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VOL. VI. NO. 24.
AUGUSTA, GA., DECEMBER 26, 1925.
ISSUED SEMI-MONTHLY
$2.00 A YEAR
NUNS HEROINES IN FIRE Catholic Church Alone Gives Real
IN N. J, HDliflE FOR MED Religious Training Says Dr.Butler
Sisters of Charity Save
Lives at Risk of Their Own
-—Fire Loss $700,000.
Admiral Benson Elected
Red Cross Board Member
Columbia President in An
nual Report Says Lack of
Training Great Problem
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Ridgewood, New Jersey—twelve
Sisters of Charity, nurses at the
House of Divine Providence near
here, became heroines when fire des
troyed the house and adjoining cha
pel December 14. At first single-
handed then aided by neighbors and
firemen, they rescued 180 aged and
infirm inmates of the home, in seve
ral cases at the risk of their own
lives.
Not a single, inmate was injured,
so coolly and methodically did the
Sisters work and direct others. In
many cases crippled children and
aged men and women had to he
carried down three flights of smoke-,
filled stairs.
Sister Collitte had taken twenty
old men and women from the blaz
ing building before it was discovered
that she had been burned about Die
face, body, arms and hands.
Five men who came to the assis
tance of the nuns also worked hero
ically' in the saving of .the helpless
inmates, three priests joined in the
work later and narrowly escaped
death from a falling wall. Sisters
from St. Andrew’s Sanitarium across
the road and a dozen young girls
from orphanages also helped.
Four volunteer firemen and rescu
ers suffered burns and another was
injured by a falling wall.
Firemen from fourteen neighbor
ing towns fought the flames, but
there was a scarcity of water and
both buildings were destroyed. Dam
age is put at $700,000. Thirteen
stained glass windows in the chapel,
imported from Germany at a cost ot
$1,000 each, were ruined.
A priest rushed into the burning
chapel and saved the Blessed Sacra
ment. After the inmates were taken
out, the Sisters, priests and others
saved a few religious articles before
the flames made further work im
possible.
An inmate discovered the fire at
about 2 o’clock, and notified Sister
Louise Adele, who was in charge
in the absence of Sister Superior
Cecile, who was in Newark buying
gifts for the home’s Christmas tree.
Sister Louise Adele immediately tele
phoned two neighboring lire depart
ments and the Ridgewood Police De
partment. She then marshalled the
other eleven Sisters and the score of
orphan gilds and began the rescue
One hundred of the 180 inmates
were able to walk, and Sister Louise
Adele directed the gills to lead them
to the lawn, whence they were lat
er taken to other institutions. By
this time the fire, which had started
in the attic, was breaking through
to the third floor where there were
four aged women, all paralyzed. Five
men had now been attracted by the
blaze and joined in the rescue. Sis
ter Goliette led the five to the third
floor and they carried the four para
lytics to safety.
Meantime, Sister Louise Adele and
her sister religious were taking
helpless inmates from the other
floors, some of them in stretchers,
wheel chairs and wheel beds. Join
ed by the men, they made trip after
trip. Nick Kruyter, who jiad been
the first to come to the Sisters’ aid
made eight journeys into the burn
ing building. Sister Louise Adele
then dashed from room to room, as
suring herself that all were out.
Kruyter; although his face had been
badly burned on hiis last trip, in
sisted on aiding in the check-up.
(N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Washington. — Admiral Wil
liam S. Benson, retired, until re
cently president of the National
Council of Catholic Men, was
this week elected a member of
the Red Cross Board of Incorpo
rators at a meeting of the So
ciety, one session of which was
presided over by President Cool-
, idge.
Three oilier members elected
to the board are General Per
shing, William Green, president
of the American Federation of
Labor, and James A. Brain, for
merly National Commander of
the American Legion.
Secretary of Commerce Hoov
er and Cornelius N. Bliss, of
New York, were re-elected mem
bers of the Central Committee
at a session over which Chief
Justice Taft presided.
FOUR PRELATES BECOME
CARDINALSATIIATICAN
Archbishop O’Donnell of Ar
magh Among Them—Pope
Not to Go to Assisi
Rome—His Holiness the Pone on
December 14, raised four prelates of
the Church to the cardinalate. The
new cardinals are:
The Mo*t Rev. Patrick O’Don
nell, Archbishop of Armagh, succes
sor in that See to the late Cardinal
Logune.
