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MURAL ORGAN OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH,
ESTABLISHED 1874. 'PHONE B8950 450 Hay Street, Perth.
Registered at the G.P.O., Perth, for transmission by post as a newspaper.
PRICE THREEPENCE
PERTH, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1966.
NO. 2,242.
box 1135, G P.O Perth.
SEVENTY-THIRD YEAR
Greatest "Underground" in History 800 Miles oi Tombs of Saints
THE
CATACOMBS
show the spider, to make him mature in virtue. Her burning when I caress Him, I continue copy. When was he able to words sound like a New Testa- pure; when I espouse Him, I remain a virgin. And, lo! I come threads almost a ment make a net with canticle of canticlies:thousand miles long? That we, I thank you God because I es- to You whom I loved, whom I whom, I yearned fort despised human beings, have ac- caped the threats of a tyrant in- sought, tent on sacrilege, because I step- Is is a wonder that this love of complished. Master-which the was, indeed, a Great is the length of these ped across the dross of sensuality. living personal love-made the underground passages; great, too, Thou hast encircled my right hand with bracelets of precious stones, tender girl of thirteen years face is the number of dead they conand my neck with brilliant neck- gladly the knife rather than deny Our friend the spider, who laces, and hast given me earrings Dealing with the Catacombs, lined with beautiful tombs of, tain. her Lord,s and enabled her to redealing with 800 miles of Chris- Rome's mighty dead-of the great is set up as our model, has usual- studded with precious pearls. He main in sprightly joypusness at ly in his net a few disreputable gave us as a pledge the ring of tian tombs, and with 6,000,000 of Scipio and the Metelli. the sacrifice, while all who witChristian saints, what note shall There is a narrow trap-door at insects-few and far between. But Faith, and consequently He deck- nessed wept for the life that was I strike? Almost everything has the entrance to the Catacombs, there are far more beings enclosed ed me with countless jewels. He exhausted for Christ almost before About clothed me wip a circular goldits peculiar note of pathos, of joy, and it is more like entering a pri- in this huge human net. Milk and honey it was begun? If all the people woven robe. What note, mitive pump than a human habi- six millions! or of martial fire. flowed to me from His mouth, were gathered in Ireland to -day Art in the Catacombs. then, will be suggested by the tation. We soon arrive on the and His blood empurpled my Catacombs? Will it be one of first story: I say 'first," for there into one immense cemetery, their cheeks. He placed on my fore- It is the opinion of some critics Nay, are several stories in the Cata- number would not equal the head a mark whereby I might re- that the earliest pictures in the the tenderest pathos? though if I wrote about those six combs. On reaching the first saints in the Catacombs-half as ject all lovers but Himself. When Catacolotss are the best. Just as I have I love Him, I continue chaste; (Continued on Page 4.) millions of persecuted dead from floor of the deepest one, that of much more were needed. the dreamy viewpoint of that pag- St. Callistus, you descend again called the pathway through the But this anism which they supplanted, mY by another flight of steps, and Catacombs a passage. tale might well be one of hopeless again, and yet again. This Cata- latter is not so much something something else as which leads to If the Will it be a note of joy, comb is six stories low. grief. of gladness, of ringing merri- designers of the Catacombs of Cal - the thing itself. The passages are In the walls are the Catacombs.
Symbolic Art of Early
Christians . . .
Central Catholic Library
the graves of the saints. In imitation of the Master's mode of burial, the tombs are hewn out of the sides of the soft tufa stone, which is a deposit of extinct volcanoes and supplies the material of the Catacombs. There is not merely one row of bodies deposited in those walls-there are generally six rows of bodies in shelves, one above another, and there
St. Cecilia, as she was fou nd in
the
Catacombs.
are sometimes twelve rows. You will have a vivid idea of how the bodies are deposited if you compare the walls of the Catacombs with the chest of drawers in a sacristy, if you imagine that the drawers rising one above the
other contain the
remains
of
36 Pier Street, Perth
LECTURES.
THIS FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, at 8 o'clock, REV. FATHER A. McCARTHY, 'C.SS.R., is speaking on THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC. This will be the second in a series of PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN THE WAR ZONES. This announcement will be too We trust, late for those who obtain "The Record" on Sunday. however, that the many who are able to take advantage of early delivery will make this lecture known to their friends. The speak NEXT LECTURE will be FRIDAY, AUGUST 23. er, Major B. Heagney, whose subject will be SOME EXPERIEN Further details CBS OF LIFE IN A GERMAN PRISON CAMP. in next issue.
