natural under the circumstances of the case. To the faithful generally, it did not matter one way or another what nationality the Pope was. They received him as the Father of the faithful and as belonging to no particular nationality. At the same time it was natural also that the people of the Papal States should prefer a native as their king and temporal ruler. But now there is no obligation on the part of the Catholic world to consider the whims of the Roman people, who, to so great an extent have agreed to submit to the yoke of a sacrilegious tyrant and a usurping government. presence of the Pope in Rome is a source of great pecuniary profit to the Romans, on account of the vast number of pilgrims and visitors it attracts; 300,000 visitors are expected on the 21st of May next; therefore it is no doubt proper that the choice of his Cardinals, in the event of the Pope's death, should not be restricted even by custom, and that they should be free to select a Pope of any nationality.

The

CATHOLIC writers and speakers continue to devote much time to the educational question. But, after all, the workers are those who take the most practical course. While the grass is growing the horse may starve, and while we are demonstrating that the public school system is wrong, thousands of persons have no recourse, but to avail themselves of it, in order to give their children some education.

The other alternative, which is to allow them to grow up ignorant, is not to be thought of. The times do not allow it.

We are therefore glad to see that some of the Catholic papers, eschewing mere argumentation, have gone to work to show what are the practical steps to be taken in order to secure good Catholic schools. They seem to come to the following conclusions:

First.-Every parish should have a parochial school. This school should not be held in the basement of a church, or in a building unfit for the purpose. If, however, necessity or economy compels the use of a basement, the schools should be clean, well fitted up, and attractive in appearance.

Second.-Endeavors should be made to establish good Normal Schools for the supply of teachers. Teaching is an art, and one which it is as necessary to learn as any other

art.

Third.-A regular system of grading, good text-books, and careful pastoral supervision, are imperative.

PEACE has been concluded between Turkey and Servia on terms rather humiliating to the latter, but less so than the Turkish victories would have warranted in ordi

nary circumstances. The war has been a bloody one, and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated; but it was impossible for Servia, deprived of Russia, to continue a contest with Turkey. The only result of further hostilities would have been that the Turkish banners alone would have floated over Belgrade.

Russia appears to be waiting for the other European powers to reply to her last note. In the meanwhile she has 250,000 men on the Pruth and ready to cross that river en route through Roumania to the Danube.

England is reported to have sent a note to St. Petersburg, in which she says that Turkey should be allowed time to carry out the reforms she has promised.

The first elections for the Turkish Parliament have taken place, and very singular results have occurred. We suppose that when the Turks become familiar with "Returning Boards," and decisions 8 to 7, they will become quite expert in constitutional practices. Perhaps after awhile they may have two Pashas, each with legislatures of their own, in Bulgaria and Bosnia, and send "Committees of Investigation"

to

Syria to see if a fair election has been had, and no "bulldozing" permitted!

THE late discoveries in Greece, on the site of Mycenae, are extremely interesting. On the 28th of November Dr. Schliemann, with "unbounded joy," informed the King of Greece of the surprising success of his labors. He thinks he has discovered the monuments of the Grecian heroes of whom the traditions preserved by Pausanias make mention, and the palpable evidence sustains the truth of the stories so familiar to schoolboys. He has unearthed the tombs of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon, and their companions, who were killed while banqueting at Mycenæ, by Clytemnestra, the faithless wife of Agamemnon, and her paramour and his cousin, Ægisthus. Agamemnon had just returned from his successful siege of Troy, whither he had gone to assist his brother Menelaus in rescuing his abducted wife, Helen, the sister of the corrupt and murderous Clytemnestra, when he met his predicted fate. These discoveries seem to show, first, that the ancient civilization was very much more complete than we have supposed; and secondly, that the accounts left us by the classic writers have been faithfully preserved to us by the industry of the monks, and that these authors themselves were faithful and accurate in their accounts.

WE notice, in the correspondence of the St. Louis Globe, some interesting statistics of the state of Catholicity in New York. It

says: "This is one of the great strongholds of Catholicism, being, it is said, the second largest Catholic city in all Christendom, Paris only exceeding it. When it is remembered that we have 40,000 German Catholics, 40,000 Irish, 25,000 French, 15,000 Italians, 10,000 Spanish, and several thousand Portuguese and other Europeans, nearly all of whom are at least nominal Catholics, the preponderance will not be wondered at. It is highly probable that New York contains more determined, downright Catholics than any other capital. The churches here number, it is said, nearly sixty of all kinds, many of them very ordinary, although it is expected that the new Cathedral, in upper Fifth Avenue, will, when finished, be the finest ecclesiastical edifice in the metropolis."

We have sometimes thought that numerous as are the churches and the masses cele

brated in them, yet that still there is hardly room enough for all the Catholics of New York to hear mass. The Cathedral of Brooklyn has been commenced, and will cost $2,000,000.

