Here and There

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 4, 24 January 1924, Page 33

Here and There

\ 'Back to Old Ireland—The Rev. D. Courtney, St. Louis, U.8.A., is at present on a visit to. his parents in Puckane, Nenagh. He ■ officiated at the funeral obsequies of •' his uncle, Mr, Michael Courtney, Knigh, who died at the age of 91 years. t

t Irish Priests in Scotland. Rev. Father J. Gilmartin, C.M., of St. Peter’s, Phibsboro’, Dublin,, has been appointed rector of St. Mary’s Vincentian Church, Lanark. Those who remembered Father Gilmartin when he ministered many years ago in Lanark were delighted to welcome him' back to St. Mary’s. The Rev. Father Mclntyre, of St. : Peter’s, Patrick, has been recalled to his native diocese, Raphoe; and Father Mulholland, of St. Anthony’s, . Govan, has deft the city for his native diocese, Derry.

Famous Italia^,; Priest’s Heroic Vow. —Interesting news comes from Rome, where Don Lorenzo Perosi, the famous Italian priest, whose musical compositions caused such a tremendous stir some twenty years ago, is reported to have decided -to abandon composition and throw himself, heart and soul into the -study of religious reformation. Don Lorenzo’s meteoric rise to fame will be remembered by many, but much of his composition is unknown .to - the present-day - concert public. His reason for abandoning music is no less remarkable than his extraordinary fame. “When I set about composition,” he is reported to have said, “my pen simply runs along”—an attribute which many of- our modern “pot-boiling” crew would give much to f possess. But Don Lorenzo, like the true artist he. is, has decided.that, rather than give the world flimsy facility, he will give ;it nothing at all and hold his peace for ever more. An heroic attitude the full force of which is at first difficult to realise. Would that more possessed it!

“T.P.” Back in Harness Again.—Mr. T. P. O’Connor, who returned to London on Monday,on the conclusion of a month’s holiday at Zichy, has some strenuous journalistic and political work in front of him for the next month or two. As already stated, the veteran journalist is about ,to bring out another weekly paper on the lines of those which he popularised some twenty years ago. The prepaiarions for the first issue are well advanced, but no definite date has yet been fixed. In the political sphere Mr. O’Connor is to exert himself in the promotion of a campaign'in London and throughout the great industrial centres where there are large Irish populations, with the object of propagating branches of the new Irish organisation—the Irish Democratic Leaguewhich is to supply the place in Irish political and . social life in this country filled for ever a generation, I by ■ the now dissolved United Irish League of Great Britain.

Mrs. Randolph Hearst and Pres. Cosgrave.—Mr. C. F. Bertelli, Staff Correspondent of the New York American, telegraphing from Paris, sthtes; —“I have the r feeling "that 1 1 have l witnessed the birth of a nation,” said Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, on her arrival here from Kilkenny* Castle, Ireland, where-she has been a guest for the last week. Mrs. Hearst continued: “I am astonished and delighted ' with the progress Ireland has, made since peace came. The railways are running normally,’the towns are quiet, and business is better than it has been for years. “The very manner of the people reflects an air of . prosperity, peace, and contentment greater than I had dared to * expect. The little nation is going through a process now, comparable to that which made the United States; a great cohesive force in the world.” . Mrs. Hearst was eloquent in her deep admiration for President Cosgrave, with whom she ' witnessed the dedication , of a new bridge at Mallow,- which had, been destroyed during the civil war. Of»him Mrs. Hearst said; “President Cosgrave- is one of ■the most remarkable men I ever met. He is simply adored by the Irish; Everywhere he is given credit as the-man who brought order out of chaos. I have not words with which to express my deep regard for the man who has given"*lreland its rebirth.” f The Anniversary - of Owen Roe. Tuesday was .the--274th anniversary of -the»death of Owen Roe O’Neill, one

of the greatest commanders Ireland ever produced. His death occurred at Clogh Qughter. Castle, in Trinity Island, Co. Cavan, on November 6, 1649, and he was interred in the Franciscan H Friary, Cavan, where, ; sad f to relate, ho stone marks his grave. ' fine Latin epitaph to his memory will be found in the.llihuccini MSS., commencing; -

Rie facet ille iny ens'patriae defensor O’Nellus, NohUis ingenio,i sanguinis, Marta, fide, Qni genus et 1 mdgni'mensuram stemmatis inpleno, Per •» suos’Catholicos arma prohavit avas.

