The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 19 October 1911, Page 2103

The Catholic World

" CANADA \ '' ? AN UNUSUAL EVENT. r - A celebration of unusual interest took place at the 1 Convent of the Grey Nuns, Montreal, a few weeks ago, the occasion being the golden and diamond Jubilees of profession of six members of the community. The central figure of the celebration was Sister Youville, nee Miss Beaubien, of Nicolet, who was commemorating the seventieth anniversary of her entry into the community. Sister St. Croix celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of her profession, while Sisters St. Louis, St. Olivier, Tisseur, and Mellieur celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the day on which ' they embraced the . religious life. AN INTERESTING EVENT. An interesting event took place on a recent Sundayat the Catholic church* of Earlsfield, to the . north of London, Canada. . This was the first Mass of Father P. H. D. Casgrain, who has been in the army for 26 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 uprising, the Manipur expedition, and the South African war, and has many medals to show. 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. V & ■ CHINA THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM. - In: the Middle Kingdom of China there are not only Chinese Trappists, but Chinese Franciscans, Chinese Jesuits, Chinese Dominicans, and other priests of religious Orders. . Since the Propaganda, .on November 23, 1845, issued a special decree to all the missions to establish seminaries for a native clergy, to. select the candidates carefully from Christian families of old standing, and to train them diligently for their high vocation in humanistic science, in philosophy and theology,, as well as in their native literature and in the ancient classics of China, the number of Chinese priests has steadily increased: In 1848 there were 135; in 1880, 240; in 1890, 371 ; in 1900, 445; in 1908, 550; at present the number is 631. ENGLAND DEATH OF A CONVERT. : Our Home exchanges announce the death of Father 'Francis Johnston Kirk, which took place on August 24 at St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater. The deceased priest was born in 1826, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.; He took orders in the "Established c Church of Ireland, and for some time was curate at Gorey, Co. Wexford. He was received into the Church by Cardinal Manning, in 1854, and shortly after his conversion he commenced his studies for the priesthood at the Collegio Pio, Rome. After his ordination in 1858, Father Kirk joined the Oblates of St. Charles at Bayswater, where he remained until his death. His great age necessitated Father Kirk’s comparative retirement from active work of late, years. FRANCE , V THE CAUSE OP BEATIFICATION. ~ Cardinal Couille, Archbishop of Lyons, has notified the clergy and laity of his diocese that he is charged With the . collecting of the writings attributed to the Venerable Servant of God, Pauline Marie Jaricot, foundress, of the Propagation of the Faith and of the

. Living Rosary, in view of the ; introduction ; of her cuse of beatification and canonisation. i * FERVENT PIETY; OF THE >, Paris has never been half so religious, so full of fervent piety, as since Faith has been tabooed.’ That is the r dictum of the French correspondent of Black and White. The writer (says the Catholic Weekly goes on to describe how ' the Feast of Our Lady’a Assumption was kept in Paris, how at Notre Dame des Vi.ctoires the shrine of Our Lady was, surrounded by a perfect sea .of kneeling men and women, whose devotion was as deep as it was sincere. . From which even to the outside observer— is evident that an atheist Government is not having it quite all its own way in France, in spite of Laws of Separation and the exile of the.religious Orders. . As long as there are churches , open they will find it difficult to prevent the observance of what is one of the biggest fetes of the' whole year by French Catholics. ‘ But the legislation of the Republic has dto reckon with forces it little dreams of, and it is well that they should have such practical reminders of the fact in the ' city they have so vainly tried to de-Christianise. INDIA CATHOLIC MEDICAL MISSION. ' " One of the interesting discussions at the Catholic; Congress in Newcastle was on Foreign Missions ’ (says ‘ *i' 1 j the Catholic Herald of India), and I am' g ad to find a pretty full account of it in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle. As regards Indian Missions, the chief : topic would appear to have been the work of the Catholic Medical Mission to the Women and - Children of India Very little is known about this mission on this side of India, but it is doing admirable work in the territories under the jurisdiction of the Prefect Apostolic of Kashmir and Kafiristan. The mission, which is one of recent growth, owes its existence to the zeal and hberality of a Catholic lady— Agnes McLaren, M D She is a convert to the Catholic faith; and retted from practice, a few years ago, in . order to devote herself chiefly to philanthropic work. She paida vi Sl t to India recently, and,one of the impressions: she carried was that the only way to get at the souls' of Indian women is through' their bodies.’ She has richly endowed the mission, and is laboring hard for its success, by trying to enlist the support of British'? Catholics The work of the Mission is chiefly among?' the Moslem population of North India. Dr. Agnes? McLaren is a fellow of the Academy of Dublin, a mem-? ber of the Arcadia of Rome, and, strange to say-S burgh ent °* Women’s Suffrage Society in EdinPORTUQAL j ? THE CLERGY - AND THE SEPARATION LAW? e While reflecting that, before believing 1200 priests' o Portugal have consented to accept the pension offered the clergy by the Government, one would like to have an assurance from other sources than wires and messages coming from Lisbon,, it is well to say that* Affonso Costa, Minister of. Justice, seems perilously near? emg guilty of deliberate falsehood in stating that the• pension has been asked by the Patriarch of Lisbon the Chapter or that city and several bishops? The following (says a Rome correspondent) are the facts in this, matter., Before the issuing of the Separation Law the secretary of each bishop in Portugal was accustomed to send monthly to the Government: an application for S^ St / Pe fi d I?® i to ordinar -V> which was forthwith paid by the Bank of Portugal. Now, on July 1 with a.view to affirm his right to'the old stipend, the Patriarch of Lisbon ordered his secretary to act as usual,';, well knowing that no attention would be paid to the application by the Government. However, the Patriarch was determined to afford this body mo excuse for? pretending to' believe he eyeq, tacitly accepted terms of the Law of ' Separation. All this was made quite' plain by the Patriarch in a letter to Costa. It may be

added here that the response of the Bishops of Portugal to the Encyclical of the Holy Father dated May 1 "has brought deep consolation to the mind of the Pope, as it makes manifest that they are heart and soul thoroughly obedient to his commands and that with hardly an exception the priests are in full accord with their superiors. ROME THE HOLY FATHER AND IRELAND. The Holy Father on Aguust 29 received ,Monsignor O’Riordan, rector of the Irish College, who started the same evening for Ireland. The aged Pontiff sent a. message through him to Cardinal Logue, assuring the latter of his (the Pontiff’s) complete recovery. The Pope spoke feelingly of Cardinal Moran’s death, which he said was a great loss to the Catholic Church. He imparted, through Mgr. O’Riordan, his Apostolic Benediction to the faithful in Ireland.