Spirit will not cease to urge generous souls to contribute according to their power in their own way of life, either personal service or supplies in money and material. The case needs only to be stated in its simple truth to make all sensible that no nobler cause has claimed for centuries the prompt and zealous intervention of the Church.

Portuguese commerce in Africa had languished under the twofold disadvantage of its own inferior attractiveness when put into competition with the richer trade of Brazil or the East Indies, and the incessant semi-religious hostility of the Dutch Calvinists, who may be said with truth to have kept Africa for two centuries from the light of the Gospel.

For the last fifty years the prospect has been gradually brightening. Catholic Emancipation, the development of English colonial activity in the south of Africa, as well as in India and Australia, the energetic suppression of the slave-trade on the western coast of Africa, the facilities of steam navigation, coinciding with the establishment in France of the great association of the Propagation of the Faith, and the restoration or first foundation of various religious orders and missionary congregations, have given quite a new hope and impulse to the work of evangelizing Africa. Within thirty years twelve vicariates have been established on the coast, so that a ring of Christian settlements surrounds the Continent. There is question now of pushing forward into the interior. Mgr. Comboni, with his associate priests have penetrated as far as the sources of the White Nile. The Fathers of the Holy Ghost in Guinea on the West, and the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of JESUS and MARY stationed at Bogamozo, opposite to the island of Zanzibar, on the east, have extended their labours through the adjacent regions. Missioners from Algiers are under orders to proceed to the country of the Great Lakes. The Society of JESUS has been charged with the duty of evangelizing the vast territory through which the Zambesi runs, a field of operations lying between

10° and 18° south latitude, and between 15° and 30° east longitude. The southern boundary as at first proposed was the Limpopo, on the borders of the Transvaal; but the distribution has been readjusted.

Father Depelchin, S.J., who brings to the work an experience of eighteen years of missionary life in India. has been appointed the Superior of the expedition, and, as many of our readers know, he is now in London making active preparation for the great enterprize, which is regarded by His Holiness as especially belonging to Catholic England.

All who love the Sacred Heart of JESUS, and esteem it a privilege to co-operate in saving millions of immortal souls will try to aid by prayer and alms this great mission to the heathen, that no fatal delay may disappoint the fervent hopes of those who already in happy dreams can see the great river-courses of the dark Continent dotted with Christian villages.

PRAYER.

O Sacred Heart of JESUS! through the Immaculate Heart of MARY, I offer Thee all the prayers, labours, and crosses of this day, in union with those intentions for which Thou dost unceasingly offer Thyself a Victim of love on our altars. I offer them to Thee in particular for the natives of Africa, and for the missionaries who are preparing to announce Thy Name to them. Sprinkle, dear Lord, abundantly the dew of Thy grace on this long barren land, and send many workmen to gather in the harvest which it offers to Thy Church. Amen.

The Holy League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For the triumph of the Church and Holy See, and the Catholic regeneration of nations.

AUGUST, 1878.

I. GENERAL INTENTION: The New Missions to Central Africa.

II. PARTICULAR INTENTIONS.

1. Thurs. S. Peter's Chains.-Confidence in GOD; 14,736 persons in affliction. 2. Fri. S. Alphonsus Liguori, B.C.D.— COMMUNION OF REPARATION, &C.-FRIDAY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.-GENERAL COMMUNION OF THE HOLY LEAGUE.-Care of Children; 6,836 houses of education.

3. Sat. Finding of the Body of S. Stephen. -Fervour; 2,936 seminaries and novitiates.

4. SUN. Eighth after Pentecost.-S. Dominic, C.-Devotedness; 16,093 religious.

5. Mon. Dedication of the Church of S.Mary of the Snow.-Zeal for the house of GOD; 4,539 parishes.

6. Tues. The Transfiguration of our Lord.-Desire of Holy Communion; 7,389 First Communions.

7. Wed. S. Cajetan, C.-S. J., Oct. of S. Ignatius.)-Remembrance of the four last things; 3,072 missions and retreats.

8. Thurs. SS.Cyriacus,&c.,MM.-(S.J.,B. Peter Faber, S. F., C.)-The spirit of concord; 9,502 reconciliations.

9. Fri.

SS. Nereus, &c., MM.-(S. J., S. Cajetan, C. Aug. 7.)-Remembrance of the Dead; 82,167 dead.

10. Sat. S. LAURENCE, M.-Love of doing good; 14,639 spiritual works.

11. SUN. Ninth after Pentecost.-Love of purity; 23,033 young persons.

12. Mon. S. Clare, V.-A lively faith in the Blessed Eucharist; 16,816 communities. 13. Tues. Of the Oct.-(S.J., B. John Berchmans, S.J., C.)-Fidelity to grace; 6,580 vocations.

