People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 16 October 1913, Page 41

People We Hear About

Baroness Beaumont, a, Catholic young lady of 19, who is Baroness in her own right, laid the foundation stone of a new Catholic school at Selby, in Yorkshire, on August 23. Her peerage dates bafck to the year 1309. • .' ■' ,

An Irish Catholic Officer, Lieut. Waldron, son of General Waldron, of Kildare, and nephew- of the Right Hon. L. A. .Waldron, ex-M.P;, has attained the distinction of establishing an army record* in aviation by flying—at Montrose recently —at a- -height of 14,000 feet. *• V ' :■■

The Right Rev. Dr. Mostyn, Bishop of Menevia,. can claim among his ancestry no fewer than four of' the English martyrs— Ven. Philip Howard, EarL of Arundel, the Ven. William Howard, Viscount Stafford, and Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury.

In recognition of their services to Catholic worn em in Great Britain in connection with the work of the'' Women's Catholic League, the Pope has conferred the' Gold Cross 'Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice' on Mrs. James; F. Hope, president, and Miss Streeter, hon. secretary of the organisation.

One of the most distinguished of Irish soldiers,, General Sir Martin Dillon, Colonel Commander of the> Rifle Brigade, has just died at Charlbury in his 88th year. A descendent. of the first Viscount Dillon, Sir' Martin joined the army over seventy years ago, serving; under Sir Colin Campbell in the Punjab. Having, fought through the Crimean campaign he served also* in the Indian Mutiny, was constantly in action and was wounded at Cawnpore. Subsequently he fought inn the Chinese campaign and became military secretary to Lord Napier, attaining the rank of General and the* distinction of knighthood. He acted as A.D.C.tc* Queen Victoria for over ten years.

On his 93rd birthday, which Lord- Strathcona. celebrated in London on August 6, the High Commissioner for Canada told an interviewer that he was celebrating his birthday. 'By keeping at work I never take any notice of it in any other way. And, as it happens, to-day I have a little more work than usual to do, because it is the last of the busy part of the season.' On the subject of old age, Lord Strathcona said the way to attain old age was 'by not thinking about old age at all, but just going on and doing your work. Work-that is the best means of prolonging life, coupled with moderation in eating and drinking.'

On the 17th August his Eminence Cardinal Mariano Rampolla completed the 70th year of his age. Many, of his friends sent him their congratulations on the occasion. He was born 17th August, 1843,. at Polizzi in the diocese of Cefalu in Sicily. As a young boy he entered the Vatican Seminary, and therii passed to the Collegio Capranica. After his studies: in the Capranica College, he went to the Academy of.' Noble Ecclesiastics which has been described as ' the ) nursery of Cardinals,' because so many of its students: have been elevated to the Senate of the Church. When!' he was ordained to the priesthood and gained hiss doctorate he entered the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs and later Pius IX. nominated! him Canon of St. Mary Major's. In 1875 he accompanied, as councillor, Monsignor Simeoni to Spain. The latter, having shortly after been appointed Secretary of State, and . came back to Rome to be made Cardinal, Monsignor Rampolla remained at the Nunicature of Madrid as "■' Charge d'Affaires.' Leo XIII. had a keen appreciation of the qualities of Mgr. Rampolla, and sent him to Madrid as Nuncio. After four years' residence he was made Cardinal of the title of St. Cecilia, and nominated Cardinal Secretary of State, an office which he retained till the death of Leo X111.,1 sixteen years later. v '

(Continued from page 13.) terrible sufferings in the Russian prisons and by the long and severe transportation to Siberia, and-, the wonder grows that there are any Catholic survivors at all. Many of the priests are forced to lead a nomadic life in order to be able to visit' the members of their flock, even once a year. Frequently these missionaries succumb to the burden of their toil, although the Government is good enough to refund the expenses of their journey and to grant them 600. roubles and about 80 acres of land for their support. Owing to the great distances to be traversed it was only in 1909 that A Canonical Visit by a Bishop was at all possible. In that year -Bishop John Cieplak, Coadjutor of Mohileff, traversed all Siberia and the island of Saghalien, the northern half of which remains Russian territory by the recent treaty with Japan. This and a missionary tour of the Redemptorists in 1908, to whose services Catholics came from great' distances, served greatly to quicken the faith in the Catholic communities. It is the desire of the Holy See that an independent diocese for the Catholics of Siberia should be established, with its See at Irkutsk or Tomsk.. The plan cannot be carried out at present on account of the attitude of the Russian Government towards the Catholic Church.