The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 10 September 1914, Page 55

The Catholic World

BELGIUM AN APPRECIATION. In view of the splendid courage of Catholic Belgium in resisting the violation of her neutrality by the Germans, the following appreciation by Cardinal Gibbous of the advanced position held by the Belgians amongst the most progressive of European countries will be read with more than ordinary interest. Speaking at the University of Fribourg, his Eminence expressed his gratitude to the Dominican Order for the way in which the American ''Province had, in the darkest days of the Washington University, opened a house of studies there. Referring to the University of Fribourg, his Eminence said : ‘ If we would properly appreciate the greatness of this institution, we have only to turn our eyes towards Belgium. Her material prosperity, her place in the world of ideas, the wisdom of her Government, make her the envy of other nations. And the germ of these advantages lies, incontestably, in her great Catholic University of Louvain.’ [Unfortunately, this justly celebrated University was destroyed in the recent barbarous attack on the city by thq Germans. Ed. N.Z.T.] ENGLAND BLESSING THE COLORS. The Bishop of Northampton recently performed the ceremony of blessing the new colors of the 14th Norwich St. John’s Catholic Troop of B.P. Scouts. The troop color is the gift of the Bishop, and bears the episcopal arms, worked in white silk, on an orange ground. Canon Fitzgerald is the donor of the Union Jack. After having consecrated the colors his Lordship formally handed them over, and in so doing offered hearty congratulations to the troop on their numbers and efficiency. Colonel S. Garerd Hill, the District Commissioner, took occasion to acknowledge the hearty way the movement had been taken up by that church, and said that throughout the country it was found that there were no more efficient bodies of scouts than those attached to the Catholic Church.REQUIEM MASS AT WESTMINSTER. The Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral for the repose of the souls of the late Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the Duchess of Hohenberg presented a scene of sombre splendor which will not soon be forgotten by anyone who was privileged to be present. In the sanctuary were Prince Arthur of Connaught (representing the King), King Manoel and Queen Augusta Victoria, Queen Amelie, and the Ambassador of Austria-Hungary. In the nave were the Ambassadors and Ministers of all the Great Powers of the world. A group of attaches and officers in full uniform, representing the most famous regiments in Europe, made a splash of color in the nave which stood out in the strongest contrast to the surrounding sea of black, worn by the great crowd of mourners, which seemed to fill even the vast spaces of the Cathedral to their utmost limits. Among those who had come to pray for the peace of the dead or to pay their last tribute of homage and respect were Lord Howe, representing Queen Alexandra ; the Prime Mmistei , Lord Crewe, Lord Morley, Sir Edward Grey, the Dukes of Norfolk and Portland. Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Rosebery, Lord Lansdowne, Lord Denbigh, Lord Lovat, Mohammed Ali Pasha, and the Lord Mayor. Three hundred seats, apart from those reserved for the Embassy, were kept for the members of the Austrian community in London. FRANCE g , WAYSIDE CROSS RESTORED. || Count Gaitisola, of Bordeaux, ; France, recently restored a wayside cross that had lain neglected for a

century near the village of St. Hilaire, Mayenne. In one of his rides through the country, he noticed a pyramid of stones, those on top being of peculiar shape; and closer examination showed that they were fragments of a cross. The indigent and hard-worked priest of the district accepted with gratitude and joy. Count Gaitisola’s offer to re-erect the cross which had* been torn down in the Revolution of 1789. The new cross, a handsome one of blue granite, has been solemnly blessed by the Bishop of Laval in the presence of a large concourse. 14 THE NEED OF PRIESTS. Jf This week (says Rome of a recent date) Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris, presided over the annual meeting of the Work of Vocations which was organised by him some years ago to aid in keeping up an adequate supply of clergy for his immense diocese. This year the sum of 106,000 francs was collected for the purpose. ‘Meanwhile,’ said the Cardinal in his address to the members, ‘ the needs of this great diocese of Paris, whose population is constantly increasing and is now more than four millions, are so great that we are always short of priests. No later than this morning the question came up in our meeting of the Diocesan Council. I have twenty-six priests to place; six of them arc needed for teaching, leaving only twenty for parochial work. That is less than half the number that is being insistently asked of me for many years by the cures of populous parishes. I needed more than forty priests this year. True, the junior seminary of Conflans (near Paris) is full as it has rarely been, but if we get new recruits for it we shall make room for - them. At the higher seminary of Issy, the two first years assure a contingent of forty priests each year, but we shall have to wait three years longer for those who have not made their military service.’ HOLLAND . DUTCH CATHOLICS GRATEFUL TO JESUITS. Nowhere in the world will the centenary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus be celebrated next.. August with more enthusiasm than by the Catholics of Holland (says Rome). The Dutch Catholics,’ says the Gazette de Liege, have a debt of special gratitude to the members of the society. It was the Jesuits who in the dark days’of the Reformed Republic, when the papists were persecuted and hunted down like wolves, ' brought the Sacraments to the faithful. Disguised gs cattle - dealers, boatmen, laborers, they faced "I fines, banishment, prison, to keep intact the) links which united Catholics with the Church. And later, since they have been allowed to work freely in the Kingdom of the Lowlands, they have high schools, colleges, missionaries for the colonies, houses of retreat. A committee has been formed for the erection of a monument to the great Jesuit, Peter Canisius, the apostle of Germany and Switzerland in the troubled days of the sixteenth century. This pupil and friend of St. Ignatius was born at Nimegue, and the statue is to be erected in one of the squares of this charming town. The centenary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus is also the fiftieth anniversary of the beatification of the Blessed Canisius which took place in 1864.’ i- 1 ITALY THE RETURN OF THE FRIARS. This year the Franciscan Friars Minor have returned again to Padua, which St. Anthony, the most illustrious of wonder workers,; has made famous, after an absence through government expulsion of 100 years. They are occupying again the old convent and Church of || St. Francis. The great basilica and tomb of St. Anthony continues as aforetime in the charge of the Minor Con- & ventuals, black Franciscans; as they are commonly called from the color of. their habit. v. v'4 -i %4 .. f|,Jf 1