ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



735 



watchfulness over the faithful committed to you, you 

 will attach them more and more closely to this Chair 

 of Truth and Justice, that they mny receive all its 

 doctrines with an inward consent of intellect and of 

 will, and that opinions opposed to the decrees of the 

 Church they utterly reject, no matter how wide- 

 spread these opinions may have been. 



In this matter our predecessors, and especially 

 Pius IX., of holy memory, in the (Ecumenical Coun- 

 cil of the Vatican, having in view the words of St. 

 Paul (Coloss. ii. 8), " Let no one deceive you by phi- 

 losophy and vain nonsense, after traditions of man, 

 after the elements of this world, and not after 

 Christ," have not omitted, occasion offering, to re- 

 prove and strike with Apostolic censure growing 

 errors. 



Following their example, we confirm and renew 

 all those condemnations from our Apostolic See of 

 truth, and at the same time we fervently pray to 

 the Father of Lights to grant that all the faithful, 

 fully united in the same feelings and sentiment, may 

 think and speak in accord with us. It is your duty, 

 Venerable Brethren, to devote your assiduous cares 

 to scatter afar in the field of the Lord the seed of 

 your heavenly doctrines, and to cause the principles 

 of the Catholic faith to penetrate early in the souls 

 of the faithful, so that they may push their roots 

 deeper and be preserved in that shelter from the 

 contagion of errors. The greater the efforts of the 

 enemies of religion to present to inexperienced per- 

 sons, and especially to youth, teachings which may 

 obscure their minds and corrupt their hearts, the 

 more must you labor zealously for the success, not 

 alone of a good and solid method of education, but 

 especially to make the teaching itself conformable 

 in science and discipline to the Catholic faith, par- 

 ticularly in philosophy, on which depends in a great 

 manner the just direction of other sciences, and 

 which, far from tending to destroy Divine Revela- 

 tion, is likely rather to smooth the way for it and to 

 defend it against its enemies, as has been taught us 

 in the example and writings of the great Augustine, 

 of the Angelic Doctor, and other masters ot Chris- 

 tian science. 



It is, however, necessary that education of youth, 

 in order to insure the veritable faith and religion, 

 and be a real safeguard to morals, should commence 

 with the earliest years and in the very interior of the 

 family. Now, that family, so deplorably disturbed 

 in our time, can be reestablished in its dignity by no 

 other means than by the laws according to which the 

 Divine Maker himself established it in the Church. 



Jesus Christ, in elevating into the dignity of a 

 sacrament the ceremony of marriage, which he 

 deigned to use as a symbol of His union with the 

 Church, has not only rendered more holy the con- 

 jugal union, but has prepared for the parents, as 

 well as for the children, the most efficacious aids by 

 which they may more readily arrive in accomplish- 

 ing their mutual duties at the possession of tempo- 

 ral and eternal felicity. But when impious laws, 

 having no regard to the respect due to this great 

 sacrament, have placed it in the same category as 

 purely civil contracts, the result is the deplorable 

 consequence that, the dignity of Christian marriage 

 being violated, the citizens have substituted legal 

 concubinage for the legitimate union, the married 

 couple have neglected their mutual duties of fidelity, 

 the children have not observed the respect and obe- 

 dience which they owed to their parents, the ties of 

 domestic affection have been relaxed, and, what is a 

 most detestable example, the gravest prejudice to 

 public morals, pernicious and regrettable separations 

 have very often succeeded to an insensate love. It 

 is impossible, Venerable Brethren, that the sight of 

 these lamentable calamities should not awaken our 

 zeal, and should not incite you to recommend seri- 

 ously and constantly to the faithful confided to your 

 vigilance, to lend a docile ear to the doctrines which 

 treat of the sanctity of Christian marriage, and to 



obey the laws by which tho Church regulates the du- 

 ties of parents and children. 



It is thus you will bring about the desirable reform 

 in the morals and manner of living of each uiuri in 

 particular; for, as an unsound tree produces rotten 

 branches and miserable fruit, the sad blot which de- 

 praves families is contagious, and becomes a cause 

 of vice and sin in each individual. On the contrary, 

 if the family is governed by the rules of Christian 

 life, each member of it will gradually become accus- 

 tomed to cherish religion and piety, to reject with 

 horror false and pernicious doctrines, to practice 

 virtue, to render obedience to the authorities, and to 

 repress the insatiable egotism which so much low- 

 ers and enfeebles human nature. With this object 

 it would certainly be very useful to direct and en- 

 courage those associations which have principally 

 been established of late years to the great advantage 

 of Catholic interests. Those matters which are em- 

 braced in our hopes and wishes are immense, Ven- 

 erable Brethren, and above human strength ; but 

 as God has founded His Church for the salvation of 

 the people, promising to aid them even unto the con- 

 summation of the world, we are firm in the confi- 

 dence that the human race, stricken by so marly 

 woes and calamities, will end, thanks to your efforts, 

 by seeking safety and prosperity in submission to 

 the Church and in the infallible ministry of this 

 Apostolic Chair. 



And now, Venerable Brethren, before closing this 

 letter, we feel the necessity of communicating to you 

 our joy at seeing the admirable union and concord 

 which reign among you and unite you so thoroughly 

 to this_ Apostolic See ; and we are really persuaded 

 that this perfect unity is not alone an impregnable 

 bulwark against the assaults of our enemies, but also 

 a happy presage of better times for the Church. It 

 gives us a great encouragement in our weakness, and 

 raises our spirits in a wonderful degree, by assisting 

 us to sustain with ardor the difficult mission which 

 we have received, and all the fatigues and labors on 

 behalf of the Church of God. Neither can we sep- 

 arate from these reasons for joy and hope that we 

 have manifested to you the declarations of love and 

 obedience which in the commencement of our Pon- 

 tificate you, Venerable Brethren, have offered to our 

 humble person, as well as so many priests and faith- 

 ful, proving this by the letters sent to us, by the 

 offerings made, the pilgrimages accomplished, and 

 so many other marks of piety that that devotion and 

 charity which you had never ceased to witness to- 

 ward my worthy predecessor still remain constant, 

 stable, and firm, and have not been weakened by 

 the coming of a successor who so little merits this 

 heritage. At the sight of such splendid testimonies 

 of the Catholic faith, we must humbly confess that 

 the Lord is good and merciful ; and to you, Vener- 

 able Brethren, and all the dearly beloved children 

 from whom we have received them, we express the 

 deep feelings of gratitude which flood our heart, full 

 of the confidence that in the distress and difficulties 

 of the present time your zeal and affection, as well 

 as those of the faithful, will never be wanting to us. 

 We have no doubt that these remarkable examples 

 of filial piety and Christian piety will powerfullv 

 touch the heart of the all-merciful God, and will 

 cause Him to cast a merciful eye on His flock, and 

 grant peace and victory to the Church. But as we 

 are convinced that that peace and victory will be 

 more readily and easily accorded to us if the faithful 

 constantly address their prayers to God to ask Him 

 for it, we exhort you ardently, Venerable Brethren, 

 to excite the zeal and fervor of the faithful by request- 

 ing them to seek the mediation at the Throne of God 

 of the Immaculate Queen of Heaven, and as inter- 

 cessors, St. Joseph, the celestial patron of the 

 Church; the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to whose 

 powerful patronage we recommend our humble per- 

 son, all the orders of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and 

 the whole flock of the Lord. In addition, we desire 



