The precursor, 1 juillet 1947, Juillet - Août

T ' sj Montreal, July-August 1947 No.4 \ Vol.XVI, 25th Year BpsSgSi ____________________ .A J* The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception CANADA MOTHERHOUSE, 2900 St.Catherine Road, Cote des Neiges, Montreal 26, P.Q.(Founded in 1902) Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Mission procure.Workroom for making church vestments, embroidery, lace and painting for the support of the Mother-house and Novitiate.Chinese catechist training school.Sewing circles.Publication of a mission magazine, The Precursor.Free missionary library.NOVITIATE, Pont Viau, Montreal 9 OUTREMONT, Montreal 8, P.Q., 314 St.Catherine Road Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Sewing circle.Kindergarten.CHINESE HOSPITAL and DISPENSARY, 112 Lagauchetiere West, Montreal 1 (Founded in 1918) Religious instruction for Chinese.The Sisters also visit Chinese patients in Catholic or Protestant hospitals when requested to do so.NOMININGUE, P.Q.(Bethany) (Founded in 1914) Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Promotion of the Holy Childhood Work.RIMOUSKI.St.Germain St.(Founded in 1918) Apostolic School for prospective missionaries.Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Workroom for making church vestments.Mission workroom.Kindergarten.Private lessons in French, English, music and painting.JOLIETTE, 750 St.Louis St.(Founded in 1919) Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Workroom for making church vestments.Mission workroom.QUEBEC, 4 Simard St.(Founded in 1919) Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Recollection Days for girls.Mission ____________________________________ workroom.Private lessons in painting.The Sisters also visit Chinese patients in hospitals and in their homes.Religious instruction for Chinese children and adults.VANCOUVER, 236 Campbell St.(Founded in 1921) Oriental hospital.Chinese refuge and dispensary.Private lessons in languages and catechism for Chinese children and adults.Home visits to Chinese.THREE RIVERS, 466 Bonaventure St.(Founded in 1926) Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Mission workroom.Kindergarten.QUEBEC, 651 St.Cyrille St.(Founded in 1928) Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Mission workroom.GRANBY, 35 Dufferin St.(Founded in 1930) Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Hostel for girls.Mission workroom.School.Kindergarten.CHICOUTIMI, 61 Jacques Cartier St.(Founded in 1930) ^ Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.Mission workroom.Hostel for girls.GRANBY, 279 Main St.(Founded in 1931) The Immaculate Conception Hostel for girls.Kindergarten.ST.MARIE, Beauce Co.(Founded in 1932) Closed Retreats for ladies and misses.ST.JOHNS, P.Q., 430 Champlain St.(Founded in 1935) Closed Retreats .y ladies and misses.Diocesan Office of the Holy Childhood.Workroom.VANCOUVER, Mt.St.Joseph’s Hospital, 3080 Prince Edward St.(Founded in 1946) (Continued on third page of cover) The Community of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception Foundation.— The Community of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, destined to foreign mission apostolate, was founded by Very Rev.Mother Marie du St.Esprit (Delia Tetreault, Marieville, Rouville County), June 3, 1902, at Notre Dame des Neiges, Montreal, under the benevolent patronage of His Excellency Archbishop Bruchési and the direction of Rev.Father Gustave Bourassa.May 1, 1903, the nascent Community took up quarters at 27 St.Catherine Road, Outremont.December 7, 1904, His Excellency the Archbishop of Montreal, being in Rome for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, submitted to His Holiness Pope Pius X the projected missionary Community.“ Proceed with the foundation.Your Excellency,” answered the august Pontiff, “ and all the blessings of Heaven will descend upon the new Institute, to which you will give the name ‘Society of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.’ ” August 8, 1905, anniversary of his episcopal consecration, His Excellency Archbishop Bruchési received the religious vows of the first two Sisters and gave the Holy Habit to three postulants.In response to an appeal from His Excellency Bishop Merel, Vicar Apostolic of Kouang-Tong, the Community opened its first mission in Canton, China, in 1909.Four years later, it was entrusted with the management of the Shek Lung Leprosarium.In 1916, the Chinese government gave it the direction of a foundling home in Tong Shan, near Canton.Aim of the Community.— The aim of the Community of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception is the propagation of the Faith among infidel nations, in a spirit of thanksgiving.Consequently, each Sister on taking her vows in the Community, consecrates her whole life to the extension of the Kingdom of Christ and His Immaculate Mother, as a holocaust of perpetual thanksgiving, in her own name as in that of all mankind.Spirit of the Community.— The virtues which should characterize the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are: gratitude, humility, obedience, charity, spiritual joy, love of work and of a hidden life, a spirit of faith and prayer, zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.Works in infidel countries.— The practice of all spiritual and corporal works of mercy: the education and instruction of native children, catechumens and neophytes; the training of native religious and virgin catechists; assistance to dying pagans and Christians; orphanages, workrooms, dispensaries, leprosaria, industrial schools, training schools for nurses, etc.Works in Christian countries.— The diffusion of the Holy Childhood Association and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as well as of publications whose aim it is to make the mission cause more widely known. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 The erection of apostolic schools and houses for the recruiting of aspirant missionaries.Procures where donations in money and kind are received.Schools for pagan children residing in this country; the conduct of special courses for pagan adults; the religious instruction of catechumens and assistance to the dying Chinese, Negroes, etc.Leagues of prayer and sacrifice for the suppression of anti-religious societies.Closed retreats for women and girls.Spiritul exercises.— Convinced that charity and zeal spring from a deep spirit of piety, and that without this spirit they will be unable to fulfill their missionary vocation, the Sisters unite to the office of Martha the holy occupations of Mary.Spiritual exercises are as follows: Holy Mass, morning and afternoon meditations, spiritual readings, recitation of the Rosary in common, Way of the Cross in common, monthly and annual retreats, hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.On Sundays and Fridays, as well as on every Feast of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed after Mass until 5 P.M.It is also exposed daily where the Ordinary of the diocese so desires.Main Feasts.— Pentecost and the Immaculate Conception.Conditions for admission to the Novitiate.— First among the qualities required from aspirants to the Novitiate is an ardent desire of devoting themselves to the missions.They should also possess certain natural qualities, such as, sound judgment, straightforwardness, simplicity, generosity and strength of character.The Community consisting of but one category of members, all must be able to render themselves useful by some special aptitudes.Young persons who have not completed their studies are admitted, provided they possess at least elementary instruction and aptitudes for domestic economy, cooking, sewing, etc., or a knowledge of either music or painting.Aspirants are also required to present Baptism and Confirmation certificates, recommendations from their Pastor or spiritual adviser, as well as a certificate from the doctor, and the written consent of the parents, if the subject is not of age.After six months of postulancy, the aspirants pass on to the Novitiate, which lasts for a period of two years.During their Novitiate, the Novices study the religious life, apply themselves to the practice of virtue, become impregnated with the spirit of the Institute, learn the Rules and customs and prepare for the apostolic life to which they will later be more directly called.Annual vows are taken for the first three years following first vows.During annual vows, the newly-professed Sisters prepare in a more direct manner for mission life.When the three years of annual vows are expired, the Professed Sister consecrates herself irrevocably to God by final vows. practical Üs>ugges:ttons: to those who would like to help us in our missionary undertakings Every Mite is Mighty! Upkeep of the Motherhouse chapel Erecting chapels in mission lands Keeping the sanctuary lamp burning in our Canadian or foreign convents for one year.$ 25.00 Burse for the support of a Missionary Sister.1,000.00 Annual support of a maiden catechist leading her kinsmen to Christ.50.00 Annual support and education of a little orphan.40.00 Baby Crib Perpetual Burse.200.00 Annual care of a poor leper.60.00 Keeping a crib baby contented for one month.5.00 Ransoming a healthy baby.5.00 Ransoming a baby lonesome for Heaven.25 Monthly support of a Missionary Sister.10.00 Monthly support of a Novice preparing for mission adventuring.10.00 The Precursor for a year.1.00 —- - — IS YOUR NAME ON THE “PRECURSOR” LIST?The Precursor is published every two months.Benefactor's subscription: $1.00 a year Ordinary subscription : 60 cents a year Single copies: 10 cents Address: 2900 St.Catherine Road, Cote des Neiges Montreal 26, P.Q., Canada Life Subscription: $20.00 * * * Don’t leave Christ’s missionaries alone on their spiritual battlefields.They need your help! What are you going to do for them —¦ today ? Thanks to Our Kind Benefactors! ^ m' Published by the iHigsionarp listers! of tfje Immaculate Conception with the approbation of the Archbishop of Montreal Vol.XV, 25th Year Montreal, July-August 1947 No.4 Contents Our Lady of Carmel.The Precursor The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.Dom Queranger Scapular Protection.Mother Most Merciful.Good Old Lam Pony.Priests Are Wanted!.Her Priest.Binic Parish Bulletin Millions!.Former Retreatants Hold Marian Day.Laborers All.Mission Intention for the Month of July, 19^7.Right Rev.Msgr.T.J.McDonnell Wanted : Missionaries.“ Thou Shalt Catch Men!”.The Precursor Black Pearl.Rev.Father M.Badiou, S.J.A Modern Martyr.Very Rev.J.A.Walsh, M.A| Along the Mission Newsfront.Joliette—Our Lady of the Cape.Excerpts From the Motherhouse Diary.The Children’s Share.The Vaughan Family.Stella Maris Rays From Mary’s Hands.Remember, 0 Mary.Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them, 0 Lord.188 189 190 191 192 193 233 231+ of (Carmel 0 fairest fragrant Flower ! 0 fruitful mystic Vine! 0 Splendor, Queen of Carmel, we kneel before thy shrine! As once the Sons of Prophets upon the Mount of light.We praise thee, Spotless Beauty, ice wear thy Brown and White.0 treasure of the heavens, so singularly chaste, Whom Christ the King Eternal in deathless glory placed.We join the ranks of Carmel, thy bodyguard for aye.To sing thy tender mercies upon thy festal day.We lift not eyes prophetic, as saintly monks of yore ; Our bark is tossed by tempest, xoe seek in vain the shore.0 silver Star of Ocean, be thou the Beacon bright To guide us safe to Heaven, who wear thy Broivn and White! We wear thy Sacramental, thy blessed livery.With heart and soul exultant our homage pay to thee.0 Mary, Spotless Lily that grew from tainted sod.Prepare our seats in glory, with Christ thy Son and God! The Precursor Œlje Scapular of - Scapular protection How many touching instances of faith and true piety we still meet with today in our exemplary Canadian families! World War II was wreaking havoc in Europe and the conflict had already been waging over two years when Paul, second son of Mr.and Mrs.B., received orders to join the army.The anguish of the family and especially of the poor mother can easily be imagined.A son, a brother engaged in the great struggle meant a son, a brother exposed to any and every bodily and spiritual hazard.If many young men remain true to their God in the fray, how many others, with principles based on foundations less unshakable, lose what little faith they had ! Paul, one of five sons, was twenty-one.“ He’s just a boy, ” said his mother.“ He’s so young to leave home and his dear ones.” But Paul, a boy in years, was a man in character.Bravely and unflinchingly he accepted the heavy sacrifice of separation and all the hardships he well knew would come on the heels of that one.On departure day in the morning, while he was still in his room, he saw his mother coming in with a smile on her face, a little tired smile, he perceived.She had a scapular in her hand.Paul noticed she had sewed some medals on it.