Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 36, 3 September 1924, Page 47

Catholic World

CARDINAL GASPARRI FELICITATED, Cardinal Gasparri's name-day brought to the Secretary of State telegrams of felicitation from all parts of the world (says Catholic News Service, London, for July 7). The Holy Father sent his Secretary a special memento in the shape of a fine photograph, to which the Pope had added a dedication written. in his own hand. The Secretariate of State had its own congratulations to offer, and Mgr. Pizzardo, speaking on behalf of the entire department, offered congratulations to its chief. CARDINAL BOURNE AT WEMBLEY. The hundred thousand or so .visitors to the Wembley Exhibition on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, had the unique privilege of seeing a Cardinal of the Church dedicate a Catholic place of worship in the British Empire Exhibition grounds. The little church of the Holy Apostles was blessed by the Cardinal Archbishop, in whose presence Mass was celebrated 'by Mgr. Dunn, Prefect-Apostolic of Borneo. Besides the many clergy present, there took part the Catholic Commissioners of Malta, St. Lucia, West Indies, Quebec, and Ceylon. After an address on the significance of the oratory, Cardinal Bourne blessed the Stations of the Cross that have been canonically erected in tho church. The building is quite small, but during the opening day it was visited by more than four thousand persons, and the number of visitors increases daily. It is certainly the first time on record that any British exhibition of this kind'" has had a Catholic chapel with daily Mass and the Blessed Sacrament reserved, standing within its grounds. "It is a rare thing nowadays," Cardinal Bourne said in his dedicatory address, "in any place under British rule, for any hindrance to be placed in the way of the Catholic Church in carrying out -her mission; throughout the Empire and its Dominions indeed, we are allowed to go on, spreading the Gospel 'and knowledge and worship of God, in the Church's own way, without hampering or hindrance." MADONNA IS CROWNED ON ST. PETER'S STEPS. One of those public religious ceremonies in whichßome delights took place in the plaza of St. Peter's when, at an altar erected on the steps of St. Peter's, Cardinal Merry del Val pontificated at the solemn coronation of Our Lady, of Grace. An enormous crowd had gathered for the ceremony; perhaps an abnormally large crowd, for a rumor had gone round that the H-oly Father was going to assist at the ceremony from an open balcony at the Vatican overlooking the square. Cardinal Merry del Val, as Arch priest of St. Peter's, performed the ceremony, and assisting were Cardinals Tacci,, Scapinelli, Galli, S.ilj, the Chapter of St. Peter's, numerous clergy and large numbers of Catholic associations. .-,'." After the ceremony on St. Peter's steps a procession was formed to escort the statue back to the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazic. Thousands joined in this procession, 'which took its way through the thickly populated' Prati quarter, which at night was-brilliantly illuminated in honor of Our Lady of Grace. ALSATIAN CATHOLICS ALARMED. Considerable alarm, not to say indignation, is being felt amongst the Catholic population in Alsace, in respect of the policy announced by the new Government, which proposes to recall the Embassy to the Holy See and put into force the laws against the religious Orders. ; Strasbourg, with its Catholic Committee that was founded for religious defence purposes at about the time of the Franco-Prussian War, has duly taken notice of the intentions" of the Government, and has called upon that Government to renounce .those of\ its; projects which will

inevitably Te-open Teligious strife and discord in Alsace. The consequences of such an attempt in Alsace and Lor-raine,-so the- Committee warns the Government, would be of the utmost gravity. At Mulhouse the French Patriotic League, which numbers many members of considerable influence, has also pro- ; tested, .declaring that its protest is directed: '-.' (1) Against the application of the secularist laws, which would be the suppression of our religious liberties, of our schools, of our manners and customs guaranteed by the officiary representatives of the Government: Joffre, Foch, Barthou, Poincare and others, and a crying injustice against the religious Orders of all categories and throughout the .country; . (2) Against an assimilation which would be such as might be applied to a "conquered" people of "inferior" culture v (3) Against the conduct of the chiefs of a majority that is hostile to religion; conduct which would expose the country to trouble, and a great and glorious nation to the! scorn and derision of its enemies. Thcprotest ends by declaring that the League will use every lawful means to meet the menace which threatens the land so dear to its heart. M. Jonnart, the. former Ambassador to the Vatican intends.to press home his parliamentary opposition to suppressing the Vatican Embassy. M. Jonnart takes the line that as the two Chambers voted the credits for the re-estabfishmont of the Vatican Embassy, the new Government has no right to go back on that vote without consulting Parliament. The answer of the Radicals to this is that as M. Briand, who was then Prime IMinister, reestablished the Embassy by a simple decree and placed the Chambers in the presence of an accomplished fact, and that the, Poincare Cabinet did not demand the credits until some months later, there' is nothing to prevent the new Government from taking the same line of action. CAUSE OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS." The Ecclesiastical Court now sitting at Westminster under the presidency of Cardinal Bourne, and instituted by direction of the Holy See, is engaged in sifting and collating the evidence of martyrdom of 252 English Catholics who suffered for the Faith under Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and James I. Politically the offence charged against the Martyrs was high treason. But high treason was an easv matter under Henry VIII., when it consisted in refusing to acknowledge the king as supremo head of the Church. Under Elizabeth it was high treason for a Catholic priest to be .in England at all, or for a lay person to receive absolution at the hands of a priest. Every class in English life is represented. Many of the Martyrs were priests, but there were others—peers, knights, country squires, lawyers, schoolmasters, .merchants, tradesmen, and servants. One was a [printer, another a tailor, an innkeeper's servant, a groom. Three were women, one a young unmarried London girl. "At .Westminster Cathedral," declares Canon Burton, "there are huge masses of records, and amongst them have been found accounts of the life and execution of very many martyrs. "When the persecutions were going on, Catholics who had fled to colleges on the Continent received from their friends in England accounts, some bare and some detailed, cf the arrest and execution of priests and laymen. References to i the execution of a certain Catholic have I'een found in' letters to no fewer than seven different refugees on the Continent, As these letters agree in substance, they form valuable evidence as to the. circumstances of the martyrdom. : The Westminster Court is now hearing evidence from bishops, ; clergy and laypeople. Some give evidence gathered from their personal historical researches made both at home : and on the continent; others pass considered opinion on the, weight and value of certain specified evidence. Some of the martyrs died in prison of- cruel treatment and torture;,but nearly all the 252 were hanged, drawn and quartered, in most instances the, sentences being Carried out with the 1 utmost cruelty. One of the women martyrs,. Blessed Margaret Clitheroe of York/ suffered by being pressed to death by heavy weights. »•*•• "'