“Away from Rome” Movement in Austria.
—The brother of the Governor-General of Bohemia has written a book to explain the Austrian “Away from Rome” movement, which has caused something like a sensation among Roman Catholics in Germany and Austria. The Roman Church, he says, can come and convert the rudest barbarians by the sweetness and light of her doctrines, but she cannot and never will be able to rule a nation. In all countries where she has been or is omnipotent, she has been condemned. . . . A German Catholic officer told the author that when he marched about with his troops he could always tell whether a village was Protestant or Catholic by its external appearance. If it is clean and tidy, if its affairs are in order, it is invariably a Protestant village, and the man to whom all this is owing is unquestionably the Lutheran pastor. Protestantism, says Count Condenhore, makes men educated, civilised, affluent, worthy, self-contained. A real Catholic state, a Catholic literature, a Catholic university, is no longer in a position to compete with its Protestant rivals. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the discovery of America, what has the Roman Church done for science? If all the piles of books which were written in these centuries were to disappear, the world would be no poorer. Remember that these are the words of a Roman Catholic.—Christian Irishman.
The Dublin Corporation and the Bible.
—A heated discussion recently took place at a meeting of the Dublin Corporation because the Library Committee has accepted copies of the Bible, in Irish, from the Hibernian Bible Society, for use in the public libraries. The Daily News, commenting upon the proceedings, states:—”If it were not so regrettable, it would have been an amusing discussion that occupied the Dublin Corporation yesterday. The subject was the publication of the Bible in Irish. It is by no means a final argument to say that the Society providing these Bibles ‘lives on false statements that the Irish people are not allowed to read the Bible.’ If the reading of the Book were as notoriously general in Ireland as it is notoriously rare in other Catholic countries, we do not see that the people would be insulted by the offer of an edition in Erse to be available in the public library. Mr. Harrington based his opposition to this modest proposal on a rooted objection to see a certain society advertised. Having by his opposition extended the advertisement tenfold, perhaps he will feel that he has done enough. It is rather late in the day to treat the Bible as a dangerous book, which should be accessible to the vulgar only in ‘Holy Latin’ which they do not understand.”
The Colonial Secretary’s Rebuff to the Archbishop of Malta.
—In connection with the Archbishop’s request to the Governor of Malta to prohibit the Rev. John MacNeil from holding Protestant services in the Theatre Royal, Malta, a Government building, and the Governor granting the request, Lord Elgin has sent an important despatch, in which, among other things, he says:—”In order to make clear beyond doubt the view which his Majesty’s Government take of the question, I propose to advise his Majesty to issue royal instructions amending the present instructions, by the insertion of the following clause: ‘It being our intention that all persons inhabiting our said island should have full liberty of conscience and the free exercise of their respective modes of religious worship, we do hereby require our said governor and commander-in-chief to permit all persons within our said island to have such liberty, and to exercise their respective modes of religious worship, provided they be contented with a quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the Government.'”
The Truth about the Monasteries.
—The Protestant Observer announces that the Protestant Reformation Society will shortly publish another pamphlet by Mr. G. G. Coulton, entitled The Truth about the Monasteries. It will contain a quantity of convincing evidence from pre-Reformation documents as to the corruptness of monastic institutions long before the sixteenth century. This evidence is presented in Mr. Coulton’s deeply interesting and lucid style.
An Apt Pupil.—The Young Queen of Spain.
—The Catholic Times special correspondent writes:—”Much interest is taken in a letter which has been written by the Queen of Spain to the Archbishop of Saragossa, and published in El Universe. Her Majesty says: ‘I have been a Spaniard ever since, for my happiness, I united my life to that of the King of Spain, and as a true Spaniard, I cherish the devotion to the mother of God planted in this noble soil by the Apostle who first brought with him the faith of Christ, which, since that distant day, has never ceased to invigorate the hearts of all the daughters of Spain. Such being my disposition and desires, and wishing as I do to obtain the Divine favour, blessing and protection for each of the acts of my life, I pray the Virgin del Pilar to secure for me those gifts from Her Adorable Son, to whose Majesty I hope your Grace, custodian of the temple of the Queen of Heaven, will also appeal on my behalf. In the future, where circumstances and the will of my august husband permit, I confidently trust I shall be able to visit such a famous sanctuary, and be fortunate enough to kneel before the statue of the Virgin crowned by the Spaniards.'”