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Show I ' i I 1 "This Is the I I r 1 7 TB victory -which ! M h P Lourcl) universal 1 II faitt-v : CHURCH CALENDAR. 7 jn. ,th after lVnt. St. Alexius, C. E. Iiom. f tj'.:;. 12-1", (;- ukc xvi, 1-0. 1s .St. Cantillu le Lollis. C. F. i X. St. Vincent ile Paul, C. F. iMi, Y. Si. Henry, ('. Emperor I'll Th. St. Victor, M. i Y. St. Iary Masrdalen. i S. St. Apollinaris, Bp. II, f The General Intention for the Leaeruc of the. : Sacred Heart for luly is "The I'eligiou.- .dove's .dove-'s 2:1. nt in Belgium." BRIDES OF CHRIST. i On the Feast of the Vi-itatiou of the HWed Virtrirt. in the pretlv ,-ha)el of (he Mother House ilie Sisters of St. .o,e.h. at azaroth, hula--' Miizno count v. Mi.-hisran. Miss Mar-aret Golden and Miss Katherine Fritz revived ihe liahit or the Sis--,rrs .f St. Joseph, and hereafter will be, komvn hs Sister M. Clara mid Sister 31. Anna. The follow-f follow-f ,: Sifters made their vows: Sisters M. Loyola, r.ertilla, Fl..reniine. Ch-vlcs. Theo.lora. Carmel, 'Mildred, Leoeadia. A innnlwr of clergymen of the I ;i 3i..i.id.Mrh..od were in altendanee. CREMATION". Pnnn Practice Condemned by the Catholic Church for Several Years. lr i well known that, the evil practice of hum-. ...lics of deceased friends and relatives is in- . --. M-ing in this country. There are, of couse, eases ; in winch cremation is preferahlo to inhumalion; ' f"r in-tanee, on battlefields, or in plague-stri'k- ,n '-iiies where large numbers of festering bodies nilii' the atmosphere. Jn such exceptional cases : in the great plague of Milan, the battle of d'nn-elotte, etc. the Church not alone permits, but ? urges, a departure from her ordinary rule. For ?iic rest, earth burial has been consecrated by immemorial im-memorial usage as part and parcel of one of the ; ( 'Imrch's most touching and impressive religious , l ceremonials a ceremonial which inspires the dying ' viih hope and the bereaved with consolation. By j ;i decree dated May 17, 1 $.$, Pope Leo XIII for-. ; I Hide Ca1 holies to rivo instructions for the crema- -imi of their bodies after death, under pain of be-jng be-jng deprived of religious obsequies when dead. This ; ei.crei' was partly based on veneration for the body j Mliieh was once the temple of the Holy Ghost; part- j ly on respect for the consecrated usage of the 'Church, .and partly on the fact that in continental t K ii rope incineration of ihe dead was then, and in l.iet i up to the present day, adopted by atheists :i a public expression of ihcir disbelief in the ; :e-nrrection and in the life beyond ihe grave. BANNS OF MARRIAGE. "j The custom of publishing- the banns of mar- j riage dates back to the primitive Church: for Terminal), Ter-minal), who died A. I). 240, states that warning- of j ntended marriages was given among the early I f Christians. ' It appears that the publication of banns was j habitual in many places long: before there was any general law on the subject, since Gregory IV (11!)$-3216). (11!)$-3216). speaks of the banns (from Latin bannum. a proclamation; Anglo-Saxon ban) being given out ( in tin1 Church, according' to custom. The practice was introduced into France about the ninth ecu-' mrv and in'llTC was enforced in the Diocese of Van-. The earliest enactment on the subject in Fng-liii'l Fng-liii'l was an order nia le in the Synod of -West-- i;i!u-tT in 1200 to the effect that no marriage Mii'tdd be celebrated till the banns had been published pub-lished in church on three separate Sundays or ; fe;,st lays. This rule was made obligatory through- "in ihe Church by the fourth Latcran Council, held . in Kome-in 121.. By act of I'arlianient banns must ji..v- be given out in England on ihree Sundays. THE IRISH PRIEST The following paragraph from an article en-"nleil en-"nleil "Our Irish Friends," contributed to Macmil-h Macmil-h n's Magazine by the Kev. .T. Scoular Thompson, j-rcsuniably an Anglican parson, is quoted by '"Catholic '"Cath-olic Book Xote": "hoiuacious, good humored, courteous, tolerant Father MacTurner, dispensing; love and doing good, simple ;is a child, kindly as a woman, consecrated ; T'i his people, devoted to his land no -wonder his very shadow is beloved, revered! We speak glibly "vr-r here of Jesuitry and Bomish tyranny; but go ihe souih and west of Irelaml, and yu will find I 3i.a:iy auniirabh' men, breathing: the very milk of human kindness. (Jot the native 'Irish priest, bred "i ihe oi, grown ild among his people, untram- J-flr.,. umut-ored. with n love of his home and a i knowledge "f the human heart fewcan boast and ' ."" 