GOLDEN ROSE DAY

Nine-hundred-year-old Papal custom on the Sunday with five names
" Rose Sunday." On this day the Holy Father blesses the Golden Rose, a gift of mystic significance to be bestowed upon some exalted personage or a shrine or church whom His Holiness wishes to honour.
The Golden Rose is mentioned in a Bull of St. Leo IX in 1049. This Pontiff released the Monastery of Holy Cross in Alsace from the jurisdiction of the Bishop, placing it directly under the Holy See.
In return, the Pope imposed upon the monks the tribute of a Golden Rose to he presented to him each year. This Rose was carried by the Pope in the procession from the Lateran Palace to the Basilica of Holy Cross, where on the fourth Sunday of Lent the Station was regularly held. The sermon at the Mass was usually about the Rose and its symbolism.
Pope Innocent III speaks of its brightness of colour, its sweetness in perfume and delight in its savour. This blossom, he asserts, is emblematic of that other flower which says of itself in the Canticles: " I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys."
During the centuries the Golden Rose was sent to Catholic kings and princes; in modern times more often to Queens and shrines.
Henry VI of England received the Rose from Pope Eugenius IV in 1444. Henry VIII received it three times. Queen Mary Tudor received it from Pope Julius III.
The earlier Golden Rose was a simple flower of gold. Later it took the form of a rose tree. The topmost rose contained a tiny cup with a pierced cover into which the Pope put balsam and musk to recall the natural perfume and add to its symbolism.
" Lactate Sunday." — Rejoice Sunday. This note of joy rings through the Introit and Tract of the Mass.
" Refreshment Sunday," The reference is to the miracle of the loaves and fishes in the day's Gospel.
" Mothering Sunday." This name follows from the Epistle, which speaks of our right to he called the sons of God. In other days it was customary on this Sunday to visit the cathedral, the mother church of each diocese. T. H. E.
Mothers' Day: see page 6
Figures go up 'down under'
The Catholic population in Australia increased by 24.846 last year, according to figures just issued. The total is now 1.554,372.
Queensland (249,4511 shows the largest increase-13,231. New South Wales, with 645,4(15 Catholics, shows an increase of 4,673.
Churches increased from 2,429 to 2,493 and the number of diocesan clergy from 1.835 to 1,865. Priests of religious orders total 993 as against 958 in 1953.
There are now 1,583 lay brothers in Australia and 11,939 nuns.