Obituary

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 42, 26 October 1922, Page 45

Obituary

MBS. ANN QUIN, PAHAUTANUI. 1 ' Another of the band of pioneers in the person of Mrs. Ann Quin, passed away suddenly at Pahautanui on the 4th inst. (writes a correspondent). The late Mrs. Quin ■ came to New Zealand 57 years ago, arriving with her husband and two children, and for 34 years lived on the West Coast. Her husband predeceased her some ten years ago. Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of deceased was celebrated by Rev. Father Griffen, Rev. Father Fitzgibbon, of Levin, being also present. Of a family , of five sons and three daughters, three sons and one daughter survive to mourn their loss. —R.I.P. MR. MARCUS FALVEY, MASTERTON. There passed away on the 2nd-inst., at the residence of his sister (Mrs. H. J. O’Leary, Masterton), Mr. Marcus Falvey, (writes a correspondent). The. late Mr. Falvey was born in Co. Kerry, Ireland, 79 years ago, and came to' New Zealand in the year 1866. He spent most of his time in. the where he was very well* known. He came to Masterton about six years ago, where he remained until the time of his death. He had been in failing health for the past year, being confined to his bed practically the whole of the time. The last rites of the Church were administered by Rev, Father McDermott. Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul was celebrated by Rev. Father O’Leary (nephew) at nine o’clock on Wednesday morning, and the funeral took place immediately afterwards. —R.I.P. MR. MAURICE HORAN, MASTERTON. The death occurred at the Masterton Hospital on the 2nd inst. of Mr. Maurice Horan. The deceased, who had only been ill four days, .was a well known and popular resident of Masterton. The late Mr. Horan was born in Co. Kerry, Ireland, 7.4 years ago, practically the last 40 having been spent in Masterton, where he was a roadman for a great number of years. Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul, was celebrated by Rev. Father O’Leary at St. , Patrick’s Church at 9 a.m., on October 4, in the presence of a large assemblage of friends and relations. The funeral was very numerously attended, people coming from long distances to pay their last tribute to an old and esteemed resident. I might mention in passing (writes a correspondent) that Mr. Horan and Mr, Falvey had been great friends .during life, in fact they were distantly related. Born in the same parish at Home, they came to New Zealand about the same time, and during the six years Mr. Falvey had spent in Masterton, as he was unable to move about much, Mr. Horan visited him day up to within a few days of their decease. It seemed rather a coincidence that they died within a few hours of each other, were laid side by side in the church where Mass was celebrated for the repose of their souls, and, as seemed only fitting, were laid to rest side by side in the cemetary. —R.I.P.- — St. Vincent de Paul Society ST. PATRICK’S CONFERENCE, SOUTH DUNEDIN. The ninth annual meeting of St. Patrick’s Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, South Dunedin, was held in St. Patrick’s Schoolroom on last Wednesday evening week. Rev. Father Delany presided, and there was a good attendance of members. Amongst the activities mentioned in . the report for the past ; year were that 20 sewing meetings had been held, with an average attendance - of 6 members; breakfast had been provided for > the children who made their First Communion on All Saints’ Day and > on March 19 breakfast had been provided for and served to the members of the Hibernian Society on the occasion of their annual Communion. 206 visits were made to the sick in their own homes, to the Mental Hospital and to the Sanitarium. 262 new and 155 second-hand garments and other necessary articles had been distributed. The annual church collection towards the conference’s funds . < amounted to £79 12s. The principal items of expenditure ,V were groceries, £56 2s 3d p coal and firewood, £3l 3s 6d; boots, £2l 5s 3d; drapery, £24 Os 8d; sundries, 17s 6d; a "•: total of £133 9s 2d. In moving the adoption of the A , report Rev. Father Delany congratulted the members of the p ■ conference on having been instrumental in relieving a A " very considerable amount of distress. A great deal of. want and hardship' still, unfortunately, existed, and he i