ment? Nay, though if I spoke listus had conformed to the popu- saints ,not vestments, "the body, from the standpoint of heaven's lar prejudice, and built upwards not the raiment." In those walls, dwellers, my voice would utter instead of downwards, their edi- honeycombed with saints' bodies, words of jubilation, my every sen- fice would almost be a sky -scraper. each tomb is hermetically sealed Having sounded the depths of with a stone which contains an intence might be punctuated by a gladsome alleluia. Will it be a the Catacombs, your desire may scription revealing the name of inbe to prOceed straight onwards. the silent dweller. note of martial spirit, of fiery This chest of spiration? Yes; it shall be. For As the passage is extremely nar- drawers martyrs' containing I write not in the despair of pag- row, we must walk one deep. bodies extends for almost a thouAlso in Library. anism. but in the hope of Chris- Sometimes ,bat very rarely, this sand miles. Among the New Books this week KEY OF HEAVEN; CATHOLIC tianity; I write not amidst the narrow passage broadens into a is Evelyn Waugh's of the the Martyrs POCKET MANUAL; SUNDAY hymn -chanting choirs of heaven, square chamber, and frequently A Sample of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Catacombs. MISSALS (Hoever); in excelbut amidst the battle of a church it is covered and re-covered by REVISITED. BRIDESHEAD lent bindings and many varieIt is my purpose to give some militant; and I turn to the Cata- similar passages, until the whole REVISITED. BRIDESHEAD ties. combs to warm my hands at the resembles an immense net-work. idea of the saints of the CataHave you combs. For this purpose I selfire of Christianity at its highest And how immense! "This latest novel is certainly MISSALS from 2/- to 14/-. blaze; I direct my thoughts to energy enough to walk through all ect the fairest sample I can find, his most ambitious, and many PRAYER BOOKS, from 6/3 to 11, zenith, its I shall answer it to be St. Agnes. the Catacombs? and I believe Christian heroism at readers will well judge it to be ROSARY BEADS, 13/6, 15/6, 17/6 that a *ark of inspiration, if riot that question by proposing an- She was but a little girl, a child, his best. Evelyn Waugh's SCAPULARS, 6d. a living coal, may be snatched other-a method which is not dis- when she gladly died for Christ. BRIDESHEsAD REVISITED is MEDALS FOR ALL OCCASIONS IMMACULATE from the humble altar in the tinctly Irish, but is as old as the As she stood at the trial she play- not meant to be funny, but need- STATUES of CONCEPTION, 11/7/6 (colourCatacombs to cleanse my tongue Bible narrative. The question is, fully toyed with the manacles, less to say, while its general ed). are you ready to let me lead you and, being too small, they fell out theme is romantic, it is often exand fire my heart. NEW Starting from Rome, we set out on a long walk-some estimate it of her tiny hands. Torture had tremely amusing, as those who BIG SUPPLIES OF for instruments by the Appian Way-that splen- at 500 miles, some at 800 miles? not devised know his earlier novels will expect BOOKS ARE NOW ARRIVING WEEKLY. With reason, and not be disappointed. did high -road of ancient Rome, Are you ready to walk four times limbs so tender. All the best are placed in our worthy of her celebrated engi- the distance from Kerry Head to therefore, do I select this fairest in readpleasure find will Many its slow your walkof the LIBRARY, which offers our CaDublin Bay? Then flower from the garden neering genius. It drags length along Italy's beautiful ing capacity is equal to the task Catacombs-this lily dotted with ing BRIDESHEAD REVISITED tholic people all they need in Catacombs. crimson spots-symbolic of the by reason of the author's fine use reading matter for a very moderCampagna. We have to walk a of traversing the Others will find ate subscription: mile and a half before we take There is a feeling of immensity in double crown of purity and mar- of language. story CITY: the turn for the Catacombs. We contemplating the Catacombs. tyrdom. At thirteen years the enjoyment in the interesting, Others again, who find it One year, 10s., one book. will pause to see what the Appian The case of the spider is constant- fair head was brutally severed it tells. to the future One year, les 6d, two books. Way contains. It is emblematic ly thrown in the faces of us, hu- from the tender stem. Great must hard not to look with foreboding, will find some Six months, 7s 6d. of paganism: it will give us a man beings, as a perfect model be the energising power of faith Evelyn in following comfort solid Three months, 4schance of kissing hands to hea- of painstaking industry in weav- which won testimony from such (1 guarantee for short periods). All comparisons are a tender age. The animated Waugh's attempt to trace, through thenism at its graceless exit from ing nets. workthe his novel, of medium the COUNTRY: the world's stage: it will supply odious, and I do not like the words of St. Agnes, preserved in a in purpose Divine of the ings One year, lb. to my picture the shade which spider because of his supposed her Acts, give us the most vivid , Six months, 11. But in the idea of the brave character of that pagan world. will faintly blend with the light superior excellence. Price 10/6. Freight paid one way) is Sale. Way was for to years, Available Catacombs we have something The Appian girl who, if young in of faith. .