our gratitude and praise to our good God, who vouchsafes, even in this our day, when the greater part of Christendom lies placidly in the lap of over-indulgence and luxury, to give these tokens of his love, for our edification for our reproof-for our abasement and humiliation; so that in the great chain of the communion of saints, by their merit, we may grow in grace, and be made partakers of the glorious achievements of his holy Church on earth, in the day of its reward, in the Church triumphant in heaven.

In the last number of the Annals, the following report on the conclusion of the year 1841 occurs. It has just been published in the English translation of the annals, which is circulated among the subscribers here. In the hope that it may fall into the hands of some who have not joined this society, we gladly transfer it to our pages, feeling assured that all who peruse it will be both edified and pleased with its most Christian and Catholic tone:

REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH, FOR THE YEAR 1841.—As our Association adds to the number of its years, by the divine blessing, it adds to its progress: it is a river, which ever enlarges the farther it departs from its source; and thus, as the receipts of 1840 exceeded those of the preceding year, the receipts of the present year surpass those of the last. As heretofore, it is to solemn recommendations that, after God, we should be grateful for this increase. To the accents which we recently heard from the august voice of Peter, that voice whose sound is heard so far, the benevolence of the episcopacy has not ceased to respond, and the words of the pastors have not reached in vain the ears of their flocks. Not only have they produced new subscriptions in those dioceses already included within the circle of the Association, but they have procured the adhesion of provinces which had remained until lately strangers to our society; and hence it is, that at the moment that Spain, impoverished by her misfortunes, reluctantly withdrew its co-operation, Lombardy, moved by another Ambrose, has come to offer us its valuable co-operation. Where the zeal of the bishops has not been able to make conquests, it has at least kept up the generosity of the members. At the present moment, as hitherto, offerings are transmitted to us from all parts of the world. Our new Christian congregations continue to mingle their tribute with that of our own ancient Churches, and such is still the glory of our humble treasury, that it receives its contributions even from those whom it assists, and that, while distributing relief to our different missions, it often exchanges amongst them fraternal alms.

But however consoling may be our success, we must still admit that we are far from the ultimate state to which we ought to attain. All that we have received forms as yet but a drop of dew in our hands, and the future requires of us still greater efforts. Never, perhaps, did the Propagation of the Faith, of

which we are happily the humble auxiliaries, demand greater generosity, and present higher expectations. Not only because the missions, already the object of our care, are becoming every day more in need of our support, from becoming more fruitful; that in the cities of the east, the Church requires temples to contain her new converts, and institutions to receive the children confided to her care; that on both sides of its vast mountains, upon the banks of the Colombia, as on the banks of the Mississippi, America multiplies its bishoprics and apostolic stations; that in the far distant archipelagos of Polynesia the harvests are continually ripening beneath the labour of the mission. aries; that, in fine, to every shore where the Cross is planted, the billows of every sea bear, at every instant, to toil and martyrdom, generous priests or heroic virgins; but because to these countries where the seeds of faith are growing with such vigour, new fields to cultivate are added.

Five vicariates apostolic will shortly be established in Australia, or throughout the rest of Oceanica. At the same time, Africa, which is already pressed on several different points by the efforts of the Church, will be soon visited on its other shores; and, whilst the occupation of Cafraria will complete the missions of the Cape, other angels of peace will carry the divine word to the black children of Guinea. Such are the views of Providence; and, what is worthy of remark, almost everything appears arranged for their accomplishment. Grace holds its dews suspended over the ways which it opens to us; the people are filled with expectation; apostles are ready to set out; Rome has already appointed them to cast their net; and who knows but that the winds and waves, aware of the will of their Master, are murmuring with impatience to waft these messengers of salvation to the shores to which they are called? One thing only is wanted; the co-operation of charity. We await it in order to supply the missionary with the vessel which is to bear him to his destination; the bread which will feed him in the desert; the cross which is to be the lever by which he will elevate mankind: such is our humble task. And hence an additional necessity, which, independently of every other want, is sufficient to require of us an increase of bounty. And what will be the consequence if we refuse to relieve this necessity by adding to our alms? We shall be obliged, in order to accomplish our designs, either to encroach on our former resources, and then the other missions, now slightly assisted, will become exceedingly impoverished; or we may, for this purpose, stop other projects which are, perhaps, at present in preparation: in which case, our indifference would be an unworthy economy. Each of us might possess some pence the more, but a great plan of God's would be interrupted, and we should deprive the Church of a great consolation, and perhaps of a sublime triumph; the sovereign Pontiff, disappointed in his great expectations, would repent of having believed us generous; and, finally, thousands of souls would sleep in error, until that day when, awaking in wrath, they would come to accuse our selfishness in the face of the assembled world. Would not this be to pay too dear for our insensibility, and for a miserable saving.

