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New Zealand Tablet, 14 September 1911, Page 1806

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■■■■ ' i *«mvtui4;j A Soldier Priest The Ave Maria, in quoting from the Catholic Register and Canadian Extension an unusual item of religious news, remarks that soldiers make exceptionally good priests and successful missionaries, as has been abundantly proved in the history of the Church, and notably in the case of the great soldier-priest, Ignatius of Loyola. Thfe item is as follows: 'An extremely interesting and unique event took place on a recent Sunday at the Catholic church of Earlsfield, to the north of London. This was the first Mass of Father P. H. D. Casgrain, who has been in the army for twenty-six years, and was better known as Major Casgrain, of the Royal Engineers. The soldier-priest is a Canadian by birth. He was born in Quebec. He has seen service in the North-west Rising, the Manipur - Expedition, and the South African war, and has many medals to show. He has visited many countries, acting as interpreter at various embassies, etc. During a recent visit to the Canadian North-west, he was so struck by the vast field lying open to the missionary that he decided to fulfil a longing cherished for many years, and offer himself for the sacred ministry. That is an example to be followed.' A Race Committee and the Bishop of Limerick At the last meeting of the Limerick Race Committee, Mr. J. O'G. Delmege, D.L., proposed the following resolution, which was passed unanimously : 1 That we, the directors of the Limerick Race Company, do most respectfully wish to congratulate the Right Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer, Lord Bishop of Limerick, on the attainment of the silver jubilee of bis Episcopacy, and we sincerely hope that he may be long spared to his diocese in the County and City of Limerick.' In moving the resolution, Mr. Delmege said: ' His Lordship's love of the noble animal, the horse, at once puts our little company in touch with him. A fine horseman himself, and a breeder of high-class young horses, I only hope that some day he may produce a Derby or Grand National winner, the latter, I feel sure, would give him the greatest pleasure. Through the quarter of a century that we have now such pleasure in congratulating his Lordship on attaining, he has been a good Bishop to his county. A firm believer in his own creed, he was ever ready to hold out the hand of good fellowship to all men. As a leader in the educational movement he was second to none, and he is largely to be thanked for the educational benefits secured to this country. His advocacy of law and order, and stern opposition to all forms of outrage, I believe in a great measure we have to thank for the peace Of this county peace often alluded to by the going judge of Assize. But, above all things, where his Lordship has left a record hard to beat is in the cause of temperance. Look at Limerick to-day, and let those of you who can remember think what it was twenty-five years ago. His Lordship commenced this crusade when a very young curate. One of his first acts was to defeat myself and others when applying as usual for licenses for tents some thirty or thirty-five years ago for old Ballinacurra racecourse. It was a big battle, but, young as he was then, he came out victorious.' Making Confession to St. Peter The following interesting piece of news is quoted in the Ceylon Messenger of May 5: * A notable French artist, M. Charles Desvergues,

educated in Rome, has described in a recent number of the Univers an important discovery among the ruins of the Eternal City. In this critical hour in the history of the Church, the Modernists, in accord with various non-Catholic writers, are very careful to assign certain dates to the institution of the practice of confession. They teach as a foregone conclusion that there are no certain vestiges of auricular confession before the ninth or tenth centuries. But just now the Roman archaeologists are publishing a picture of a green marble slab, lately discovered, upon which is read the following inscription: "Here the Blessed Peter absolved us, the elect ones, from the sins confessed." This stone and its inscription are visible to all who desire to examine it. Its epigraphic characters are, beyond doubt, those of the first century. The learned Professor Ballerini, although himself a free-thinker, has declared it a unique monument that must annihilate completely all the conclusions of the "new criticism." According to Ballerini, the stone is nothing less than what Christian tradition used to call the Confessionary of St. Peter." It is not the only memorial of the practice of sacramental confession in those days of primitive Christianity, as all the great Christian writers of the time refer to the practice (says the Pilot), but it is sufficient to show us that the practice was real and living, even in times and under the hands of the Apostles themselves.' * The Bombay Examiner, in quoting the item, utters the following word of caution. The news, it says, 'is interesting and—if true —important. But not having seen it mentioned in Rome or other papers immediately in correspondence with the Holy City, we give it with caution. For forgeries and hoaxes of such a sort f-.re not'altogether unknown. We shall be on the look-out for confirmation or otherwise.'