Msgr. Bonaventure Cerretti, titular
archbishop of Corinth and papal
nuncio in Paris.
Msgr. Enrico Gasparri, titular
archbishop to Die tie Setoaste, papal
nuncio to Rio de Janiero and a ne
phew of ■ Cardinal Gasparri, papal
secretary of state.
Msgr. Alessandro Verde, secretary'
of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
The four cardinals were created
by Pius XI at a secret consistory
on Monday. On Thursday, in St.
Peter’s, the Pope formally conferred
the Red Hat on three of the new car
dinals. The Red Hat for Msgr. Cer
retti will be conferred in the Elysee
palace. Paris, on Dec. 21 by Presi
dent Doumergue of France, who is a
Protestant.
Press dispatches declare that the
Pope on Monday took occasion to
deplore the conditions which con
tinue to make it impossible for the
head of the Church to leave the
Vatican precincts. This is accepted
as an answer to rumors that he
would leave the Vatiean to attend
Franciscan celebrations at, Assisi;
and to reports that relations between
Italy and the Holy See have changed
so radically since 1870 that the Pope
need no longer be the Prisoner of
the Vatican.
FRENCH NUN DECORATED
, Shanghai.—The Catholics of this
part of China are greatly elated over
the honor which has come to Sister
Gilbert, Superior of Saint Vincent’s
House at Ningpo. The French gov
ernment has awarded the Cross of
the Legion of Honor to Sister Gil
bert and the presentation was made
by Admiral Frochot in the presence
of the French consul and of high
French naval officials.
3101 Priests, 1852 Religious Who
Died For France in War Honored
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Paris—One of the most impressive
religious observances held in 4 Paris
recently was the solemn service in
the Cathedral of Notre Dame for
the souls of the 3,101 priests, 1,517
religious and 335 nuns who died on
the field of honor. The service was
held under the auspices of the Lea
gue for the Rights of Religious and
Priests Who Fought in the War, and
the ancient basilica was hung with
flags and trophies and black and
silver draperies.
Cardinal Dubois presided at the
ceremony which was attended by
Msgr. Baudrillart, Rector of the Cat
holic Institute, by the Vicars Apos
tolic of Senegal and Sierra Leone
and several bishops.
Representatives of the President
of the Republic, of the Minstries of
War and Navy were present. Mar
shal Foch and numerous generals
and admirals, statesmen and jjomi-
nent Catholic were included in the
congregation.
A large group of religious and
priests who had been blinded dur
ing the war occupied seats near the
choir.
Mass was said by Father Cornic,
disabled during the war. His as
sistants were Father Florent and
Abbe Dumontet, also disabled war
veterans. The sermon was preach
ed by Abbe Henocque, an officer
of the Legion of Honor.
After the Mass, the absolution was
given bv Cardinal Dubois, Arch
bishop of Paris.
(By N. C. AV. C. News Service)
New York—Advocacy ot increased
attention to religion in education
and a warning that “unhappily, that
‘illiterate ministry’ which it was the
purpose of the piou£ founders of
Harvard College to forfend. is now,
after three hundred years, in ample
evidence on every side,” are out
standing features of the annual re
port of President Nicholas Murray
Buller of Columbia University. Dr.
Butler recommends to the Trustees
of the University that religious in
struction be encouraged at’ Columbia
“for those who seek it.”
“The essence of all true education
is so to train instruct and discip
line the youth that he may compre
hend the environment, pliysicaL and
spiritual, in which Ills lot is cast
and be able to make his contribu
tion, however slig.xs, to its develop
ment and enrichment,” Dr. Butler
declared.
Citing the Pastoral Letter of the
Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal
church after their last triennial con
vention in whicli they said: “We
see in our land tens of millions of
men and women who acknowledge
no connection with religion, and,
as a result of thi£ a large propor
tion of our children growing up
with-out religious influence of re
ligious teachings of any sort,” Dr.
Butler says in his report:
“In the modern state, with its
elaborate system of tax supported
schools, and as public opinion now
is, it is not practicable to include
religious instruction in the program
of studies on the same plane with
literature, science, art and morals.
