The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 13 June 1912, Page 55

The Catholic World

BELGIUM

CATHOLIC MAJORITY AT THE ELECTIONS.

Owing to neglect of organisation the Catholics suffered defeat in many centres at the Municipal elections in Belgium. The lesson has not been lost oo them, for we learn that at the Parliamentary elections last week the Catholic Ministry secured a majority of 16 over the combined Liberals and Socialists. There has been rioting by Socialists, who attacked Catholic establishments and clubs at Ghent and Brussels. The Opposition accused the de Broqueville Government of having no programme, to which M. Helleput, the Minister of War, replied at a meeting in Antwerp: No programme! When the last working-man will live in his own house, when the last toiler in the fields will have his own bit of land; when the last woman will quit the factory and become again the angel guardian of her children and her home; when everyone shall receive fair wages and a more equitable division of the profits; when we shall have efficaciously guaranteed everyone against the waste of strength, against sickness, want of work, helplessness and old age; when the barbarous negroes of the Congo shall have become our brothers, thanks to the apostolate of our missionaries; when Antwerp will have been made the first port of the world; when the poorest father of a family can send his children to the school of his choice; when the Flemings will have their Flemish University, then and only then shall we rest a little bit, but the party will still have work to do. How can it even fold its arms, especially in presence of that tremendous undertaking that is now palpitating with energy and faithviz., the task of forming and multiplying Christian Workingmen's Unions?'

ITALY

THE PEACE OF CONSTANTINE.

The preparations for the celebration of the Peace of Constantino next year continue. Among other proposals there is talk of building a church at the Ponte Miliro, where the great victory took place. In some quarters the wish is expressed (remarks a Rome correspondent) that a suggestion put forth some years ago by Mgr. Stapylton Barnes may now be carried out—viz., that of excavating below the present sacristy of St. Peter's, where in all probability the Golden Cross of Constantine will be found, and with it the solution to many problems regarding the precise spot of St. Peter's martyrdom and of his relics. But there does not seem to be much probability that this course will be followed.

ROME

CHURCH MUSIC.

The tenth Congress of the Italian Association of St. Cecilia, held in Rome recently was an unqualified success, and gave abundant proof of the progress made in Italy in Church music.' In the audience with the Holy Father after the Congress, his- Holiness again insisted on his wish that the faithful should take part in the liturgical chant. He recalled several instances in his own priestly life when he had the satisfaction of hearing his whole congregationmen, women, and childrenjoining in the singing.

THE HOLY FATHER AND THE CHILDREN. On Low Sunday, after giving audience to various people, the Holy Father went to. the Sistine Chapel. There he found 400 children, with their parents and friends, in all 1300. They had come from France in order to thank the Holy Father for his recent Decree on Holy Communion. On St. Joseph's Day all these 400 children had made their First Communion, and they had offered it up for the Holy Father. When the Pontiff was seated on his throne Cardinal Vannutelli presented the pilgrims and read an address. After the

Cardinal's address one of the children came forward, and read a short • speech—' As the little children, of Judea once pressed around Our Saviour, so behold us, the little children of France, at the feet of your Holiness. We come in the name, of hundreds of thousands of our little companions, who have remained at home though they wished so much to accompany us to Rome, in order to thank your Holiness for the great favor you have done us in allowing us children -to anticipate the age of our First Communion. By this act of paternal kindness your Holiness has won all our hearts, and we will not cease from henceforth to pray every day for you. Every day we will love you more and more, and to-day it is our joy, most holy and beloved Father, to promise you a fidelity, which nothing will ever shake, to the Holy Church, our Mother, and to Him Who so gloriously rules it in the name of God.' After this each boy and girl was brought to the Holy Father. Several of them presented albums containing in all 150,000 signatures of the children who, on St. Joseph's Day, had made their First Communion for the Holy Father. Pius X. had a word for each and presented each with a medal, on one side of which was the figure of the Sacred Heart, with the words, Behold this Heart, which has loved men so much '; and on the other the image of the Pope, with the mottoes, 'Catholics and Frenchmen always' and 'God protect France.' After this the Pope read a long discourse in French, in which he urged the children to become daily communicants.

REVISION OF THE VULGATE.

Great progress has been made during the past year in the revision of the Vulgate. The collations of different codices made by Abbot Gasquet's collaborators in various libraries of Europe are periodically arriving at Sant Anselmo's on the Aventine, and the variants disclosed brought together and grouped in large registers, thus making it possible to determine the critical value of the present text. Absolute accuracy is ensured by the photographic copies of the entire MSS. used. The collection of these photographs is already making a formidable show on the shelves of the Commission Room.

UNITED STATES

A COMMUNITY OF CONVERTS. % *. There is a little town called Red Hill, in the State or lexas, which has been the beneficiary of the Catholic Church Extension Society by the building of a little chapel there. Catholicity in Red Hill has a peculiar history. During the famous Know-nothing movement an attempt was made to form a branch of the organisation in that pioneer community. The principal man of the community was, of course, consulted and asked to head the movement. He read the literature offered ana took the matter under consideration. Noticing that the whole movement was directed against the Catholic Church, which was described to him as almost the root of all evil he made up his mind that, in order to decide honestly, he would have to satisfy himself that the charges against the Catholic Church were true, so he began a systematic study of the Church from all sides, lie result of his study was disastrous to the branch of Know-nothmgism. He entered the .Catholic Church He became a most devoted member and succeeded in ;°: e S. nearl 7 aH of his neighbors. The mission at v.rl Ti 1S r\ Up f , the descen dants of these converts. They have kept the faith, with all the fervor of SKft* P fV U r 6V^ n h f in e a cha P el of their own until-the Catholic Church Extension Society stepped in and made a chapel possible. , ' * - ■