“ Your officers will provide you with a military uniform, a rifle, a knapsack and so on.Allow your mother to invest you with an armor also.Never part from this precious talisman.Never forget to pray to Our Blessed Mother especially Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 181 in the hour of danger, and I am sure no misfortune will befall you.Be faithful to your God, to your Mother in Heaven and your mother on earth, and when the war is over I will hold you to my heart again.” Together at the bedside they knelt and said the Memorare to Mary.The son kissed his mother one last time, breakfasted, and the hour had come for the parting.Paul was sent off to England, then to France where he took part in several engagements.A hundred times bullets whizzed over his head, ripped his clothes, but never so much as scratched his body shielded with Mary’s Brown Scapular.Once, — how he still shivers when he thinks of it! — he was almost buried under a pile of earth and debris.But he lifted his hand to Mary’s Sacramental on his breast and came out unscathed.Then came victory.With a loving prayer to Mary, Empress of the Sea, the young Canadian soldier, glad and grateful, embarked on the long voyage to the homeland.Not long after it was given him to embrace his beloved mother, with whom he sang the tender mercy and protection of the Mother of Christ whose image had never left him all through the terrible clash of arms.— -.SW — Most Mtvtxinl T tskm -^ Pete was eighty-four and he was dying.No pleasant perspective this, for a man who had been a profligate all through those lengthy years of a misspent life.Pete was dying and dying all alone, unrepentant and unshriven.For three weeks he had been lying on the sordid heap of rags which was his only bed, in a house of ill-repute, struggling with a mortal disease.Friends he had aplenty when rioting and revelling parties had been his order of the day and night, but as soon as misfortune and suffering had touched him, all had vanished like snow in the warm sunshine.But for all that, no, Pete was not abandoned.From starry heights above a Mother bent over him, love unutterable urging her to rescue this pearl of great price lying in the dust and mire of sin.A kind lady, filled with zeal for the salvation of souls, had for the last sixteen years prayed and worked for Pete’s return to the Fold.Being informed at last of her protege’s critical condition, she hastened to visit him.Alas, a torrent of abuse was her only answer as she gently tried to persuade the old sinner to settle his spiritual accounts.He had lived without God and he would die without God: this he punctuated with unprintable words and scowling looks.But Mrs.X.for all her gentleness was not one to give up so easily.On her way home she called upon a venerable old priest of her parish, telling him all about Pete and his fierce resolution to die as he had lived.A few moments later the priest was on his way, while the lady entered a church to storm Heaven with her supplications.Pete was almost beside himself with rage when he saw the priest.Little by little, however, he listened to the kind words spoken with such persuasive force; his hardened old heart was softened as the minister of God’s mercy spoke to him of the Mother who still loved her erring child and was waiting at Heaven’s Gate to welcome him home.The saving words of absolution washed away the sins of a lifetime, and Jesus in the Host visited this prodigal to help him over the dread crossing.Pete died that night and the Angels in Heaven rejoiced over the sheep that was lost but was found again through the Blessed Mother’s merciful love. yrvmi l'rrrrr C3 c-*3 yy/z/^K , i: t ; i t »» _____~_25 «I ttii JMi! Good Old Lam Fong Sixty years ago he was born in Tai Tong, near Canton, and sixty years hence he will be leisurely smoking his patriarchal pipe on the avenues of Heaven.Twenty-five years — chronological beginnings not being forbiddingly vetoed — his mother has been sleeping her last sleep beneath the grass-grown sod.Tears well up in his eyes — I speak of Lam Fong, her son and her all - - at the mere mention of her name.Lam Fong, until his baptism, never omitted the prescribed tributes of incense before the ancestral tablet.Last of the names thereon written is that of Tak King, his beloved mother.Christian faith and innate filial piety long struggled for the upper hand within him, until one day the grace of God gently silenced the call of nature, and Lam Fong turned away from the incense to set his heart on another mother, Malea, the blue-mantled Mother of God.Malea it was who led him through labyrinthian pathways to the one changeless God.One need only turn over the pages of his life history to be in a position to identify this and that move as ordained by the Lady of Heaven, Mary Most Merciful.Years ago, so runs this epic of Lam Fong’s, the hero lived in a modest brick house with a black tiled roof.On rainy days the jeremiads of the whistling winds filled the place with weirdness and melancholy.But rain or shine, the young Chinese lived and loved there.Let the neighbors raise up to the stars and beyond the worth of their daughters, Lam Fong cared not a fraction of a jot.He would say he had his mother and in no event intended to present any but a mother-son home front.Still, the first member of the twosome tried to persuade the second that she couldn’t live forever and ever.An old woman like her couldn’t work in the fields, couldn’t do this, couldn’t do that.Reverently the young man registered the maternal admonitions in that unfathomable Asiatic mind of his.There was wisdom in her words, no gainsaying that, but he was determined to maintain the status quo re matrimonial matters.“ Momo, I won’t marry as long as you live.My happiness will be to remain close to you and take good care of you.” Motherly to her fingertips, Tak Hing punctuated her pleadings with a full stop period and the chapter was closed.All in all, Tak Hing deserved love as all-embracing and exclusive.A pagan notwithstanding, the old Chinese mother knew that kindness eases Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 183 the jolts of life.Naturally upright, honest and kindly, she possessed that treasure of treasures which is a heart of gold.Misery touched her as it moves the truest follower of the Gentle Savior.Had someone inquired of her whether there existed a word one could put in practice all through life’s little day, with Confucius the sage she could have answered: “ Kindness towards others.Do not do to others that which you do not wish they should do to you.” Still, Tak Hing the kindly had not always trodden a rose-strewn path.Death had taken her husband, two sons and a daughter; four times she had drunk the cup of sorrow to the dregs.Fong, then an urchin of ten or so, had for days and days fluttered between life and death, finally dodging the fatal blow.Half a hundred years after he still remembers how earnestly his bereaved mother implored the clemency of Buddha and protection from the ancestors.He recalls also, as if it were an event of yesterday, the clouds of incense that floated towards the household gods and beneficent genii.Neither incense nor prayer had wheedled pity out of the passing gods of stone, but the Almighty and Eternal God had compassion on the noble mother who had never even learned to whisper His Holy Name.The boy’s cheeks recovered their usual healthy glow, and the boy’s affection for the guardian of his days grew and grew, until he had made an enviable reputation for himself as practising filial piety in its highest degree.Years rolled on, work and worry laden, with a beam of sunshine ever and anon to brighten things up.Slowly, like the receding tide, the old mother’s life ebbed away.One evening, knowing the end could not be long delayed, she called her son to her bedside for the ultimate farewell: “ My son, I am going to die.As long as you live be honest, dutiful and kind.Adore the gods and the ancestors often.Fulfill all the duties prescribed in their regard.Be charitable towards all needy brethren.Nothing else can give happiness.” Sobs choking his voice, the young man promised.In his turn he tried to influence in his favor those pitiful substitutions for the God man must adore.But ears they had and heard him not.Tak Hing Good Old Lam Fong 184 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 had run her race and death claimed her.Fong bought a handsome coffin and the funeral rites stretched over seven weeks.The neighbors endeavored to prove their sympathy, which sympathy he in his sorrow did not detect as springing from the principle which says that it is not good for man to be alone.Discreetly the would-be candidates tried to renew parleys with a view to wedlock, but they soon realized they were wasting sweetness on the desert air.Bachelor Fong he was and Bachelor Fong he would remain.Funeral rites over and mourners gay once more, Lam Fong felt a wave of lonesomeness engulfing him.The old home looked glum and cheerless.So he decided to go to the ends of the earth to begin over singly and alone.People’s tongues wagged wellnigh unto exhaustion when he sold all his belongings, save the ancestral tablet, two or three buddhas and a black silk shawl embroidered with an enormous golden dragon.Lam Fong tucked all these souvenirs of happier times in a package, pulled at the strings, his own heart-strings feeling strangely tugged at meanwhile, and rushed off to the port of Canton.Convinced from personal experience that people’s stomach strings needed to be attended to three times a day, he hired as kitchen cook number two on board a cargo that sailed from one continent to the other.Lam Fong the Chef did so much and so well that before long he won the coveted ensign of his profession.His boss liked him.Once, only once the culinary debutant allowed himself a weekend from his first fervor.His ship had reached an American port and there was a cafe nearby.The man from China had evidently had some misgivings as to the strength of whisky and its aftermath, and the quantity he absorbed would have been without precedent, except for the excesses of ante-diluvian, I mean pre-deluge days.But he didn’t swoon into the arms of Morpheus.Instead, he jumped on a table, almost sang his lungs out, quoted all the wisecracks from his repertory and declined all invitations mild and wild to come off his oratorical roost.There you would still find him A.D.1947 if the proprietor, anxious about the what-do-people-say, had not called the police.Thus it happened that Fong went for a motorcycle trip that night, accompanied by remorse and a ninety-percent abatement of enthusiasm.At the police station he was said goodbye to with threats.But back within the sanctum of his own home, the unfortunate Celestial wept as earthly sons of men do.Wishing to atone for his fault and appease his departed mother’s wrath, he took out the sacred tablet and exhausted in its presence all his provision of incense.There in front of the name of one he had loved in life and still loved in death, the guilty son promised to begin on a clear record once more.First and last of his sprees that was.Fong courted wisdom anew and winecups, etc., broke into bits against the adamant of his manful resolve.Meanwhile years wore on and Fong had his fiftieth birthday.Sea-fever left him and he decided to settle in Vancouver.Thence, for reasons unknown to the writer but all clear to the Blessed Mother, he moved to Montreal.Lam Fong, who had once hugged three buddhas, would there learn to adore Three Divine Persons in One God.The Gentile would enter into the family of the Most High. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 185 Once upon a Saturday in July, Fong crept out of his little room hot as an inferno to enjoy the fresh morning air.Suddenly an unaccountable weariness and pain overwhelmed him.He noticed a Catholic church nearby with its doors wide open.Any oasis would be acceptable.He saw a good old lady absorbed in her prayers.Wearily he staggered on to one of the pews in the rear.Never before had he set foot in a Catholic house of prayer.Tired or not, he might as well examine the statues.How many gods and goddesses did those Christians honor, he wondered.Long his eyes dwelt on the one that seemed to be their Queen — a beautiful Lady clad in a royal blue mantle and crowned with stars.