The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-04-02

Please give a short sketch of the
life Of ST. Cornelius.
There is a ST. Cornelius, the CEN
turion whose conversion with his
household is related in the tenth chap
ter of the Acts of the Apostles. Ira.
dltion days that this Cornelius after
wards became Bishop Pope ST. Cor
nelius was a martyr, who was put to
death for the faith in the year 253.
His feast day is celebrated September
IA.
Is Noreen, or Norine, diminutive
form of Saints name, and which is
the proper way to spell it?
Noreen (the usual spelling) is di-
minutive form of tho name Nora, or.
Norah. These with another dimin-
utive, Norena,) are a Celtic contrac-
ton of the name Honora. ST. Honora
was an Irish virgin whose feast is
commemorated April II.
What is the meaning CT the Letters,
!. N. r. |. on the cross.
These letters were placed over the
cross Of Our Lord at His crucifixion.
They are the first letters of the Latin
words, Jesus Nazaracnus Rex Judaeo-
rum, Jesus of Nazareth King of the
Jews. Note that the ancient Latin did
not have the letter -" the 81" being
used instead.
Why is incense used at church serv.
ices.
Among the ancients the use of in
cense indicated an honor towards the
person before whom it was burned,
In the Christian custom burning in
cense is symbol of prayer, which.
like incense, diffuses sweet odor and
rises towards the throne of God,
Is the necessity or going to work
sufficient excuse for missing Mass on
hoIV days?
The commandment of hearing Mass
on Sundays and holy days of obliga-
tion entails serious obligation; that
means that only serious reason will
excuse. But the commandment is
positive one, and admits of exceptions
Necessary work is such an excuse
However, to accommodate working
people, the parishes have Mass at very
early hours, and if you are able to
attend the early Mass, and at the same
time get to work, you are certainly
obliged to go to that early Mass. It
cost our Lord His very life that we
might have the Mass, and we must be
willing to go TO inconvenience in Or
der to attend holy Mass. Moreover
If your work is such that you can
never, or hardly ever, go to Mass
you should look around for change
of occupation. The Mass is the soul
OF our religion, and that man can
scarcely be said to be Catholic. ex-
cept in name, who seldom, even
Mass.
Some of my friends (Protestants)
say, that if the Catholic Church is
the true Church, it should not fear to
have. its members married to Protes-
tants, that the true faith of the one
would counteract the opinions of the
other.
There are those who imagined that
the Church would have profited if
the Pope had granted the request of
Henry VIII for second wife while his
first wife was living: that in our days
the Church would have gained if Plus
X had recognized the frce-masonic "as-
sociations OF cult in France. But, the
truth can have no companionship with
error, and the Church has always
prospered when she suffered persecu-
ton for the sake of principle. It
usually shows a weakness of faith
when Catholic contemplates mar
riage with non-Catholic: what rea-
son have we to suppose that that weak
faith would be strengthened when
placed in dangerous association Peo-
pie are easily affected by the company
they keep; and when Catholic of
weak faith, harassed by many home
duties, sees her husband neglect
prayer and the practices of religion
it is very easy for her to lose her
feryor. The Church forbids mixed
marriages, not only on account Of the
danger to Catholic faith, but because
there is something incongruous in a
union between truth and error.
Is it true that the Church is op-
posed to the restriction of immigrants
to the v. S. A. as this would diminish
the number of Catholics in our coun-
try?
No; it is not true There are many
sides to the problem of immigration:
political, economic, social, but there is
no religious side to the question.
America belongs to Americans, not to
Protestants or Catholics or Jews, al.
though all religionists are guaranteed
perfect freedom under our constitu-
tion. The problem of immigration is
problem of Americanism, not Of
Catholicism Will the cause of Amer
icanism suffer by a policy of unre-
stricted immigration? There are those
who are of the opinion that the
Church will profit by diminished i'm
migration, because it is very difficult
task to provide for the religious in
struction of the multitudes of immi-
grants who have flocked to our shores.
The Church boasts not of the num-