The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 21 October 1915, Page 55

The Catholic World

ENGLAND A PRINCESS PROFESSED AT RYDE. Princess Cica de Bourbon Parma made her profession as a nun at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Cecilia, Ryde, Isle of Wight, on Sunday, August 15, in the presence of his Lordship the Bishop of Portsmouth. Prince Sixte and Prince Xavier, her brothers, who are serving as officers in the Belgian army in Flanders, made a special visit to Ryde to attend the ceremony. FRANCE A CHANGE OF RESIDENCE. Through his Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri, the Holy Father has written to the Bishop of Arras, expressing deep regret at the ruin of his episcopal city as a result of the awful conflict that is going on, sympathising with the prelate and his flock, and giving his consent to the temporary removal of the Bishop's residence from Arras. Two cities were mentioned by the Bishop as being suitable for his new provisional residence—Boulogne and St. Omer —and his Holiness agrees to the selection of either of them for the purpose.

HONORS FOR A BISHOP. Four bishops are serving in the French Army. One of them, Mgr. Ruch, the Coadjutor of the Bishop of Nancy, now acting as chaplain to the military Red Cross Corps, and recently created Knight of the Legion of Honor, has now been placed on the order of the day of the Army in the following terms: —"Occupying unostentatiously a modest position, notwithstanding his high dignity, Mgr. Ruch lias given proof of untiring activity and devotion, since the very beginning of the campaign, and especially in the course of the recent engagements. He has won the respectful affection of all by bis visits to the men in the trenches, in seeking "the wounded on the battlefield, by his night watching in the ambulances, and his calm courage.'

LOURDES IN WAR TIME. The aspect of Lourdes at the present moment is very different from that which it has worn for so many years at this season of the year (writes a Paris correspondent). There are no tourists or simple spectators, but there are thousands of people, all absorbed in prayer. The great National Pilgrimage had to be suppressed on account of the war, but the delegates who arrived by the ordinary trains from all parts of France represent the country. The dominant character of the delegates is described as that of religious composure and fervent prayer for the Church, for Prance, for the Allied armies, for 'the soldiers who have died for their country, and for the wounded.

ITALY ARMY TRAVELLING CHAPELS. Italians have answered very promptly the appeal made for religious help for the army and navy (writes a Rome correspondent), for all -understood that private charity would be needed to supplement any aid from the Government, so that portable altars in sufficient number, and all the accessories for sacred worship and the administration of the Sacraments, are at the front or on the vessels. An adequate quantity of linen will be 4['" r forwarded as wanted. The lion, president is Princess Letitia, and the other committees of.each city are associated to the first one, begun at Turin. From Rome several bishops went day after day to the Collegio Capranica to consecrate the altar stones as well as the chalices, and it was certainly wonderful that in a little more than a month the complete furnishing of these little travelling chapels could be accomplished and no detail overlooked.

* ROME - - THE SACRED COLLEGE; . I The death of his Eminence Cardinal Vaszary/ Primate of Hungary, has reduced the membership of the Sacred College to fifty-six—fourteen, less than the full number. Of these twenty-six are Italian and thirty foreign. Were it not for the war it is" probable that a Consistory would be held in the near, future. As it is, no one knows when the Holy Father will decide to fill the vacancies in the Sacred College. RELIGIOUS OF THE SACRED HEART. Since the great war, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, having to change the Mother House from Brussels, have established it for the time being at Villa Lante, Rome. On August 14 (says a Rome correspondent) seventeen nuns made their final solemn vows before Cardinal Merry del Val, the Protector of their Order, and on the 15th sixteen others performed the same solemn act before Cardinal Bisleti. * SWITZERLAND THE BLESSINGS OF PEACE. A Freiburg message says that the Holy Father has addressed to the Swiss Episcopate a letter "in which his Holiness says that more than once he has turned his thoughts to the Swiss people, and that he feels and fully understands how much the Swiss owe in the first place to Divine Providence, and also to the wisdom of their rulers for having been able to retain the blessings of peace. He acknowledges the joy expressed' by the Bishops in seeing the Swiss statesmen associating themselves with his action and his efforts in favor of peace, and places on record the ardent desire of the Episcopate that this collaboration should be knit closer together. UNITED STATES SEVEN IN RELIGION. An interesting finale to a remarkable sequence of events occurred recently at. Notre Dame Convent, Grandin road, Cincinnati, when Miss Martha Hickey took her final vows and was received into the Order, under the name of Sister Marie Immaculata. Archbishop Moeller was present at the exercises of reception. Miss Hickey is the last of a family of seven children to enter the religious life of the Church. The brothers, five in number, who are priests, are— John F. Hickey, pastor of Church of the Holy Name, Cincinnati : Revs. William D. and Charles A. Hickey, of Dayton : Rev. Edward C. Hickey, of Middletown* and Rev. George F. Hickey, of Urbana. The other sister, Miss Mary Hickey, has for some time been a Sister of Notre Dame, her name in religion being Sister Mary Annunciata. A MASTER OF MANY LANGUAGES. Bishop J. M. Koudelka, of Superior, Wis., on Juno 20 confirmed a class and preached in English and Italian. On the afternoon of the same day he confirmed another class, preaching in English, French, and Gelrman. Probably this linguistic performance is considered as a matter of- course in Bishop Koudelka's diocese (remarks an exchange), but there are few American prelates who can duplicate this feat.