Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 42, 4 November 1925, Page 55

Catholic World

i THE CHURCH IN COREA. Mgr. Devred, Bishop Coadjutor of Seoul, Corea, in a communication to the Nouvelles lieligieuses of Parisj announces that four native Corean priests are to be ordained this year, and three next years. These priests, Bishop Devred says, will be a great help because of the lack of Catholic missionaries from Europe, and because the work of the native clergy is of inestimable value. ; An unusual feature of the Corean Church, Mgr. Devred states, is the fact that it came into being spontaneously, without direct evangelisation, one of the few instances of the kind registered in missionary annals. Some scholars who formed part of the embassy, sent annually to the court of Pekin, brought back some Christian books, read them, and distributed them to others, with the result that several persons, becoming convinced of the truth of the Catholic Faith, were converted.

' PRESIDENT PRAISES SAINT. ■ A Cologne message, under date September 28, says; President Hiudenburg, Protestant head of Germany, lias sent a telegram in which he eulogises a. Catholic saint as the great champion of Gorman unity. The occasion was the celebration of the 700th anniversary'of the death of St. Engelbert, Archbishop of Cologne, and one of the powerful figures of Germany in the thir.iconih century. Engelbert was a Count of Bei*g and was administrator of the German Empire during the absence of the Emperor Frederic II in Italy, He was slain in 1225 near. Essen for disciplining his own nephew, Count Frederic of Isenbourg, who had oppressed a monastery,. Elaborate ceremonies commemorating the saint’s martyrdom were held at-the castle of Berg on the Wupper, former residence of the Counts of Berg, and it was on this occasion that President Hiudenburg sent his . telegram. A historical play entitled “Death of- St, Engelbert,” was a feature of the celebration. One thousand persons in ancient historical dress took part, and there were - thousands of spectators who displayed deep reverence, although most of the inhabitants of the district are now Protestants,

•- GERMAN CATHOLICS IN GREAT ASSEMBLY. . ,The appeal of the journals of Germany, inviting the Catholics of the country to attend the great assembly held during the lat- . ter' part of August, was answered with en- , thusiasm by a large number. The ideal set before those who participated in this assembly was the curing of present-day ills according to the methods proposed' by the Church. ; The reaffirming of faith in the Supreme PonJiff, especially during the Jubilee Year, was /■. f strong platform of the meetings. : ' The assembly^took place in the capital of h AVuerttemberg. The motto proposed and •.'.-unanimously adopted was': ■ ■“Catholic charity as the. fountain : of - salvation in the errors 'of ’our times.”

I Prominent speakers addressed the great gathering on several occasions. Among the subjects treated were the following ‘‘'Catholic Charity and the Evils of Our Times,” “The Catholic Bishop and His People,” “Morality and Catholic Charity,” ‘ The Feminine World and Morality,” “Catholic Charity and the Perils of Our Youth,” “The. Apostolate of the Spirit and of Convincing Practice,” “More Care of the Catholic Press” and “Catholic Charity and Peace.”

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS OPPOSING BIGOTS. The first case in the Knights of Columbus’ campaign to put an end to proscription of Catholics as public school teachers was filed Wednesday in the District Court at Littleton (says a Denver (Colorado) message, under date September 26, to a New York exchange). Miss Lillian O’Connor, with the backing of the K. of C., has sued the School Board of District No. 69, on the outskirts of Denver, alleging that the Board has violated Section 4, Article 2 of the Colorado Constitution ill: denying her the right to teach because she is a Catholic. Damages in the sum of $llOO, with interest, are asked. In the meantime, another legal case is likely to be filed at any time at Platte based on the reading of the Bible in the public schools. Catholic students in the Platteville public school are daily walking out of the classrooms when a sectarian version of the Bible is read. The Catholics form a fourth of the student body of the high school. If their action is interfered with in any way, a test case will be filed immediately bv the K. of 0. ❖<X> <><><><>

PILGRIMS VIEW FAMOUS AIX RELICS. Tho enthusiasm with which the German people have taken up the idea of Holy Year pilgrimages is surprising to those who are in touch with the situation and realise the handicap imposed upon such undertakings by the poor economic condition of the nation. Notwithstanding all handicaps, however, more than 20,000 German pilgrims visited Rome during the first six months of the Holy Year and it is expected that approximately as many more will have made the pilgrimage before the Holy Year ends. In the meantime the Germans have not been neglecting their local pilgrimages, notably the famous one to. Aix-la-Chapelle. While it had been expected that attendance there this year would be somewhat less than, in previous years when the famous relics of; that shrine were exhibited, it has been found;on the contrary, that the pilgrims are going there in far greater numbers than they did in 1909 year of the last exhibition prior to the present. During the first four days the pilgrims numbered more than 80,000, counting only those who marched in procession around the choir of the Cathedral. Many thousands . more witnessed the,,exhibition ;of the relics from the balcony of the Cathedral.

Among the notable, groups of pilgrims who visited Aix-la-Chapelle in the early days of the exhibition was a group of 3000 Dutch pilgrims ed by the Prime Minister of Holland, llnys. van Beerenbrook. Cardinal Schulte and many other members of the Catholic Hierarchy .in Germany and Holland, have attended the ceremonies at Aix-la-Chapelle. . The Cardinal delivered a sermon there on the opening day, in which he pointed out that the veneration of the Aix relics has ho dogmatic significance but sufficient proofs of their authenticity exist to make it imprudent and impious to deny their character.