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Show j : v glwrcb Universal I ) CHURCH CALENDAR. V. M. St. Lucian. 613 731 . for Promoters. Pro-moters. " s- T. St. Apollinaris. 6S0.S4J for lire j departed. q- W. PS. Julian f.nd Uapilispn-. ' lli for perseverano.;. . 10. Th. St. Willittm.-o43.7iO for the Kottng. ' 11. . F. St. TheodoFius 5!.932 for j first Comniuirons. 12. S. St. Areadius. ."S7.1S1 for par-tuts. par-tuts. THE CONVERSION OF JAPAN. The General Intention Recommended i' bv His Holiness. Pius X. ' ' The recent "vents in the far Ens', i , Iwvr- drawn th" eye? of th v hoie o.v- i jlizfd wr.rid on ..V.yan. In material) thinps ill is people, has inn do rapid prog-! tes during; the courFo of the last few Syar; bur unhappily. Christian civili-1 z:Uior. adv.-mccs very slowly in the land j of iho Rising- StiiC I The reason for this is not far to seek. Wo nerd not men i ion the 1inmoiail: y ! prevailing in the country; in. this vie Hie Japanese hardly differ from other pa pan nations. But a certain rride : ' prevalent anwi1.; Ihe neoo-. which fV ' prevents its "Lii'M-ati"' from openins i lhir eye? to tho light r? -eli?i'us lj truth. Besides, the number v.f fatii- lie missionaries ;md oatechists !s ox- - - - ' trernely nnall, an.-; ihe zonl and the labor of il'fsf few are ren-Vrd mo:v r less useless by tho niissionarv e::-deavors e::-deavors of the Protestant evangelist" and the Russian popes. Add to this that Japan has taken from the west noi nly its political institutions and its scientific discoveries, but alo its free-thought free-thought H r.d its system of secret roc:c-!' roc:c-!' lies, both of which find an extremely I fertile soil in this crura vod nenoie. ; And whal is To be the future of ,Ta- i pan? Mpr Val de Yag:a ha- studied the question on 'is native soil. "This 1 people, no writes, is now -n it.s auo-lescenee. auo-lescenee. Later on. no doubt very soon, its problems and crises will arise; at t lint juncture, it will come to know that 4 the glory of nations is in the hand ot ' Cod Almighty, and it will recogntze tne absolute i"ed of seeking the eternal '1 truths." 5 Is U now incumbent on '.he Apotle- ship of Prayer to hasten this happy I 1 time? 11? memhors should not only make their Morn ins Offering for this intention: they should also frequently recite the prayer for St. Francis Xay- ler, which beffins: "Eternal God. Cre ator of al! things, remember that the Fot.l of infidels -.veto drawn by yu out ! d nothing, snd th:;t you have made ; vheni Rfler your I ma ire and likeness, j 1'ehold. O Lord, now. to your dishonor, j bell is filld with these poor souir. Ke- , member that Jesus your Son, has suf fered a most cruel death for their salvation. sal-vation. Song of the River. A River went singing adown to the sea, A - s i n g i n g ! o v si n g j n r f And the dim rippling river said softly I to me. "I'm bringing, a bringing While floating along iji A beautiful song j f To the shores that are white where the waves are so weary. 1 A song sweet and calm ; As the peacefulest psalm: And the shore that was sad Will be grateful and glad. And ihe weariest wave from its drear-i drear-i test dream i Will wake to the sound of the song of the stream; And the tempests shall cease And there .hall be peace.' From the fairest of fountains, i And farthest of mountains, From the stillness of snow Came the stream in its flow, ' "Down the slopes where rocks are gray, ? Thro' the vales where the flowers are fair "Va here the sunlight flashed where the : i shadows lay TJkc stories that cioud a face of care, The river ran on and on and on i Day and r.ight, and night and day: ' ioing and going, and never gone. ' Lionging to flow to the "far away." ' Slaying and staying, and never still; ;oing and staying, as if one will i Said "Beautiful river, go to the sea." i And another will whispered, "Stay f with me," f And the river made answer, soft and low "I go and stay" "stay and go." i But what is the song. I said at last? ? To the passing river that never passed: And a white, while wave whispered, j. 