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while he had acted as a deputy of the cortes, he had made motions and uttered sentiments of which the Roman church could not approve. This letter, which was entirely confidential received no other reply than an official note from cav. Aparici to the cardinal Consalvi, expressing the surprise of his government at having heard from don Villanueva that he was detained at Turin by the pope's nuncio to the king of Sardinia, who informed him that he had received orders from his court to prevent his further progress to his destination, and persisted in requiring don Villanueva to be received, that the Spanish government might be spared the disagreeable necessity of dismissing the pope's nuncio at the Spanish court.

In answer to this a long official note was written by the cardinal Consalvi to the cav. Aparici, setting forth the reasons previously expressed for the disapproval of the pope to the person of Villanueva, insisting on the right of sovereigns to reject ambassadors, and reminding him that on the occasion of sending a nuncio to Madrid, the holy father had previously named three persons, leaving his Catholic majesty to make choice of the one most agreeable to him. On this being communicated to the Spanish government, a note was directed to the pope's nuncio at Madrid, by the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, stating that his majesty was under the disagreeable necessity of requiring him to withdraw from the territory of Spain, and adding that to accede to the demand of his holiness would be to condemn the doctrines of Villanueva, and to confess that a deputy of the Cortes was responsible for his opinions to a foreign power. This measure the nuncio solemnly protested against, and insisted on the right of sovereigns to object to the person of an ambassador.

The cav. Aparici in the mean time informed the cardinal Consalvi that he had received orders from the Spanish government to apply for his pass

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ports. This communication was 'accompanied by another note, requesting to be allowed to remain in quality of general agent of ecclesiastical affairs. The cardinal Consalvi, on forwarding the passports, informed the cav. Aparici, that his holiness had no objection to his remaining in quality of general agent for ecclesiastical affairs.

MILAN, Feb. 23. The Sunday schools, which were first established by Saint Charles Boromeo, still exsist in full activity in our cathedral, and parish churches: the number of children who receive religious instruction, and are taught the elements of useful learning, we should hope is not less than it was in the lifetime of the saint: about seventy thousand children were calculated to attend these schools in the different churches of the diocess.

FRANCE.

The subscriptions opened for the relief of the Spanish emigrant, and exiled clergy already amount to a considerable sum. At Bayonne a lieutenant-general has remitted to the bishop of Carcassonne one thousand francs towards the support of the Spanish refugees residing in that town; and a French captain had also contributed five hundred francs to be applied to the same purpose. The Paris subscription amounted, on the 15th ult. to seventeen thousand francs. the chief part of which had been given by the clergy, and money was then coming in from Flanders; nine hundred and forty-eight francs was afterwards paid in by several French ecclesiastics. The bishop of Brieux, in his pastoral for Lent, took occasion to recommend to his clergy and to the faithful the wants of the Spanish clergy, who have sought a refuge in France, and set himself an example by forwarding to the bishop of Carcas sonne, fifteen hundred francs. The bishop of Autun also recommends the same subject in his pastoral. Among the subscriptions lately received is one

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of two hundred francs, from M. Moreau, curate of Lormes, and another from a chevalier of Saint Lewis, residing at Orleans,

Paris, March 20.-The days of St. Vincent are reviving amongst us; nearly each week produces some new charitable or pious association, and scarcely a day passes without a general assembly of the friends of some charitable institution already in existance; and at these assemblies, madame, or the duchess of Berri are, for the most part present. Their example is followed by many in the higher ranks of society; consequently the amount of the sums collected on these occasions, is sometimes very considerable. The sums given in charity by the different branches of our royal 1. family, are without limitation. The late duke of Berri was known to give annually ten thousand pounds sterling in charitable donations.

DIED.

Lately at Manilla, in a convent of their order, fathers Ansteme and Deodat, discalceated Augustins, and old missionaries in China. They left Rome for Pekin in the year 1781, and during the space of thirty years, were indefatigably zealous in promoting the conversion of infidels, and in affording religious consolation and succour to the christians. They were at length banished, in the year 1811.

