The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 3 July 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

ENGLAND V A VENERABLE JESUIT. The Rev. Father John Milner, S.J., the oldest Jesuit of the English province, passed away at StonyJ .hurst on April 30, at the patriarchal age of ninety- ■'■ four. The deceased priest, whose ordination took . place seventy-three years ago, retired to 'Stony hurst from Holywell only last March. He was born in Whitechapel, Liverpool, on May 16, 1819. ' DEATH OF THE DOWAGER DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE. The death is announced of the Dowager Duchess of Newcastle, who passed away at her residence, 'The Oaks, Woodford, on May 8. The Duke of Newcastle and other members of the family were present at the end. _ Her death removes one of the most loved and single-hearted social workers the poor of London ever knew. Before her marriage to the sixth Duke of Newcastle in 1861, her Grace was Miss Henrietta Adela Hope, daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Henry Hope, of Deepdene, Surrey. The union, which ended with the death of the Duke in 1879, was a quiet and happy one. Her Grace had been identified with the most advanced section of the Anglican Church, and in the year of her husband's death was received into the Catholic Church. In the following year, she was married to Mr. Thomas Theobald Hohler, son of the Rev. F. W. Hohler, rector of Winstone and Colesbourne, Gloucestershire. Her Grace was an enthusiastic musician, and her second husband shared her taste and talent. Mr. Hohler died in 1892. To the general public, the most interesting period in the life of the Dowager Duchess was that which immediately followed. In 1893, at the call of the late Cardinal Vaughan, she took the Cross of the new Crusade of the Catholic ' Social Union, becoming head worker at the Girls' Club of the Tower Hill Settlement. The object of the movement was to check the leakage among Catholic girls who, after leaving school, went into factories and workshops, where they were sundered from religious influences, and often drifted away from the Church. In ■the first. instance, the Cardinal gave his scheme the title of ' Social Union,' but later it was merged into the Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. CATHOLIC YOUNG MEN'S SOCIETY. The forty-second annual conference of the Catholic Young Men's Society of Great Britain, which was held in Liverpool on May 10-12, was in many respects a remarkable gathering. In point of numbers— delegates approximated 400—it was by far the largest held since the society's inception. Coming from all parts in England and even from remote places in the North of Scotland, the delegates were thoroughly representative of all that is progressive in Catholic life and thought. Social problems largely engaged the attention of the conference, but the papers read ranged over a variety of themes, and not the least encouraging feature was the high level attained in the discussions. The great public meeting in St. George's Hall was splendid in its numbers and enthusiasm. Altogether the conference was an unqualified success. ITALY HOW FALSEHOODS ARE CIRCULATED. Last week (says the Catholic Times, of May 16) a telegram telling of the commission of two horrible . crimes by a .Sicilian priest was published in many British papers. Not only did it appear in them, but it . was circulated by journals in nearly all parts of the J world. This week our correspondent in Rome informs us that the story is false, and that there is not the slightest foundation for it. It was invented by a contributor to the Roman Messagero, a low-class Masonic newspaper. A priest of St. Mauro, near Palermo, it was stated, had murdered a female penitent. He was, it

was added, arrested,: and narrowly escaped being lynched at the hands of ah indignant crowd. The wicked falsehood has been fully; exposed in Italy, and the Bishop of Cefalu has intimated that the clergy who have been so grossly - libelled are about to take legal proceedings against the ~Messageror ; : But many in this country; who • read and believed the news will: never see a contradiction, - and will therefore - continue to think that a Catholic priest near Palermo has incurred the awful guilt described! Some means ought to be found for ;compelling; correspondents and agencies that circulate false reports in different countries' to take some effective steps for the purpose of 'undoing, the mischief thus done. ■ . :;: , : .. / v -. " , . ROME ~ " THE HOLY FATHER'S RECOVERY.. :: An idea of the grand scale on which the basilicas,churches, religious houses, and numberless private residences were illuminated on Sunday evening,May 11 (writes a Rome correspondent), may be gained from the fact that no fewer than one hundred and ninety men were engaged in the preparations -to illuminate St. leter's. From all parts of Rome thousands of citizens and foreigners visited the Square of St. Peter's to view the glorious spectacle at close quarters. It is estimated that upwards of fifty thousand persons took part in the singing of the .' Te Deum' after Vespers in the basilica m thanksgiving for the Holy Father's recovery. RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE. The Holy Father on May 12 received in private audience the Right Rev. Dr. Chine, Bishop of Perth, the first British subject to be received by his Holiness since his illness. The Pope expressed great interest in Australia • and Australian affairs, congratulating the Bishop on the spread of the Catholic religion in the Commonwealth, and remarking on the true liberty enjoyed and the progress made in countries under British rule. Bishop Clune was surprised to see the Pope looking so well and bright, and afterwards said his Holiness' convalescence could now be considered an accomplished fact, ~ SCOTLAND A CATHOLIC TEACHER WINS LAWSUIT. As was to be expected, Miss Marshall, the Scottish teacher who was dismissed because she had become a Catholic, has won her case against the Dalziel School Board. Lord Hunter in the Court of Session at Edinburgh on May 10 dismissed the School Board's action against the Scottish Education Department, and found for the defendants with costs. He held that the decision of the Secretary for Scotland as Vice-President of the Department was the decision of the Department which was responsible to Parliament and not to the Court. The local ratepayers must be patient people seeing that they allow the bigots of the Board to waste their money stupidly and obstinately. ' NEW BISHOP OF DUNKELD. The appointment of a successor to the late Dr MacFarlane, Bishop of Dunkeld, furnishes a contradiction to the rumors regarding a proposed re-arrange-ment of the Scottish diocesan boundaries. A partition of the Dunkeld diocese had been considered probable m some quarters, but the nomination of a new Bishop is a safe indication that no alteration of the present arrangement is contemplated. The choice of the Right Rev. Mgr. Fraser, D.D., LL.D., to fill the vacant see is a particularly happy one. Ordained 31 years ago the new Bishop has passed the greater part of his priestly life in the schools. After some time spent in Blairs College, Monsignor Fraser passed to Rome and has been Rector of the Scots College for many years Twice he has been honored by the Holy Father in being selected as his representative at the centenary celebrations of Scottish Universities, Aberdeen and St An drews. These official visits were instrumental in bringing the new Bishop into touch with his* non Catholic compatriots to a degree which cannot fail to be of much service to .him in his new sphere of work