ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



Right Rev. M. Benedict, native of France, aged 

 seventy, abbot of the Trappists, the severest or- 

 der in the Church, died at the monastery, Geth- 

 semane, Ky., Aug. 10. 



Among the more prominent of the deceased 

 clergy and religious were : Right. Rev. Mgr. Ar- 

 thur J. Donnelly, Vicar-General of New York ; 

 Very Rev. William Keegan, Vicar-General of 

 Brooklyn ; Very Rev. James T. McManus, Vicar- 

 General of Rochester ; Very Rev. George L. Wil- 

 lard, Vicar-General at Sioux Falls, Dakota ; Very 

 Rev. Louis Furcken, C. R., Superior Provincial 

 Congregation of the Resurrection, St. Jerome's 

 College, Berlin, Ontario ; Very Rev. Joseph Strub, 

 Provincial Order of the Holy Ghost, Pittsburg, 

 Pa. ; Rev. Innocent Wapalhorst, 0. S. F., author 

 " Compendium Liturgy of the Catholic Church " ; 

 Mother Monica, Sisters of St. Joseph, Philadel- 

 phia, one of the ten sisters who saw service in the 

 civil war ; Sister Cyril and Sister Mary Joseph, 

 the last of the five who founded the Order of 

 Charity B. V. M. in the United States, 1838 ; 

 Mother Mary Joseph, the pioneer of the Nuns of 

 the Presentation in New York ; and Brother Vin- 

 cent, C. S. P., one of the four French brothers 

 who came here in 1842 with Very Rev. Fr. Sorin 

 and founded the University of Notre Dame. 



Canada. The school question assumed grave 

 proportions in Manitoba by the abolition of the 

 Catholic separate schools and of the French 

 language. The case was appealed, and the courts 

 sustained the law. Another appeal has been 

 taken to the Dominion Parliament. During July 

 and August nearly 100,000 pilgrims visited the 

 shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre. The third con- 

 vention of French Acadians, presided over by 

 Judge Landry, 6,000 delegates present, met Aug. 

 13 and 14, at Church Point, N. S., and received 

 the Pope's blessing. Erection of monument to 

 Catherine Tegakwita, the blessed Indian Iro- 

 quois, at Caughnawaga, Aug. 6. March 29 the 

 Roman Congregation of Rites approved the ca- 

 nonical introduction of the cause of Mine. D'You- 

 ville, foundress of the Gray Nuns, Montreal, for 

 beatification. 



Japan. The first Constitutional Legislature 

 of Japan met June 29, and ten Catholics took 

 seats in the House of Representatives. About 

 the same time the Society for the Propagation of 

 the Faith at Lyons, France, received a letter 

 signed by the Bishops of Northern, Eastern, and 

 Central Japan and of Corea, announcing that 

 their first synod had been held at Nagasaki. 



The Passion Play. Opening at Ober-Am- 

 mergau on May 18, it was played for the last 

 time this century, twice weekly, until October, 

 each performance being witnessed by thousands 

 gathered from the whole globe. 



England. The jubilee of Cardinal Manning, 

 June 8, was honored by magnificent testimonials 

 of popular regard, both national and interna- 

 tional, and the question of precedence upon pub- 

 lic occasions presided over by the Prince of 

 Wales, was settled by the decision of the prince 

 that the cardinal shall rank next to himself and 

 above all the peers. In the addresses the ad- 

 vance of Catholicism in England was reviewed, 

 and the present Catholic population of the empire 

 estimated at 10,000,000. The annual Conference 

 of the Catholic Truth Society was opened in 

 Birmingham, June 30, every diocese in England 



ROUMANIA. 



769 



sending delegates. The death of Cardinal New- 

 man and the introduction in Parliament of " The 

 Religious Disabilities Removal Bill," by Glad- 

 stone, were the other important events of the 

 year 1890. 



Germany. The elections of Feb. 20 returned 

 Windthorst's (Catholic) Center Party to the bal- 

 ance of power in the empire, and virtually caused 

 the retirement of Bismarck. Minister Lutz, of 

 Bavaria, the anti-Catholic persecutor of religious 

 orders, repented a few months before his death. 



Austria-Hungary. Cardinal Simor, Primate 

 of Hungary, on Slay 20 asked instructions from 

 Rome on the ordinance of the Minister of Re- 

 ligious Affairs on the- question of baptisms. 

 Cardinal Rompolla answered that the Hungarian 

 bishops could not sanction the law by which the 

 Catholic clergy were ordered to report to clergy- 

 men of Protestant denominations the baptisms 

 of children of mixed marriages. The Holy 

 Father severely censured those bishops who had 

 tolerated it, and the matter is still in course of 

 dispute. 



Ireland. Early in the year the Irish hier- 

 archy moved for an adjustment of the school 

 system that would not tear religious objects 

 from the schoolroom walls, and also for a uni- 

 versity that would place Catholics upon an equal- 

 ity with Protestants in the matter of higher 

 education. The Centennial of Father Mathew, 

 " the Apostle of Temperance," was celebrated in 

 October by great demonstrations, the unveiling 

 of Foley's statue in Dublin, and the taking of the 

 pledge by 100,000 people. The hierarchy of Ire- 

 land opposed Parnell, the National leader, on the 

 ground of admitted immorality in the case of 

 Mrs. O'Shea, and as a test of strength in the Kil- 

 kenny election in December, the clerical candi- 

 date, John Pope Hennessy, was returned. 



Norway. After three hundred years' pro- 

 scription Catholic missionaries have again light- 

 ed the sanctuary lamp, and Mgr. Fallize reports 

 much progress for 1890. 



India. The child-marriage system is to be 

 abolished, principally through the opposition of 

 Cardinal Manning. The remains of St. Francis 

 Xavier, popularly known as " the apostle of the 

 Indies," were exposed for the fourth time since 

 1842 at Goa, on Dec. 3, 1890, and the features 

 were said to be still recognizable. 



South America. The Brazilian Republic has 

 sent an envoy to the Vatican and guaranteed 

 every Catholic right presented by the Catholic 

 party in October. In Ecuador the temporary 

 chapel that is to mark the spot of the future na- 

 tional temple to be erected 14,900 feet above the 

 level of the sea in commemoration of the act con- 

 secrating the republic to the Sacred Heart, was 

 inaugurated March 19 by Mgr. Macchi, apos- 

 tolic delegate of Leo XIII. 



In Africa. The first 20 missionaries of Car- 

 dinal Lavigerie's advance guard in his crusade 

 for the civilization of Africa, after first partici- 

 pating in the dedication of St. Louis's Cathedral, 

 Carthage, on the feast of St. Louis, set out on 

 their way to the interior. 



KOUMANIA, a constitutional monarchy in 

 eastern Europe. The reigning King is Carol I, 

 born April 20, 1839, son of Prince Karl of Hohen- 

 zollern-Sigmaringen. He was elected Prince of 

 Roumania in 1866, and was proclaimed King in 



