Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 33, 2 September 1925, Page 55

Catholic World

'f) U.S.A. WARSHIP SAVES MISSIONARIES. v ( A Hongkong message under date, July 7 says:—There is great rejoicing in Hongkong to-day 'because the American destroyer Simpson, which had been sent to Yeungkong -■■ : to inquire into the safety of American missionaries there returned r with a party of priests and Sisters of the Maryknoll Mission. The missionaries, it developed, when the - situation became threatening, made their way to the coast to meet the rescue launch despatched for them. They were unable to attract the attention of those aboard, however, and had the disappointment of seeing it depart. They then had no recourse but to return to the mission, where it was found that the anti-foreign feeling had heightened and threatening letters were being pushed under their- doors. The next event was the arrival of the destroyer Simpson off the coast. A boat was launched, but it capsized in the heavy seas. Two sailors aboard it disappeared and it was thought that they had drowned, but both were washed ashore and succeeded in reaching the mission. That was the last scare before the whole party was taken aboard and transported to Hongkong without further incident. . PROTESTANT SERVICE AT POPE'S MEMORIAL. On Saturday, June 13, at Abbot's Langley, near Watford (a station on the L. and N.W. fine about half an hour's journey north of Euston), a memorial tablet erected by the Hertfordshire branch of the Historical Association was unveiled, its purpose being to perpetuate the tradition that Pope Adrian IV (whose name was Nicholas Breakspear) was born at Bedmond, a village close to Abbot's Langley (says the Edinburgh Catholic Herald). Although the Hertfordshire Historical Association is presumably em undenominational body,* the inauguration of this memorial tablet to a Pope of Rome was accompaii ied by a Protestant religious service. The Timesreport says: : "A short service was conducted Ivy the ... Rev. R. V. G. Shaw, Rural Dean of Watford, "and the tablet was unveiled and dedicated by the Archdeacon of St. Albans, the Hon. K. F. Gibbs, who, in a short address, said that Breakspear undoubtedly worshipped on that site, using the same creed and many of the prayers which, were familiar at the present time." - .i It will be noticed that the Archdeacon of St. Albans said that Nicholas Breakspear in his youth had been \ 'using the same i creed and many of the prayers which were familiar r at the present time." r . ' V If this reference was a reference to the Apostles' Creed, it needs no challenge. But , v ciOfeory readers may take the phrase to Vean that Breakspear professed the same * creed as does the present Archdeacon, of St; -Albans. There is little room. for much argu- & ment about that ; matter. Probably the Archdeacon belongs to that j group' of the I

English Protestant Church which calls itself , "Anglo-Catholic." Whatever it ; may call itself it is not Roman Catholic, and there is . no room for any manner or shadow of doubt that Nicholas Breakspear was what the Protestant Alliance people would call ~ a "Papist" inasmuch as he became a Roman Pope. '*. '[ GKMMKHM) JAPANESE TO HONOR JESUIT APOSTLE. A dispatch from Osaka, announces that a monument is to be erected at Yamaguchi in honor of St. Francis Xavier. A French missionary, Father Villion, found some s time ago the site of a temple which had been donated in 1551 to St. Francis Xavier by the Daymio of that time and which was used by the Saint as a residence during six months. The campaign undertaken by Father Villion to raise a monument to the Apostle of the Indies on this site has been crowned with . success. The matter is now in the hands of i a committee headed by the Prefect of Yamaguchi and of which the leading diplomatic representatives of the various countries and a large number of members of the local aristocracy are members. The Prince Regent of Japan has sent the committee his supreme approbation. The monument will be impressive iri its simplicity. On a granite base will stand a monumental cross of white marble bearing, on the arms of the cross, the bronze medallion of the Saint. At the top will be fastened a plate with a copy of the original act of donation, 1551, which, has been preserved all these years. ; . '■■'■••' '•■■ ooootKyo BELGIANS HONOR SAINT DYMPHNA. A succession of feasts to commemorate the 1325th anniversary of the arrival on Belgian soil of the Irish Princess, Saint Dymphna are now taking place in the unique town of Gheel (says a Louvain message under date June 18). The celebrations are of truly royal splendor. In the jubilee procession) held recently, bishops and prelates escorted! the relics of the Saint. Her history was represented in floats and groups of which the Irish flag and harp, and oldtime Irish costumes were prominent features. Dymphna was a young and beautiful* princess leading a Christian life at her pagan father's court in Ireland. Solicited by him to contract a union against which nature rebelled, she fled from home With a retinue of attendants and the saintly old priest Gerebernus. They put to sea in a frail skiff arid landed, after passing through a > series of adventures, upon the Belgian coast, near * Antwerp. Penetrating into the interior, they travelled until they reached a point in what is now the tow:nship of Gheel, where they pitched their tents and thought themt ~ selves safe. --■',.. ' %\' \ • But the King, thwarted \in his designs, set I out- in; pursuit of his fugitive daughter, I reached Belgium also, arid there traced, her jj $ whereabouts by the * coins with which her party had paid their way through the land.

I Having come upon her retreat,? lie again -• urged her marriage. Dymphna resisted as ' before.; Exasperated; into fury,. the . unna-; 1 tural father imbrued his hands in his child's r blood, severing her head at one blow of his J sword, whilst his companions put to death J the holy priest' who, by his counsel and example, had assisted the young Irish maiden • to keep unsullied her faith and her purity. I It was not many years after the unfolding I of this double tragedy that the people of §t the country witness to it began to pay a.: i religious homage to the victims,: but par- ] ticularly to Dymphna. To her they had re-, j; course to obtain the cure for themselves or a for others of various diseases, but especially p of diseases of the mind. ; ,f | Regarding the father's passion as a mani- 1 festation of insanity and considering that I the daughter triumphed over it in a manner 1 most heroic and most pleasing to God, they j reasoned that Dymphna in Heaven most as- gj suredly would listen to prayers in favor of | the unfortunate wretches whom insanity f : makes strangers to the calls of reason arid humanity; ' ; ,; I Grateful for the blessings secured through | her intercession, her humble devotees, poor i peasants of the -unfertile Oampine, built a ! chapel upon the very spot where she had spent three months "of her sojourn among them. Her relics arid those of her companions were kept in this chapel until the completion in the XIV century of the magnificent temple erected at Gheel through the generosity of the ever-increasing number of pilgrims to St. Dymphna's Shrine and the princely munificence of the still extant de Merode family. ..,''•'