Moreover, we ought not to forget that charity does not flow like a wave which returns no more: it flows back to those who dispense it; and hence, to make sacrifices to assist our missions, is rather to lend with interest than to act with generosity. Besides, heaven is more abundantly gained by our gifts than by the cup of cold water, which may, however acquire it. Besides the share which we have in the merits of our apostles and their neophytes, besides the salutary encouragement which we receive by the recital of their combats, and from the accounts of their virtues, we find a sublime recompense for our exertions in the religious gratitude and fraternal prayers of the new congregations. The conquests of the cross are far from resembling those of the sword: force overpowers and subdues nations, but it knows not how to unite them; it may create subjects, but does not make friends: thus we often see the people, which the sword has brought together by its power, continue sepa. rated by hatred, and tearing by their divisions the state under which they live. The Church, on the contrary, not less powerful, but more mild than the sword, conquers by its word and unites by affection; to multiply its family is for the Church to augment a society of brethren: it never fails to give one soul to the people that it mingles in the same belief; and from the moment that it has united them in the singleness of the same heart, it establishes amongst all, in spite of the distance of places, and the difference of civilization which separate them, a pious interchange of prayers or benefits, which are the fruit of a holy community of affection. Every age of Christianity presents to us this interesting spectacle; and as the faithful of the first ages sent from Asia to Europe, and from Europe to Asia, together with the kiss of the saints, the assurance of a religious remembrance, thus do we now see a mutual correspondence of charity strengthened between our ancient Churches and the Churches which they produce upon distant shores. The same spirit, animating both, begets in them the same thoughts of love; and we are not more interested for them than they are anxious for us. According as our missionaries lead them into the divine fold, they teach them that there are beyond the seas other sheep belonging to the same flock, that bear them a strong and tender attachment; that we are preparing for them evangelists and pastors—that we are collecting for them alms-that we are addressing prayers to our common Saviour, that he may purify their virtues, sustain their courage, or calm the storms to which they are exposed: and the new Christians, moved at these accounts, respond to our feelings with tears, and make us in gratitude a return for our sacrifices, and implore heaven to relieve our wants as we supplicate it for their necessities. Sometimes they pray for us alone in their solitudes, and the pages of our annals show that, next to GOD, we occupy principally their thoughts; at other times they offer up for us general prayers. Twice in the year they assemble like ourselves; and on the very same days that we, in peaceful sanctuaries, pray for them, they also, often objects of persecution, in order to correspond to us, assemble in the depth of some dark cavern, where, forgetting for a while their sufferings and dangers, they conjure the Most High to bless their protectors of the old world.

