August 11, 1934
THE TABLET s i W e ek ly N e w s p a p e r a n d R e v i e w
DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS V E S TR IS CONSTANTER MANEATIS
From the Brief o f His Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.
V o l . 16 4 . No. 49 18 .
L o n d o n , A u g u s t i i , 19 3 4 .
S i x p e n c e .
Registered at the General P ost Office as a Newspaper.
Page
News and No t e s ................. 161 Heil, Gerlichl ................. 165 A Minister of Holidays . . . 165 L isieux: Three Impressions 166 From The Tablet of Ninety
Years A g o ............................ 167 Westminster Cathedral
Decoration.............................. 167 R eview s :
The Pisa G a n g ................. 168 Recordare Sanctie Crucis 169 “ Frustration ” 169 A Breaker of Chains . . . 169
CONTENTS
Reviews ( Contd. ) :
Page
By No Means Vindicative 169 “ Hypatia B runo” . . . 170 New Books and Music . . . 170 The Fulda Pastoral . . . 171 Joint Pastoral Letter of the
Diocesan Bishops of Germany ( Continued) . . . 171 1234: S t . Dominic
C a n o n iz e d ............................ 175 Correspondence :
Rome (Our Own Corre
spondent’s Weekly Letter from) ............................ 177
Page
The Early C h u rch ................. 178 Obituary ............................ 179 Et Ca s t e b a ............................ 180 The Chapel at St. David’s 181 Catholic Education Notes . . . 182 The C.S.G. Summer School 182 The Cardinal at Clapham 183 Emigration. A Happy
Settlem ent.............. . . . 183 Okbis Terrarum :
England .............. . . . 184 Wales .............. . . . 184 Ireland .............. . . . 184
Obbis Terrabum ( Oontd.) :
Page
Argentina ... .............. 184 Belgian Congo .............. 184 China .............. 184 France .............. 186 Hungary .............. 186 I t a l y .............. .............. 186 Spain .............. 186 U.S.A. .............. 186 Yugoslavia . .. .............. 188 Coming E vents .............. 188 So c ia l and P ersonal . . . 188 Ch e s s ................ .............. 188
N O T AN D A The Fulda Pastoral. Completion o f the German text and the English version (pp. 171-175).
Another Catholic name fo r the death-roll o f Germany’s Night o f Terror. The remarkable career o f Fritz Gerlich (p. 165).
The Holidays. A Tablet leader-writer introduces his project fo r “ a Minister o f Holidays ” (p. 165).
“ A t a side-altar and at an early hour.” The amazing story o f the Protestant Bishop o f London and o f a divorcee’s wedding in church (p. 164).
St. David’s. The opening o f the little church on the cliff. A picture o f the completed building (P- 181).
Lisieux revisited. Father Benedict Williamson tells o f a recent pilgrimage to the home o f the Little Flower (p. 166).
Summer Schools. A t Cambridge priest-lecturers deal with the subject o f the Early Church (p. 178); and at O x fo rd matters o f social import are considered by the Catholic Social Guild (p. 182).
Little Albany Street. A development in prospect (p. 180).
NEWS AND NOTES A T A R S H A L VON H INDENBURG’S body has been inhumed at Tannenberg. Both inside and outside Germany, true pacifists and true Christians could wish that Herr Hitler’s oration at the funeral had closed with words other than “ Our War Lord has entered Valhalla.” Surely it had been better to breathe a prayer that this veteran, worn by wars without and by strife within, might rest in peace.
that Herr Hitler, in making himself President o f the Reich, was afraid o f a Presidential Election by universal ballot, as provided by the Constitution. “ Such a ballot,” he protests, “ will practically take place on August 19, although the Constitution of which The Tablet speaks is obsolete rubbish which cannot be invoked against our Reichsfiihrer’s decisions.” W e reply that our Note was written and put into type, on our regular press-day, only an hour or two after President von Hindenburg had breathed his last and when the latest messages from Berlin to London conveyed no more than that Herr Hitler, without ceasing to be Chancellor, had also become President by a method o f his own devising. But was our Note indeed erroneous ? It ran :
In order to do this, Herr Hitler has had to push through a hole-and-corner “ Law ” which tears into shreds and throws to the winds the Constitutional provision that Germany's President must be chosen by “ all the people.” I f the Constitution be so completely abrogated as our German friend believes, why was it necessary to pass a Law superseding one of its clauses at the very hour when von Hindenburg lay in extremis ? But our chief point is that the plebiscite on August 19 can be no proper substitute for a Presidential Election. Instead of “ choosing ” a Chief-of-State, the people will find a new President fully installed. All they can do will be to say Yes or No to the question “ Do you approve ? ” Short would be the shrift o f any Party which tried to run a rival candidate ; because the Führer is now commander-inchief o f the Army, disposer of all the German police-forces, controller of the Press and the Radio, master o f the bureaucracy, and, when the mood takes him, “ Germany’s Supreme Court o f Justice in his own person.” No Kaiser or even Tsar ever held between one pair of hands so much power as is now Herr Hitler’s. Germans have no guarantee that the secrecy o f the forthcoming ballot will be respected ; so the promise o f a plebiscite is a farce.
An angry German, resident in the South of England, rebukes us for having hinted last week Here is further enlightenment for the lady who recently suggested that “ Germans on the spot ” New Semes. Vol. CXXXII. No. 4317.