760 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



who seek to possess by inheritance the sanctuary of 

 God." 



This phrase has been explained by another invin- 

 cible defender of the same liberty, St. Anselm, in the 

 following terms : " God loves nothing in the world 

 BO much as the liberty of the Church. Let those 

 who care less to serve the Church than to dominate 

 her consider themselves the enemies of God. God 

 wishes His spouse, the Church, to be free, and not a 

 slave." 



Therefore we call upon you and seek to inflame 

 your pastoral vigilance and the zeal which animates 

 you for the welfare of the house of God, so that you 

 may do your best to remove the danger which is ap- 

 proaching. Take great courage to sustain the fight 

 worthily, for it is a combat which is in every sense 

 worthy of your virtue. We feel certain that you 

 will display neither less courage nor strength than 

 our other honorable brethren who elsewhere, amid 

 the most bitter trials, having become in the midst 

 of contempt and persecution a spectacle, endure 

 with joy, for the liberty of the Church, not only the 

 loss of their goods, but even in chains sustain the 

 combat of grief. But our hopes are not all placed 

 on your own strength, but on God. This matter 

 concerns Him, who by His infallible Word advises 

 and teaches us, " In the world you will be perse- 

 cuted, but have confidence ; I have conquered the 

 world." 



We, therefore, who by virtue of our Apostolic 

 charge, in which the grace of God strengthens our 

 weakness, have been placed at the head as guide in 

 this cruel warfare against the Church, we repeat and 

 praise the words ot the Saint of Canterbury, who 

 thus expresses himself in words which admirably 

 suit our times : " The war which the enemies of God 

 wage against us is a war between themselves and the 

 Almighty." Therefore, we only desire of them 

 what the Eternal God when He made Himself flesh 

 left to the Church as His eternal legacy. 



Uplift your hearts, therefore, -with us in faith and 

 in love of Christ, for the protection of the Church, 

 and come to the help of your fellow-men, with the 

 authority and the wisdom which you share, for no 

 good will befall them as long as the Church is de- 

 prived of liberty. We have confidence in you all 

 the more because the cause of God is at stake. In 

 that which concerns us it is certain that we should 

 prefer, much rather, to suffer temporal ills than as- 

 sume the trials of a disgraceful servitude. For the 

 issue of this struggle has for posterity this signifi- 

 cance that the Church will be eternally afflicted. 

 May God preserve us from this, or else that she en- 

 joy an eternal liberty ! But as you will have to di- 

 rect your efforts to prevent the dangers which menace 

 the Church, by your authority and by your wisdom, 

 you will readily acknowledge that nothing would be 

 more opportune or useful than that you should ex- 

 amine in common council the proper means whereby 

 to attain this object. While they are attacking the 

 Church, it is your duty to protect the faithful ; but 

 the wall of defense will be all the more sure, and 

 the defense itself all the stronger, the more unani- 

 mous and united your efforts are, and the more care- 

 fully and zealously studied and arranged the means 

 you employ to master the situation. We exhort you 

 to unite yourselves as muoh as possible, and to fix, 

 after common deliberation, a sure and approved line 

 of conduct, which will permit you, conformably with 

 the duties your position imposes on you, to com- 

 bat in common accord the evils which menace the 

 Church, and to protect her with all your energy. 

 Our exhortation is necessary in order that we may 

 not appear to have neglected our duty in such an 

 important matter, but we are convinced that even 

 without the exhortation you would have done your 

 duty. Further, we have not abandoned the hope 

 that God will withdraw these 'existing evils, and 

 what encourages us thus to hope is the devotion 

 and faith of our well-beloved son in Christ, the 



Emperor and King, Francis Joseph, whom we have 

 pressingly adjured, in a letter addressed to him this 

 day, never to allow that in his vast empire the 

 Church be subjected to an ignominious servitude and 

 his Catholic subjects to great afflictions. 



But as the number of assailants of the Church is 

 great, as each assault is eminently dangerous, you 

 can at least persevere without fear. May He deign 

 to guide your decisions and sustain you by His 

 strength and all-powerful protection, so that you 

 may decide happily and realize all that may help the 

 glory of His name and the welfare of souls I As a 

 sign of this divine protection and of our particular 

 love we impart to each of you, dear sons and vener- 

 able brothers, as also to the clergy and the faithful 

 under your charge, our Apostolic benediction. 



Given at Eome, near St. Peter's, March 7, 1874, 

 and in the twenty-eighth year of our pontificate. 



PIUS P. P. IX. 



A general meeting of Catholics opposed to 

 the proposed bills was held at Vienna, March 

 19th-24th ; and the Austrian episcopate pre- 

 sented to the Upper House of the Eeichsrath a 

 dignified memorandum embodying their objec- 

 tions. The Pope, to avert the threatened aboli- 

 tion of the Concordat, also, April 29th, ad- 

 dressed a letter to the Austrian cardinals. The 

 strong opposition evinced prevented the full 

 execution of the project. 



In Switzerland, however, the position of the 

 Catholic clergy and people was extremely hard. 

 The Government had broken off all intercourse 

 with Rome, deposed bishops, made the clergy 

 'elective, and had thus thrown many of the 

 churches into the hands of a few of those who 

 recognized the Old Catholic movement. The 

 seizure of Notre-Dame de Vorbourg and of 

 Mariastein was severely felt. The Catholic 

 congregations, where their pastors had not been 

 driven out, worshiped in any temporary shelter 

 they could find, but their priests were not rec- 

 ognized and their marriages considered null 

 and void. They were constantly punished for 

 officiating or attending the sick. Before the 

 close of the year scarcely a priest was left in 

 the cantons of Geneva and Berne. The new 

 constitution gave the General Government 

 complete authority in all religious matters, " so 

 that," says the London Spectator, "the Con- 

 federation can, in fact, prohibit the Roman 

 Catholic religion, if it pleases." 



The Russian Government had placed an ad- 

 ministrator of the United Greek rite over the 

 Ruthenian Catholics in the district of Chelm. 

 Early in the year the Russian rite was forced 

 into the churches, and the resistance of the 

 peasantry drew upon them the vengeance of the 

 troops. Forty were shot down at Daelow. 

 Their priests are in exile or in prison ; the ad- 

 ministrator and deans appointed by Govern- 

 ment belong to the Russian Church, so that 

 they are left without any clergy, but prefer 

 death to a change of faith. The Pope, June 

 27th, issued an Encyclical, disproving of the 

 alterations in the liturgy sought to be forced 

 upon the Ruthenians. 



In England a movement was made, supported 

 by the episcopate, for establishing a university 

 or college for higher studies, the object of which 



