college-French, Italian, and Arabic.

Every year for French comedy we have to go to Molière; poor Shakespeare is hardly known here.

You may think it strange that we should attempt to go through two plays each evening, a question of from four to five hours. Well, such is the fact, because there are so many boys, and all want a part; and then the parents and visitors seem to have unbounded patience in sitting out from five p.m. to half-past nine, as happened this year.

The first piece this year for Monday evening before AshWednesday was an Italian tragedy, entitled "Il Figlio Generoso." The idea is taken from the sad canto in the "Divina Commedia," where Count Ugolino tells his dreadful death by starvation in the tower where he with his three children had been enclosed by orders of the Governor of Pisa.

Naturally a deal had to be changed in order to suit the circumstances. The third act was really most touching; and to say that there were few dry eyes among the audience is a great honour to the Alumni. You remember the scene in Dante :

Ed io sentii chiavar l'uscio di sotto

All 'orribile torre; ond 'io guardai

Nel viso a miei figliuoi senza far motto."

Inf. xxxiii., 46.

"And listened to the locking of the entrance at the foot of the dreadful tower; then in silence gazed into the faces of my children."

Nothing could equal the naturalness of the acted the part of the Count in this scene. perfect.

Alumni who Indeed it was

It would be two long to go into the details, but I'll give you this merely as a specimen of what the boys attempt here.

There was a comedy in French after this. The scene is laid in Spain during the past century. The Count Vildac,

a very bad son, persecuted his aged father most heartlessly. In the denouement it turns out that the persecuted father had been himself a bad son, and so a good lesson is taught on the evil consequences either of parents over-indulging their children, and of these latter showing no respect to their superiors. It is really surprising how well the pupils can pronounce the French and Italian. It would be an astonishing fact in England or Ireland for a college to attempt to act a play in French, German or Italian, before an audience where there were to be a number of French, German and Italians; but here it is considered nothing, and really the success is sufficient reward for the humble. During each in

terval the College band played selections from "Trovatore," "Sonnambula," &c.

Thus one delightful evening passed, and when the curtain dropped at the close of the last scene, many a wish was expressed that it might have lasted longer, although even then the two pieces had lasted for nigh five hours.

On Tuesday evening there was a most laughable farce, in which an unfortunate Englishman tries to make his way through France without the requisite knowledge of the French language.

The drama in French which followed was really interesting. It was founded on an incident supposed to have taken place in a French chateau during the days of the Crusades. The Seigneur goes off to the Holy Land, leaving his wife and young babe in charge of one of his household. Away in Palestine he is killed, and his faithless chevalier murders the wife, and imprisons the young babe. A friend of the Seigneur learns from his dying lips the state of the abandoned household, and as this friend had already in some measure connived at the barbarities committed in the castle during the absence of its lord, he now returns vowed to repair the past. The play was entitled "L'Expiation."

It would, indeed, in a few lines, be impossible to tell how

successfully the Alumni did their parts. In fact, the talent for declamation is highly developed among the Easterns; and the mastery they show in European languages is astonishing. Other pieces followed, including a short one in Arabic, and were all very creditable to the boys.

Naturally, in such circumstances, the "anciens eléves always willing to show their gratitude to the Alma Mater, and so, as a rule, the leading parts are given to them. Such, then, are the chief incidents with which the Carnival closes here with us. At Easter also we try to get up a few plays; and occasionally, when there is any great suffering, tickets are sold, and the proceeds go to the poor.

This year the College is very successful. There are over one hundred and sixty Alumni, including eighty permanent boarders. These latter are from all parts of the East-Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, and Armenia.

There is also a poor school attached to the College, where the children of the poor in our parish are instructed gratuitously in all the elementary branches of education, and also in French, which is almost absolutely necessary in Syria. I would wish, dear Father, to tell you and the readers of the TERTIARY a deal about our life here, but it would be impossible at present. These few lines will, however, let our Irish Tertiaries see that even in the heart of the Empire of the Turk the children of St. Francis are labouring zealously in the cause of Christianity and progress.

So, wishing you every success,

I remain,

Yours faithfully,

J. L. LYNCH, O.S.F.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Feast of St. Joseph, by a brief of the 3rd of March, 1891, has been again made a feast of obligation in Piedmont, Liguria and Sardinia.-La Crociata.

The Ninth Catholic Congress in Italy will be held at Vicenza from the 7th to the 13th of the coming September.

CAUSES OF BEATIFICATION.-The following causes have advanced a further stage: the process relating to the virtues possessed by the Blessed Battista Varani, a Clare nun; the process relating to the causes of the Venerable Onorato da Parigi, and Francesco da Lago Libero, both Capuchins.

*

The decrees on the virtues of the Ven. Gaspar Del Bufalo, founder of the Missioners of the Precious Blood, and of the Ven. Jeane de Lestonac, Bordeaux, foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Virgin, were issued on the 19th of March last.

*

The Rev. Father Hugolinus Storff, O.S.F., Teutopolis, Illinois has established a Confraternity which has an eminently deserving object. The name alone furnishes an explanation of the end it has in view. It is called the Confraternity of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus and of the Compassionate Heart of Mary for the salvation of the dying. The compact little manual of the Confraternity, which is admirably compiled and printed, gives all the necessary information. After stating that, according to statistics, over 90,000 die every day, and that of this great number very many die with little preparation, it details the means available to help those who are in their mortal agony. These consist in performing all one's actions for the same end which our Lord had on earth; to make an offering to this effect morning and evening; and every month, on an ap

The

pointed day, to spend half an hour in special prayer for the dying. This duty is fully satisfied by hearing Mass. Confraternity enjoys many indulgences. We have nothing but heartfelt good wishes for such an excellent work.

With great pleasure we record three signal graces granted through the prayers and good works of those who interest themselves in our page of "Intentions." Some of our readers have special reasons for trusting in the omnipotence of prayer.

On the 22nd of last February the Archconfraternity of St. Peter's Chains celebrated its 25th anniversary. The history of its establishment is of interest.

In 1864 a watch chain of peculiar design became quite the fashion in Italy. It was made of steel, and had a small ball of the same metal as a pendant. What was the astonishment of the many Catholics who were wearing these chains to discover that they were a Masonic emblem, and signified that the states of Rome and of Venice were slaves, the first to the Popes, the latter to the Austrians, &c. Immediately these chains were rejected by all who had worn them in ignorance. While indignation was still general a young Roman had chains made as nearly as possible fac similes of the chains of St. Peter which are preserved at Rome. Pius IX. blessed his action, and soon the practice of wearing these chains as a mark of fidelity to Holy Church became common. The Archconfraternity was established by Pius IX. in 1866.

*

The corner-stone of the new Franciscan Convent at Waverley, Australia, was laid on the 1st March; Cardinal Moran presided. The building is the first of the kind attempted in the colonies. According to the plans it will occupy a frontage of 120 feet and have a depth of 150 feet. A very substantial subscription list was started, and the undertaking has every promise of success.