ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



M| 



Government ha* persisted, ncv. rthelcss, in its con- 

 tuiimcy and it-, plot*, anil endeavored to tttir up re- 

 l"-IH,,ii in our re-muining pr<>\ m.i-ri l>y Bending in 

 without intermission its einirt*aries to ntir up trouble, 

 :i:i.l l>y artifices of every kind. Hut these attempts 

 not succeeding as was expected, on account of the 

 unshaken fidelity of our soldiers, and tlio lovo and 

 nil. > tion of our people, was remarkably and unwa- 

 veringly iiKmiirstcd toward us; at last that fierce 

 ti -nipcst broke out against us in the year 1867, when, 

 ilming the autumn, bands of desperate men, burning 

 niiii \\irU-dm-ss and rage, and aided by subsidies 

 from the said i iovcrnmeut, invaded our territories 

 and this city, where many persons belonging to the 

 same bands had already found entrance and had con- 

 cealed themselves; and from their violence and 

 crm-lty and arms, all fierce and bloody outrages 

 were to be feared by us and by our beloved subjects, 

 as was clearly evident unless the merciful Gou haa 

 frust ruled their attacks by the energy of our troops, 

 and by the effective aid of a force sent to us by the 

 renowned French nation. 



In so many conflicts, in succession of perils, anx- 

 ieties, and sorrows, Divine Providence conferred on 

 us meanwhile the greatest consolation. Venerable 

 brethren, from the noble piety and zeal of yourselves 

 mid of your faithful flocks toward us and toward this 

 Apostolic See, of which piety and zeal you continu- 

 ally gave signal proofs, by works of Catholic charity ; 

 and although the very grave dangers in which wo 

 were involved left us scarcely any respite, yet, with 

 the help of God, we never relaxed our efforts to se- 

 cure the temporal prosperity of our subjects, and the 

 state of public tranquillity and security under our 

 rule, the condition ot all the best arts and sciences, 

 and the loyalty and affection of our populations tow- 

 ard us were matters of notoriety to all nations, from 

 whom strangers continually came in crowds to this 

 city ; and especially on the occasions of the'numer- 

 ous solemnities which we celebrate, and at the times 

 of the solemn festivals in their succession. 



And now, when things were in this posture, and 

 our people enjoying peace and quietness, the Pied- 

 montese King and his Government, seizing the op- 

 portunity when two of the most powerful nations of 

 Europe were engaged in a great war, with one of 

 which the said Government had entered into a treaty 

 to preserve inviolate the present state of the 

 Church's dominion, and not to allow it to be invaded 

 by the revolutionists, all at once determined to in- 

 vade the remaining territories of our dominion, and 

 even our see itself, and reduce them under their 

 power. But why this hostile invasion, and what 

 pretexts were alleged for it? It is matter of notoriety 

 what kind of representations were made in the let- 

 ters of the King to us, dated the 8th of September 

 last, and delivered to us by his envoy commissioned 

 for the purpose. In that letter, with lengthy and 

 insincere circuitousness of words and sentences, 

 under the assumed character of a loving son and a 

 Catholic, and under the pretext of the preservation 

 of public order and of the security of the papacy it- 

 self und of our person, the demand was made that 

 we would be pleased not to take as a hostile act the 

 overthrow of our temporal power, and would sur- 

 render that power of our own accord in reliance on 

 the futile promises made by himself, which, as he 

 said, would reconcile the aspirations of the peoples 

 of Italy with the sovereign rights and free exercise 

 of the spiritual authority of the Boman Pontiff. We 

 in truth could not but greatly marvel at seeing in 

 what manner the violence intended to be used short- 

 ly against us was attempted to be veiled and dis- 

 guised, nor could we help deploring from our inmost 

 soul the sad case of the said King, who, impelled by 

 evil counsels, inflicts daily new wounds on the 

 Church; and, having respect to men rather than to 

 God, does not reflect that there is in the heavens a 

 King of kings and Lord of lords, who doth not re- 

 gard the person of any man, nor fear the greatness 



of any man, for He bath made both great and email ; 

 and that for the stronger there is but the stronger 

 punishment ( Witdom, vi. 8, 9). But aa to the prop- 

 ositions made to UN, we thought that we ought not 

 t i -nti rtnin them, but that we should obey the laws 

 of duty and conscience, and imitate the example of 

 our predecessors, and especially of Piua VII., of 

 happy memory, the sentiment! of whose uncon- 

 <iu. n'd soul, uttered by him in a cause completely 

 similar to our own. we have pleasure in quoting : 