WE believe we can say with truth that there is no country in the world that possesses such an active hierarchy and clergy as the United States. Just look at the Almanac, or at any one of the Catholic weekly newspapers, and the reader will be surprised

to see the number of churches built or repaired, convents and schools erected, missions given and priests ordained. In every section of the country, from North to South and East to West, the work is everywhere the same. Immense sums are contributed by the faithful for these purposes, and every thing is done that these sums may be well expended.

While this is the case as regards material progress, the spiritual condition of the people is also better than in many so-called Catholic countries. We believe that, in the number of Catholic communicants, in the vocations to a religious life, in the innumerable good and pious persons who live "in the world and not of it," and in the intelligent love of many for the Church, America has no reason to fear comparison with any country.

THE Conference of the great powers on the Eastern question has drawn up a set of proposals to the Turkish government in reference to the reforms they demand to be carried into execution without delay. What these reforms are does not seem very clearly stated. That they go to the root of the matter is tolerably certain; that they demand a virtual autonomy for Bulgaria and considerable reforms is evident from the resistance

BISHOP IRELAND says there is room in his colony in Minnesota for those who will work, but that there is no room for "Young Americans whose tastes and talents fit them to do anything that does not require hard labor." There is a very large number of these unfortunately, and we hope they will diminish. It is one of the evils of the day that the notion of "genteel employments," that curse and bane of English middle-class life, is becoming far too common in America. In England this notion causes young men to crowd the ranks of impecunious doctors, lawyers, etc., and it was unknown in the better and purer days of America. There is no such thing as a "respectable" employment. All honest work is respectable.

THE discovery of an inscription in the Osprian Catacombs of Rome by Signor Armellini, has forever set at rest a question which, indeed, had not been ever doubted, either by Catholics or by sincere Protestants, and that is the presence and residence of St. Peter in Rome. This inscription has even converted the Saturday Review, and henceforth that sarcastic journal will pour its vials of contempt on any one who ventures to doubt it.

A GRAND pilgrimage of Irish and CanaIdian Catholics will leave New York on April 21st, in order to be present in Rome on the Golden Jubilee of the Pope's Episcopate. American Catholics are freely invited to join this pilgrimage, and we already hear of many who intend going to Rome.

THE life of the venerable Father Keenan, the late Pastor of St. Mary's, Lancaster, Pa., which had extended to nearly a century, was marked by few events of note; but his pastorate of over fifty years covers a large portion of the history of the Catholic Church in America. He was a contemporary of Prince Gallitzin, of Bishop England, of Archbishops Hughes and Kenrick, as well as of many other saints and fathers of the Catholic Church in America.

It has often occurred to us that there must be a vast fund of information, and many interesting details of early Catholic history in America, rapidly passing away and being forgotten. The lives of Father Keenan and of the Venerable Father McElroy, S. J., should be written by some one well acquainted with their characteristics. The former was ordained in 1821; the latter in 1817.

A CONSISTORY of the Sacred College of Cardinals was held at Rome on Monday, 12th instant, at which twelve new cardinals were created, viz.: Monsignor Eneas Sbarretti, Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars; Monsignor Frederic de Falloux du Coudray, Regent of the Apostolic Chancery; Monsignor Howard, an English Prelate, one of the Pope's Domestic Chaplains; Monsignor Francesco Sayerio Apuzzo, Archbishop of Capua; Monsignor Luigi Serafini, Bishop of Viterbo, Italy; Monsignor

Barnardi, Patriarch of the West Indies; Father Bernardina da Portogruaro, General of the Franciscan Order; Monsignor Lorenzo Nina, Assessor of the Holy Office; Monsignor Garcia Gil, Archbishop of Saragossa, Spain; Monsignor Payarico, Archbishop of Compostella; Monsignor Canova, Archbishop of Rheims; Monsignor Caverat, Archbishop of Lyons.

EVERY cloud has a silver lining, and among the compensations of the present position in Italy, we may notice the increase of devotion among the faithful and the whole world to the Pope.

Among the measures resolved upon regarding the future conclave, is one by which it is established that any Cardinal may be elected to succeed Pope Pius IX, irrespective of his nationality, thus setting on one side the previous rule by which Italians only could be chosen. There has been much discussion on this point between the Pope and some of the Cardinals, but the opinion prevailed that the choice ought to be absolutely free. This determination will be communicated to all the Cardinals.

THE British Parliament was opened by the Queen in person, but the royal speech gives no indications of any change in the English policy towards Ireland. We notice that a large number of bills on various questions are to be brought forward. The usual attempts will be made to settle the educational and the land questions, and Mr. Butt will bring forward Home Rule in the course of the session. The trouble, however, seems to be that the Home Rule party does not command the adherence either of the Nationalists proper, who look to force alone as capable of obtaining for Ireland legislative and national independence, or of the clergy. The party was certainly stronger in Ireland two years ago than it is now.