“ Goddess or Queen, ” prayed he to the Unknown Beauty, “ whoever you are, if you can do anything, do help me! ” Then all went black and poor Fong fell unconscious.Luckily the woman in prayer had a distraction at the opportune moment.Seeing the old Chinese lying prone and helpless, she hurried out for assistance.When Fong came to again, medicine odors and the swish of starched uniforms told him he was in a hospital.He tried to remember what had happened.Suddenly his eyes alighted on the statue of a Lady garbed in a blue mantle.He had seen her before — but where ?Little by little it all came back to him — the Catholic temple, the woman in prayer, the Unknown Goddess, his own prayer.“ She has had pity on me, ” he mused.Alive he still is.While at the hospital he asked a hundred questions about the Lady in Blue: her name, her rank, her country, her history.It thrilled him to learn that she was God’s Mother and the Mother of all men.The Mother led him to her Son.The life of Our Lord, the old, old story of divine mercy and love, was told to him.Fong listened like a schoolboy and weighed everything in his mind.One day he said he wanted to be instructed in the Catholic Faith and a catechism was put in his hands.This he studied with all the application of a student aiming at his B.A.At sixty, though, the mind of man isn’t immune against forgetfulness.The Creed, the Our Father and the Hail Mary took weeks to settle in his hard old head.No doubt Mother Mary took a hand and bade that rusty memory do its duty better, for on the feast of the Immaculate Conception Lam Fong was baptized and made his First Holy Communion.Old Fong is no longer a hospital inmate.He is home, doesn’t work any more, just wonders when his Heavenly Father will come for him.His heart doesn’t function as it should, and he feels that the first attack will very likely be the last.That won’t be half so bad, anyway, says he, for that will give him a chance to see the Lady to whom he daily offers the Aves of his rosary.Shan i fuk, Malea .While waiting for the moment when “ now ” and “ the hour of our death ” will happily coincide for him, the newly-dubbed Knight of Heaven’s Lady reveres the blue-mantled statue on his table.She who was foretold in the morning of creation as the spotless Virgin who would crush the head of the haughty infernal serpent now stands victorious and merciful on the ancient heathen dragon! Priests Are Wanted! To pour on the brow of the newborn babe the purifying stream that makes one a child of God and of the Church; to distribute to souls the Food of the Holy Eucharist and the Bread which is the Word of God; to absolve from sin, to bless the union of husband and wife, to assist the dying in their last agony, priests are needed ! To counteract the many and perverse attacks of the enemies of our Holy Faith; to conduct our seminaries, colleges and Catholic Action movements; to mould our youth and raise bulwarks of the Faith in our parishes, priests are needed! To open new parishes in colonization sections ; to attempt the conquest of the pagan throngs ready and waiting for the Gospel light to illumine their darkened horizons, priests are needed, missionaries are wanted ! Priests — we need them everywhere, and everywhere their number is insufficient to respond to the manifold needs that surge up.No Catholic in name and in truth may remain indifferent to this problem, for on its solution depends the staunch Catholic Faith of the Canada of tomorrow and the extension of God’s Kingdom in heathen territories.How can we remedy this dearth of ministers of the altar?By fostering vocations to the priesthood.Let us pray the Lord of the Harvest, that He may raise up sterling laborers.Let us encourage and favor sacerdotal vocations in our families.Let us succor with our alms candidates to the sublime function of the priesthood who would be exposed to fail in their attainment of the lofty ideal they cherish for want of monetary means.Several bishops have established a vocational movement in their diocese destined to receive the offerings of the faithful towards more priestly vocations.The Montreal address of this vocational movement is 1105 Boulevard Gouin East, Montreal 12.Let us give priests to the Church, and Christ, the Eternal High Priest, will shower divine blessings on the Land of the Maple! -—V - He who is consumed by the love of souls becomes mad; he stops at nothing; no sacrifice costs him anything.just de Bretenieres L «-.A S ^ Mvv Priest She was old and bent by labor, and the years had snowed on her hair once fair and golden.And still she cherished a dream .One Sunday she had heard it said, and the words had hurt her heart, she had heard the parish priest say that sacerdotal hands were sorely lacking everywhere.Tears had sprung to her faded brown eyes.But what could she do, what could an old spinster in her condition attempt to remedy the situation?True, she could pray, she could implore the Holy Ghost to instil in the hearts of mothers the desire of leading their sons unto the altar of God.Nothing further lay in her power.And yet! She could not rest in assurance for all that.Had not Father said other searing words: “ In these our days prayer is not enough; we must be up and doing.” What should she do?Suddenly an idea surged in her mind — a foolish idea — but what of that ?Couldn’t she save up enough money to pay for the priestly education of a boy ?Poor old auntie! Her master hadn’t left her any millions, nor any thousands for that matter.She could hardly make ends meet as things stood.But she could be more thrifty, she could work.How can you be more thrifty when you hardly eke out a precarious living?How can you toil and spend yourself when all your bodily energy is spent and only the strong will of steel is there to make you overlook your weariness?And still she pledged her word.She would give her God a priest, another consecrated Christ.Bravely she set to work, one sole ambition goading her on: A priest, my priest, a priest who will pray for me! O my God, do not let me die until I give You this priestly conquest of mine! ” And by dint of economy she saved five thousand francs.Would that be enough?She would ask the curate about it.“ Father, I have been cherishing a fond dream, but I need you to help me realize it.I want to have my own priest.Surely you will find in the parish a studious and pious boy who will later become a good priest like you.Here’s a small amount for his instruction.Will it be enough ?If not, I shall work again, Father.” “ Thank you, oh, thank you, Jane, ” answered Father feelingly.“ God will surely bless you.” And the good soul went away weeping tears of joy and murmuring: “ I will have my very own priest.” Her paralyzed fingers no longer work today, but her old age is brightened by the thought of the future priest who is studying and striving for sanctity.“ Go in peace, good and faithful servant.” “ Go, calm and confident, with a smile on your lips, to the judgment seat of God.He will welcome you with love and say: “ Good and faithful servant, you who seemed so small and useless on earth, you who were so hidden and unknown, behold in the ages to come all the good your priest will operate, all the good the priests he will have formed will do in souls.Behold all those sinners healed and forgiven, all those children kept pure as lilies, all those young girls protected against the impure breath of sin.All this glory I owe to you ! Your privations and trials so uncomplainingly borne have given Me a priest.priests! ” Binic Parish Bulletin wmM iîltUtonsi!.ft0,0 O O,OOÔ| It has been estimated that one hundred and fifty million dollars worth of liquor was sold in the Province of Quebec during the year 1945.This fabulous total represents three million dollars a week.The City of Montreal alone is said to have absorbed a third of that unbelievable amount, or fifty millions.One hundred and fifty million dollars engulfed in wine glasses and beneficial neither to individuals nor to the nation as a whole.On the contrary, how much suffering and disorder, how many physical ills and moral sadnesses have been occasioned by the swelling tide of these spirituous drinks! How many promising young persons, how many middle-aged citizens have been left moral wrecks by the winecup passion! What sorrow and what agony have followed in the wake of revelries where the drink that man loveth reigned supreme and undisputed! Look at those figures again.One hundred and fifty millions lost — irreparably lost.Millions squandered, when multitudes of human beings have to go on empty stomachs and never enjoy the luxury of three square meals a day.Millions to satisfy unnamable passions, millions to offend God, when Our Father in Heaven gives us not only our daily bread, but all those things wherewith to make our lives easy and comfortable, asking only in return that we love Him and share what we have with our needy brethren.Millions to give satanic pride to the Prince of Evil, when the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and earth still remains the Unknown God for one billion and more of His creatures fashioned by His hands.4 ¦•'j jA .¦ ’PS?' .¦ v « wamm.s» a Rev.Father Beaudoin’s Church in the Philippines Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 189 With those millions — what miseries one could mitigate, what holy undertakings one could launch and make prosper in our country! With those millions, how many heralds of the Gospel, lost on their lone mission frontiers, could appease hunger of body and hunger of soul, with the bread we receive without laboring for it and the Holy Eucharist we so often obtain from an all-loving Gdd without always appreciating it at full value.Oh, if Christ’s apostles had only a fraction of those millions! What stately altars they would raise to the True God, there where false divinities command the adoration of intelligent human beings! If only they had a fraction of those squandered millions, they would erect Catholic temples where the children of the jungle and the mountain could adore their Maker, could be told that they were created to know, love and serve Him.With a fraction of those millions, hospitals could be built for the sick and maimed, orphanages could be set in operation for dear little lost or abandoned children, schools could dispense Christian education.With a fraction of those millions, the poor would be helped, the poor whose utter indigency is often their excuse for not going to fulfill their religious duties.Oh, that those winecup millions fell in the hands of Christ’s Catholic Action men and women! What enormous amounts of good would thereby be wrought! Let us never forget that the abuse of liquor and all the other whims of our countrymen cost untold millions and deprive our country, or rather humanity, of blessings and benefits, while at the same time they deprive God of the glory which is His due as Lord of Heaven and earth! ?¦ ?GRANBY Former Retreatants Hold Marian Day On May 25 last, the former retreatants of Mary Mediatrix Retreat House gathered at Marieville for a day of prayer and praise in honor of the Blessed Mother of God.During Holy Mass, which was celebrated at 8.30 by Msgr.J.C.Leclair, V.G., Rev.Father E.Hadd, preacher of the Marian Day, developed with persuasiveness and eloquence the theme so in harmony with the maternal injunctions of Our Blessed Mother: “ The Rosary, a'prayer agreeable to the Heart of Jesus, agreeable to the Heart of Mary, sweet to the heart of the Christian.” In the afternoon hours, a throng estimated at seventeen hundred persons took part in the procession organized in honor of Our Lady of Fatima, rendering homage to the Queen of Heaven and imploring her gentle blessing on the diocese and the entire world.The Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was recited in front of the repository altar erected at the church entrance, following which Msgr.Leclair spoke in the name of His Excellency the Bishop of St.Hyacinthe.Rev.Father Breton, retreat promoter, then thanked all who had done their share in the success of the Marian triumph, which success, we gratefully admit, is owed in large part to his own indefatigable zeal.The pious throng dispersed after the last notes of their farewell song to the Blessed Mother had died on the evening air. ILaborerg £lll To every creature fashioned by hands divine has been assigned some particular task that none may shirk without marring the wonderful order of God’s universe.Earlier than the dawn, birds chirrup in leafy cathedrals their morning hymn to the Creator of all, insects stir and hum, flowers open to the invigorating dew, plowmen set out for the fields, laborers for plants and foundries.The hive of the universe hums with activity; people everywhere are beginning to earn their daily bread in the sweat of their brow, as God ordered Adam after the fall.Violet Thompson seemed to be ignorant of this universal law of labor.Indeed, who would expect a lovely heiress to do anything in the line of work ?Her beautifully