'ii have found one of the most lovable of God's I c.-. a turfs." i - ' . i ' TRIBUTE FROM HAWTHORNE'S DAUGHTER. Writing of '"The Charity of '. Hawthorne,'' his '" '.aii'hter, who is now Mother M. Alphonsa Lathrop. ; ' ' . J)., says in the duly number of Men and Wo- ?,;'! : "Mr-. Xathaniel Hawthorne .said more than ' of Jier hu-baml, that she '"had never known i -'t.'.-hiiis: like his charity."' She meant quite j ' u. ! that his jinlgment of other people was char- ; y as that his actual aid given to them was v :y considerable, if their need was under his oh- - !M ation. But this gcnerosiiy f his jn giving j ' e! a very preat impression upon me, and 1 re-l re-l I " .'M'i.e.l io niyself that he would have been willing" ' - ' ' -ive away half his means upon occasion. The l '' !'. of his profound sym)athy for others is ciu- .. y. mined from the printei page, in his account: 1 hi- consular experiences in Knglaud: lie gave " hi- fortune-wrecked -allers at the consulate the M'ermd pity and entire expression of cojnpassioii- ' i iiere.-'. which isso seldom met with, and there- i refreshes the anxiety d' the distressed as the : ; -ccicfj brcze of an August day surprises the - 'ie-trian. seeniing to cojne straight from heaven., o ais,, g;iV( the relief of shining coin to those who v. -,. hungry or dismayed by iheir eircumstanc s, ; nd who conld understand nothing so well a- tl;e .'"queni-e of cadi. lie even went so far. when otisul (at a time when the American consulate as important ). as to jeopardize, many thousands i' dollars of his r. venues. 1o aid American justice ;h a matter of public marine. Having always been led to observe this trait of i unbounded brotherhood in my fathers reckoning', i seemed a matter of sequence to lind in his wril- I ing's a few ii;ssages which brought this heroic fel- . i 'Wship to a culminating' force of expression; and ) secmd equally natural to act upon his fervent principles of kindness, s In all ihe eight years of my endeavor to help a few of the destitute, I have had the remembrance of my father's attitude toward the poor and the i sick; not ignoring the poor who suffer most in body and disaster, but giving: them that cordial greet-I greet-I I ing which is so often withheld from physical mis- i fortune, and which my father usually withheld from the scions of fortune at its highest exuber- i i fc",'r'- ' 'I J 1 rejoice to explain that I ha yo. launched, in j trembling diffidence as to my ability, a charity j that-originated, speaking humanly, in his' heart; i .: e - '1 " 1 and that will eventually, I believe, be carried to nobility no-bility by some finer capacity than mine. Very thankfully, thank-fully, as may be perceived, 1 bring forward here this mention of the cancerous patients harbored by two homes of the Servants of Belief, supported by tlie public's- mercy at the appeal of our band of coiisecrntetl women, both male -and female ea.-es, welcomed to our threhulds. if they are but ill and destitute- enough. Were Xathaniel Hawthorne to enter these cancer homes, he would not only bring to them the healing- gift of his unshrinking sympathy; sym-pathy; but he would find a quality of mercy in them which he Would recognize as a root planted by his most sacred convictions, though by a single flower, alone, in the twilight of half-aroused comprehension. com-prehension. ELASTIC CONSCIENCE OF CATHOLICS. 1 was talking, at the North, with a gentleman, who once controlled, ns proprietor, a Catholic news-papcr, news-papcr, says dames Ii. Banrall in the Columbian. Transferring the property to another party, backed by a very high member of the hierarchy, he was allowed the collections of all debts for subscriptions subscrip-tions and advertising. The total sum was $!).