THE two following items of news are D.D., pastor of St. Patrick's Church, of very interesting. The Rev. John Moore, Charleston, S. C., has been appointed Bishop of St. Augustine, Fla., vice Bishop Verot, deceased; and the Rev. Vincent Vinye, O. Benicia, Cal., Coadjutor of Bishop O'Con P., prior of the Dominican convent at nell of Grass Valley.

THE Rector of the American College,

Mgr. Chatard, was lately attacked with fever, and his eyes suffered from a dangerous affection brought on by over study. He recovered from these ailments, but his phyvisit to his native land as the best means of sician ordered rest, and recommended a He intends perfectly restoring his health. to return to his important duties in Rome in October next.

HURON is the name of a new territory which is to be formed in Dakota. It extends from Red River to the 104th meridian, with Minnesota to the east and Montana to the west. The territory is fertile, and forms a vast prairie, parts of which are adapted for the raising of stock, and parts for the cultivation of wheat.

THE LIFE OF OUR LIFE. By Henry James Coleridge, of the Society of Jesus. Two volumes. London: Burns & Oates, 1876.

This work is founded on the Latin Har

mony of the Gospels, which was published by Father Coleridge several years ago.

The study of the Gospels, always important, has become specially so in this age. To reap fully, however, the fruits of such study, it is not enough to meditate upon separate parts of our Lord's life, but to endeavor to form an idea of it as a complete whole. For this a Harmony of the Gospels is highly necessary; and this, too, constitutes the most important use and object of a Harmony. The reconciling the seeming difficulties which infidels delight in ferreting out and exaggerating forms, it is true, one purpose of a harmony, but by no means its highest purpose.

The characteristic differences of the four Evangelists have long been known and pointed out by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, as have also the causes of these differences arising from the particular circumstances under which, and the special purposes for which, each Gospel was written. No one of them was intended, nor indeed the whole four, to be a complete history of our Divine Lord's life in the flesh. Each of the Evangelists had a special purpose in view, and composed his Gospel with that purpose constantly in his mind. One, St. Matthew, wrote specially for the instruction of the Christian converts in Judea; another for the Christians at Rome; another for the Gentile converts of Asia Minor; while the fourth and last had evidently as his purpose to suppplement the history of our Lord as to matters which had not fallen within the scope of the other three Evangelists, to bring out more fully some things which they had omitted or but slightly touched upon, and also to record more copiously than they the theological and sacramental teachings of our Saviour and his discourses to his disciples during Holy Week. The Evangelists may be likened, to use a simile of the writer of the work before us, to four different artists, each sketching, from different points of view, the same magnificent building. No two of the sketches will be alike, yet each, if the artists are all accurate, will truly represent the building. Persons unacquainted with the building may imagine that there are discrepancies in the sketches, but those who are acquainted with it will easily reconcile the seeming discrepancies, and be able to testify to the truthfulness of each of the sketches.

The following beautiful passage from the preface of the work shows the design of the author and the purpose he had in view:

"I shall not have labored in vain if I can help Catholics of all classes among us to become more and more practically familiar with the gospel history. The gospels are the inheritance of the Christian people in all ages, but an intelligent acquaintance with them would be a specially powerful protection against the sophistries and illusions of our own time. From the highest forms of Protestantism down to the lowest phases of opinion, hardly to be called Christianity, from the objections which are raised under the name of science and history to the most unsubstantial of subjective dreamings, theological error as well as sentimental wilfulness, Universalism, and immorality as well as sectarian obstinacy-all popular forms of falsehood and deception-drop off into dust before the true knowledge of our Lord. And, on the other hand, the Four Gospels contain all the heavenly lore which the Church has developed as to the practice of virtue, the path of perfection, union with God, the highest and most continued prayer. These are treasures which belong to all the children of God, and the shrine in which they are all stored up is the Life of Jesus Christ."

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY WEEK, according to the Roman Missal and Breviary, in Latin and English. New York: The Catholic Publication Society, No. 9 Warren Street, 1877.

The passion, death, and resurrection of our Divine Lord, cannot but be subjects of the deepest interest to every devout Christian. The Church celebrates these great mysteries with special solemnity. Hence, while every part of her sacred liturgy is directed to the end of celebrating the passion and death of the Redeemer, the Church's offices are more solemn and more multiplied during Holy Week than during any other week in the whole year, and are most especially adapted to excite in the hearts of the faithful those sentiments of love and gratitude, of compassion for our Divine Lord, of sorrow and of detestation of sin, which Christians ought always to cherish, but especially in this holy time.

In the volume before us the whole liturgy of the Church for the Holy Week is collected. For the purpose of apprehending with full intelligence the solemn significance of the Church's offices, and following them devoutly through the different transactions of Holy Week, a copy of a work like this is a great help. Thus, as is well said in the preface, "while the pious Christian unites his voice with that of the priest and of the choir, he may also penetrate the sense of the divine office, and sanction by the fervor of his heart what he pronounces with his tongue."