The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 25 September 1913, Page 55

The Catholic World

ENGLAND

A NEW NAZARETH HOUSE. His Grace the Archbishop of .Birmingham blessed and opened the new building erected by the Sisters of Nazareth at Redual, near Birmingham, on July 30. The house has been erected by the Sisters of Nazareth to continue the work of child rescue in which they have been engaged for the past three years at a temporary home at Selly Park. The structure has a commanding and handsome frontage and is capable of accommodating 200 children, besides forty old people of both sexes. The cost of the site was £SOOO, while the building has absorbed upwards of £13,000. A. TIME-HONORED SANCTUARY. The Feast of St. Ethelreda was observed recently with special solemnity in the time-honored sanctuary dedicated to the English Saint in London. It was -St. Ethelreda, Queen of Northumbria, who founded the .famous Ely Minster in the seventh century and her sacred body was for many generations an object of devout veneration in the famous church which was built on her foundation. One hand of the saint is now venerated in the Church of St. Ethelreda, Ely place, London, which enjoys the distinction of being the first and the only pre-Reformation church in Great Britain restored to Catholic worship. It was built in the thirteenth century As a private chapel attached to the town residence of the Bishop of Ely. During the centuries following its desecration, St. Ethelreda passed through many vicissitudes until it was purchased forty years a go by Father William Lockhart and occupied by the Institute of Charity, of whose English mission Father Lockhart was then Superior. At the recent celebration of the feast, his Eminence Cardinal Bourne was present in the sanctuary during the Solemn High Mass, the celebrant of which was Father Aloysius Emery, Provincial of the Fathers of Charity.

FRANCE

THE HOLY FATHER’S APPRECIATION. French Catholics held a social week at Versailles recently, and the Bishop of Versailles, Monsignor Gibier, sent a telegram to the Holy Father asking the Apostolic Benediction on the organisers and auditors of the reunion. The telegram expressed the determination of the representatives of Catholic France to follow exactly the teaching and direction of the Church, and availed of the occasion of the completion of the tenth year of the Pontificate of Pope Pius X. to proclaim their filial love and devoted loyalty to the Pope, the infallible Doctor of Christians and the permanent Guide of living Catholic unity.’ The following telegram signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State was sent to Mgr. Gibier: ‘The Holy Father accepts with pleasure the filial homage of the auditors and organisers of the social week of France under the presidency of your Lordship, and their willing assurance of maintaining themselves faithful to the teaching of the Church and the direction of the Holy See. He sends them with paternal affection the Apostolic Benediction.

ITALY

LIBELLERS BROUGHT TO BOOK. The Court of Appeal at Lucca has just pronounced a judgment which should effect good in the Italian press by teaching the virtue of prudence to some newspaper writers, who rely on their probable immunity from prosecution when they traduce the characters of ecclesiastics. After bearing for a considerable time with attacks made in the columns of the Gornere Toscano, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Pisa, Cardinal Maffi, instituted legal proceedings for defamation before the Court of Pisa against the proprietor, the editor, and the

manager of that paper. The charges mad© in the newspaper referred to the management of trust funds. At Pisa the judge sentenced the editor to fifteen months imprisonment and a fine of about two thousand lire; one sixth of the term of imprisonment was to be solitary confinement. The manager received a similar sentence minus the solitary confinement, and the proprietor was condemned to pay the expenses in conjunction with his subordinates. They appealed to the Higher Court at Lucca with the result that the judgment of the Tribunal of Pisa has been upheld and the sentence confirmed in’ every particular. There is right of appeal to the Court of Cassation, but even if availed of, it would only be in the hope of postponing the evil day of payment and the . penalty merited by slanderous pens.

ROME

THE HOLY FATHER’S HEALTH. ■ Yesterday witnessed the tenth anniversary of the election of the Holy Father (writes the Rome correspondent of the Universe under date* August 5). In Rome, and the .world over, there must have been hearts -full'of gratitude to Almighty God for the present good health of the Sovereign Pontiff. But three months ago it seemed as if the Church were on the point ,of being deprived of its earthly ruler. To-day : the health of Pop© Pius X. is such that there seems no reason why he should not live for many years and add more lustre to his already renowned Pontificate. Naturally, with a man of seventy-eight there is not that quickness of movement that there is usually observable in a man ten years less in age. But that there is in the Holy Father a depth of vitality is evident when any one of his numerous visitors speaks of matters which are dear to his heart. Whether it is a Cardinal approaching the Pontiff with regard to some matter of importance to the Curia, a Bishop from far off climes recounting the work of the Church in his diocese, or a priest or layman setting before the Holy Father something, say, in connection with frequent Communion, to one and all he responds with a vivacity which is ,an indication both of his zeal for souls and his strong vitality. It is perhaps hardly necessary to recall to the minds of your readers what an immense amount of work Pope Pius X. has effected in the past ten years. Apart from the steadfastness of purpose which exhibited itself under the most trying circumstances when the Church in France, Portugal, and Italy seemed in danger of extinction, so far, at least, as human eyes could see, there have been the labors of the Canon Law codification, the revision of the Vulgate, the inauguration of the new system of the recitation of the Divine Office, to say nothing of the forethought and labor entailed in the succour of the impoverished people from a catastrophe such as the earthquake at Messina. Add to these the daily round of work at the Vatican, the issuing of Encyclicals, Apostolic Letters, attendance at congregational meetings, and it will readily be seen that the life of the occupant of the See of St, Peter is one which might easily break down the strength of a Hercules. Thanksgiving for the past ten years must be accompanied with supplication for the future.. May the world in 1923 have the blessing to offer thanks that Pope Pius X. will in that year still be the Vicar of Christ on earth.

UNITED STATES

A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY LEADS. St. Louis University, conducted by the Jesuits, had the highest percentage of medical students who this year were successful in the examinations before the state Medical Boards for license to practice medicine. The percentage of successful students in six of the leading universities of the United States are as follows:—St. Louis University, 96.70; Rush Medical (Chicago), 95.18; Johns Hopkins,' 94.74 University of Pennsylvania, 91.14; Columbia, 90.48; Howard, 87.53.