Here and There

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 35, 16 September 1925, Page 45

Here and There

.; Archbishop Honored.—Archbishop Sebastian G. Messmer, of Milwaukee, U.S.A., was : made a Doctor of Laws at the annual comH mencement of Marquette University. The 'degree "was conferred in recognition of his .;studies in early Wisconsin history; his sound and extensive scholarship in canon law and j, theology; his great influence for good in the i||community as man and citizen, as well as faithful shepherd of his flock, etc. ■ ■ • A World-Famous Sanctuary.—"St. Patrick's Purgatory," as it is called, is situate on a little island in a mountain-ringed lake 7 called Lough Derg, in the extreme south of » County Donegal, close to the borders of Tyrone and Fermanagh. It is about four • miles from the little town of Pettigo, which is actually on the "Border," part of it being built in the Free State and part in the Six Counties. The tradition is that St. Patrick was vouchsafed a vision of Purgatory; and a Louvain treatise of the 17th century, -entitled The Mirror of Penitence, states that the great Apostle was so awed by what he had seen that he ordered that henceforth an island in the lake, where the revelation had • . been given to him, should be made a terrestrial purgatory, where sinners could atone for their sins by prayer and fasting. In the Middle Ages the name and fame of "St. Patrick's Purgatory" was spread all over Europe. Pilgrims came to it from distant ■ shores, and stories concerning it colored and | influenced the literature of all the great V mediaeval peoples. It is said that Dante - founded part of his Divina Commendia on some of the stories that were prevalent about the place. * • « Death of a Worthy Australian Pastor Rev. P. A. Vaughan, parish priest of Werribee, Victoria, whose sudden death, due to heart trouble, at the early age of 47 years, at Wiesbaden, Germany, was recently an- ' nounced, was (says an Australian exchange) apparently in good health when he left with the-Australian pilgrims as secretary to his Grace Archbishop Mannix last April. A Manly graduate and a member of a very well known Melbourne family, Father Vaughan's sudden collapse deeply grieved his nuv merous friends all over the Commonwealth. The late Father Vaughan was one of a family of eleven children, nine boys and two girls. Only four of the sons are now alive. Two of the boys, Rev. Fathers M. A. and P. A. Vaughan, entered the sacred ministry. The late P.P. was a beloved Australian priest. In 1901 he was ordained by Cardinal Moran in St. Mary's Cathedral; Sydney. In 1917, whilst in temporary charge at Mortlake, Victoria, he rescued a man from drowning in a flooded stream and Australia rang with V his name for this conspicuous act of bravery. ft on name for this conspicuous act of bravery. In 1920 he accompanied Archbishop Mannix on a tour which will be ever memorable in V Irish and Australian annals, and was one of *' the little party prevented by the British Government from landing in Ireland. When ......

the first Australian pilgrimage to Rome was organised he was again chosen by Archbishop Mannix to act as his secretary. • He- was a brilliant journalist, a delightful orator, but above, all a thorough Australian Catholic priest. His loss is a severe one to the Catholic Church in Australia. Messages expressing the highest appreciation of his worth have been received from Bishops and clergy of the Australian Church. A private cable announces that the remains of the late Father Vaughan left Hamburg, Germany, for Melbourne on Saturday last, August 22. ■ • « American Order of Nuns for Ireland. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, an American religious Order, have purchased' the fine mansion known as Carrigoran House, Co. Clare, as a reception house for postulants. This mansion was formerly the residence of Sir Augustine Fitzgerald, Bart., of Carrigoran, who inherited it from William Fitzgerald, the lessee, in 1714. Until recently it was in possession of Clara, Lady Fitzgerald, and is situated in a picturesque park, near Ennis, The purchase price, with fees, was close.on £6OOO. Mother Placidus, the Superioress General of the Order (founded by Bight Rev. Dr. Dubuis, Bishop of Galveston, U.S.A., in 1866, from the Lyons Mother House of the Sisters of the Incarnate. Word and Blessed Sacrament, with the chief house at San Antonio, in 1897), is at present staying as a guest at the Convent of Mercy, Ennis, prior to taking over the new Irish foundation. a a • Death of a Noted Dublin Canon. —One of ahe best known and most beloved of the pastors of Dublin City, Very Rev. Daniel Canon Downing, P.P., St. Joseph's, Berkeley Road," passed away on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (June 19) —a feast to which the always had a special devotion —in his 79th year. Born in Dubln, he was ordained at' Maynooth College on June 7, 1870, and after serving several curacies, was for about 20 years connected with the pro-Cathedral (being Adm. from 1897 to 1901), and was promoted P.P. of St. Joseph's in 1901. Thus for a quarter of a century he labored as apastor, his church being one of the best-kept in the city, and ornamented in perfect taste. His chief concern was the children, the littleones of Christ, and he established night schools in Dorset Street. The Solemn Office and Requiem Mass, presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin, took place on June 22 at St. Joseph's. » ■'• • • ■ * « Native Order of Indian Nuns. This year of the Great Jubilee sees also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Third Order Apostolic of Carmel in the diocese of Quilon. The Holy Father," writing to the Bishop of Quilon, "congratulates the Sisters on this auspicious event and on the work they have so faithfully carried out, up to date, relying on the hope . . . that they

will from day to day proceed with still greater efficiency towards the goal * which they ' ~*f have proposed to themselves for their insti- " tution." His Holiness grants the Sisters and their pupils' a plenary indulgence and $~& the apostolic blessing. It was on Septem- rip; her 2, 1868, at Bayonne in France, that the '"■.'*s Third Order Apostolic of Carmel was found- , 'el ed by Rev. Mother Veronica of Jesus, ■&"..-.£s cloistered Carmelite and distingushed Eng- ■;;..;JI lish convert, at the request of Bishop Mary'". '^> Ephrem of Manga lore. ,fi - .•'•« ~: =' .. <:■■:%