14. Wed. Vigil.-(S.J., B. Peter Canisius, S.F., C. April 27.)-Reverence for the priesthood; 11,726 ecclesiastics.

15. Thurs. THE ASSUMPTION B.V.M.Gratitude; 42,112 acts of thanksgiving.

16. Fri. S. Hyacinth, C.-Zeal for the salvation of those we love; 55,422 heretics and schismatics.

17. Sat.-Octave S. Laurence.-Detachment; 27,647 temporal affairs.

18. SUN. Tenth after Pentecost.-S. Joa chim, Father B.V.M.-A Christian spirit in families; 20,413 fathers and mothers.

19. Mon. Of the Octave. (S.J., S. Paul of the Cross, C. April 28.)-A spirit of order and peace; 23,839 families.

20. Tues.

S. Bernard, Ab., C.D.-The spirit of wisdom; 4,332 superiors.

21. Wed. S. Jane Frances, W.-Love of GOD; 13,548 nuns.

22. Thurs. Octave of the Assumption.

Recourse to MARY; 21,432 young men.

23. Fri. Vigil.-S. Philip Benetius, C.— Patience; 23,533 sick and infirm.

24. Sat. S. Bartholomew, Ap.-Zeal for the glory of GOD; 2,071 foreign missions. 25. SuN. Eleventh after Pentecost.-(S.F., MOST PURE HEART OF MARY.)-A life of faith; 27,628 spiritual favours.

26. Mon. S. Margaret, W. June 10.(S.J., S. Dunstan, C.P. May 19.) The spirit of prayer; 65,069 various intentions.

27. Tues. S. Joseph Calasanctius, C.-Zeal for the good education of children; 56,433 children.

28. Wed. S. Augustine, B.C.D.-Confidence in the mercy of GOD; 55,449 sinners.

29. Thurs. Beheading of S. John Baptist. The virtue of constancy; the grace of perseverance for 28,098 persons.

30. Fri. S. Rose of Lima, V.-Purity of heart; the people of Central Africa.

31. Sat. S. Aidan, B.C.-The virtue of fortitude; 3,538 promoters.

Intentions sent for publication must arrive in London not later than the morning of the first day of the month. It is recommended that they should be written on a page by themselves.

An Indulgence of 100 days is attached to all the Prayers and Good Works offered up for these Intentions.

The Intentions of the Archconfraternity of St. Joseph of Angers, and the Children of St. Joseph at Brussels, are recommended to the prayers of the Associates.

Application for Diplomas of Affiliation to the Apostleship of Prayer, Tickets of Admission, &c., for England, is to be made to the Rev. A. G. Knight, S.J., III, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, W.; for Ireland, to the Rev. M. Russell, S.J., 50, Upper Ŝackville Street, Dublin. Sheets of the Living Rosary, adapted to the requirements of the Association, may be had of Messrs. Burns and Oates. Price 2d. the Sheet.

THE MESSENGER

OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

The Problem Solved.

CHAPTER XXIII.

NOTRE DAME DE BON SECOURS.

In spite of his assertion, Lawrence remained at Courseilles, and took up his abode in Widow Mallidor's small farm, which was situated a little outside the main village, perched on the side of the cliff above the narrow plateau on which the church stood, and commanding a glorious view of the whole bay with its masses of dark rock. Indeed, the view was the one redeeming feature in the accommodation, which, although the best in Courseilles, was certainly not calculated to satisfy any one of very fastidious taste. Yet Lawrence, who was usually over-exacting in all that regarded his own personal comfort, seemed utterly indifferent to all the inconveniences of his surroundings, and week after week found him with no thoughts of leaving his farm kitchen. Its walls were black with smoke and age, and the small roughly-glazed window barely lighted it on a bright summer day. The heavy oak presses which lined the walls, and contained the heirlooms of generations, added to its sombre appearance, whilst the quaintly-carved bedstead chairs and long polished table would not have SEPTEMBER, 1878.

J

been out of keeping in any old castle. The rough stone floor had a tendency to become unpleasantly damp in wet weather, whilst if he left the door open to admit light and air, the huge fireplace, in which an ox might have been roasted, was certain to smokę, let alone that the cock and hens, to say nothing of the pigs, which were, if possible, noisier and dirtier than their English brethren, always regarded this proceeding as an invitation to walk in. It seemed as if Mr. Bretherton were determined to practise his own favourite proverb of when at Rome doing as the Romans. He fraternized with all the villagers, and soon picked up Breton enough to understand them and to make himself understood. He drank the sour cider of the country and asked for nothing better; he even put up cheerfully with the proverbial Breton dirt, and forgetting that in England he had been fastidious to a fault in the matter of tea and coffee, learnt to breakfast on buttermilk and the favourite Breton dish of galette, a sort of girdle cake made of red barley. The utter novelty of his present life was in itself attractive. In his morbid depressed state whatever forced him out of himself by opening to him an entirely new world was welcome, and unknown to himself his real attraction to Courseilles lay in its saintly Curé. In the Curé of Courseilles Lawrence had found not merely his equal and his match, but his superior in every sense, and strange as it may seem, there was to Lawrence, who had all his life found his fellow-men his intellectual inferiors, something positively refreshing in this, to him, new sense of inferiority. It is wearisome in the long run, whatever people may say of man's natural love of domineering, to feel we never need exert our best powers, and an easy victory seems hardly worth fighting for. Men are often attracted by what is most opposed to their own natural character, and it seemed as if the deep and genuine humility of his new friend acted like a magnet on Lawrence's pride and vanity, add to which there is a nameless, but at the same time an irresistible attraction