It is thus that they seek to discharge their obligation towards us; and why should not this return of gratitude repay in our minds the services we have rendered. Could it be that we could forget the efficacy of prayer? that we could be unaware that in the Christian system it is the universal channel through which graces flow; that it calms the storms of the soul as well as the tempests of the ocean; that, in a word, it can restore life when all but extinguished in the heart of nations, as it has sometimes given life to bones reduced to ashes in the grave? And could the supplications of our brethren be, in our eyes, useless or unavailing? And when did our ancient Europe, by its darkened faith, its corrupted morals, and alarming symptoms of danger and decay, more urgently call for one of those interpositions of Heaven which, at particular periods, can alone regenerate or save empires? Could we, in fine, consider the pious accents of those new Christians as common supplications; what more powerful cries could proceed from mortal lips, or where could we find a surer pledge of success, or a title of confidence which these tender prayers do not possess? Who can express all the ardour that fills these fervent souls, in which the blessings of Christianity enkindle so much the more gratitude as they are new to them, and have just delivered them from a terrible state of existence? If we desire that prayers should be pure, surely nothing can equal the angelic purity of those neophytes, who washed by recent baptism in the blood of the Lamb, carry still without stain the holy robe of their innocence; and when a prayer comes from their regenerated souls, it might be called the perfume which breathes from a lily just opening to the morning sun, and of which no blast has, as yet, faded the brilliant splendour. And if we wish that prayers should be moving with GOD, whom they implore, not only are they impressed with that simplicity of children which moves him, with that humility which penetrates the clouds, with that faith which is the surest means of success, with that perseverance which overcomes all resistance by dint of importunity; and coming, not only from the midst of the forests, from the solitudes and caverns where persecution sometimes scatters and crushes our poor neophytes, their prayers reach the Lord, as the prayers of the spouse in desolation, to which the Heavenly Spouse never closes his ear: they also unite the voice of their blood to the expression of their supplications, and mystical incense to the sacrifice of martyrdom. Yes, in our days, as in the primitive ages, fraternal love in the heroes of the faith is more powerful than death. We have recently read the affecting account, and all the members of the Association must remember that several among the last confessors of Asia, before placing themselves on the altar, prayed for some moments with their hands turned towards Europe, as if to associate us in the fruit of their sacrifice, and to conjure the Lord to shed on our shores some drops of the blood with which they were about to water the Annamite Land. And surely, if prayer can at any time be efficacious, is it not when thus made under the axe of the executioner, and in the anguish of torture? Should it not then cry out more loudly than the blood of Abel? Would not man himself be moved by it?

Would he not respect as doubly sacred the last wills of these holy victims? And shall we believe that GOD will disdain them-He whose heart is more tender than the heart of a mother for her offspring? Ah! far from us be this distrust; it would be almost a blasphemy. The remembrance of the cross and of the Divine goodness condemns it. Since, by a cry uttered in the midst of torments, JESUS Christ has saved the world, an all prevailing efficacy is secured to the last prayer of the martyr, and God never despises the last testament of his saints, when it is written, like that of his Son, in characters of blood.

The same spirit which suggested these thoughts will, we trust, render them agreeable to the readers of our Annals; and each one will say, in a new feeling of generosity," I am resolved, O holy Church of God, to contribute more than ever, by my alms, to the extending of your empire. I will do so because Heaven invites me. I will do so, because I am jealous of your glory; I wish to do so, because I desire to see the blood of JESUS Christ, which is to save us all, flow upon the heads of all mankind; I wish to do so because I am afflicted to think that hell devours so many victims: I will do so, in fine, because it is our interest that your family be auginented. Yes; I will always remember that, as long as the apostles, sustained by your ́aid, shall bring to you new children, so long do they procure for us new intercessors; and that, since these mediators enjoy a great influence with GOD, since kneeling at the foot of an humble altar, in the hollow of their rocks, or the depths of their forests, they can, in this world where I dwell, decide on the safety of a family, a city, of even an entire people, no sacrifice shall be too much for me in favour of the missions that produce them."

As we have yet a little space, we insert the following notice of the martyrdom of M. Chanel, which interesting fact reached the society at the moment of publication of the last number. The details are given in a letter from Father Chevron to the Rev. Father Colin. The interest of the fact will no doubt outweigh any inelegance of diction that may appear in the hurried letter of the good father's narrative :

FATHER CHEVRON TO THE REV. FATHER COLIN.

Wallis, June 28, 1841.

"The news which I announce to you, if it grieves your heart, will at the same time console your faith. Father Chanel has merited the happiness of shedding his blood for the cause of JESUS Christ.*

"I was with him at the Isle of Futuna, when, in the month of last December, I had to embark for Wallis, for the purpose of going to assist father

* Father Peter Chanel was born at Cuet, in the Diocess of Belley. He left France n 1836, under Mgr. Pompallier, who made him his Provicar, and confided to him the mission of Futuna. He died the 28th of May, 1841, at the age of forty years.