Lately, at Clare-house, Plymouth, Mrs. Mary Euphrasia Weld, religious of the order of St. Clare, sister of the late Thomas Weld, of Lulworth Castle, in the county of Dorset, Esq, and aunt to the present lady Stourton, of Allerton park, in the county of York.

On the 9th of Feb. his grace Manuel Vincent Martinez Ximines, archbishop of Saragossa. He was born on the 15th of October, 1750, was made bishop of Asorga, in 1806, and afterwards transferred to Saragossa. This prelate addressed a long letter to the Cortes of Spain, but did not publish it; he was in consequence allowed to remain undisturbed in his diocess.

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The archbishop enjoyed the reputation of zeal and wisdom.

At Hammersmith, on the 13th Feb. Lay-sister Scholastica Phesackelley, in the 70th year of her age, and 48th year of her religious profession.

At Ghent, in Flanders, on the 25th of February, Sir Thomas Constable, bart. of Tixall, in Staffordshire, and of Burton Constable, in Yorkshire.

On the 2nd instant, aged 86, the Rev. Blaze Morey, upwards of 33 years chaplain to the congregation at Giffard's-hall, in Suffolk. Society in general, and the poor in particular, have alike sustained a severe loss in the demise of this amiable pastor. In him were admirably united the twofold character of the philosopher and the christian. Skilled in the sciences generally, and in astronomy and geography in particular, no one was long a stranger to him, but soon found a most agreeable companion. With a limited income, he still managed to and distressed; his right hand not spare much for the relief of the poor knowing what his left hand did. His company was much courted, and his many virtues endeared him to all, which will make his loss much felt and his memory long cherished.

On the 7th inst. Mrs. Aune Cross, of Oxford-street, aged forty-five years. On the 14th instant, John Strange, Esq. of Tower-street, aged 74.

We are sorry to understand, that the account we inserted in our obituary for November last, of the death of M. Trocket, a married Catholic priest, late of Nottingham, has given offence to his friends in that town. They represent him to have been a person of great mental acquirements, and of great benevolence and charity, especially to his fellow-sufferers, the French emigrants. Nothing of this we are disposed or qualified to deny ; all that we contend for is, that persons who have made a vow of celibacy, are bound to observe it. So far from pronouncing a sentence of damnation on the deceased, we trust that the unrestricted sentence of absolution, which we are assured he received by due authority of the Catholic church, was available to him. With respect to the lady, who is said to be the daughter of a Protestant clergyman, of an extensive parish, she, of course, was unacquainted with the Catholic doctrine and discipline: hence we have no reason to doubt of her being as hohourable and virtuous as she has been described to us.

AMBROSE CUDDON, Printer, 2, Carthusian-sstreet, Charter-house-square.

The

Catholic Miscellany;

AND MONTHLY

REPOSITORY OF INFORMATION,

FOR APRIL, 1823.

BIOGRAPHY.

MARIA CLOTILDA ADELAIDE XAVIER,

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THE amiable and pious sister of Louis the eighteenth, the present king of France, and the daughter of Louis the dauphin of France, and of Maria Josephine of Saxony, was born at Versailles on the 28th day of September, 1759. She had the good fortune, in her infancy, to be placed under the superintendency of the countess of Marsan; a lady, who in the midst of a most profligate court, increased the lustre of her high rank by the practice of every christian virtue: under such a governess the young princess made a rapid progress in every accomplishment necessary for the high station in which she was for some time destined to move, and she equally advanced in the science of the saints: the simplicity of her dress, her affability, and her fervent devotion, obtained for her the affections of the good, and insured her the respect of all. In the sixteenth year of her age, she submitted to the will of her brother, Lewis the sixteenth, by marrying the prince of Piedmont, the presumptive heir to the king of Sardinia, although her own inclination rather led her to prefer the retired life of a convent, and in this, perhaps, the example of her aunt the princess Louisa, might have had some weight. The marriage was celebrated at Versailles on the 27th of August, 1775, and shortly after she commenced her journey for Savoy. On the confines of the two kingdoms, which are separated by the bridge of Beauvoisie, she was