manicured hands had never even been raised to put away a discarded garment.What were maids for, if not to fetch and carry and relieve one of the least effort ?Of course, I had quite forgotten to tell you, Violet did work strenuously — on the ballroom floor.This accounted for milady dawdling in bed until ten or eleven o’clock of a morning.Poor Betty, Violet’s own particular maid, would grumble about it to the other servants and wonder if she would get the room done before luncheon, as her mistress spent hours with lipstick and powder and nail polish.Rather depressing to see an intelligent woman thus throwing away her opportunities to serve others, by concentrating on her own ego, all of twenty-four hours.For a change let us peep in at Mrs.Nelson’s shining cottage windows.A bracing atmosphere reigns in the humble home where Mother works from dawn to dusk, making everybody comfortable and happy.No dawdling in feather beds here, but the old saw put in practice: “ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Contentment stems from tasks cheerfully done, while laziness breeds discontent and grumpy dispositions.The humblest creature here below has a divinely assigned mission which corresponds to the end God had in view upon creating it.This end is not attained, nay, cannot be attained, without labor.The humble worm itself has a task to fulfill, a goal to reach, for it also belongs to the well-ordered militia of useful beings.How could man, the masterpiece of creation, remain without a mission to fulfill, a work to do?Good old Homer tells of princesses spinning and weaving wool or performing with royal hands household chores and menial tasks.Rome, in that golden age of her history, honored the mother who looked to the ways of her household.Roman matrons of that age were a match for the heroes their country boasts of.One noble patrician once remarked to a friend: “Congratulations! You have a son about whom everyone talks and a daughter about whom all are silent! ” “ Reflect on Mary’s life at Nazareth.In Mary is found the prototype of all beauty, the resume of all that is noble and great.And yet we do not hear that she ever tried to show off her wonderful gifts, that she minced in a drawing room or idly strummed the guitar.It is highly probable that she never wrote a book; but one sure thing: she certainly knew the domestic arts of cooking and washing, of dusting and sewing and weaving.This last art she so excelled in that Our Blessed Savior owed to her maternal tenderness His seamless Robe.” (Rev.Father Marchai) Every man here below is bound to work.And if his wealth dispenses him from earning his daily bread in the sweat of his brow, he is nonetheless obliged to labor’s universal law.His privileged position as a man of wealth and power means only that he must become father to the poor and needy and the Heavenly Father’s ambassador to secure for them the daily bread for which they daily pray. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 191 Besides, there are the spiritually poor who hunger in a moral way with none to break unto them the bread of truth.All these who are in distress must he relieve, whether they be next-door neighbors or half-naked savages in jungle lands afar.And this work of apostolate which none may shirk and yet call themselves Christians, is the work most agreeable to God.Let them but accomplish it faithfully and cheerfully and give from their abundance, and theirs will be the reward exceeding great.MISSION INTENTION for the Month of July, 1947 Sisters Engaged in Teaching and Other Works of Zeal While the number of women who dedicated their lives exclusively to the service of Christ from apostolic times is too numerous to be reckoned, it remained for the opening of the mission apostolate in New France (Canada) in the 17th century to prepare the way for active participation in this apostolate by Sisters, members of religious communities.Among the pioneers in that movement may be listed Ven.Marguerite Bourgeoys, foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame, Ven.Marie D’Youville, foundress of the Grey Nuns, Jeanne Mance, foundress of the Religious Hospitallers of St.Joseph and Mother Marie of the Incarnation of the Ursulines.These were the first in a seemingly endless chain to which many new links have been added particularly during the past one hundred years.Even in the time of the establishment of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith we find the brother of the foundress, Pauline Jaricot, expressing his mind on the inability of women to serve in the China missions.Yet, today, we find that their number far exceeds that of the priests and brothers, while vocations among native women in mission lands are being increased tremendously each year.What has caused this change?According to Rev.Joseph Schmidlin, D.D., when the mission apostolate was expanded in the 19th century, “ a series of religious institutes for women were founded and their organized entry into the ranks of mission auxiliaries is a special characteristic of the most recent period.” In addition the various caste and tribal taboos necessitated the presence of Sisters to care for the members of their own sex in the majority of mission countries.Regardless of the charity and the zeal of the priest volunteer, he would find himself powerless to cope with the successful operation of an orphanage, a maternity center, or a girls’ training school.Sisters, therefore, became the answer to some of the most vexing problems of the apostolate.Recent Rulings Expand Utility The expanded mission program opened new fields for widening the work of Sisters in all parts of the world.The purdah proved no barrier to the woman religious who would instruct the children or care for their mothers in time of illness.Even the Moslems welcomed these female messengers of Christ, who brought learning and health into their midst.Finally the lifting of the ban imposed by the Holy See against the various communities of women practicing obstetrics, opened new and greatly enlarged activities for the Sisters.Thus we find that now in iron curtained Mongolia a hospital has been opened by a Sister Surgeon, specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, while in many other sections of China hospitals are staffed by Sister doctors and nurses.In India not only hospitals are functioning under the skilled direction of the Sisters, but training schools for native nurses and doctors are in operation.In Africa and in Oceania the mission centers are also complete with sewing, midwifery as well as domestic science classes over which the Sisters are the guiding spirits.In view of the varied roles of our Catholic sisterhoods in mission lands it is not surprising that the Holy See asks the prayers of the faithful in their behalf during the month of July.They have already proven their worth as precious auxiliaries to the bishops and priests and will undoubtedly take on new tasks as the occasions arrive.Right Rev.Msgr.Thomas J.McDonnell National Director Society for the Propagation of the Faith, U.S.A. ï^anteb: iïltssmiianeô “ Missionaries! Missionaries! We want Missionaries! ” Do you hear the pressing, heartrending plea that surges up from the furthest confines of the foreign mission field ?Behold on every hand the harvest gleams overripe and golden sheaves perish because the harvesters are so pitifully few.As never before during nineteen centuries of Christianity, souls are waiting to be told of the all-compelling tenderness of the Savior.The nations of the Orient, crushed all these terrible years under the oppressive weight of anguish and pain, are yearning after the Only One who can heal their sorrow.They may know it not, but Christ it is that they hope for, Christ is their Long Expected.But to lead Christ’s Blessed Feet, harbingers of peace, in heathen fastnesses, apostles are wanted, thousands of them, since the number of those distressed sheep without a shepherd exceeds one billion! What a heart-pang it is to be unable, for want of sterling-souled recruits, to give a joyous response to the oft-repeated appeals that reach us from all the mission corners of the globe! Would to God we might be able to answer: “ Yes, we shall go! We shall hurry to the rescue of those suffering souls! ” This is the agony that grips the heart of the great missionary pastors today.Vocations woefully few in number have not rendered feasible the formation of a battalion mighty enough to be sent out on all mission fronts at the same time.And still more appeals, hopeful and cheerful, reach us from over the ocean.Fain would we cry out for all to hear: “ O you, youth of my homeland, you whose souls are athrill with enthusiasm and zeal, you who long to give yourselves and spend yourselves, behold the lofty task open to your devotedness! Legions of souls to conquer! Christ, your Leader and your King, to make known and loved, to enthrone where the Prince of Darkness and his idols are still reigning triumphant! “ As once Just de Bretenieres in childhood days, bend low towards the sod, hold your ear against the damp ground and listen to the sorrowful sighs that rise from the other side of the globe.’Tis the disconsolate pleading of a multitude of hapless souls, grieving and mourning in the iron clutch of paganism, and claiming their portion of liberty and love beneath the rays of the Divine Sun of Righteousness.Will you remain deaf and indifferent to the distress of so many afflicted brethren?” f /flou S/ia/t (Batch ^/tten/ Tell me, laddie, as you kneel in the presence of the King, Does there ever come a message that prompts your heart to sing?Do you hear the voice that thrills you, the voice of Christ your Lord, Bidding you to bear afar both His honor and His Word?Did you never ponder, laddie, the Scripture text that tells Of the beauty of the house where the God of Glory dwells?With your hands and with your heart, would you build more mansions, son.That will tabernacle Christ, the Eternal Holy One?Have you read the Gospel story of how the Savior called Peter, fisher of the deep, who responded, glad, enthralled?They had labored all the night, they were weary fishermen, But the “ Launch out! ” of the Lord gave them heart to try again.And behold, a wondrous draught was the meed of them that hoped! Peter knelt adoringly as a hallowed vision oped : “ Lord, depart, I pray, from me, for a sinful man am I ! ” “ Peter, you shall fish again, but the word I rectify! “ Launch out, Peter, in the deep, on the ocean of the world! Men, not fish, shall fill your nets ; what if tempests are unfurled?Fear not, faint not, here abiding your fragile skiff I steer.Give me souls and weary not! In the fishing persevere! ” Twenty centuries ago rang the Chrisl-call to the sea.Where immortal souls of men are in fearful jeopardy.Long and wild the winds have blown, but the workers never quailed.With the blessing of their Lord their endeavors never failed.Still one billion souls today, on the waves of doubt are tossed.Tell me, laddie, will the Blood of the Victim Christ be lost?Will that billion, laddie, mingle in Heaven’s hymns of love?Will you see that all are given a chance to look above?If the God of Missions call you, will you turn His offer down?If the great Redeemer beckon to beautify your crown, Bearing for His sake your cross on some foreign far-off strand, Will you turn and walk away, will you spurn His proffered hand?Laddie, never, this I know, for a hero’s heart is yours.In the fray a hero’s heart for the right and God endures! With a smile he goes to death, with his Master looking on.For the look of Christ assures that the love of Him is won! The Precursor Saheb did not own the Nizam’s Dominions, but he had never known want, had never felt the sting of poverty.Upright, blameless, he found no more satisfaction for his logical mind in the evanescent themes of Hinduism.Christian ideals appealed to him more forcefully than ever.When Father Paul G.stepped into his life the two became friends, God approving and planning how He would one day bestow the inestimable gift of faith on the Hindu magnate.Saheb had a tender spot in his heart, too tender to be denied mention and appreciation, for his youngest daughter, Maggona.MAGGONA Maggona had no evil genius within her.She was courteous to the beggar and considerate towards the jaded wanderer who besought her assistance.For those whose hearts bled and whose spirits sank she had words of comfort and uplifting deeds of kindness.There was only, so people said, one dark spot to the perfect tableau: Maggona loved finery with a passionate love.Of jewels and necklaces and bracelets and rings and ear pendants she never had too many, she never had enough.Now another frenzy had taken hold of her glamor-loving mind.She was wondering and scheming how to persuade her father to secure for her the most beautiful of beautiful pearls, the famous black pearl whose iris glow makes it a thing of matchless splendor.Gently Saheb had said no, but his negative daily neared the coveted affirmative she knew would not long be delayed.Saheb didn’t worry about the monetary cost to be incurred; he didn’t mind this additional surrender before his daughter’s fancy; what he dreaded was that this caprice of Maggona’s would in all likelihood spell death for some pearl diver.He knew that sharks abound in the vicinity of the renowned black pearls, and human flesh would make a tasty meal for the murderous seafish.How Pearls Are Formed The famed pearl oyster was not always thus.It is in an effort to struggle against a grain of sand or a tiny parasite that would develop at its expense that the oyster reacts by forming around the invader layers of concentric pearl all the finer and more numerous according as the intruding agent is the more stubborn.Among these animalcules the oyster especially dislikes a certain intestinal parasite which sharks emit in great quantity at a given season.In its deathly combat with this parasite it reacts with all its capacity of secretion, multiplying the number of layers of pearl and compressing them the better to stifle the intruder under the density.It so happens that fine pearls are not easily ground beneath the blow of a hammer.Still, they dissolve in strong vinegar, air finally alters their worth, they fade away and wither, they die. