KOMAN CATHOLIC CHUKOT. 



675 



selves, until the entire development, that new life of 

 grace without which no one can ever merit or obtain 

 life eternal, so that the same Church which consti- 

 tutes the mystical body shall remain until the end of 

 time, firm, and indestructible in its own constitution, 

 developed in vigor and furnishing to its children all 

 that is necessary to life eternal. 



Now, whoever wishes well to consider and examine 

 with attention the different religious societies divided 

 among themselves, and separated from the Catholic 

 Church, which, since the time of the Lord Jesus 

 Christ and His Apostles, has always uninterruptedly 

 exercised, and still exercises by means of its legiti- 

 mate pastors, the power intrusted to her by our Lord 

 Himself whoever, we say, shall thus examine, will 

 easily convince himself that not one of those reli- 

 gious societies, nor all the religious societies together, 

 constitutes, or in any way can be considered as the 

 one and only Catholic Church which our Lord Jesus 

 Christ founded, constituted, and desired should see 

 that they cannot in any way be regarded as a member 

 or as a part of that same Church, because they are 

 visibly separated from all Catholic unity. As, in 

 fact, those societies are deprived of that living au- 

 thority established by God, who pointed out to man- 

 kind, before all things, the matter of faith and the 

 rule of morality, who directed and presided over 

 them in all things affecting their eternal welfare, 

 therefore those societies themselves constantly va- 

 ried^in their doctrine, and thus this instability is un- 

 ceasing. 



Every one can easily comprehend that this state of 

 things is altogether opposed to the Church estab- 

 lished by Christ our Lord a Church in which the 

 truth must always rest unaltered, without being the 

 subject of any change, as a charge intrusted to that 

 same Church, in order that she may preserve it in all 

 its integrity,a charge for the care of which the pres- 

 ence of the Holy Ghost and its aid has been granted 

 forever to this Church. 



No one can ignore the fact that these differences of 

 doctrine and opinion give rise to the social schisms, 

 and that therefrom spring those innumerable sects 

 and communions which are > daily increasing to the 

 detriment of Christian and civil society. 

 t Whoever, in factj recognizes religion as the founda- 

 tion of human society, cannot refuse to admit and 

 avow the influence exercised over civilized society by 

 those divisions and disagreements of principles of 

 that nature, and of religious societies struggling one 

 with the other ; and also with what power the denial 

 of authority established by God to regulate the con- 

 victions of the human intelligence, and to direct the 

 actions of men, both in their social and private life, 

 has excited, has developed, and has fomented those 

 most unfortunate troubles, those events, and those dis- 

 turbances which agitate and affect almost all nations in 

 a most deplorable manner. 



Therefore, in order that all those who are not in- 

 stilled with the principles of the unity and truth of 

 the Catholic Church should seize the occasion offered 

 to them by this Council, in which the Catholic 

 Church, to which their ancestors belonged, shows a 

 proof of its complete unity, of its vigor, and of its 

 inextinguishable vitality ; that they should obey the 

 necessities of their hearts ; that they should strive to 

 bear themselves away from that state in which they 

 cannot be assured of their salvation ; that they should 

 address without ceasing the most fervent prayers to 

 God that He should dissipate the cloud of error, and 

 that He should bring them back into the bosom of 

 the Church, our holy mother, where their ancestors 

 received the salutary nourishment of life, and alone 



E reserves in its integrity the doctrine of Jesus Christ, 

 anding it down, and dispensing the mysteries of 

 celestial grace. 



We, therefore, who ought most zealously to fulfil 

 all the duties of a good pastor, in accordance with the 

 charge of our apostolic ministry, intrusted to us by 

 Christ our Lord Himself, and who ought to embrace 



all men in the world in our paternal charity, address 

 this letter to all Christians separated from us a 

 letter in which we exhort and supplicate them to 

 hasten to return to the fold of Christ. 



It is because we heartily desire their salvation in 

 Jesus Christ, and fear one day to have to render an 

 accoun^ of their souls to that same Jesus Christ, our 

 Judge, if we do not point out to them, and open to 

 them as in us the way which they must follow if they 

 would gain their salvation. 



Also, in all our prayers and supplications, and 

 while performing acts of grace, we never cease hum- 

 bly to ask for them, both by night and day, the celes- 

 tial light and the abundance of grace from the Eternal 

 Pastor of souls. And, whereas, despite our unworthi- 

 ness, we fulfil upon earth the functions of the vicar of 

 Christ, we await with open arms the return of those 

 wandering sons to the Catholic Church, in order that 

 we may be able to receive them with all affection into 

 the dwelling of the celestial Father, and make them 

 participators in His everlasting treasures. 



It is that much-wished-for return to the truth and 

 communion of the Catholic Church upon which de- 

 pends not only the salvation of each one in particu- 

 lar, but of .the whole Christian Society; and the 

 world will never enjoy true peace until it forms one 

 flock under one pastor. 



Given at Home, at St. Peter's, September 14, 1868, 

 in the 23d year of our Pontificate. 



One of the most important events in the his- 

 tory of the relations between the Pope and the 

 Catholic states, during the year, is the aboli- 

 tion of the Austrian Concordat of 1855. In ref- 

 erence to this subject, the Pope, at the secret 

 consistory of the 2d of June, delivered the fol- 

 lowing allocution : 



VENERABLE BRETHREN: We should never have 

 imagined that, after the convention agreed to nearly 

 thirteen years ago between us and the Emperor 

 and Apostolic King of Austria, to the great joy of all 

 well-minded men. we should be obliged to lament 

 the miseries and serious misfortunes which, by 

 the machinations of evil-disposed men, now afflict 

 and annoy in a deplorable manner the Catholic 

 Church in the empire of Austria. In fact, the ene- 

 mies of our divine religion have been unceasing in 

 their efforts to destroy the said convention, and to do 

 the greatest harm to the Church, to us, and to this 

 Apostolic See. On the 21st of December last, the 

 Austrian Government passed an odious law to be 

 carried out and strictly observed in every district -of 

 the empire, even in those districts where the Cath- 

 olic religion exclusively prevails. That law estab- 

 lishes liberty for all opinions liberty of the press, 

 of all faith, and no matter of what confession or 

 doctrine ; it grants to the members of every con- 

 fession the right of establishing public schools and 

 colleges, and members of every confession are al- 

 lowed to be admitted on the same footing with the 

 sanction of the state. Although we felt great grief 

 on being informed of the fact, and wished to raise our 

 voice against it, we nevertheless gave proof of for- 

 bearance, and we deemed it advisable then to keep 

 silent, chiefly supported by the hope that the Aus- 

 trian Government, lending a docile ear to the just 

 complaints of our venerable brethren (the holy pre- 

 lates of Austria), would return to more wholesome 

 ideas and adopt a sounder determination. But our 

 hopes have been frustrated. In fact, the same Gov- 

 ernment, on the 25th of May of this present year, is- 

 sued another law which compels all the subjects, 

 even the Catholic ones of the empire, deciding that 

 sons born of a mixed marriage must follow the reli- 

 gion of the father, and the daughters that of the 

 mother ; and that under seven years of age thev must 

 follow in the stray path of their parents from the^true 

 faith. Moreover, the same law suppresses entirely 

 the validity of the promises -which the Catholic 



