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Show 3s? gfoircb Universal " CHURCH CALENDAR. 1 25. T. Nativity o Our Lord. 624,-571 624,-571 for conversions. T6. "tv. St. Stephen, First Martyr. '493.723 for sinners. ' 27. Th. St. John. 501,294 for the intemperate. in-temperate. 28. F. Holy Innocents. 563,199 for j Fpiritual favors. 30. S. Within Octave of Nativity. St. Sabinus. E. Gal. iv, 1-7; G. Luke, ii. 33-40. P71.S60 for special, various. 31. M. St. Sylvester I. For Messenger Messen-ger readers. THE GENERAL INTENTION l Recommended by His Holiness, Pius X Christian Disinterestedness. Man. like every living being, naturally natural-ly seeks his own interest: otherwise, he would die of hunger and wretchedness. But man is not an unreasonable animal nrhich sees only its own welfare and yursues it pitilessly and without remorse, re-morse, at the expense of its surroundings. surround-ings. Man has a heart which feels the sufferings of his fellows and is capable of undergoing privations, at times even leath. for the sake of one he loves. In 1his case, his personal interest is subordinate sub-ordinate to that of another: he becomes disinterested. Before the coming of the God-man, who became the victim for our salvation, salva-tion, the virtue of disinteredness was very rare: it has found its full development develop-ment only under the influence of Chris-tianily. Chris-tianily. The perfect Christian, who pushes disinterestedness to its limits, deprives himself of all in order to resemble re-semble Christ: he practises poverty, chastity and obedience in order to devote de-vote himself completely to the service of God and his neighbor. To a less degree than those who give themselves up entirely, but still to a considerable degree, do those Christians practice disinterestedness who devote a large part of their time to good works and to the poor, without neglecting their family duties and the obligations of their state of life. Need we say that these Christian men and women attain not rarely to an heroic degree of virtue? At any rate, there can be no true Christian Chris-tian without some degree of disinterestedness. disinterest-edness. If a. man is entirely destitute of this virtue, he is actuated wholly by self-love, and unbridled love of self 1s the uncompromising enemy of the lnve of God. "What part can the lover ;nf self claim in Christ, who died for love of men? The most disinterested man is the best Christian. Conversions to the One True Church. The apostolic misison house has recently re-cently collected some extremely valuable valu-able statistics of the number of converts con-verts received into the church every year in this country. They are valuable because they furbish fur-bish ground for some accurate and reliable re-liable statements. Heretofore it has ;been only guesswork. Cardinal Gibbons Gib-bons has ventured some statements : based on the converts in the archdioceses archdio-ceses of Baltimore, but these ngures now given out by the apostolic mission house are based on the exact returns from twenty-nine of the dioceses in the country. : It is altogether strange that the conversion con-version to the church in this country a few .years, ago. was so much of a neg- (ligible quantity that in most of the dioceses dio-ceses in the country there was no record rec-ord kept of them. The number of baptisms bap-tisms was recorded, but no distinct rubric was accorded to the baptisms of the converts. But now in most of the well organised chancery offices there re preserved accurate statistics of the converts wjio nave been received, and probably in a few years when the number num-ber of converts increase there will not be a single chancery office where the .returns of conversions will not ba an Important item of reports. However, according to the recent returns re-turns at the mission house and published pub-lished in the November issue of the .Missionary, twenty-nine dioceses whr.se aggregate Catholic population amounts to 4.3UU30, fshow up 8.352 converts to ihe church. This proportion is I in 506. If this same proportion is maintained throughout the 103 dioceses in the country coun-try there would be a total of 25,056 con-Verts con-Verts received into the church in this country every' year. It is interesting to study the figures: .A few facts seem to be apparent. In the dioceses where a positive organized effort has been made to reach the non-Catholic non-Catholic the number of converts is very large as, for example. New York diocese dio-cese receives 1,500 converts each year, nd so small a diocese as Mobile, Ala., with only 2S.O0O Catholics, received last year 537 converts. In these two dioceses dio-ceses there have been missionaries to non-Catholics for the last ten years. I .-sew lork has had its apostolic band of six missionaries while Mobile has J.ad two missionaries from the mission lioust. They are now reaping their liar-vest. liar-vest. In dioceses where there has been no organized non-Catholic mission work the number of converts is very scanty. These indisputable facts demonstrate that wherever efforts are made to get converts they are secured and in large "numbers. The figures from Mobile diocese are very remarkable 537 converts, or 1 in fi3 of the Catholic population. If this name proportion were maintained throughout the country the number cf converts would be 250.000. hut in its no- table proportion Mobile stands out I unique. j .f It would also be interesting to learn how many of -these 25.000 were received by the religious orders and how many by the regular parochial churches. 1 From information derived from other j pourees it appears the largest proportion I of converts are received by the ordinary parochial clergy. Of course, their churches are by all odds the more nu- I jmcrous, but it is also true that the elio- i esan priests as a rule have the par- f jshes on the frontiers where the best work of conversions is done. To Genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament. Upon entering a Catholic church. Khould a light be burning before the tabernacle, a Catholic makes a genuflection genu-flection to the Blessed Sacrament. It js rather remarkable 'how few Catholics Cath-olics perform this act of religion properly. prop-erly. To genuflect does not mean to ineel, nor is it exactly to courtesy, a jart of bob down and up. The rule for making a genuflection is the same for priest and people, for the young and old of both sexes, namely, to bend the right knee until it touches the ground, j Jn genuflecting a person should pre- ' erve the upper part of the body in a lather erect position, bending the knee "p.nd arising with ease and gracefulness. To genuflect is an a.ct of worship and should be performed slowly, with reverence rev-erence and recollection. To bend the knee to the tabernacle is to adore