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 195 According as the oyster has succeeded or not in enclosing the parasite, the pearl acquires more or less iridescent lustre.The round pearl is superior.The value of the pearl depends also on its orient, that is, the depth or distinguishing quality of the pearl’s lustre.The white pearl is highly prized.The cream-colored one is still more valuable, but the iris black pearl surpasses them all.A person who would pay a hundred thousand francs for one of these would not regret the cost and esteem he has paid too much.Moutou Saheb didn’t have a mind to displease his daughter.But he hesitated to ask someone to risk the perilous dive.Everyone knew the Black Pearl Creek, but everyone knew as well that it was a favorite haunt of the sharks.One day a certain man named Moutou approached Saheb.Three sons and two winsome little damsels called him father.By trade he was a fisherman, and by religion a fervent Christian who had had many a time the opportunity of meeting Father Paul G.at Saheb’s stately residence.He was coming to offer himself to go in search of the black pearls Maggona desired so ardently.Not that chill penury drove him to this expedient in order to reap therefrom a handsome reward, but Moutou was a Christian, have I said, and as such, he grieved that his Lord and God should be housed in nothing but a miserable straw hut.He wanted to give Him something more, a real worthy mansion with a real magnificent steeple.He insisted so much and so energetically that Saheb came to the conclusion that his daughter Maggona and this Christian Moutou would both be the happier if the latter set out on his peril-fraught adventure.Saheb had no need of millions, as previously stated, but he enjoyed making others happy and here was an occasion.Pearl Fishing It was during the calm monsoon season.The last days of April would bring more tempestuous breezes and what was to be done was to be quickly done.In the early morning Moutou and two helpers steered their boat towards the oyster banks.The pearls, they knew, would be found at a depth varying from ten to forty metres.Two cords were lifted at the prow.Moutou stepped on the cable, seized a basket and dived.For a moment the waters eddied and the two helpers knew that Moutou had touched the bottom.Without losing a second he filled his basket with pearls, gave a brisk tug at the cord and the Maggona boatmen pulled the catch to ? 196 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 the surface.Moutou returned also to the surface to breathe fresh air and plunged a second time.This was not all a rosy business, he reasoned.A forty-year-old pearl diver hasn’t much vitality left.It happens not seldom that men of the trade, under the pressure of water or because of the icy temperature of the ocean depth, remain underneath to occupy a watery grave or breathe their last on reaching the surface.Everywhere men are found who have to pay for the misdeeds and whims of other human beings.A More Beautiful Pearl Moutou had plunged fifty times if he had plunged once.The extent of time spent under the water cannot be more than fifty to seventy seconds.The boatmen grew uneasy.The cord hanging from the basket remained dangling as before and nothing disturbed its tension.Fearful and perplexed they bent downward and strained their eyes, trying to fathom the mystery of the sea.Suddenly their anguished eyes saw something springing up from the bottom of the sea and stretching on the blue of the waters .it was human blood! And in the distance they watched, powerless and terror-stricken, sharks tearing the limbs of a human being.All color drained from their faces, they returned and went to seek Father Paul.Together they prayed for a few moments, then the priest accompanied them to Saheb’s residence to make known the sorrowful tidings.Maggona was at home, curious and impatient, wondering whether the pearl so long coveted would at last be hers.Hearing the recital of the witnesses and the concluding words of Father Paul, she shivered to the depths of her soul.Bursting into convulsive weeping, she had to lean on her father’s shoulder for support.For a long time she wept uncontrollably, thinking of the boys and dear lasses forever deprived of their beloved father.Then, unclasping her jewels one by one, her precious gems, her glowing rubies, her golden bracelets, her rings and necklaces, the peerless pearls hanging from her nose, she handed them to Father Paul for those who, because of her fantasy, had become defenceless orphans, and for the loving wife who no longer had a husband.Days rolled on, and there arose one memorable among all when Father Paul spoke to Maggona about another precious pearl, a pearl of great price, beside which all the rest is as nothing and may be risked with entire confidence.He related parables told by the Master.Saheb is a fearless Christian today, and Maggona belongs to Christ.She is awaiting only the final arrangement of certain matters to give all her belongings to the poor and her heart wholly to the Divine Lover of souls.And now in the Hindu village a magnificent steeple lifts its beautiful silhouette towards the Almighty and Eternal God.Rev.Father M.Badiou, [S.J.— .-¦# ^ & ;— H>amt Josepfj Purse FOR THE SUPPORT OF A MISSIONARY SISTER Year 1944.$293.79 July-August.17.90 Year 1945.223.10 September-October.91.50 January-February 1946.34.25 November-December.72.00 March-April.31.50 January-February 1947.57.00 May-June.28.00 March-April.58.37 May-June.$124.40 All offerings for this Burse will be received with sincere gratitude.Address: Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, 2900 St.Catherine Road, Cote des Neiges, Montreal 26. H jfêtobern Jlartpr Blessed Theophane Venard Revised and annotated by the Very Rev.James A.Walsh, M.Ap.[Continued) Remarkable progress has, it is true, been made in the last century towards the conversion of the world.This progress may be traced to the copious shedding of blood for Christ by men like Theophane Venard and their converts, and to the establishment of systematic means of support for the missions, notably the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.As a result of these influences, spiritual and material, the Catholic Church to-day counts in the mission field, about 15,000 priests, 5,000 Brothers, and 45,000 Sisters, as against 1,000, all told, at the beginning of the last century.This progress, however, can hardly be credited to English-speaking Catholics.On the contrary, we in the United States must confess with our confreres in England, “that as yet we have no heart for the heathen, and that zeal for the honor of God and the salvation of souls is less in proportion to numbers among us than among certain European Catholic peoples, upon whose shortcomings we are so ready to sit in judgment.” (i) These last words refer to our unhappy co-religionists in France, and the reader will more easily understand the allusion when he recalls that at the present time more than one half of all Catholic missioners, and one half of all monies subscribed to their support, may be attributed to the generosity of the French people.If we must criticize the indifference of French Catholics, let us admit that the divine note of Catholicity in the true Church is due to-day largely to self-denying sons and daughters of France, whose sacrifices on the mission fields have won the plaudits of an admiring world, and will yet, we believe, by God’s grace, enable France to triumph over present trials.Thank God, among the English-speaking people of the world there are signs of an awakening to the mission needs.The apostolic zeal of the late Cardinal Vaughan has blessed England with her Missionary College at Freshfield and her Seminary for Foreign Missions at Mill Hill, so that to-day this Society which the Christlike heart of Cardinal Vaughan inspired, has missions in the Punjab and Madras, India; in Borneo, New Zealand, and the Philippine Islands; and in Uganda and the Congo of Africa.It counts among its members three Bishops, two Prefects Apostolic and nearly two hundred priests.It is true that many of its missioners are not of English-speaking origin, yet they have been trained in England.Mill Hill stands to-day as a witness to the aspirations of a far-seeing hierarchy and an encouragement to the missionary spirit of Catholic youth, while it 1.The Rev.Thos.Jackson at the Annual Conference of the Catholic Truth Society, held at Blackburn, England, in 1905. 198 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 holds before all classes the high and inspiring ideal of the apostolate, a most valuable asset in the life of the Church.In the United States we have unt 1 recently been without such a national Seminary and the religious orders that supplied foreign mission recruits from other countries seemed to lose sight of this phase of Catholic effort in the presence of our many and varied home needs.Had we been asked, a few years ago, to direct some young aspirant whose heart was prompting him to “ go the whole way ”, — to give up home and country for Jesus Christ, we should have been at a loss to know where to guide his steps, unless away from our own land, to Mill Hill or to one or other of the seminaries on the continent of Europe.And in some of these he could not be accepted if he were not already familiar with the language of the country.In 1905, when the first edition of A Modern Martyr appeared, we expressed a hope that the day was not far distant when this urgent want would be supplied, when the doors of an American Seminary for Foreign Missions should be thrown open to Catholic youth with world-wide hearts.Today, thanks to God, the doors are open.At Maryknoll, (u high above the noble river along which Fr.Isaac Jogues, martyr for Christ, once sailed, a little group of pioneer American students are preparing for the foreign missions, blazing a trail that we have reason to believe many will follow in the years to come.And Maryknoll is not alone.There are now in this country several branches of European orders or societies which have on their membership rolls “apostles in the field.” The Congregation of the Holy Cross, whose headquarters are at Cornwells, Pa., has sent some of its priests to Africa, and from the house of the same Congregation in Notre Dame, Indiana, several have gone to India; the Brothers of Mary, at Dayton, and Franciscans from the St.Louis province are represented in Eastern missions; and we are inclined to think that other European missionary societies with branches here, e.g., the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Marists, have one or more Americans (born or adopted) on their missions.If not, we are bold enough to say that they should spare a few for that purpose.In this connection we note a thriving German organization, the Society of the Divine Word, which has its headquarters in Steyl, Holland.This Society has founded a branch in the United States, at Techny, Illinois, and expects in time to send from our country a goodly number of zealous apostles to some one or other of its several missions.