()( !0 for subscription dues and $2,700 for advertising, lie collected the whole advertising list within $12.50, and not a dollar of the .$0,000 for subscriptions, subscrip-tions, though he expended .$.'H in sending' out bills and circulars. I asked a Catholic banker what he thought of that. He replied: "Apparently, the business busi-ness men were more honest than the other parties." How a man with a Catholic conscience can go on reading a paper he never pays for, even when the debt, long- due", is politely required for settlement, passes ordinary comprehension. The law is very plain on this matter of stopping- subscriptions. ' That not a single dollar was paid on $9,000 would seem extraordinary indeed, and justifies what an eminent jurist once told me that an order should be established, like the Paulist. to preach to some Catholics as well as non-Catholics. FRANCE ON THE DOWN GRADE. (From the London Catholic Times.) The Pope, is in an unassailable position, because ihe only way in which France can be saved is by a return of the people to Christianity. We have before be-fore us a pamphlet which shows how indisputably it is on the down grade. The pamphlet, which is published by Bailliere, Tindall &' Cox, London, is entitled "The Diminishing Birth Bate," and consists con-sists of the presidential address delivered before the British Gynaecological society on Feb. 31 last by Professor John W. Taylor of Birmingham University. Uni-versity. Professor Taylor in addressing a warning to Fngland to check the abuses of so-ealled modern civilization points to what has been taking place in France. There the deaths are as numerous as the births, but, though the population is stationary, the criminality has trebled itself in fifty years. Amongst the young crime is assuming enormous proportions, and the acts of the youthful criminals are marked by an exaggerated ferocity, a special refinement of lust and a bragging- of vice. The suicides sui-cides of folk under 21 years of age number hundreds hun-dreds annually. The ratio of suicides generally in recent years has nearly doubled, and the consumption consump-tion of alcohol has increased threefold in tweuty years. As Professor Taylor observes, with an increasingly in-creasingly limited. -population France shows more and more a lower and still falling moral average. Its only hope, in our opinion; lies in a revival of Christianity. EATING FLESH MEAT ON FRIDAY. '"God will not damn me simply for eating a piece of meat. Flesh meat is not worse on Friday than on Thursday." This assertion is often made to excu.-e or to justify the violation of the7 law which commands abstinence from flesh meat on Friday. Those who make this assertion are right. It is not the meat that damns people. In itself, ihe eating of flesh meat is not more insful on one day than on another. an-other. That which damns people is the disobedienco which leads them to eat the meat. That which is sinful on Friday is the violation of a law which was enacted only for Friday, not for the other days of the week. That which damns people is rebellion rebel-lion against ihe legitimate authority of the pastors pas-tors of ihe Church, whom all are bound to obey as they are to obey Him who sent them, saying: -IIe who hears you, hears Me; he who despises you despises des-pises me." - It is not then a question of meat, nor of days, nor of appetite; it is a question of a disobedient spirit which sins in refusing to obey a commandment command-ment Which it is easy to observe. Aside from the fact lhat all the laws of the Church should be obeyed because they have beeen imposed upon Catholics Cath-olics by legitimate authority, it must not be forgotten for-gotten that the laws of the Church have not beeen enacted by accident or through caprice, but on account ac-count of very grave reasons and for salutary purposes. pur-poses. The law of abstinence, which is to be observed once every week, was enacted for the purpose of continually remining people of the Passion, the sufferings and death of ihe Savior and of the necessity of doing penance for sin. The observance of this law is a public penance