DEATH OF PRINCESS MARGARET
In a telegram of sympathy sent to Queen Elizabeth, Pope John Paul II on Saturday prayed for the soul of Princess Margaret, recalling the travails and fraility that marked her last years of life.
"Saddened to learn of the death of her royal highness the Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, I express to Your Majesty and to the royal family my deep sympathy at this time of sorrow," the pope said in the telegram, whose text was released by the Vatican's press office.
"Commending your sister to the God of all consolation and praying that she will find eternal rest beyond the travails of human life and the fraility she knew in recent years, I invoke upon all who are mourning her loss the peace which is Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead," the Pontiff said.
FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
"Bishop's remains welcomed on to marae " The Kaikoura Star 6 Feb (photo) http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1093716a5440,FF.html He may never have visited Kaikoura during his lifetime, but Bishop Jean Baptiste Francois Pompallier was still welcomed on to the Takahanga marae with a moving powhiri and Mass yesterday afternoon.....
"Honouring the right and just " The Southland Times, Saturday 9th February 2002 http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1096749a1942,FF.html ["Religion and Life" column by Gore Parish Priest Fr Pat McGettigan on the detention of Afghan prisoners in Cuba and on the late anti-racism campaigner Michael Roche]
"Rare Books For Turnbull" NZ Book Council News Feb 8 2002 http://www.vuw.ac.nz/nzbookcouncil/latestnews.htm
Nearly 700 rare books, including several from the 15th century, have been placed on permanent deposit in the Alexander Turnbull Library by the present owners, the Society of Mary and the Archdiocese of Wellington. They include a wide range of material from early theological works to Roman Catholic liturgical books, as well as English literature, Latin and Greek classics, and early voyages and travel literature.
Formerly part of the Colin Library at the well-known Marist seminary and vineyard at Greenmeadows in Hawke's Bay, the books have been kept in storage in recent years.
Included in the collection are books that belonged to Wellington's first Catholic priest, Father J.J.P. O'Reilly, who came to New Zealand in 1843 and helped establish schools and churches, including St Mary of the Angels on Boulcott Street.
Most of the books are in their original leather or vellum bindings and include beautiful examples of the printers' and illustrators' art through the centuries. The oldest book is a collection of sermons by Saint Bonaventura, published in Germany in 1481.
Margaret Calder, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, said 'I am delighted that this valuable and historically important collection will be preserved in the Turnbull Library and will be available to researchers in New Zealand.
The books are significant not only for their textual content as works of theology and literature, but as examples of the art and history of the book, and for the individual histories of collecting and ownership which each volume represents.'
Contact: Susan Bartel Email: susan.bartel@natlib.govt.nz