{To be continued) 1.The Foreign Mission Seminary at Maryknoll was opened to students in September, 1912.It occupies a splendid stretch of land — about ninety-three acres of farm and forest — thirty miles north of New York City, and lies partly in the town of Ossining and partly in New Castle.The elevation is 550 feet and from this height an eight mile sweep of the Hudson River is in view.The post-office address is Ossining.In September, 1913, the new Seminary opened at Scranton, Pa., its first preparatory school.It is called the Venard Apostolic.School.Boys who have a special inclination for the foreign missions and who are ready for high school work are received here.The Seminary hopes later to establish preparatory schools in several other sections of the United States. wsfror|fc CHINA SHEK LUNG Sister Marie du Cenacle(d, Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception, who left for China last December and is now Superior at the Shek Lung Leprosarium, writes to her two sisters, both members of the Community and stationed at the Motherhouse.Shek Lung, February 15, 1947 My dear little sisters, It is already two months since we were last together.Oh, to think that I am now half a world away from you! We reached Hong Kong on January 9 and stayed there three days while waiting for a Canton-bound boat and seeing to the safety of our luggage.Would you believe it?Those very first days on Chinese soil left me with the impression that I was seeing a movie.All the small-scale items of our Motherhouse museum were springing to life under my astonished gaze.So the wonderful China of my dreams had become a reality! I was really and unmistakably treading the long-desired sod of a foreign mission territory! I hardly dared believe it.As you know, a great joy awaited me at Canton, but just how great it proved I should stammer for words to say.So I shall not dwell on the happiness I felt on meeting our beloved Sister Therese de l’Enfant Jesus (2).She doesn’t appear any older and is always the same as we knew her.It does good to one merely to see her, she is always so joyful and enthusiastic.She never tires proclaiming the merit of her English class of forty-two pupils.During my leisure hours her little studio became my “ residential quarters ”.She allowed me a glimpse at the wonderful paint brush that served through four years of war and came through with bristles unscathed.That was just one miracle among many wrought by God in behalf of our dear Sisters during those long years of hardship and sorrow.I first set foot on my island of Shek Lung on January 18, to the unmusical strains of firecrackers set off by our leper folk.The men and women came in turn to bid me a hearty welcome and thank me for coming to live in their midst.I inquired whether there was anything I could do to make them happy on this great occasion.“ Kill the pig, Sister Superior,, 1.Marie Gerin, Coaticook, P.Q.2.Yvonne Gerin, her elder sister. 200 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 Water Transport at the Shek Lung Leprosarium If WBÈmÊBÊÊ .,S kill the pig! ” came the unexpected, spontaneous answer.Accordingly the pig was slaughtered, and gala meals relieved the monotony of eatables that time.If you could only see those wretched victims of leprosy with hands reduced to stumps and mangled feet! I already love them very much and my heart is torn with pity at the thought that our provisions of food are far below their needs.It grieves me also to know that our poor crippled folk have to carry water in large wooden buckets hanging from the two ends of bamboo poles balanced on their shoulders.Water for every purpose is thus brought to the dwellings.I cannot understand how sick persons, and women especially, manage to carry burdens as heavy.We have no electricity on Shek Lung Island.As oil costs almost a fortune and can be had only with great difficulty, we go easy on that, which means that we cannot do any little chore we please in the evening.Nature is beautiful here.The gentle waters of the Pearl River flow in front and to the rear of our convent.Tall palms sentinel the premises, and bright red blooms etched against the greenery frame our verandas.Narrow pathways that go winding across wild thickets remind me of our lake at home.But for me the solitude in which we live holds a very special charm.Far from the outside world, surrounded by poor lepers who love us as children their mothers, and to whom we can do so much spiritual and bodily good, how could we fail to find happiness in our religious family ?Moreover, and the word means infinitely much here, moreover, Our Divine Savior resides at our left in the men’s chapel, at our right in the women’s, and still closer to us His missionaries, in our humble community chapel Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 201 where one prays so well.So near is our Sacramental Guest that with faith a little stronger, we would hear the beatings of His great Heart of compassionate love.A Chinese priest, who understands French a little, is the only shepherd of souls at the Mission.Our cases have all reached destination without any mishap, but the transportation cost a good sum.However, nothing is missing.The canned foodstuffs provide regular treats.Sister Marie Bernadette a;, our capable cook, enjoys trying the various foods we brought from Canada.At the present time I am deeply absorbed in mastering the language.A scholarly leper has become my teacher.All his companions, both men and women, try to show me a few words when I pay them a visit.I really believe that my ambition to learn does not exceed their ardor to teach.With good will and patience I shall succeed.All the rest will become easier once I shall have acquired a speaking knowledge of the tongue.Anyone who wishes to make himself or herself useful in mission lands must begin with that.This letter doesn’t say anything about the bandits who, it seems, hem us in from ever}'' side, nor about the rats that leap up on our mosquito nets, nor about the bats altogether at home in the dwellings after sunset.Those are just details.The missionaries who came before me had to cope with those inconveniences- -now it’s my turn! For all that may happen 1.Alma Leger, Green Valley, Ontario Unloading a Boat, Shek Lung Island 202 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 I place myself in the arms of Our Blessed Mother.With her, in her and through her I wish to live my missionary life.You must remember to pray to her every day for my intentions.Goodbye, dear little sisters.You may rest assured that China is exactly as I had dreamt it would be.I am very happy here, which does not prevent my thoughts from wandering off to you now and then.Very lovingly yours, Sister Marie du Cenacle, M.I.C.MANCHURIA SZEPINGKAI On the Trail for Souls As once the valiant and faithful Ruth of Scriptural renown “ gleaned the ears of corn that remained, following the steps of the reapers, ” similarly do we, humble missionaries of the Immaculate Virgin, make ourselves gleaners of souls in the steps of Christ’s intrepid army of apostles.The month of August, 1946 proved especially favorable for the garnering of ripe sheaves, sheaves of precious immortal souls that soared to Heaven as bodies doomed to the grave succumbed to cholera which ravaged the city.Pagans practically never have recourse to missionary priests in their illnesses, the latter not enjoying, like the Sisters, the reputation of “ doctors ”.Accordingly we with our pills and medical whatnot have every facility to draw close to the natives.Every new morning that dawned, five nursing Sisters, with five Chinese Sisters as guardian angels, left the convent in search of pearls of great price concealed in bodies sick and maimed.As always, the God of Mercy seemed to hold in special affection the humble and lowly, for to those especially He granted light in their darkness and to those He held out His hand as they stumbled along into the valley of the shadow of death.“ I adore God, my Creator.I accept His holy will in all things .I wish to be baptized .I want to go to Heaven.” Verily they will dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days, to whom He has been so loving and so merciful.One morning the gleaners came upon a young lad of fourteen stretched full length on a hard brick bed.Life had all but ebbed out of his body; however, like all cholera victims, he was still fully conscious.On the spot he was taught the rudimentary beliefs of the Catholic Faith, to which he readily adhered with all his heart.He did not know the Creed, but he believed in his Heavenly Father and longed to be with Him forever.Thereupon he was baptized and peace and happiness flooded his heart.When the next morning dawned he was an earth pilgrim no more.May Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 203 he intercede in the Kingdom of Joy for his poor pagan father who grieves over his loss.Farther on the Sisters were attracted by a group of musicians already hired and stringing their instruments, while two carpenters were hastily making a coffin.There was no doubt about it, a sick person must be at the point of death in that house.Making their way inside, the visitors discovered, as they had expected, an old man in the throes of death.The terrible disease had seized him only a few hours previously, but already the victim had come to his last hour and would shortly be ushered into eternity.This other Gentile son believed and was baptized in the name of the Most Blessed Trinity.Still farther on, more ailing bodies implored the ministrations of the nursing Sister.There were even some, in whose family another member had been laid low by the scourge, who followed the Sisters for hours, in order to have their turn and their share of medications.Others lay in wait for them on the roadside and had all but recourse to violence to compel them to stop at their home.Still others threw themselves on their knees in the middle of the street and with tears streaming from their eyes begged them to visit their dear sick.Heart-rending appeals were those truly, but alas, the laborers are too few to garner in the abundant harvest! Smiling and happy, our charitable Samaritans were returning one evening with a heavy sheaf of twenty-five baptisms in articula mortis, when they met a rickety cart drawn by an ass.Another victim of cholera was coming in from the country; his wife led the little beast, while two youngsters followed on foot, weary and sad.The father was so ill that it was evident he would not live to see another sunrise.Bending over him, the nursing Sister gave him some medicine, after which she endeavored ¦ Sister Marie Esther (Alice Bute au, Notre Dame de la Guadeloupe, P.Q.), Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception, at Szepingkai Dispensary. 204 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 to reveal to his soul something of the splendors of the Homeland whose doors, if so he wished, would soon open to bid him in.Eagerly he accepted the great eternal truths and beneath the baptismal dew he forsook his pagan tenets and became an heir to Paradise.Poor in earthly store, but wealthy in the unfathomable treasure which is Faith, the footsore family took to the trail again.Early another morning two little misses of nine and twelve came to ask for the Catholic doctor.The two were the only survivors of the family; their father, mother and young brother had died only a few days before.The uncle who had taken them in had fallen a prey to the malignant disease, and for him they were coming to implore help.Luckily the uncle was not seriously ill.When Sister had done what she could to relieve him, she hastened to a very sick woman, an urgent case, she had been told.As she was crossing the yard she noticed two dying children lying on an old remnant of straw matting in a corner.Instinctively she would have gone to them, but the father of the family, who had seen all, stopped her in her tracks.