CATHOLIC 



757 



cd by David. And what do they aim at? 



.1 Income for them an AinuU-kito 



.r 1 1 ait the Pope should imiuto the - 



mlitmpy Saul! Oh, insensate counsel* 1 If 



..:iU-kiu- did not escape the chastisement of 



Diivid, could tlui Vicur of the Eternal Bishop of our 



souls csoupo tliu chualitii-ment of Godi They uk 



.100 ; they ak for a truce ; they auk, I say, for 



a modus cirtndi / And is a modus vi ctndt (a way of 



poaaible with an adversary who ia continually 



i with a modus nocendi (way of hurting), with 



a modus auftrtndi (a way of stealing), with a modvt 



dettrutndi i\vuy of destroying), with a modus occi- 



Can the calm ever be 



.rh the tempest which bellows and rises 



/iiiL.' il'iwn i vrry tliintr, tearing up the roota 



. in;; nil tlmt it finds in its way f 

 WLat shall we do, then, venerable brethren, we 

 to whom it has been said. " StatU in domo />', ft 

 in atriis domtts Dei nottri " (you stand in the house 

 of God and the halls of the houso of God) ! We 

 shall be united with the Episcopate which in Ger- 

 many, in Brazil, and in all the Church rives lumi- 

 nous proofs of constancy and firmness. We will unite 

 ourselves to it and to all the souls dear to our Lord, 

 and we shall be constant in prayer, demanding pa- 

 tience and courage to combat our enemies ; but not 

 with sword in hand, for Jesus Christ combats with 

 the Cross, and the Cross will be our arm, and we 

 shall supplicate God for them, never conforming 

 ourselves to their principles, but condemning the 

 poltroons who repeat, in their cowardice, u What 

 will you do ? How will you do it 1 " an imbecile 

 question worthy of the worms of the earth, but not 

 of men. Courage, then. Blessed Mary, whose feast 

 we celebrate to-dav under the title of Avxilntm, 

 C'hristianorum. inspires us. The 24th of May, des- 

 tined for this feast, has been occupied this year by 

 the feast of the Holy Spirit, the Spouse of Mary. 

 Let this coincidence augment our confidence. As 

 Mary has protected one Pius, who crushed the pride 

 of the Turks ; as she protected another Pius to 

 crush a great imperial pride ; so at this hour she 

 protects the least Pius and his see, attacked by a 

 thousand different enemies. And as she has con- 

 quered apud L'cJdnadas Insulas (at the Islands of 

 ^Egina), as she has conquered apud Savonam (at 

 Savona), the morning of a new victory will come 

 apud Sanctum Petrum (at St. Peter's). 



May God bless me, His unworthy Vicar, and you, 

 my collaborators, in the administration of His 

 Caurch. And may He, by this benediction, plungo 

 our hearts in the fire of His love. May the same 

 benediction descend upon the episcopate, the reli- 

 gious orders, and especially upon the poor religious, 

 so ill-treated and oppressed. May it descend upon 

 families, upon fathers and mothers in fine, upon 

 everybody. And may it be the pledge of the eter- 

 nal benediction which God will give us at our depart- 

 ure from this life 1 Iknedidio Dei, etc. 



The Italian Government continued tie con- 

 fiscation of ecclesiastical property. On the 4th 

 of January, thirty-two convents were seized 

 in Rome, and property belonging to the Roman 

 churches and even to the Propaganda, given 

 by Catholics of all countries for the purpose of 

 supporting foreign missions, were seized and 

 sold. According to statistics officially given 

 between October 26, 1867, and July 81, 1874, 

 102,019 pieces of property were seized and 

 sold, producing $93,430,942. The vestments, 

 church-plate, office books, libraries, also seized, 

 were valued at about $3,000,000. In the prov- 

 ince of Rome 4,054 ecclesiastical institutions 

 have been seized. 



The demonstrations made on the anniversary 



!' tlio Pope led to arrests, and the severe pun- 

 ishment, extending to years, of some who 

 shouted " Vita Pio Nono 1 " The removal of the 

 .stations and cross from the Colosseum was fol- 

 lowed by the prohibition of all praying ti 

 and the arrest of the liclgian Countess Stein- 

 loin, and other foreign ladies. A Catholic Con- 

 gress met at Venice in Juno, which sent an 

 address to the Pope. The clergy were not, 

 however, generally molested in their functions, 

 \ |-t in some cases like that of Bishop Rota, 

 who was imprisoned in September for lan- 

 guage used in a pastoral letter. 



la Prussia and the German Empire the en- 

 forcement of the Falk laws was steadily con- 

 tinued. The Pope, on the 8d of November, 

 1873, had addressed to the Archbishop of 

 Gnesen and Posen the following, encouraging 

 him in the course he had taken : 



REV. BROTHER Greeting, Apostolic blessings. If 

 at any time it has been God's pleasure to show to 

 men that the fabric of the ChurcL is of Divine 

 building, and that on that account all attacks di- 

 rected against it by the powers of hell and the mal- 

 ice of man must be in vain, surely it is now, rever- 

 end brother, while this truth is forced upon the sight 

 even of those who do not wish to see it, for He has 

 permitted all to conspire for the destruction of the 

 Church. We see contempt, calumny, laws and tem- 

 poral superiority arrayed against it, the effect of 

 resolutions long formed brought to realization by 

 protracted labor and developed by the most exasper- 

 ated sect, which has almost everywhere secured su- 

 preme power. Its professors are designated rebels ; 

 its bishops are condemned by lay courts as agitators, 

 persecuted with fines, deprived of their offices and 

 expelled the country. The spiritual orders are pro- 

 hibited, the clergy is gagged ? and ? by arbitrary 

 measures, prevented from exercising its office. Ed- 

 ucation of youth in the spirit of the Church is for- 

 bidden, in order that, on the one hand, the popula- 

 tion may not be confirmed in the principles of re- 

 ligion, and that, on the other, the hope may vanish 

 ot able and faithful servants of the altar being 

 trained up. In order to undermine the glory of 

 God, the property dedicated to God is robbed ; 

 even the chief helmsman of the Church is kept in 

 bondage in order that, though utterly despoiled, he 

 may not govern the Church with freedom according 

 to his powers. All this ? reverend brother, makes 

 your heart bleed, but it likewise rends our own ; for, 

 though we are grieved at the heavy portion of woe 

 meted out specially to you so heavy that by the 

 weight of our persecutions your health has been en- 

 dangered we see on the other hand, and beyond this, 

 the evil spreading over the whole of Europe to its 

 full length and breadth, and, moreover, over other 

 continents likewise. 



Nevertheless, the very magnitude of the evil and 

 the uncommon breadth of the diffusion give tfce 

 sure hope that deliverance is close at hand ; for if 

 God at a former time, when He desired to save the 

 world, permitted so many devilish perversities that 

 even His own Son was not spared, we have cause to 

 infer that the same God is now, by the unbridled ef- 

 forts of hell, preparing the generally eventual re- 

 generation, and for a triumph of the Church, at this 

 moment deprived of all human assistance, and that 

 by the visible manifestation of His power He will 

 compel even the proudest hearts into obedience. 

 Furthermore, reverend brother, you make the tokens 

 of your love the dearer to us the more you are 

 ufflicted with troubles, and magnanimously sacrifice 

 i \ ry thine, even life itself, to the execution of your 

 office ; and the more resolutely and stanch you fi>rlit 

 for the Church the more does our desire gain in ID- 