felt sure the: ladies of the society would do everything possible to relieve necessitous - cases until conditions again became normal. He complimented. them on their past good work and wished them every- success during the present and future years. Following are the office-bearers: President, Mrs. J. J. Marlow; vice-president," Mrs. ’A. Nelson; treasurer and secretary, Miss S. Mulholland; ward-robe-keepers, Mrs. M: J. Roche and Miss M. Mullin; buyer, Mrs. C. Mullin. - " ' A. Jan Huss and his Modern Admirers A short time ago (writes Dr. Josef Hanus, Canon; of Prague), the Gazette de Prague, a semi-official journal that appears in French, made the following assertion in a leading article: —“Czecho-Slovakia reveres the memory .of Jan Huss in July. On this occasion speakers in all parts of the country recall the part which the great reformer took in the formation of the national conscience. The press, too, does not fail to hold up the life of Huss as an example to the nation. In that connection, the article in the Narodim Folitika by Mr. Sekanina has an interest all its own, since . it constitutes an immortal reminder of how Huss contributed to the liberation movement, of which the consummation is the Czecho-Slovak Republic.” Now in the article referred to above, Mr. Sekanina mentioned the speech which Dr. Masaryk, now the President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, made some seven years ago at Geneva. Jan Huss was there proclaimed to be the author of the national reformation; the ideal humanitarian of the 15th century, just as Tolstoy was acclaimed to be in the 19th and 20th centuries. lam not discussing the causes of the liberation of the Republic; but I wish simply to draw attention to the present-day admirers of Jan . Huss, and their manner of celebrating the anniversary of Huss’s death at Constance. In former days, under the yoke of, the Hapsburgs and the Germans, at the time of our national rebirth and during the last 50 years, Jan Huss was held up to admiration as a national hero by the Czechs as well as. by certain Catholic Liberals, because of his. resistance, to German influence and the renown he acquired from ,the ... point of view of the Czech civilisation, and not on account of his heresies and dogmatic vagaries, as some of the Protestant pastors would have other people believe, when making use of Huss’s memory to serve purely sectarian ends. Now since the Czech nation was delivered from German and Austrian domination the whole programme of the Jan Huss celebrations has changed. He has been taken up as a ready instrument for the purpose of combating the Catholic Church. Now during the recent celebrations it was certainly not a little extraordinary to hear the Free Thinker orators repeat that Jan Huss was one of the primary founders of Free Thought. The "Communists also took, him up, and lauded him as their father and founder; \ the Socialists proclaimed him to be tile author of Socialism; while even the sectaries of the apostate and schismatic socalled “Czecho-Slovak National Church,” with their married priests, asserted that Huss was their pioneer! To put it in a phrase, all these speakers made use of the occasion to carry on an inveterate campaign against .the Catholic Church, and very disingenuously suppressed all mention of the qualities for which the people revered him formerly—that is, for Jan Huss’s nationalism. As a result, the Czech people of the more reasonable sort, disgusted with these tactics, took no part in the celebrations this year. The anniversary of the death of Jan Huss, formerly observed as a. national festival and a holiday, has lost its former character and is now an ordinary working day. In Moravia, and more particularly in Slovakia,‘as well as Russian Subcarpathia, the cult of Jan Huss, hitherto unknown, amounts to nothing more than a provocation against Cath- > olicism. It is as ell to add,, particularly for the better informing of foreigners, that the Czechs are not Hussites as the Free Thinkers try to make them out to be. The Czechs are still Catholics, at least they are in, Bohemia to the extent of some 78 per cent, of the population, in spite of the • shameless propaganda against the Catholic religion that was carried on during the recent'census. The banal humanitarianism has degenerated into a mere materialism. ■ The present-day cult of Jan Huss is nothing more than an instrument in the hands of anti-clericals, and criticised by all serious-minded men, who see in it a danger to the unity of the people of the Republic. It is not without interest to add that the Communists, who affect to revere Jan Huss, • were greatly put „ out because’the Sokols, or non-religious athletic associations, refused to have anything''' to do with . the Huss celebrations. ‘ : .