" Let us remember, with St. Ambrose (De Jiatil, 

 trad. n. 17), that is'ubuth, a holy man, and the pos- 

 sessor of a vineyard of his own, was called upon by 

 a royal demand that he should make over h'm vine- 

 yard that the king might cut down the vines and 

 plant common potherbs therein, and that he an- 

 swered, ' God forbid that I should sell the inherit- 

 ance of my fathers.' Much more do we judge that 

 it would be unlawful for us to surrender so ancient 

 and sacred an inheritance, namely, the temporal do- 

 minion of this Holy See, which not w HI. out the evi- 

 dent design of Divine Providence has been held in 

 possession by the Boman pontiffs, our predecessors, 

 through a long series of ages, or even to give a tacit 

 assent that any man should take possession of the 

 chief city of the Catholic world, when the unsettle- 

 ment and abolition of the holiest form of govern- 

 ment which has been left by Jesus Christ to His Holy 

 Church, and has been ordained by the Sacred Canons 

 authorized by the Spirit of God, would introduce in 

 its place that code, which is contrary and repugnant 

 not only to the Sacred Canons, but even to the pre- 

 cepts of the Gospel, and would bring in, as is usual- 

 ly the case, that new order of things which tends 

 most manifestly to mingle and confound all sects and 

 superstitions with the Catholic Church. Nabuth de- 

 fended his vines with his blood (St. Airibrote, ibid.) 

 Can we do otherwise, happen what may to us, than 

 defend those rights and possessions of the Holy Bo- 

 man Church, as we are in duty bound to do by the 

 solemn obligation of our oath ? Can we do otherwise 

 than vindicate the liberty of the Apostolic See whicli 

 is so infimately connected with the liberty and wel- 

 fare of the Universal Church ! And how great in 

 reality is the congruity and necessity of this tempo- 

 ral principality to the assertion of that safe and Ireo 

 exercise of the spiritual power granted by God to 

 them over the whole world, too many facts that are 

 now taking place (should other arguments be want- 

 ing) clearly demonstrate." (Letters Apostolic, June 

 10,1809.) 



Therefore, adhering to the sentiments which in 

 many of our allocutions we have constantly professed, 

 we reproved in our answer to the King his unjust 

 demands, and yet so as to show that, with our bitter 

 sorrow, there was conjoined that fatherly affection 

 which cannot wholly repel from its solicitude even 

 sons who imitate the rebellious Absalom. But this 

 our letter had not yet been conveyed to the King 

 when the cities of our pontifical dominion, whicli 

 were as yet untouched and at peace, were invaded by 

 his army, the garrisons whenever they attempted to 

 make any resistance being easily routed ; and then 

 in a short time that unhappy day dawned, the 20th 

 of last September, on whicn we beheld this city, the 

 see of the Prince of the Apostles, the centre of the 

 Catholic religion, and the refuge of all nations, beset 

 with thousands of armed men. its walls battered 

 down, and itself terror-stricken by the cannon-shots 

 fired upon it. And we had to mourn over its capture 

 vi et arrow by order of the man who just before had 

 professed so strongly his filial affection toward us. 

 and his fidelity to religion 1 What could be to us and 

 to all good men more afflicting than that day t On it. 

 when the troops entered the city, the city was filled 

 with a large and promiscuous crowd of disorderly 

 persons, and we immediately beheld public order 

 overturned ; we saw the dignity and saeredness of 

 the Sovereign Pontificate in the humility of our 

 person insulted with impious language ; we beheld 