Jesus rhrist in the Holy Eucharist. It is the outwardly bodily expression of the fcUtn tliat is in the eouU . t i OUR LADY OF THE DEAD. (By Agnes E. Sullivan.) a6 fateS of Heaven open at her word. And from the splendor shining still afar Adown she glides where only sighs are heard. And darkness reigns that knows no sun nor stor; But, oh! the brightness that her presence pres-ence lends! The Lady of the Dead, to these, her friends. Her brow is gleaming with a wondrous light. And in the tender pitv of her eves She comes! The ray of hope that will illume The waiting hearts and pierce their soul's deep gloom. Her voice like softest music tells of rest. And never-ending joys that wait above; Where pain is hushed upon His Sacred Breast. And toil forgotten in His smile of Love; And as she speaks her hand is stretched to one. "Whose exile ends and glory is begun. So may I patient wait when life shall cease, And hope to meet thy coming, Mother mild;- For thou wilt surely haste to bring release re-lease To one who ever loved to be thy child; And when the one last ransoming prayer is said, Bear me to Him, sweet Ladv of the Dead'. Be Not Ashamed of Your Religion. "We hear it sometimes said that it will not do for a Catholic to openly avow his convictions: that his religion will close against him the avenues of honorable ambition," said Right Rev. T. S. Byrne, Bishop of Nashville, Tenn.! in the course of his address to the graduating class of the Christian Brothers' College, St. Louis, Mo. "It cannot be denied that there does exist a prejudice against Catholics; that it is active without being apparent; that it pervades our literature, our laws, and our social and political life; that it hangs like an obnoxious exhalation in the atmosphere, and poisons the air we breathe; but it mav he Hmiht0,i ir i. as potent for evil in this instance as is frequently asserted. The world admires ad-mires the man who has the courage of his convictions and bows in deference to a pure and noble life. Ir a 3'oung Catholic gentleman be self-respecting; if his haunts be not those of fashionable fashion-able and expensive dissipation: if his associates be of the honorable, the virtuous vir-tuous and the wise; if he live not like a pagan, while proclaiming himself a Catholic; if his conduct be an exemplification exempli-fication of his professions: if his life be such that he can stand before the world with a clean heart and pure hands, and challenge its malignity-then malignity-then I say, that in these days and in this land, his religion will be no bar to his advancement in any business or profession that is worthy of engaging the thoughts or the energy of mar The religion cf Mr. Taney eid not pre-?nt him from reaching the distinguished position of Chief Justice of the United States, and neither did that of ! Mr Charles O'Connor prevent him from reaping great emolument from his. profession pro-fession and winning the splendid reputation repu-tation of being the first lawyer in the land."" In "Our Sister Republic." "That you may better appreciate your advantages as Catholics in being citizens of a leally free country, I am going to ask you, my friends, to cast a brief glance across the sea, and to consider con-sider with me for a moment the present pres-ent condition of affairs in France. It is to me a matter of amazement that Americans in general and the American Ameri-can Catholics in particular should regard re-gard vith apparent indifference the revolution which is working itself out in what we are fond of calling our sister sis-ter republic. Such indifference can only spring from ignorance; they uo not know what is really going on. The subject is too wide to be properly treated treat-ed here, for we should have io review the history of a century; and the so-called so-called law of associations is too far-reaching far-reaching in its scope and too intricate in its details to be even summarized In a disccurse like this. But if you could study the question, you would bo convinced con-vinced that the scheme for the disestablishment dises-tablishment of the church in France is perhaps the most cunningly devised piece of iniquity which the malice of man has ever elaborated. "Disestablishment is all right, from an American point of view; we have no objection to thai. If it were only a true separation, if the church were only set free and let go. we should deem it a blessing for the poor, distracted dis-tracted Catholics of France: but what is aimed at is nothing less than the final suppression of public Catholic worship, the practical confiscation of all Catholic property and the proscription proscrip-tion of the clergy by their reduction to a condition of intolerable servitude. The church is simply legislated cut of existence. That the slate does not recognize rec-ognize the church is interpreted to mean that the state does not recognize the right of the church either to hold property or to conduct public worship in her own way. Churches, lxuses. seminaries, schools, charitable institutions institu-tions of every kind, all are to be swept away by the state, which says; These things belong to the people, and we are the people. And if a priest should dare to denounce such outrage (as I am denouncing it now), he is to be punished by fine and imprisonment, and Instead of being amenable, like ether citizens, to the court of Assizes that is to say, trial by jury he will be judged by the Correctional court, composed of judges named by the government." Rev. Fidelis Kent Stone. Leave Them Their Religion. The masses of men In the world of today to-day need everything that can make their lives bearable, everything that can lighten, or beautify, or uplift their toilsome journey. Religion is a natural craving of the human heart. All through the ages it has brought men comfort in their greatest trials, by blessings filial piety, sanctifying the hearth and the home, giving fortitude to those heavy laden and consolation to those who mourn. All the dangers and revolutions and anarchies that threaten society. j;re as nothing compared to the evil of alienating alien-ating the masses from religion. It is bad enough for. the church; but is rar worse for the people, thus bereft of their greatest consolation perhaps through miffed sympathies and needless need-less misunderstandings. If the apostle who .(often by concil- iation and tact and accommodation), wins whole nations to the faith, merits a crowd of glory, what of him or them, who. by miscues of temporalities, or mistakes of worldly politics, send great surging parties of baptized Christians In modern states away from religion?" And the saddest thine: is that uch alienation rrny affect principally the poor, the laboring masses, who most need the gifts, the graces and the consolations con-solations of religion. Catholic Citizen. |