The Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 1 June 1916, Page 39

The Catholic World

ENGLAND THE MARI ST FATHERS. A Marist Father, who is well known in Dublin (writes a London correspondent), has just been appointed Superior of St. Mary’s Hill, Paignton, going there from the Marist house at Kew, London. Father Patrick, Gunning was for five years after his ordination in the Marist College, Dublin, and also at Dundalk, from whence he was transferred to London to labor in the East End: . From East London he went to West London, and at Kew he was stationed for four years, and at the end of that time was sent to Paignton, where he remained for two years. Strange to say, he .was .transferred to Kew from Paignton, and now he returns to Paignton as Superior, from Kew, and also as rector of the mission. FRANCE EVIDENCE OF A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL. The French Premier’s assurance to the gentlemen who waited on him to denounce the campaign set on foot by the anti-clericals affords excellent testimony to the reality of the religious revival in France. Doubtless, M. Briand felt that it was only right to condemn the attacks on the Catholic clergy and laity as being . unjust and wicked. But for the condemnation there was needed moral courage of which M. Briand and other French Prime Ministers have in recent times given little evidence. For years before the war journalistic campaigns against the clergy and the Church were common. The foulest libels were .published to their detriment. The Government, instead of protecting the innocent, often sympathised with and encouraged the guilty. We ( Catholic Times) feel sure that the change in the Government’s attitude is to be attributed to the change which has taken place in the sentiments of the people. Protection is now offered to the Catholics because it is recognised that they are a powerful force and that their complaints cannot be disregarded without serious peril to the Ministry. We trust the Catholics will bear this in mind and compel the Government to punish the enemies of religion who in their anxiety to injure the Catholic Church stoop ‘to the basest artifices. A DAY OF INTERCESSION. The gathering at Montmartre which crowned the three days’ intercessory prayer prescribed by Cardinal Amette was extremely impressive. Over 1200 men of all ranks and ages took part in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament ; they succeeded each other during the hours of the night, and all received Holy Communion. The big basilica was crowded on the Sunday long before the arrival of the Cardinal, and outside patiently stood or knelt those who had been unable to gain an entrance. The unconverted French Government was, of course, unrepresented at this truly national demonstration; but there ■ were delegates from the different academies and an imposing group of senators, deputies, . councillors, officers, and soldiers, all of whom followed the procession carrying lighted tapers. The most solemn moment in the day’s ceremony was when the Cardinal went through the open doors of the great entrance and stood on the platform outside. Here he held the golden, monstrance high above the restless city that lay at his feet, a city whose Government remains hostile to the Church, but

whose people, touched by anxiety and sorrow, are at the present. moment, humbly turning to Him whoso hand alone can assist and save them at a crucial point of their history During the days, that preceded the final ceremony the Paris churches were crowded, those especially that, like Notre Dame des Victoires, are the favorite shrines of the Parisians at all times/ There is no doubt that a powerful wave of intercession ascended towards heaven from the heart of the nation, and on the . Thursday, especially devoted to little children, it was an impressive sight to watch these little ones, many of them in deep mourning, flock in crowds to the Communion table. Their innocent faces were solemn and recollected, as if, poor mites, they too realised that their country was in danger and their best-beloved ones exposed to death.

ROME THE HOLY FATHER AND WAR PRISONERS. Through Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris, the. Holy Father has received a letter from Baron d’Anthouard, Minister Plenipotentiary accredited to the depots of the prisoners of war by the French War Office, cordially thanking his Holiness, on behalf of the Federation of Helpers of the Prisoners of War, for what he has done for the sick war prisoners who are receiving hospitality in Switzerland. Through the same medium a letter to the same purport has reached him from the Duchess d’.Uzes, President of the Society of Help for Wounded Soldiers, and the Baronue de Perthuis, who wrote in the name of the women of France. Cardinal Gasparri has written to Cardinal Amette expressing the satisfaction with which the Holy Father has received* the letters and conveying the Apostolic Benediction" from his Holiness to all on whose behalf they , were sent.

PENITENTIAL PROCESSION AT ST. PETER’S. N For several years no gathering in St. Peter’s assumed such dimensions as that of Thursday, March 30, when the people of Rome went to .the mighty basilica for the procession of penance. From early morning a stream of the faithful visited the sacred edifice, praying before the great Crucifix in front of the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles (writes a Roifie correspondent). At 5 p.m. the great procession began to move from the sacristy of St. Peter’s to the crypt where the Crucifix stood, and then it proceeded slowly down the nave between dense lines of reverent spectators. The order was as follows: First came the young men’s societies of the city, the parochial committees, the Catholic associations, the confraternities and ' archconfraternities, and the Third Order of St. Francis, all bearing lighted torches, and wearing their respective habits or badges. The secular and regular clergy of the city followed, and immediately after the Crucifix was borne on the shoulders of the members of the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Crucifix of St. Marcello. Next , marched the Chapter and the clergy attached to St. Peter’s. During the procession the ‘Miserere,’ the ‘ Stabat Mater,’ the ‘ Vexilla Regis,’ and the Litany of the Saints were chanted. The procession over and the Crucifix placed at the Crypt of St. Peter, the * Proteste’ to the Five Wounds of Our Lord were recited. Then the blessing was given with the Greater Relics of the Passion, viz., part of the True Cross and of the Crown of Thorns, the Spear-Head which the Roman centurion thrust into the side of Christ hanging on the Cross, and the sacred napkin which Veronica offered to Jesus to wipe His brow on the way to Calvary.