Thus i-translated by ■ the late Father ' Meehan: Herd rests that high-born chief, the great O’Neill. His country’s' firm defender and its shield; His valor proved on many a famous field, ■„ His faith attested by his burning zeal.. The time is surely ripe for a suitable monument to Owen Roe’s memory. ,• s -! • ",

In celebration of his 75th birthday, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., was on-Monday-night entertained at a complimentary dinner at 'the Savoy Hotel, London. The Marquis Curzon - of- Kedleston (Foreign Secretary) presided over a representative gathering, which included his Highness the Maharaja of . Almar and , the Ambassadors of America, France/ Spavin, Japan, China, Roumania, and Poland; Lord Hewart,. Lord Chief Justice; Viscount Burnham, Lord Derby, Lord Waring, Lord Dewar, Lord Carson, Lord Marshall, Mr. Winston Churchill, Sir William. Joynson Hicks, M.P. (Minister of ; Health), Mr. Clement Shorter, Mr. Edgar Wallace, Sir Squire Bancroft, Sir H. Fairfax Lucy, Sir EdVaJd Marshall, Hall,' K.C.; Sir John Simon, K.C., M.P.; Sir ’Walter De Frece, M.P.; Sir lan Macpherson, M.P.; Mr; McCurdy, M.P.; Judge Parry, Sir Leslie Scott, K.C., M.P.; Sir James Yoxall, Mr. Ben Tillett, M.P.; Mr. Ronald McNeill, ( M.P, (Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs), Mr. J. Mr Hogge, M.P., and many others. Prior to the dinner Lord Curzon unveiled in the Mirror Room a bust' of Abraham Lincoln, presented by Mr. O’Connor. In a brief ' address' he alluded to the close association of the room with America," and particularly to the work done in it by Americans during the war. Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, his lordship said he belonged not alone to America, nor to the English-speaking people, but was the property of ‘ humanity. ‘ ;' ' , “Sprightly^ Young Journalist.” proposing • the toast of “Our Guest,”, the chairman ■; said they were ‘met to do honor to a sprightly young journalist who, at the age of 75, had assumed the editorship of a new journal and was about to brave the hazards of Fleet Street, They wished their young friend success in his endeavor,-; but any apprehension they might feel on that point was relieved by ??the , knowledge that hq . had done exactly ; the same thing 50 years ago, and had been doing the-same- thing; at regular intervals since. (Laughter.) This young novice was really the Nestor of British journalism, and-'was far the,-most- competent, the most popular and successful journalist in the United .Kingdom. (Applause.) They mighty regard him as a politician, a member of Parliament, as the present Father of the House of Commons, and as a statesman of European character and reputation. “John Ayscough.”—There is bad news from France regarding ' Mgr. Bickerstaffe-Drew, better known throughout the English-speaking world under his pen-name of “John Ayscough,” who has been stricken with paralysis at St. Mala, where he had gone to recuperate from heart trouble, brought on by his strenuous duties during the war as chaplain to the forces. A convert and the son of a distinguished Anglican cleric, the Monsignor is perhaps one of the best-known novelists of the day—the fact of his being a Catholic priest notwithstanding. His Gracechurch books have that old-world charm and romance that make the novels of Mrs. Gaskell still live. But in the opinion of 1 , the critics his San Celestiqio, which revolves about the Pontificate' of,the. hermit Pope, St. Clement V., is one of the greatest literary successes of.this generation. . ...