Therefore, unless religious instruc
tion is to disappear entirely, pro
vision must be made for it by the
family and by the church. The out
standing fact is, however, that both
the family and the church have abd
icated as systematic and serious
teachers of religion and that is why
the condition exists, to which tlie
Pastoral Letter refers in so uncom
promising terms. Of all the many
different branches of the Christian
Church which are represented in the
United States, it is probably the Bo-
man Catholic Church alone wbhdi
makes serious, systematic, and high
ly organized effort to give genuine
religious training to the children of
its faith. The socalled Sunday
Schools of the Protestant churcheg,
with here and there honorable and
highly commendable exceptions, are
educationally speaking, of little a-
vail, and it would lie no exaggera
tion to describe their influence as
factors in religious education as al
most negiligible. In this condition
of affairs are to be found the ele
ments of a very difficult social and
educational problem and one whicli
if not satisfactorily solved, may
completely after the aspect of
civilization within the next genera
tion or two.”
Education Federalization
Oppossed By Rep. Garrett
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
. .Washington.—Opposition to the
creation of a Federal Depart
ment of Education was express
ed by Representative Finis J.
Garrett of Tennessee, Democrat
ic leader in the House, com
menting on President Coolideg’s
message at the opening of the
sixty-ninth Congress. Mr. Gar
rett attacked the President’s
message as inconsistent, saying:
“For instance, the opening
paragraphs deal with the funda
mental relations of the Federal
government and the states, and
deal with them, too, in a manner
which may well meet the appro
val of an old-fashioned Demo
crat like myself, but in a subse
quent part of the message he
urges upon Congress the pass
age of the Departmental Reor
ganization bill. This bill pro
vides for the creation of a De
partment of Education having a
secretary in the cabinet. Mani
festly there is no necessity for
this unless such a department is
to be given more to do than is
now being done by any bureau
of the Federal Government. Any
increase in Federal power in the
field of education must neces
sarily be an encroachment upon
the state systems of public
j schools.”
Catholic Editor Chaplain
Major of Reserve Corps
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Washington.—The Rev. M. J.
Foley, editor of the “Western
Catholic,” of Quincy, 111., has
been commissioned as a chap
lain in the Reserve Corps of the
United States Army with rank
as Major.
Father Foley has been editor
of the “Western Catholic” for
eighteen years. For more than
ten years he has been chaplain
of the Illinois State Soldiers’
Home at Quincy. Daring the
World War he was active in Lib
erty Loan, Red Cross and allied
war drives as a “four-minute”
speaker. He is president of the
Diocesan School Board of the
Springfield (111.) diocese.
MASS WINE USE- RIGHT
WAYNE WHEELER ADMITS
General Counsel of Anti-Sa
loon League Says Consti
tution Protects.lt.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Washington, D. C.—The use of
sacramental wine is a right guaran
teed by tlie Constitution and not a
privilege granted by law, in the
opinion of Wayne B. Wheeler, Gen
eral Counsel of the Anti-Saloon
League of America, expressed in an
swer to questions regarding the
League’s program of legislation for
the enforcement of the eighteenth
amendment. Mr. Wheeler denied
that the Anti-Saloon League has any
intention of promoting legislation
which would curtail the use of sac
ramental wines in accordance with
the legitimate needs of any religious
body.
The legislative program of the
Anti-Saloon League, as announced
at a recent meeting in Washington
of organizations interested in prohi
bition, contained a .summary of the
objectives sought in which there was
a paragraph reading as follows:
“A law to divest all intoxicating
liquors of their legal status, whether
manufactured or possessed before or
after the eighteenth amendment
went into effect. Such a law is now
possible by a decision of the United
States Supreme Court rendered since
national prohibition was. adopted.”
When Mr. Wheeler was asked if
“all intoxicating liquors” included
sacramental wines, he made the fol
lowing statement:
“The measure endorsed by the An
ti-Saloon League to prohibit the pos
session of intoxicants, whether made
before or after the eighteenth
amendment went into effect, applies
only to beverage liquors and not to
sacramental wines. The Anti-Saloon
League has always drawn this line
of distinction between beverage in
toxicants, both for sacramental pur
poses and for non-beverage pur
poses.”
Alter Mr. Wheeler had dictated
the foregoing statement he elabo
rated on it to recall that he had, on
various occasions, taken the attitude
that Congress and the State Legisla
tures have no power to prohibit the
use of sacramental wine. He was
asked:
“Then you regard the use of sac
ramental wine as a right and not as
a privilege?”
