The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 11 February 1915, Page 55

The Catholic World

ENGLAND

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE HOLY SEE.

A Rome correspondent, writing with regard to the appointment of Sir Henry Howard as British Envoy Extraordinary to the Holy See, says: —The action of the British Government has elicited many comments in the home and foreign Press, mostly all favorable. There were courtesy visits exchanged between London and Rome during the reigns of Queen Victoria and King Edward, while a special mission was entrusted to Sir Linton Simmons for regulating certain questions of religious jurisdiction at Malta. There has also been a political mission, for Sir George Errington was commissioned to visit the Vatican for the purpose of informing Leo XIII. on the Nationalist movement in Ireland. These missions, however, were of an unofficial character. The present is the first time that diplomatic relations have been formally established between England and the Holy See since the Reformation. The French Catholic papers are asking urgently whether France 'intends, to follow the example of Great Britain. There are rumors that negotiations are going on, but nothing definite is publicly known on the matter. The French anti-cleri-cals, of course, feel greatly annoyed, and the Daily News, in a leading article, mildly re-echoes their grumbling. It complains that the French Government was not consulted. England has done and is doing a great deal for France, but she does not intend to say ' By your leave’ to the Freethinkers who constitute the French Government before deciding on a policy which concerns her own interests.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

There has been a further marked decline in the number of voluntary elementary schools in England and Wales, but happily this statement, does not apply to the Catholic voluntary schools, which have actually increased. During the year ended July, 1913, there were added to the recognised list, eight Catholic schools, with 1715 places. On the other hand, there were removed from the recognised list 55 Church of England schools, with 9937 places, six Wesleyan, with 2161 places, and 14 undenominational, with 2873 places. 1 here were also transferred to local education authorities 25 Cluuch of England schools, with 4446 places, eight Wesleyan, with 2438 places, and eight undenominational, with 1682 places. Penalised though they are, not a single Catholic school has been surrendered to the local authorities, while the total has been considerably enlarged, out of the money of the Catholic population.

FRANCE

A SIGN OF THE TIMES. The correspondent of the limes at Nancy says the appointment of military chaplains in I ranee is an outward and visible sign- of the partial closing of the breach between Church and State. He mentions the act of President Poincare in decorating Seem Julie, of Gerbeviller, with the Cross of the Legion of Honor and a recent Gazette gives the name of Sochi Maiie Rosnet, another hospital Superior, as worthy of special honor.

PETTY TYRANNY OF THE CENSORS.

The marked advance made by the Church in France during the past four months has aroused the fears and the anger of the members of the Government who are most hostile to Christianity. They are alarmed for their power and their salaries, dreading the advent of the day when the Catholics will unitedly take the held as politicians and deprive them of their offices. Their mode of exercising the censorship (says the Catholic Times) illustrates their narrow and unpatriotic intolerance. Mostly all the members of the Cens.or s staff are, as M. Clemenceau, himself an anti-clerical, has declared, Jews and. Freemasons., If any Catholic

/ • .... sentiment appears. in an article it is remorselessly scored out. ■ M. Ernest Judet, the editor of the Eclair, a brilliant writer, has suffered thus on several occasions. In articles which, from the purely military point of view, did - not afford the remotest excuse , for suppression, ;he mentioned the Holy Father’s Encyclical or made reference to some other topic of Catholic interest. . That was enough for the Censor. The articles were ruthlessly excised. Not a single line of what M. Judet had written appeared. Naturally enough this potty tyranny has aroused the indignation of the editor of the Eclair and other Catholics, and has strengthened their resolve to replace the anti-Christian bigots of the Ministry by Christian statesmen as soon as possible after the termination of the war.

ROME

AN OLD ROMAN SOCIETY

The members of the society entitled 11 Circolo. SPietro ’ have been received in audience by the Holy Father (says a Rome correspondent). This society is the oldest of the Roman societies of the kind, and embraces, in a manner, all that is best in the various societies of Rome. Its special care is religious work in Rome. It attends to the diffusion of the Gospel, to the instruction in the Sunday schools, to the care of the youth who have lately left school, and to the collecting of Peter’s Pence in the Roman churches. It looks to the care of poor pilgrims to Rome, and provides cheap dinners and cheap lodgings for the pious poor; in fact, there is no limit to its active charity. When Benedict XV. was only a humble priest engaged in official work he was an energetic member of 1 II Circolo di S. Pietro.’ When he received the promotion his merits demanded, he still took parkin the labors of this thoroughly charitable institution. • •

SCOTLAND

CATHOLICS AT THE FRONT.

As many as 425 members of St. Mirin’s congregation, Paisley, have now joined the colors to fight for their country, civilisation, and liberty (says the Catholic Herald). A proportionately large number of St. Mary’s congregation have enlisted, and these, together with about 63 from the parish of St. Charles’, Paisley., make a total that equals, if it does not surpass, the number of non-Catholics who have rallied to the standard from the town of Paisley.

UNITED STATES

THE ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO,

The Most Reverend Patrick Riordan, Archbishop of San Francisco, died on December 27, after an illness of but five days. The Archbishop was born in New Brunswick, in 184 and spent his boyhood in Chicago. After his college course at Notre Dame, the future Archbishop entered the American College, Rome, and completed his education at Louvain, where he won the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology in 1864. After his ordination in 1865, he returned to Chicago, taught theology in the old diocesan seminary, and for many years was engaged in pastoral work in the diocese. In 1883, he was consecrated Coadjutor to the see of Sail Francisco, to which he succeeded in the following yeas. His Grace was a true pastor of his flock. During the years of his administration, many new parishes were opened, educational institutes for young men and women were founded and promoted, and ample provision for the future priests of the diocese was made by the excellent diocesan seminary at Menlo Park. In 1902, the Archbishop appeared as plaintiff before the Hague International Arbitration Court, in a suit against the Mexican Government for the settlement of the Pious Fund. This case, one of the first, if not the first, reviewed by that tribunal was decided in favor of, the Church in California. ,