoting and defending the Faith (says the Catholic Times). Pius X. would have them play the part of valiant Christian soldiers. In receiving the officers of the Superior Council of the Society of Italian; Catholic Youth, who were introduced to him by Commendatore Pericoli, his Holiness, in the course of a vigorous address, bade them never to be ashamed of fidelity to the Church. They should, he said, on every suitable opportunity make open profession of their faith, and of their attachment to their Bishops, should not be deterred by ' human respect ori the sneers of unbelievers from doing what they considered right, and should observe in their conduct that wise moderation without which they would fail to achieve their objects, however good their intentions. This, it need hardly be said, is admirable counsel for the young, especially in Italy, where in many coteries and societies there is an ambition to imitate the religious indifference of the French Freethinkers. The tendency of the Pontiff's exhortation is to make the young Catholics of Italy not only energetic supporters of the Church, but also self-reliant citizens. UNITED STATES—A Venerable Religious The American papers announce the death of the Rev. Mother Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, for over 50 years Superior of the Sisters of Mercy in St". Louis and other centres in the United States. The venerable nun, who was a member of the old and prominent family of Bentley, was born in 1823, and joined the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1850. In 1856 she was sent to America, and there the labors of her life were spent. Development of the Church in Chicago In its issue of November 30 the Chicago Tribune, in a detailed sketch of the wonderful growth of that city, makes this comment on the notable development of the Catholic Church within the city's limit during the past three quarters of a century: —' No other Catholic city in the world ever rose from a single parish with a hundred communicants lost in a primeval wilderness to an archdiocese of a million souls in 75 years. In this achievement,; the city stands alone. In the Catholic Church of Chicago is found a striking demonstration that the words of the Master have been heeded and that the Gospel has been preached to "all nations." In Rome, of course, are found gathered around St.. Peter's, representatives of all the peoples of the earth, but they are "representatives"— pilgrims or officials, either voluntary exiles from their homes or temporary visitors. But in Chicago German Catholics, Irish Catholics, Polish Catholics, French Catholics, Italian Catholics, Slovene Catholics, Persian Catholics, Negro Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Hungarian Catholics, Belgian Catholics, Croatian Catholics, Swiss Catholics, Lithuanian Catholics reside in their hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands in prosperous homes, with their own churches, their own priests, their own parochial schools, their own sisterhoods, hospitals, asylums, and colleges. No other city in the world ever built 188 Catholics churches in less than half a century as Chicago has done. No other city in the world ever built 143 parochial schools in a quarter of a century and filled them with 81,680 pupils, as Chicago has done. Colored Priests ' # There are five colored priests now laboring on the mission in the United States. They are: Rev. Stephen L. Theobald, of St. Paul, Minn.; Rev. Charles R. Uncles, at present professor in the Epiphany College at Baltimore • Rev John H. Dorsey, a professor in St. Joseph's College for Negro Catechists; Montgomery, Ala.; Rev. J. J. Planteyigne, and Rev. Joseph A. Burgess, C. S. Sp., a professor in the Apostolic College at Cornwells, Pa. GENERAL Nationalities of Foreign Missionaries Ar .„ T ' The list of names of the young priests ordained at Mi 1 Hill, England, last July, include a Barry, a Dugo-an and a Hart, mixed in with eight distinctively Dutch names ' (says the Catholic Record). 'lt is remarkable that in this English seminary the recruits from little Protestant Holland should so far outnumber those from either Ireland or England. The Dutch have always had a passion for colonisation and for over seas trading, and that the Catholics of that little principality should divert those qualities into a zeal for missions, is not so amazing. But it inspires anew the thought and the aspiration that the ancient genius for foreign missions which characterised the sons of Erin, will, now that the cloud of persecution has been lifted, once more manifest itself, and the zeal of Saint Patrick be reproduced in his sons, until the world rings' with their apostolic voices. If Ireland Christianised Northern Europe in the olden times, is it too much to hope that the wider world of the twentieth century will become her debtor in the same way?'' Archbishop The Holy Father has ratified the decision of the Congregation of the Propaganda appointing Father Edward •Konealy the English Franciscan priest, well-known as ' -bather Anselm, as Archbishop Metropolitan of Simla, a ' . post which has just been created. »*«»,_* :