'List "to me. I'm a note in the song for the beauti-f beauti-f ful sea. A song whose grand accents no earth- din can sever - And the river flows on in the same 1 mystic key I That blends in one chord the 'forever und never.' " .i Father Ryan. A TASK OF OBEdTeNCE. I? Such Must Be a Good Life From Be- l ginning to End. The proverb. "Who learns to obv 1 larns to command," contains an noil no-il portant truth not alvr.ys well v.nder- stood. The qualities if mind suited to , ' the good commander are not greater p '... x than nor perhaps dijferent from those ' ;ha( teach true obd!nee. A srod life l ! is from beginning to end a task of obe- a '.ience. Y Vo follow rules of right and morali- f iy--agauist evil promptings and t mpt- I f lions, that but f ir ourselves to hty would be more rttraetive to ue. The volulary censent to obey at:d to In he pnverneil by some well settled pur- jiose "s an exhibition of the .-strongest I v-ill and the highest quality of mind. Especially is this true where temporary I interests must be foregone and arious I i;,--trartions f.nd niovocations resisted. I Tiie will power that withstands r.'l op- P'sition if this kind is thil of the (h'ghfst obedience. It is rnani'i.s'.ed in ibal stern devotion to duly that is wi'.l-liiar wi'.l-liiar to saoiitice all to the cause of tight. It is seen in th life of one who I gives up iho worldly quality of Lis duty j succumbed to time 11 has remained tm- , r banged. Under the most violent per- !s-utions and in the lace of the groat--- obstacles it has 'ived and flourished. flourish-ed. Various explanations of thie won-lV-ous vitality have been offered, some possessing grain of iiut'.i :;nd others merely apparent. Notliing but the di-, di-, vinity of bs origin car: fully account f.r it with us. But this divinity un- I rbiubtedly manilests itself in some t rreat qualities, and the willing; eub- ! iv.'ssion to minority, the voluntary j i b-'dienre to : uperiorr. which the gov- f eminent of the Cburcn po strongly en- ! joins, is certainly one of those quali- ! j t iep. ' The obedienie of the religkus of the monk, the nun and the brother is the truest humility combined with thej '! e, wi m mnm n ii ii mi amai n. tfHin inmin m.ifcirt IT m ' strongest will power. The vow of obedience obe-dience is entirely voluntary and taken &f!er long and lull consideration. From the monastery have often come those v.ho by obedience themselves have shown a wonderful power to command obedience in others, ("fegory V1TI obtained ob-tained in tr1.? seclusion ,md obedience of a. mor&sirr:." tb.:: firmness and strength ff mind that afterward fitted him t so successfully free ihe ' Jhurcfi from the dominion of worldly rulers. The. -obedience which the priest owes to his bishops should be with Catholics an example ef-the respect and defer-ei:?e defer-ei:?e tb.ey owe the priest as their ini-iv.i ini-iv.i diate spiritual guide Cath die Citizen. Citi-zen. ' - r Sign of the Cross. j When- 'er across this sinful flesh of mine 1 draw the Ho!v Sirn. All pood thoughts' stir within me and renew Their slumbering strergth divine; Till there springs up a courage high and true To sufier '-ttd to do. Newman. FEARS FOR PROTESTANTS. Secret Societies Aim to Return France to Atheism. Nearly every Catholic order which is represented in Deitoit has oeen affected af-fected by the laws passed concerning orders -and churches in the past few 'rs in France, soys the Detroit Journal. Jour-nal. The congregation of the Holy Ghost. w'licn in Detroit has charge ot St. Joachim's rnd St. Mary's churches, was one of tiie five orders which escaped es-caped the revolutionary enactments against religious fratet nities a few years ago. but now, according to members mem-bers of. the order in Detioit. the moihT house and seminary in Paris probably will be closed. "We have been allowed to remain because we educate not only our own students, but studnis who on . ordination ordin-ation are employe 1 bv the government as chaplains in the colonies," said one Detroit priest of the congregation. "But. as tilings stand at present wc shall probably have to give up the house. "The situation faced by French Catholics Cath-olics is this: The government is in