“It is a right, yes, under the Con
stitution,” Mr. Wheeler replied.
DEMOCRACYROTSOUGHT
IN EUROPE SAYS PRELATE
Archbishop Glennon of St.
Louis, Back From Abroad
Reviews Conditions There
(By N. C. W, C. News Service)
St. Louis, Mo.—Archbishop Glen
non was the guest of honor at a
dinner given recently at Chase ho
tel toy the Catholic club of St. Louis
and made the principal address in
which he spoke chiefly of France
and its need for staple government.
Europe does not seem to want de
mocracy, he said, and since the
ideals of the world war, which were
to make the world safe for democ
racy, have not been realized, the
Latin nations of Europe appear to
desire to be made safe by some
other means.
He instanced Italy and Spain as
showing a lack of belief in demo
cratic ideals and constitutional gov
ernment. Surely, he added, the dic
tatorships in. those countries are
better than grafting governments.
Latins want a strong man to rule
them, one who is able to do away
with petty vices and graft, which
have been found under democratic
government, and who is therefore
more representative of the people.
The Archbishop said his visit to
France had convinced him that the
people of that country can be easily
led to support their government,
however badly managed or liow of
ten changed, because the classes are
only moved to revolt under the dir
est distress. But once the real crisis
comes there may well be a turn to
a dictatorship, in order to put an
end to a constant shifting of re
sponsibility. Just now the French
people have visions of possible
bankruptcy, which perhaps best ex
plains their claims of inability to
pay their war debts. The plan of
holding France to the payment of
her debts, he said, may be a good
oqg by which to impress all na
tions with the terrific cost of war.
Speaking of Germany, His Grace
said that country after the war
might have cast its lot with Russia,
for it had nothing to lose by such
a move. But Germany had stood
the test and while it has lost it*
money it has saved the national
soul. France in attempting to save
her money is running the risk of
losing her soul.
Fr. Campbell, Author, Once
Jesuit Provincial, Dead
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Monroe, N. Y.—The Rev. Thomas
J. Campbell, S. J., former Provincial
of the Maryland-New York province
of the Sociey of Jesus, died here De
cember 14, at the Jesuit Sanatorium.
He was seventy-eight years old.
Father Campbell was horn in New
York and attended the public schools
and St. Xavier’s College. After be
ing graduated from the latter insti
tution he studied at Louvain. In
1885 he was made rector of St.
John’s College, Fordham. From
1888 to 1893 he was Provincial of the
Maryland-New York Province, and
from 1910 to 1914 was editor ot
“America.”
Much of Father Campbell’s time
was devoted to research and to ■writ
ings dealing with the early French
settlements and missions in the
northern part of the United States.
He wrote a history of the Jesuits and
translated the hymns of the Roman
liturgy into English.
Students For Priesthood in U. S.
13,984--Increase 1549 in 2 Years
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Washington.—Students for the
priesthood in the United States have
increased by 1,549 in two years,
reaching a total of 13,984, it is
shown in data just compiled by the
N. C. W. C. Bureau of Education.
The figures gathered by the Bureau
are a part of a national Catholic
education survey it is now making.
Seminary faculties showed a like
marked increase, the total gain being
316.
There were 170 seminaries con
ducted in 140 institutions in the
country, at the end of 1924, accord
ing to the survey, which coders the
years 1923 and 1924. Some of these
confined themselves to the prepara
tory work, others to major courses,
and still others gave both classes of
instruction. Of these 170 seminaries
91 were preparatory and 79 major!,
There was an increase of one ma
jor seminary over the two-year pe
riod.
Baltimore archdiocese easily had
the largest number of seminaries,
with 20. New York was second with
12, and Cincinnati at St. Louis had
9 each.
Teachers in the seminaries in 1924
totaled 1.724. whereas in 1922 there
were 1.408. Tlie increase in the num
ber of 'secular priests on the facul
ties was notable. In 1922 there were
453. The religious order clergy on
the faculties dropped from 1,527 to
1,271.
The 13,984 students in the semi
naries were divided into 6,178 study
ing for religious orders, and 7,806
studying for the secular priesthood.
In 1922 the total number of students
was 12,435.