“ Come and see their mother first, ” he urged, “ and please, please save her.As to the children, we shall see after what can be done.” The poor mother still has chances to fight death and come out winner; however, should her illness take a fatal turn, all is well with her soul and her eternity will be happy.Then it was time to care for the little ones of six and three.The sacrament of regeneration gave them a right to mingle in the angelical choirs to sing the goodness of their Maker.A bouquet of twenty-seven souls was deposited that evening in the hands of the Immaculate Virgin.How joyfully she will have offered it to her Divine Son! The devil must writhe with despair as he sees his preys escaping his clutch, and Providence many a time making use of his own adepts to play good tricks on him.A fanatic pagan, a fortune teller to boot, was one day awaiting his clientele on the side of the street.Presently a man walked up to him, asking him to question fate as to the direction he should take to find a good doctor.The answer indicated an eastern direction with the result that the man soon arrived at our convent, confidence depicted in his countenance.We guessed that here might be another of those providential stratagems of which we knew, and as hopeful as ever missionaries, we set out in quest of good to be done.Just as we had foreseen, we found a dying woman who had been awaiting one only thing, and that baptism, to fly to the bosom of the Savior.On and on we went, until we came to a poor mother about to breathe her last.She knew something about our religion, eagerly longed for baptism, and so it happened that she could without any delay be enrolled in the ranks of the children of the Most High.The family was extremely poor.The mother lived with her little ones under a tent in the open since their house and its scanty furnishings had been reduced to cinders by fire during the war.Filthy, tattered garments lay in the farthest corner of the tent home. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 205 We christened the baby, as ill as the mother.In spite of all her misery, the latter managed to give us a smile and showed her thankfulness for what we had done for her and her child.Cholera proved most hard on small children and aged persons.In one of the streets as many as eighty-six coffins were seen on the same day.By the end of August the epidemic subsided in Szepingkai, but in several other sections it still took its toll of deaths.The number of families in mourning is beyond all calculation.This calamity greatly contributed in drawing the pagans closer to the Catholic Mission.Those who were cured came to express their thankfulness and the desire of being received in the Catholic Church.We have given them a catechism in which they Study-the-Doctrine-Time at Pamientcheng Orphanage, Manchuria * ü « umm will learn the first elements of Catholic doctrine, and when they will be strong and healthy again they will come to the catechumenate for regular lessons.Rev.Father Rector has also taken in at the Mission a few orphans whose parents have been carried off by the dread disease.The Szepingkai Boarding School On November 1, the Szepingkai Boarding School, risen from its ruins, opened its doors to a good number of girls, both pagan and Christian.One week had not elapsed when already the walls were too narrow to answer the many requests for admission streaming in from every side.As we had to settle our choice on Christian pupils, we found it necessary, much to our sorrow, to give negative answers to several pagan students.Catechism and religious instruction have their places on the school curriculum, and rightly so, for our Boarding School aims primarily at moulding staunch followers of the Christian Faith.Our Sisters also give two English courses in the afternoon.Sister Marie de l’Assomption ( i ) has been appointed directress, which 1.Alice Larouche, Sweetsburg, P.Q. 206 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 function calls for courageous devotedness and patient labor, if our educational venture is to do all the good expected from it.The Communist Menace Still more to be feared than the recent cholera epidemic, the Communist scourge remains always a grave menace to the security of the towns, localities, and the country as a whole.When they are repulsed on one side, those satellites of Satan scheme another plan for victory, and everywhere spread turmoil, massacre and terror.Rebels, they are tyrannic in the extreme.In a town not far from Szepingkai they made their way right into a high school for girls and ordered all the pupils to adhere to their sect.The categorical refusal they received unleashed their fury, and before long most of the pupils and their teachers had been cruelly put to death.The crime has horrified the entire population.While there seems to be no serious danger, severe measures have been taken to avoid another invasion of the city.Armed sentinels are on duty in all the streets and keep close watch on all potential spies.Wearing no military uniform, the latter are not easily identified.They maintain their incognito and seek lodging in families, presenting themselves as hired workmen or unemployed men seeking a job.They can thus steal in almost anywhere without being molested.After months and months of mortal anguish, our Sisters of Tungleao and Leaoyuansien had to flee in the teeth of danger and arrived at our convent in Szepingkai in March last.What does the future hold in store for us?God only knows, but ’tis a comfort to know that He does, and we are fully confident that the Almighty will triumph over the hordes of evil.Meanwhile, our trust is in the Provident God without whose permission a sparrow doth not fall to the gound.* * * JAPAN KORIYAMA “ Say not the struggle naught availeth, ” nor that our prayers and labors have borne no fruit, since the Koriyama of pre-war days has become home for us once more.Good has been accomplished beyond our fondest and fairest expectations.All thanks to the Master and His Spotless Mother! When seventy solemn-faced urchins crowd the Sunday School quarters, learn to pray and sing, and get a thrill out of Sister’s explanations of the wonderful picture catechism, all’s well with study-the-doctrine classes.As soon as Sister closes the picture catechism the little sickly ones clamor for “ those Western medicines ” that cure all ills.Sister Agnes d’Assisem, 1.Lucienne Renaud, Montreal. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 207 although not a full-fledged registered nurse, has a good amount of success and certainly as much of happiness as she puts to good purpose the precious medical supplies we owe to our kind Canadian friends.Every cure brings new patients and thus the clientele increases.All are loud in their praise of the medicines, and we who would rather give for sweet charity’s sake are often compelled to accept gifts in grateful return.Several primary school pupils have asked permission to come for doctrine lessons.Everybody Welcome! Gladly we watch the catechumen list lengthening and gratefully we speak to the Master about it.Now to you we shall speak about the Master’s conquests.A family of eleven has returned to the arms of the Good Shepherd after several years of estrangement from the Fold.“ Rejoice with Me, because I have found My sheep that was lost.” The Savior’s joy becomes the joy of His missionaries.As we were coming out of church one day, a stranger invited us to call on his aunt who, he said, wished to see the Sisters again so much and wanted to be baptized in their religion before dying.Sister St.Hedwidge ( i > and Sister Agnes d’Assise hastened on the errand of mercy.Tears of joy betrayed the poor woman’s emotion.“ Now that I have seen the Sisters, I can die.” There was something akin to veneration in her regard for the Sisters.Years back we remembered how she had brought her grandchildren to our kindergarten.We broached the topic of baptism.No thwarting of hopes there.Whatever the Sisters wished, that she was willing to believe and to want.And thus God’s hour struck.Rev.Father Koyama, pastor,, made her a joint-heir with Christ in Holy Baptism.So much for Grandmother.Now Mother and her family of five want to follow the fine example.Little Mother is a war widow and believes the Christian Faith will open up wellsprings of courage for her.As we were going home from Mrs.Sato’s, we met our bread merchant of bygone times, who asked to be led to the church and — “ teach me prayer.” — “ My boy is dead, ” she told us.“ Another adopted son has been killed in the war.I am often very lonely and need strength and encouragement.” We gladly led her to God’s house, the best place on earth, lent her a prayer book and promised to call for her on our way to Mass the next Sunday.With buoyant spirits she went her way, at a loss for expressions of gratitude.Did she know that the missionaries also were groping for words, words of praise for the Conqueror of human souls like hers?A further consolation has been granted us.Our former kindergarten teacher, at present employed in a prominent hospital, has notified us that visits to the patients and chats with the nurses would prove two easy matters.Missionaries never say “ no ” on such occasions.A few days later, in early December it was, we thus met Mrs.Suzuki, a very sick woman indeed.She enjoyed our brief call and invited us again.On the thirteenth 1.Blanche Ross, Fall River, Mass. ripi Personnel of the Kindergarten Operated by the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception at Koriyama, Japan, Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 209 of the same month we found her much weaker.When she thanked us for our kindness we grasped the opportunity to offer a gift more precious far, the privilege of becoming a child of the Father in Heaven.All whatsoever we believed and wanted, answered the patient, she likewise wanted and believed.For her also Providence had appointed the hour of conversion.Her head gently drooping and her eyes reverently closed, she awaited the purifying flow of the baptismal tide.In heavenly registers her name now reads Immaculata Delia.For long moments after the ceremony she remained deeply recollected.Silently we looked on, enjoying her happiness and our own.At last she opened her eyes and tried to tell us how happy she felt inside.No wonder! A spark of the divine illumined her soul—-nay, more, it had become the presence chamber of the Most Blessed Trinity.May the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost choose for Themselves many other tabernacles among our dear sick! Mrs.Suzuki left for Heaven on December 21.The end came gently and happily, too, for the husband gave his word that he would become a Catholic with their growing boy, a student in Tokyo.Blessed be God and blessings also on the generous souls of prayer that have obtained Christ’s sacred peace for these souls of good will.Good old Mrs.Watanabe is mourning one of her daughters-in-law who died last November.Young Mrs.Watanabe, who had returned from China recently, had abandoned her religious duties several years.But she died a friend of the Savior again, so Grandma can smile through her tears.And smile she does, even if a heavy burden has been placed on her old shoulders: six youngsters, three unbaptized, three totally ignorant of what is expected from a Christian.To make matters worse, the family was poor.We shall try to help the orphans according to our means.Already several parcels filled with good things from Canada have occasioned sunny smiles of thanks.Grateful Grandma brought a big bag of sweet potatoes on her back.Onions the next time! Christmas for the Tots Christmas for our Sunday School pupils happened three days ahead of calendar time.But not for them alone did it happen.Remembrances of Christmas yesteryears brought crowds of eager children to our door.The large hall of the kindergarten had taken on a festive air with its two Christmas trees, one from the American soldiers and the other from the contractor who is to repair our convent.Bright almond eyes looked in rapt wonder at the beauty of it all.The little chairs for little people were soon occupied, the straw mats felt the patter of tiny feet, and still the entrance was packed.While the various items on the programme were being executed on the stage, we put every second to account getting more surprises ready for our dear young visitors.We could hardly be expected, however, to make preparations double in one short hour, even with the fairy fingers we would have liked to have.There were three hundred and fifty Japanese youngsters! Cookies and cakes were divided in smaller portions so nobody would go away empty-handed.First served first left, 210 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 until at last we remained alone, a little group of happy Sisters, having learned once more that it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive.Joyful hearts were many in Koriyama that December 22 of our first postwar year in the Land of the Rising Sun.May the Divine Child of Bethlehem follow these dear wee ones in their own families, and grant to all the gift of faith in His Divinity and in His Love ! * * * WAKAMATSU The Mori Family Old acquaintances of our readers — such we may, without too much stretch of imagination,' call the members of the Mori household.Death spread its pall over the happy home about a year ago, when the husband and father was laid to rest.A few short months later, it was the son-in-law’s turn to answer the supreme call.Painful was the ordeal for the two bereaved wives.But in their souls already strengthened to bear the brunt of life faith has deposited a nobility of sentiments worthy of the Saints.Untoward circumstances have reduced the once wealthy family to a situation not remote from indigency; friends of happier days have broken with them, and there is no servant on hand to render the services of simple charity to Mrs.Mori, who remembers the days when even the smallest ornamentation shrubs and the geta of the servants received the meticulous attention of a numerous per- Sister Marie Leonise (Rachel Gerin, Coaticook, P.Q ), Superior of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Wakamatsu, With the English Course Pupils, Devoted Friends of the Poor. