The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-02
SURPRISING THE passloNlsrs.

| the community which has furnished
chapel and religious facilities for English
speaking Catholics in Paris for forty-one
years falls under the new associations
/ Law. 1t demand 10 be authorized. in
| conformity with the requirements OF the
new law was supported By the English
and American ambassadors and by the
| recommendation OF the project of the
seine (natiOnal authority and the Paris
municipal council; but the demand has
been rejected in the lump Of fifty-four
/ communities or orders (-'congregations }.
which parliament has extinguished by d
| single vote. without allowing any argu-
ments on the merits of the separate
1 cases.
The application of the law to the wind
1 ing up OF the affairs of this foreign COM
munity viii be watched with interest. IL
will give an object lesson. which the mere
! opinions of q correspondent could never
! furnish. \ law of this kind. which Is
| sure 10 result In a more or less prolonged
| Culturkampf, may be considered even in
the United States from al least three
! widely diverse points of view: Its con-
| fornity with the principles Of the Amer
/ lean constitution in dealing. or rather
! in not dealing, with religious associations
/ as distinct from others; the idea held
/ by many anti-Catholics the world over,
/ as well as by NJ Buisson and Senator
| Clenenceau in France, that the modern
I
! grant equal liberties TO Roman Catholics;
| and the idea of Catholics themselves,
/ that they are being subjected TO an or
! ganized persecution directed by the Ma
sonic sects of the continent. In the
| presence OF such critical dangers, COM
| pared 10 which Scylla and Charybodis are
| of easy navigation. II is best to limit
! correspondence to certain facts WITHOUT
| appreciation.
| The superior of the little community is
son of MIR. Watts-Russell, one of the
| well-known oxford converts of Newman
generation. lie has had three other
| priests under him, with two lay brothers,
| not enough to form in canon law mon
| astery technically speaking. but at most
a chaplaincy for the English and Ameri-
can colonies. 1t depended on the mother
| house near London, and. if l mistake not,
was the result of the impulse given 10
| Roman Catholic work among the English
| by the famous Father Ignatius. who I'm
the world" was an uncle of Lord Spencer
The congregation" is known as the
| PaSsionists, and is the same as that oc-
cupying the monastery at Hoboken, OPP
posite New York.
| In Paris. besides the religious serv
| ices, the community carried on various
| charitable works for INDECENT British
and Americans. including an intelligence
office for servants All this is carefully
/ noted IN the report puDtfSntu DN the EE8if-
| man of the parliament committee, who
| adds significantly: This congregation is
| certainly the same as that of the French
| PaSsionists." French. English or Ameri-
| can. they fall together under the new
| law.
Only year ago Americans interested
| themselves in the payment of the neavy
discriminating tax-''droit d'accroisse-
| ment levied on religious communities:
the fathers had in vain attempted TO es-
| cape it by representing that they were
| simply chaplains OF the English-speaking
| colonies, and not monastery. Now that
the community has been suppressed, this
| tax ceases. But there are other ques-
| lions which will cause the settlement of
the property by government to be watch
ed curiously. The "Iiquidateu." or re-
| ceiver, has already been appointed
| 1t is understood that the chapel will be
| allowed to continue public religious serv-
ices for English-speaking Catholics; but
| this is a gracious concession of govern
ment as the Concordat limits the public
| exercise of Catholic worship to the par
ish churches or authorized succursals. II
| is supposed that the title-deeds OF the
property are in the name OF iaymen; in
| this case the works of the receiver viii
! be limited TO recognizing the validity Of
the title-deeds and leaving the owners in
| possession, with whatever future privi-
\ leSeS government give tHern-
/ In the case of French communities, II
| has been announced that the role Of lay
| possessors of such properties will be test
ed severely before the courts; and, if IL Is
| found that they are simply interposed
parties, the government viii itself take
possession of the real estate as 1t does of
all personal property left behind by the
| suppressed communities; this Is on the
ground that, the communities having
ceased to exist. their properties become
nullius without owner and escheat To
the state. II benefactors or individual
members of the communities can prove
that they had contributed definite sums,
they can demand these back; but the
little contributions. Sunday after Sunday.
In a chapel like the English churches Of
Paris would be lost in the unclaimed
mass.
| Another English community. more ven
cradle from the historical point OF view,
disappears in the general cyclone. IL is
the little monastery of English Benedic-
tines at Douay. Henry the Fourth and
| Clement the Eighth put their heads to-
| gether to secure the foundation Of this
house OF refuge for the few remaining
English monks. after that other suppress
sion Of monasteries carried out TO its Bit
ter end by Queen Elizabeth In France
il is commonly expected that the present
storm will soon blow over and the monks
: reappear, being. as Lacondaire SAID. ike
! oaks everlasting. In England they did
not exist again for two centuries.
The monastery at Douay lived on. and
! even the French revolution respected in
il the rights Of British property. at the
| dictates of Pitt. 1t represents now all
that is left OF the exiled communities
| which issued the famous Douay transla-
! ton Of the Bible. some years before thu
| Authorized Version Of Professionals under
| King James IN its original form, its
Elizabethan English was favorite read
! ing Of Gladstone: but the revision b.
Bishop Chalioner in the eighteenth cen
| fury. which is now commonly published
for the use OF English and American
| Catholics has quite deprived II % the
old sonor0us swing-rnucn Ike the Re
vised Version OF its rival
All this. and the fact that the little
college attached 70 the present monastery
receives only English students. have not
been sufficient 70 find favor for Il before
, the executors Of the new Law. and tbs
. eight priests and seven brothers have r.
Z ceived notice that they are Suppressed
and must no longer 1--we together There
will be some curious historical questions
in connection with the settlement - ths
! property. whose titIs-Geeds have sur
vived the revolution until now. ATaonE
The pupils OF the uinstcentn century
find the names of the poet SWizourDe
! who must have learned bis appreciation
OF French poetry here, and THAI % a r.
Gently weIl-known editor q chicags
daily paper-a vhlrlizis - Tine,
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