OCR Text |
Show rcj jjtti?cr$al i CHURCH CALENDAR. 23. M. St. Philip Beniti. 135,424 for missions, retreats. 24. T. St. Bartholomew. 743,313 for rocieties. works. 25. W. St. Louis, King. 1,258,818 for . crn versions. M V. -c- Th. St. ephyrinus. 2,303,608 for i 9 .dinners. I 27. ZF. St. Joseph Calasanetius 04H.700 for intemperate. 29. S. 13th After Pentencost Be-k Be-k heading; of St. John the Baptist E I Gal., iii. 16-22; G. Luke, xvli, ll-'lil J 74.ri.5S0 for temporal favors. . 30. M. St. Rose of Lima. 22,590 248 for special, various, j 31. T. St. Raymond Nonnatus. Fo- Messenger readers. I THE GENERAL INTENTION- FOR I AUGUST Recommended by His Holiness, Pius X. Foreign Missions. After nineteen centuries of Christianity Christi-anity the world is not Christian. The east, with its teeming populations, is still heathen: in China, Japan and the Indian peninsulas pagan gods are worshipped wor-shipped and pagan rites performed side by side with the sacrifice of the massif mass-if the very land of Bethlehem and Calvary Cal-vary the imposter of Mecca is invoked 1 by millions; in Africa there are myr iads to whom the light of faith has not I penetrated; while amid the snows of Alaska and northern Canada totemism and idolatry hold sway over the Eski- I mo and the Indian. ': r?ut if tne fieI(j for missionary labor is vast, vaster yet is the courage and j virtue and apostolic spirit demanded for the missionary. He must be another an-other Christ, whose affections are fixed j '"'T Cod alone, and whose only desire is j t scatter over the earth the fire of I God's love, and to hasten the coming of i God's kingdom. The cross must be his crown, toil and suffering his repose, failure itself his only worldly success. Where are such men to arise, unless God raise them up? And how will j do so if we do not pray the lord of the 1 harvest to send forth laborers into his J harvest? : Tiie emissaries of evil are diligent in their work of rnpine: money is lav- i ished by heretics on Bibles and tracts and missionary families: home and country are cheerfully given up by I thousands, in order to spread afalse i . faith and proselytise for protestantism: aild shall we sit idly by and not even ; breathe a prayer for those who know not God? If we cannot contribute more I actively to missions to unbelievers, we I can unite earnestly in the intentions of t lie League, and make our daily acts t liis month each a petition to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to further the salvation of the souls for whom He died. ANGLICAN PRIEST, ROMAN BISHOP. I Oar English exchanges contain long j c-ulosies of the lata Rignt Rev. Thomas I Wilkinson, bishop of Hexham and 1 Newcastle, who died the other day at 9 Ushaw college. He was a convert to the Catholic church, entering her communion com-munion whiie studying for the Anglican ministry. "His early trials of faith are illustrated by an incident which is said to have occurred in Durham cathedral. cathe-dral. Finding himself alone in the Galilee chapel, the bishop is reported to have thrown himself on his knees at the tomb of the Venerable Bede and prayed, "if you are a saint, and if you can heyr me. and if the Roman Catholic religion is the true religion, help me to embrace it." On another occasion when driving into Durham with his eldest sister, he stopped at the presbytery in Old Eliet. saying that he could bear-the bear-the suspense no longer, and that he musa see Father Fletcher; but his courage cour-age failed on opening the outer gate, and he retired. But he regained courage, cour-age, and pushed forward till he entered en-tered the sanctuary of the Catholic church. He was bishop for twenty years. THE FORTIFICATION. St. John Chrysostom is justified in saying that just as a city which is not fortified with a strong wall is easily taken, because it cannot resist the attack at-tack of the enemy, so the soul which is not protected by prayer is easily brought into the power of the evil spirit, who leads it into every kind of vice. The devil does nor dare to approach ap-proach a soul which -is protected by prayer, because he fears the fortitude and firmness which prayer has giver, i f to it. Prayer strengthens the soul more than food the body, and St. Augustine calls prayer the key by which we can unlock the treasury of heaven. Therefore, There-fore, Christian maiden, love prayer and "i practice it faithfully, and you may ex-i" ex-i" pect to spend your youth as worthy children of God. God will take you under Ilis spefual care. Never omit your morning and evening prayers. SHAKESPEARE'S CATHOLICITY. In a recent lecture on "Shakespearean Si'ii oucU-.s." Fathtr O. E. de la Mor-iriere. Mor-iriere. S. J.. of Spring Hill college, i'obile, Ala., said: t Shakespeare lived at a time when the firs: agitation against, the Roman Catholics Ca-tholics was at its heignt, and its bii-terniss bii-terniss and fury were extreme. In spite of this, never once do we find the master poet laughing at the Ca-lholk- faith. On the contrary, his nuns, his monks and all hlw cnurch characters charac-ters were presented in their best light. Wo'sey. whose fall he paints, would have been an ideal target for a non-catholic. non-catholic. Had any other writer of the time taken the subject of Wolsey's i areer, Wolsey would have rteen painted as an arch-villain. He would have been shown as despicable in his fall as in his triumph. But Shakespeare des not cio this. TRUE LOVE OF THE DEAD. The children of the church may be s ti l to be the only true lovers of the dead. What matters it to the departed one that he or she is sincerely regretted bv many loving relatives and friends, and that his or her memory will never i fade from their minds. If the dead ,1 ones have been so exceptionally holy S and virtuous during life as to enter . heaven immediately after death, such i knowledge will be of very little import - indeed; while if the deceased has lived J the life of ordinary mortals, will the ' degree lessened by the consciousness of s soul's sufferings be assauged or in any such a fact. But Catholics remember ' their dead in a practical manner. "We have loved them during life; let us not forget them in death." Catholics remember trfe dead in their prayers, for it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be-lcosed be-lcosed from their sins. |