THE TABLET y í W eek ly N ew sp a p e r a n d R e v ie w

DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS V E S TR IS CONSTANTER MANEATIS

From the B r ief o f H is Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.

Vol. 160. No. 4,833. London, December 24, 1932.

Sixpence.

REGISTERED AT THE GENERAL POST O FF IC I AS A NEWSPAPER.

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News and No t e s ................. 837 The Black Man’s Burden 841 In the Triforium .................844 George Jefferson, Sin-Eater 845 Not “ Merely Players” . . . 846 Three Christmas Lyrics . . . 847 Review s :

Specialism Supplemented 847 “ That Which i s ” . . . 847 Mr. Punch’s Christmas 848

CON T R e v i e w s ( Oontd.) : Page

“ Fortune’s Malice ” . . . 848 Some Catholic Annuals . . . 849 New Books and Music . . . 849 Obituary .............. ... 850 Books Received . . . 850 Correspondence :

Rome (Our Own Corre­

spondent's Weekly Letter from) ......................... 853

ENTS

Cardinal Bourne ................ 854 Advent Pastorals:

Pag0

Plymouth ............................ 854 Southwark ............. 855 Leeds .............. . . . 855 Menevia ............................ 856 Letters to the Editor 856 Et Cetera ............. 857 Catholic Education Notes 858 Speech Bay Celebrations 859 Orb 18 Terrarum :

England ............................ 860 Ireland ............................861 Belgium .........................861

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Orbis Terrarum ( Oontd.) France ............................ 862 Germany ............................ 862 Poland ............................ 862 South Africa ................. 862 Spain ............................ 862 Turkey ............................ 863 Y u g o s la v ia ............................ 863 The Christmas Eve Fast 864 From The Tablet of Ninety

Years Ago

864

Coming Events ................. 864 So c i a l and P e r s o n a l 864 Che s 8 864

NOTANDA

Cardinal Bourne’ s illness. Good news concerning His Eminence (p. 854).

A Christmas Number on Christmas Eve. Stories, poems and pictures appropriate to Christmas in this week’s Tablet (pp. various).

Christmas in the Antipodes and in the Tropics. " The Black Man's Burden” (p. 841).

The Protestant Bishop o f Gloucester again. An Anglican clergyman’s protest against a deplorable remark (p. 856).

Plots in Portugal. Disquieting intrigues against Dr. Salazar (p. 840).

M. Paul-Boncour’s Ministerial prospects. “ A short life, and not a merry one ” (p. 838).

More priests; more churches and schools; more converts. Statistics, from the new Catholic Directory, showing a year’s progress by the Church in England and Wales (p. 857).

Father Joseph Rickaby, S.J. A glance at his work as priest, lecturer and writer (p. 850).

Some further extracts from the Advent pastorals (pp. 854-6).

NEWS AND NOTES 'YA7HEN poor Sancho Panza hankered after

' ' “ an island,” he did not know that islands must be surrounded by water ; and therefore it was easy to give him his island, even in the heart of Spain. I f we will put forth the necessary effort, most o f us can make some sort o f an island for ourselves on which to dwell and to rejoice during this Christmastide. " Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage ” for intrepid spirits ; and there is no reason why the world’s depression and stress should wholly crib and cabin us. Business is to be suspended for three full days in Britain ;

N ew S e r ie s . Vol. CXXVIII. No. 4.232.

so let us mould those days into " a tight little island,” cut off from the sprawling continents o f everyday work and worry. For some of us in these very hard times it may be an island without flowers and with little to eat beyond roots and shell-fish ; but it can be an Isle of the Blessed if its central point is crowned by a shrine of the new-born King.

As promised, this issue o f The Tablet is a Christmas Number, suitable for reading to-night, before Midnight Mass, or to-morrow, in presence o f the real or imitation Yule-log. Following* an old custom, our Christmas Number includes a ghoststory, which has the merit of being founded upon a fragment of authentic British folk-lore.

Two little Nativity-pieces appear overleaf. The first o f them is lit by a pyrotechnical Star o f Bethlehem, dropping a golden rain, and the second has a picturesque landscape-background. Both o f these pieces are copied from engravings o f the Florentine School, which were executed in the fifteenth century. Further on will be found a Madonna and Child after Jacopo Della Quercia, sometimes called Della Fonte.

“ Weingarten ! What a beautiful name for a monastery ! ” Such was the thought of a youngster who is now Lord Abbot of Buckfast. The Abbot recalled it or confessed it, in a memorable speech delivered on the Benedictines' Own Day, after the consecration o f the Abbey Church last August. Those of us who had the privilege o f hearing Dom Anscar Vonier on that occasion counted the Abbot of Weingarten among our fellow-listeners ; but we were very few. To-night, however, will bring Weingarten near to millions o f Catholics. Many of the German high-power stations will transmit a relay of Midnight Mass from the Abbey Church. As Central European time is sixty-minutes in advance o f Greenwich time, it will be possible for English listeners-in to hear a good deal o f this Weingarten transmission before setting out for Midnight Mass in their own churches. Mühlacker