PEOPLE WE HEAR ABOUT

New Zealand Tablet, 14 February 1918, Page 33

PEOPLE WE HEAR ABOUT

-.... ..' *' r.. . - ’ ' ' ,hi : The venerable Franciscan of Wexford, Ireland, - Rev. J. J. Roche, 0.F.M., has received numerous congratulations attaining his x ninety-third year. He s . is uncle f to the Bishop of Ossory and granduncle of Rev. J. Rossittep, administrator, Enniscorthy. An important Catholic personality - has passed away in Austria in the j person - of Mgr. Janez Krek, whose - , .sudden death £ took > place recently at Vienna. Mgr, Krek was well-knoWn as a prominent Slovene patriot. ~ A strong supporter of the union of the Serbs, Croats, and Slavs, he was one of the most brilliant and effective orators of the Reichsrath, in which he held a seat. /I Not only an Anglican nun for the greater portion of her life, but actually for a period of 23 ; years a recluse in her community, Miss Pemberton, an American lady, whose home,was in the Southern States, has recently been received into the Church. During many years of her life as a religious without the fold, her lot was one of doubts and misgivings as to her position, her thoughts continually turning to Rome.; and it was a happy circumstance that, at the last, a one-time sister of the same Anglican community, who h a d already found her true abiding place, was able to help her to - resolve all her doubts and to take , the decisive step leading to peace. Miss Pemberton was brought up as a “Low Church” Anglican, but her sympathies went out to the more advanced, or “High” element in that Church when she was quite young. Father Matimn, I in his Anglican days, was at one time minister in charge of/ St. Clement’s.. Church, Philadelphia, and here at that time she made her first confession as an Anglican. Coming to England, she entered the All Saints’ Sisterhood,,St. Margaret Street, London, S.W., making her profession as an Anglican nun in 1885. She was sent out to the Sisterhood at Baltimore, U.S.A., but was recalled to England in two years, on account of ‘Roman /temptations.” She was then sent to Cowley, Ox- • ford, which is under the direction of the Cowley Fathers, but her doubts and difficulties were not dispelled. Yielding to a great longing she had to live the life of a recluse, and thinking that she would get over her Romeward tendencies if she followed such a life, she obtained two rooms in the convent, separated from the rest of the community. After the lapse of five years, in 1899, on the advice of one of the Cowley Fathers, she took a life-vow of enclosure, a very uncommon thing in the Church of England. Thus for a further period of 18 years she led the life of a solitary, but she never found rest. Father Maturin found his way into the haven of the Church, but she was kept back for years, the question of her vow being raised. Eventually early last year she corresponded with a former sister of ‘ her community, but long since a Catholic and now Mother Superior of a Sussex Convent, and, with her aid, she solved all her doubt and was received into the Church on the eve of All Saints’ Day by Monsignor Ottley of Hove, making her First Holy Communion on the day of the festival. She is now quietly awaiting divine guidance as to her future vocation. . . Recently in St. . James’ Cathedral, Seattle, Washington, a Jesuit priest, one of America’s sturdiest missionaries, was consecrated titular-Bishop of Ammedera (says an exchange). The man upon whom this honor fell was .Right Rev. Joseph Raphael Crimont,. S.J., D.D., newly .appointed : X^car- Apostolic of Alaska / j Many prelates participated in the impressive ceremony, Most Rev. Alexander Christie, -D.D., Archbishop of Oregon City, being the consecrator. To obtain a story of the life and work of Bishop Crimont, a sturdy son of Loyola, you must go into the land of the Midnight Sun, where he has labored, and there you will fjnd it engraved in deep and indelible characters across the rugged land and rugged souls which he has labored to reclaim to Almighty God. The story is there, and it/* is pure gold, but you must dig it from the frozen ribs I of. the Northland as the miner does . the precious: metal —you cannot get.-it from his lips. It : was in 1858, in Picardy, France, v that Rishop Crimont was born. His -

life work > was planned early. At twelve he entered / the Jesuit 'Colleger-bin-' 1875 i ; - he -entered'' the Society / of Jesus at St. Acheul, where he studied for seven ( years. ola 1886 he came to Woodstock, Md., and two years later was ordained a priest by Cardinal Gibbons. .. Several -years were then spent ias a missionary J among J the Crow Indians, and in-1894, he was sent to Alaska. X "In 1901 he was called to the presidency of Gonzaga I College at Spokane/ which. made great strides under his scholarly direction. In 1904 he was called back to ■ Alaska to succeed Father J. B. Rene as Prefect. Apos- ‘ tolic. . , ' - ‘ r ■ Holy Cross Mission, on the Lower/Yukon, aboutX 400 miles from St. Michael, . was (where; Bishop Crimont began his first labors in Alaska.. Nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed ; and his ‘ labors %: have borne rich fruit. . i Seward ; dream—fantastic as the Northern: Lights in ’67 — been realised. 1 Alaska has made wonderful progress in civilising her great territory and the Gross - has ever been in the van. .-■ The; Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska comprises a , territory equal in size to that of all the States east of the Mississippi River. ■ Its 'broad expanse is dotted here and there with permanent churches and mission stations, administered by twentytwo priests of the Society of Jesus. - There are, moreover, ten lay Brothers, of the Society /and - fifty-seven Sisters of Charity, of Providence/ of St., Ann, St. Joseph of Peace, and the Ursuline Nuns, who conduct six;- hospitals, four . boarding .schools,- five day schools', and an orphanage. The ; number of , children cared forcin' these; institutions; totals 428. During/ Bishop Cri- . mont s administration, as Prefect Apostolic there have been built modern hospitals at Fairbanks', and / Seward , an up-to-date parish school at Juneau, beautiful edifices of -worship at Valdez, v Cordova, Seward,/Anchorage, and Iditarod, besides which many mission stations have , been erected and six others are now in course of construction. . 'i - - , ■ , -' The appointment of Professor Hewins as Undersecretary . for the Colonies will prove interesting news to his fellow-Catholics in all . political camps (states the Glasgow Observer). .•/ To Catholic Conservatives/and Catholic non-politicians the announcement will be more than welcome. To Catholic Radicals it will, for poli- / tical reasons, be. somewhat so. The. London correspondent of the Glasgow Herald, commenting'on/ the appointment, wrote : “Mr. Hewins is one of the greatest authorities on Imperial trade relations. His speeches in -Parliament have always been characterised by • a profound knowledge of the subject, and a skill in deductive argument which have won the admiration of. Tariff Reformers ancj. Free -Traders alike.” / it :: ■( ;■>/- The Catholic Who's Who gives some interesting particulars regarding Mr. Hewins, ’ who is a Wolverhampton man and an Oxford student. He became Director of the London School of Economics in- 1895, when he was only 30 years of age, and two years, later Professor of Economics and Statistics in. King’s College, ' London. In 1900 he became a member of the Senate of London University. 1 ; Having acted as ’ secretary of 3 the Tariff Commission, he became Unionist M.P. for ' Hereford City in 1912. In the five years he has been in Parliament he has made a distinct ’mark as one of the ablest advocates of .the dubious principles of Tariff |. Reform. He is a Tariff Reformer first and foremost, lp / and his inclusion in the Ministry at this juncture will ' be regarded on that account , as a somewhat ominouslcircumstance at least by Free Traders, who are becoming sadly'aware day after day that we have prac- 1 tically a ‘Protectionist Government in power. qdX■/ • h » ’ ■ —== 11 ■' -.1