the hands of secret societies, who?o ultimate aim is the destruction, first of the Roman Catholic church, then ot all religion, in France. They would bring back ihe days of atheism of. the revolution. To do this they will use to ihe utmost the power in their hands, for the French republic is not liberty like this republic. The nmst grievous ir.jur.tlce i that Ihes? people have made all their att-icks on the Catholic church. "It was not only '.he Catholic, b'lt a'so the. Protosunt a r.d Jewish churches, and all oth-T religious recognized rec-ognized as such by the state, that the republic has been supporting. Th public money has been building and repairing synagogues sr well as cathedrals, cathe-drals, and paying the ministers of ajd religions. Ail at once this state suf-. port is cut off from Catholics. Tt is a', if in America all other church property is txempr. but the Catholic Churchy property s made taxable. j "The law now in eff ect will make j thousands of priests destitute, and will deprive Frenchmen of the right to ,be I religious if they please. Now it 'must i be- remembered that the French Catholics Cath-olics pay taxes and go to war for Fiance and feel themselves enl:t!ed to something from thdr country. "No one can say what w ill come now.' These secret societies will pursue ProtA ettant churches next: if they remain power. No on knows whether the Frerch Catholi -s will resist. The French aro lively. The -Englishman would sit down and think out what recourse re-course he lad in law. The French are more likely to get excited and try to hurry things." Michigan Catholic. Affliction's Hour. (Rv Henry Doyle in Catholic News.) We are Toy children. God of love. Else we might shrink from Thee, and cower, D'd not Thy promise from above Afford us comfort fo. this hour. May Thou to all. O Lord, impart Cairn resignation to Thy will: And teach the mourner's breaking heart To love, adore and trust Thee still! Chicago Minister a Catholic. Rev. Henry G. Granger.' for eight years recto.- of St. Matthew's Episcopal Epis-copal church. Evanston. HI., announces that he has declared allegiance to the Catholic faith. Pressed for an explanation explana-tion for the step, Mr. Granger made the following formal statement: In making the change from the Protestant Prot-estant Episcopalian to the Roman Catholic Church I have acted simply in obedience to my convictions, the result re-sult of many years of careful study. When I reached the position that T could no longer honorably remain in the Episcopalian church I withdrew. With only the kindest thoughts toward to-ward those, with whom T have been associated so long, and with faith in God for the future. I am, very s3n-cerciy. s3n-cerciy. Henry G. Granger. In the Catholic church, he is a layman. lay-man. Rev. H. P. Smyth, priest of St. Maiy's Evanston, said Mr. Granger had informed him that he had made a profession of faith to a Catholic priest, and that so long as he remains in Evanston he will be considered a member of St. Mary's parish. Mr. Granser as formerly a. Presbyterian Presby-terian clergyman and conformed to the belief of the Episcopalian church eighteen eight-een yea r3 ago. His ;1rst rectorate- was at Dixon, 111., and later he was made curate at St. Peter's, Chicago. He is a bachelor. years old, and resides with a spinster sister. Condemns Chain Prayers. The Right Reverend Bishop of Cleveland. Cleve-land. Dr. Horstmann. has published the following letter regarding that. crying evil, the endless chain prayers: "Communications are frequently sent to the Right Reverend Bishop concerning concern-ing an "endless chain' prayer in on: form or another. The prayer is usually usual-ly accompanied by a threat of misfortune misfor-tune should the 'chain' be broken, t-'ther by neglecting to say the prayer it failing to send it on to another. The Righ t Reverend Bishop wishes . it to be well understood that all prayers of this character have been positively condemned con-demned by Rorue and should therefore be avoided. The threat they contain ic simply blasphemous. "By order of the Right Reverend Eis-hop. C F. HOrjCK. "Chancellor." |