which Christians practice. Only the superficial or ignorant can regard re-gard 1 he law of abslinence as useless. People well kiK'W that -the self-denial practiced-on Fridays is an occasion which leads them -to think seriously of religious subjects, especially of' their sins, and of the means of atoning for them. Although the laws of the Church bind under pain of mortal sin they arc not harsh nor unreasonable. unreason-able. The Church is a mother, not an imperious tyrant. Any legitimate and serious reason will dispense dis-pense from the law of abstinence whenever people find it difficult to observe it. The object of the law-is law-is to benefit people, not to injure them ; to enable people to'expiale iheir sins, .not to make people sick. Sickness, bodily weakness, extreme poverty, great difficulty in procuring abslinence -food will dispense from the observance of this law. If is best always to obtain the opinion of the pastor or confessor con-fessor as to ihe sufficiency of the reasons foi' dispensing; dis-pensing; for otherwise there is danger of people being too indulgent with themselves. , As the Church always shows wisdom and moderation mod-eration in the enforcement of her laws, people should on this account be all the more ready to obey them. They should permit those who do not understand un-derstand the laws, of the Church to laugh at them, and those to murmur against their observance who fail to see how easy it is to obey the law of. the Church, bow who her purpose i, and how bene-licial bene-licial it is 1o souls in their observance. Mgr. Dc Segur in Le Propagateur. BE PATIENT, AND PERSEVERE. Are you walking in ways of sin, leaving often your higher life to grovel in the mire of earth? O be not ungrateful to that 'wonderful love that environs en-virons you! Are you living a life of careless indifference,, in-difference,, a mere animal life of selfish pleasure and low self-seeking? You are turning your back on.heaven opening to win you. Or are you, wdiile aspiring and striving for-the better things and the fuller life, sad at heart because God is yet, far off and dim to your sight? Be pal ient .even -while you persevere. -Never was there . SU.'causcfor4iatieaCQ as you have. Think how patient God has- been with vou, and how long that patience has been sustained ! The revelation, the awakening, .1 not far off. 1 on are as a child asleep beneath its mother's eyes. Shadow dreams are all its mind can compass. A moment more and it shall awake to the mothers kiss, and the mother's smile, pouring forth to it the unutterable tenderness of her loving heart. These things are real. Those things are certain. The things of the present life are shadowy and unsubstantial, and shall soon pass away. Here we die. but in the life to come there is no death, no shadows. The sun of righteousness shines with, eternal brightness and there is fullness of joy ami abundant life forevermorc. Let us look into that future often, so that its radiance may till oui- hearts, and we may walk worthy of the exalted vocation wherewith we are called. t ON TAXINGGOD'S NAME IN VAIN. (From the Xew York Tribune.)-The Tribune.)-The verses of Maurice Francis Egan. which won the prize in a recent contest for the best poem condemning con-demning the practice of profane swearing, are worthy wor-thy the prize they won, but it is interesting, by way of comparison, to reproduce the following-verses following-verses from "Watt's Complete Spelling Book" of Colonial days. They are entitled. "Of Taking Cod's ; ame in Vain": j To mention God. no man has just pretence, j But to his honour, or the truth's defense. In common talk, where trifles most abound, God, Christ or Lord strikes horror with the sound. Xor should we dare appeal to Him on high To gain belief, or to attest a lie. Thus to abuse that name .if man presume. The Third Commandment loudly speaks their doom. Yet some alas! in every trivial cause. To stop ii gap in speech, or tor a pause: Or to till up the sentence, at each word. From mouths unhallowed breathe Christ, God or Lord. . . Good Lord, if e'er such monst?rs I come nign, From their ill ways give me the srace to fiie. -4 |