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 211 sonnel.With heroic virtue every new trial is accepted and no splinters from the cross are lost.Mr.Mori died a most edifying death.He who had often wept for joy at being a Catholic spent his last months on earth enjoining those who called upon him to embrace our Holy Faith, wherein they would be given all the spiritual uplifts he himself had found.Pleasantly, as one would chat about an enjoyable trip to be undertaken, he would speak about his forthcoming departure for the Heaven-bound journey.Wishing that the priest who had made him a child of God should present his soul to God, he asked for Rev.Father Larose, O.P.Then he expressed the wish to don his feastday finery with the family crests — this was going to be his birthday in glory.In a fervent prayer he gave up his soul to his Maker.Fervent Buddhists, zealous Protestants, staunch Catholics — so runs the saga of the Mori household.Thanks be to God! Our Pupils By February 1, seventy-five pupils had enrolled for our private lessons in music, English and French, and fifty little folks ranging in ages from four to seven were inscribed on the kindergarten records.Catechism courses are followed by forty pupils.Another way of putting it: what does “ leisure time ” mean ?Parenthetically, we study Japanese two hours a day and call on our sick at least once a week.Mystery rode the air on the afternoon of November 30.All cleared up when an English course pupil in the name of her classmates presented us with a beautiful red-lacquered box decorated in silver and gold.The names of the eight donors were carved on one of the sides along with a Japanese character expressing gratefulness.Such delicacy of sentiment was not without impressing us deeply.Judging that the opportune moment had come, we obtained the glad cooperation of our older pupils in organizing a modest sewing guild for the benefit of the needy poor.After Christmas, they accompanied Sister Superior(i) on her visits to the poor families for whom the sewing-room products were intended.Sister Superior had slipped a small bag of rice in each package, so the pangs of hunger might be stemmed in some little empty tummies.Poor people! They consider us almost like divinities as they see us taking pity on their misery, and they open wondering eyes if we invite 1.Sister Marie Leonise (Rachel GerIN, Coaticook, P.Q.) 212 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 them to thank the Giver from whom all blessings flow.We are staking high hopes on our young ladies, still pagans it is true, but to all appearances disposed to accept the tenets of our Holy Faith.When the first of December brought Advent, we told our catechism scholars to prepare for the coming of the Babe of Bethlehem.All wrote their secrets and came after class to drop the papers in a basket near the Child Jesus’ statue.One Christian tot asked Our Blessed Mother to help her keep still during the study period in order to please the Holy Child.Another one, a pagan, resolved to hold back her tears when there would be no real good reason for crying and promised to help her mummie with tasks she disliked.This, the lass reasoned, would replace the natural blooms she would so have liked to bring to the Christmas Crib.Enough of indiscretions! Those bits of paper contained loving secrets and we are sure the writers of them were ready when the merry angel bands sang: “ Glory to the newborn King! ” Mission Christmas Christmas 1946 was a real Mission Christmas for the Wakamatsu group of Sisters.At eleven o’clock, before Midnight Mass, we were present at the baptism ceremony of three young Japanese ladies.During High Mass, Japanese hymns alternated with the parts of the Ordinary, sung in unison by the faithful.At the second Mass fervent and recollected prayers replaced the Nativity carols.In his allocution the Reverend Father related the old story of God’s coming among men, after which he congratulated the three newly-baptized Christians who had just knelt at the altar rail for their first reception of the Holy Eucharist.“ This is really and truly Christmas for you, since, only a moment ago, Jesus really took birth in your hearts through Holy Communion.” Catechumens and Catholics in almost equal numbers had come for the solemn midnight functions.Parental consents denote favorable dispositions with regard to the Faith of the Catholics, and conversions, we hope, will date from this most blessed of nights.After the ceremony, twenty or so women and girls asked to stay overnight at our convent.No comfy beds had we to offer, nothing but mats stretched on the bare floor in a room as chilly and uncomfortable as the caverned grotto of Bethlehem on the first Holy Night when the Savior came to earth.But no one expressed the least suggestion of discontent, so happy were they all to have been able, thanks to our hospitality, to assist at Midnight Mass and pray in the humble sanctuary of Wakamatsu.The third Mass being marked for ten o’clock, we dared hope for only a limited congregation, but the wonder of it was that the church had no vacant nooks and the pious worshippers knelt and prayed as fervently as during the Midnight Holy Sacrifice.The Child Jesus of Wakamatsu had never had so many devout callers at His Crib.What blessings He will have showered with His almighty little Hands on the kneeling throngs come to adore Him! Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 213 Towards one o’clock that afternoon, all the guests that our hall could admit assembled for a recreational programme organized by the Christians.Some of the items on the schedule proved most interesting.As each number had something religious about it, the afternoon entertainment served in some way as a regular doctrinal instruction for the many non-Christians who attended.It was four o’clock by the time our little Community gathered together, but our Christmas, if not a family affair, had been a real merry one, for ¦we had made many others glad and gay.One of the nurses on duty at Takeda Hospital not very far from here has asked to be taught the rudiments of the Catholic Religion.She seems very favorably disposed.Another prospective conquest for the Master! Mrs.Takahashi, mother of our Japanese teacher, assisted at Midnight Mass and now says she is very glad of that initial step towards the Christian Faith.For a long time already we have been coveting that conquest.May the cleansing stream of Baptism soon flow on that heathen brow! Our Apostolate Mrs.Hozumi, our devoted helper, took her first initiation in things Catholic last mid-February.In her soul of good will ready for the operation of grace the action of God has yielded most consoling fruits.She finds everything concerning Catholicism so wonderful and thrilling.Miss Shirai Utako, w'hose family is well known to us, has also come to request catechism lessons.“ Our home is so sad, ” she told us.“ We have our trials to bear, with nothing to encourage us.It seems to me I would take things better if I had the consolations of a religion.’ ’ What may have led her to take a like resolve ?Could it be the Sunday School lessons of other years or some other chance seed of divine grace fallen in her responsive soul ?Sister du St.Nom de Marie (Rita Blais, Thetford Mines, P.Q.), Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception, Wakamatsu, With Her English Course Pupils.¦ FAt.T ¦ -M & ¦ v *» 214 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 Among our aspirants to baptism we could also mention Miss Koike, nurse on duty at Takeda Hospital, and Miss Kobayashi.The latter, when a lass of seven, took a few doctrinal lessons here.She has always deeply longed to become a Catholic.Another young woman had the great privilege and consolation of dying a Catholic on February 13.On one of our first calls we had given her some Catholic literature she read with interest.A miraculous medal of Our Lady had also been given her.She thanked us and said she liked to hear about Our Blessed Mother, adding in a tone of sorrow: “ I cannot as yet believe in God.” When the end drew near, the husband asked us to give his wife the consolations the True Faith has to give to those about to breathe their last, as a supreme remedy to ensure her eternal happiness.All the members of the family are Buddhists, but they remember with thankfulness the miraculous cure obtained for one of them several years ago through the prayers offered for them by the Sisters.Since then they know to whom they must have recourse when sorrow visits them.When Rev.Father Fukasawa heard of the husband’s express wish and the dying woman’s dispositions, he went to administer the sacrament of regeneration to the one about to meet her God.She lived for a few days more and then her pure soul soared beyond the blue to sing the praises of the Lady in Blue whose shrine is at our earthly pilgrimage’s end.For another privileged protege of ours, Mr.Sato, earthly life has lengthened into life happy and eternal.We found him dying and hastily instructed him in the main religious truths.Sister Superior had the great joy of pouring the saving waters on his brow.One of our French course pupils had from the first declared herself an atheist.But explanations on the divine perfections given during a catechism instruction shook her so-called atheistic notions.Soon, we hope, she will be overcome by grace and will accept the unsearchable riches of Christ, who is the Way we must follow, the Life we must live, and the Truth we must believe to be saved.PHILIPPINE ISLANDS MATI Letter from Sister Bernadette de Lourdes o), Superior of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception at their new Mission in the Philippines.Mati, March 25, 1947 Dear Sisters of the Motherhouse, You have been looking forward to tidings from Mati, haven’t you?Here are a few words, or more exactly a few pages, to satisfy your very permissible curiosity.First of all let me tell you about our arrival in the Philippines.1.Rachel DeMars, Newport, Vt. Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 215 At noon on February fl5 we entered the port of Manila and two hours later we bade farewell to our vessel.Sister Madeleine du Sacre Coeur (i), Superior, and Sister St.Louis de Gonzague (2) were awaiting us, and I need not tell you how heartily we were welcomed and how pleasant it felt to see one another again.Our dear Sisters stationed in Manila did all they could in order that we might have our cases the same evening.Poor they are indeed; still, they spared nothing that could make our short stay in Manila as enjoyable as possible.Sister Superior, whose kindness you all know, had recourse to every device she knew of so we might have all sorts of good things for Mati.I have nothing but words of admiration for our dear veteran missionaries who show themselves very devoted and very joyous.The Mission of Manila is going through a hard period just now.Our Sisters have running water only in the evenings; electricity lacks when you most want it.A five-gallon can, cut at a certain height and turned over at the edges, serves as dishpan.Their only tea and coffee pot is a large-size granite pitcher.At table, as everywhere else, one sees that the Sisters have to struggle with poverty.On February 20 we had the joy of visiting the Mission of Las Pinas, where Sisters St.Joseph de Bethleemoj, Superior, St.Gabriel(4), Marie du Precieux Sang(5) and Gabriel de l'Annonciation (6) are spending themselves for the instruction of six hundred pupils, with the assistance of a few lay teachers.Our dear predecessors in the Philippines deserve all our congratulations and praise.In the midst of poverty and need they know how to keep a tranquil mind, a courageous soul and a heart burning with charity and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.On the 22nd we boarded the Mayon, en route for Davao.We were 1.Madeleine Payette, Montreal.2.Anna Girard, Claremont, N.H.3.Yvonne Routhier, St.Pierre de Broughton, P.Q.4.Brigitte AUGER, Les Ecureuils, P.Q.5.Aurore Racette, Limoges, Ont.6.Ida Carrière, Hammond, Ont.Sister St.Louis de Gonzague (Anna Girard, Claremont, N.H.). 216 Montreal THE PRECURSOR July-August 1947 À' ¦> !m ^/'mf of^/hfai rATtiD4VA oe’J