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received by the prince her husband, and taking an affectionate leave of the French ladies who had hitherto accompanied her, she admitted with a graceful ease the ladies who were to be her future attendants. At Chambery she was introduced to the king and queen of Sardinia, and instantly falling upon her knees she declared, that for the future, she should consider hem as her parents, and should in all things obey them as such. The rejoicings and festivities in honour of the marriage were kept up with regal pomp during twenty days. And in this interval, she had gained the hearts of all by her mild condescension, her unassuming manners, and by the air of devotion which beamed in her countenance. At Turin she formed to herself a regular course of life, which she ever afterwards practiced, as far as the different circumstances, in which she was occasionally placed would permit.

She was every day present at a public mass with the royal family, and when it could be effected, heard one or two more in her own private chapel: a great portion of the day was devoted to prayer; and she received the holy eucharist three times in every week. Among the members of her household she was scrupulously attentive to preserve order and decorum, and prevented to the utmost of her power the existence of bickerings or angry feelings among her dependents. The prince, her husband, was subject to long and painful illnesses; she attended him as his nurse, anticipated his wishes, alleviated by every means in her power his sufferings, and always obeyed his injunctions. For some years after their marriage, it was not only his wish, but also that of her royal father in-law, that she should appear in public sumptuously apparelled; although this was in direct contradiction to her own inclinations, she nevertheless without hesitation complied: at length she obtained their permission to put on the habit worn by Italian ladies, who dedicate themselves to a life of devotion and retirement; this simple dress she ever after wore, except upon days of public ceremony. When her temporal concerns would permit, and these she never neglected, she visited churches, encouraged pious associations, and attended to the wants of the poor, never participating in any public or private diversion, when her rank did not make her presence necessary. In this manner she

spent, as princess and queen, twenty-three years in Piedmont. The afflictions of her family made a deep impression upon her, and the death of her brother Lewis the sixteenth, under the revolutionary axe, was a stroke, which religion and a perfect resignation to the Divine Will, alone enabled her to support. The same spirit which had desolated France, now spread over Piedmont, and towards the close of the year 1798, the king, obliged to fly his dominions, quitted Turin, accompanied by the queen, and travelled by hurried stages to Parma. Here and at Florence the latter made some stay, and at length reaching Leghorn, she was deserted by all her attendants, except mademoiselle Clara Souper. Unmoved at this event, she calmly said to this faithful companion "my dear Clara, of all the persons lately in my service, you alone remain, but God is with us, may he strengthen our faith." She then sailed to Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, for she was obliged, in consequence of the ill state of her husband's health, to attend to the public concerns of the state, which she did with great prudence and ability. In Sardinia she remained six months, and then returned to Florence, where she spent eight months: she afterwards went to Rome; but from this city she was soon obliged to depart, and at length, in company with the king her husband, arrived at Naples. Here she found a peaceful retreat; unoccupied with the cares of the world, she lived in great seclusion, practising every virtue and wholly resigned to the will of the Almighty, until the first of March 1802, when she was seized with a violent fever, after her return from the church of the Holy Trinity, in which she had spent a considerable time in prayer, although afflicted with a severe head ache. During her sickness she appeared inspired with the most holy sentiments, avoiding as much as possible giving trouble to her attendants, and always expressing her gratitude for their assistance. The king at first appeared almost inconsolable at the loss he was about to sustain, but at length calling for his confessor he thus addressed him: "My father, if the blessed Virgin was deprived of her only Son-of a son who was God, to obey the will of his divine Father, how can I refuse to make a sacrifice of this apple of my eye-my only support! Yes, I am ready to offer by way of holocaust this my only joy." Her majesty was informed by her confessor

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