ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



699 



Electors on the 4th of November was as fol- 

 lows: Republican, 19,030; Democratic, 12,- 

 891 ; Greenback, 422 ; Prohibition, 928. Two 

 Republican Congressmen were elected. On 

 September 2 United States Senator Henry B. 

 Anthony died, and on tho 19th of November 

 the Governor appointed William P. Sheffield, 

 Republican, of Newport, to fill the vacancy. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The year 1884 

 opened with an event that agitated the Roman 

 Catholic Church throughout the world. On 

 January 29 the Supreme Court of Cassation 

 created by the Italian Government decided that 

 a law regarding the property of religious orders 

 and congregations applied to the various de- 

 partments of the Pontifical Government, com- 

 monly called congregations, although they had 

 nothing of a monastic character, nor the slight- 

 est resemblance to a religious order. Under 

 this decision, the extensive properties in which 

 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide had in- 

 vested moneys given to it by individuals for 

 the support of Catholic missions in all parts of 

 the world were ordered to be sold, the pro- 

 ceeds, after large deductions, to be assumed as 

 a debt of the Italian Government to the Con- 

 gregation de Propaganda, on which the Gov- 

 ernment was to pay such interest as it saw fit. 

 On this Pope Leo XIII, through Cardinal Simeo- 

 ni, issued a note, addressed to the Papal repre- 

 sentatives at the various courts, in which he 

 said: 



Propaganda is a most important creation of the Pa- 

 pacy t intended to be always at the disposal of that 

 creating power for the accomplishment of the Divine 

 Mission, intrusted to the Holy See, of propagating 

 faith and civilization among all nations. And as re- 

 gards the manner in which Propaganda has answered 

 this purpose, the annals of missions are ready with 

 their witness. 



Itia such an institution as thiSj an institution bear- 

 ing in its origin, in its Constitution, in its actions, in 

 its patrimony, and in its history, a character so essen- 

 tially cosmopolitan and universal, that is now to be 

 subjected to the private and particular laws of an iso- 

 lated government, to the judgment of a local tribunal 

 a tribunal which immediately after declaring it in- 

 capable of possessing legally, proceeds to despoil it of 

 its property. It was not enough to have forced Propa- 

 ganda to linger during long years, passing from tri- 

 bunal to tribunal, and bearing the heavy expenses of 

 a difficult lawsuit. It was not enough to force it to 

 the payment of enormous taxes, which absorbed the 

 fifth part of its yearly revenues, thus snatched from 

 their destination of beneficence. No regard was paid 

 to the good offices of persons worthy of consideration 

 all efforts to make the legal position more tolerable 

 went for nothing. No attention whatever was paid to 

 the irrefutable arguments which had won from pre- 

 vious tribunals a favorable decision, and one approved 

 besides by all upright minds. The very will of the 

 august dead was slighted over the tomb. It might al- 

 most be said that some power had decreed the spolia- 

 tion of Propaganda precisely because it is the most 

 splendid expression and representative of the Papacy, 

 and that before the decree of this strange power all 

 reasons of rurht and arguments of justice were vain. 



By rendering Propaganda incapable of holding its 

 own possessions, the state reduces it to a position be- 

 low that of any class of citizens. 



What would be the situation of Propaganda if the 

 rente were to suffer a reduction or if the payment were 

 entirely suspended, as has happened in other coun- 



tries ? Who shall insure that it will be paid whole 

 and punctually in circumstances of financial crisis, or 

 of war, or on other unfortunate events I Is it forgot- 

 ten that already, merely by way of " reprisal," the 

 payment of ecclesiastical pensions attached to the se- 

 questrated religious property has been suspended by 

 the Piedmontese Government ? The ever-increasing 

 development of Catholicism among the heathen, and 

 the increasing facility of communications, demand the 

 foundation ot new centers of missions, and, in conse- 

 quence, the creation of seminaries, colleges, universi- 

 ties, apostolic vicariates, and prefectures. Finally, 

 it is right to observe that Propaganda is not merely 

 the principal center of the government of missions, but 

 also that of an immense educational and scientific in- 

 stitution of the highest order, composing a college of 

 more than a hundred pupils with innumerable chairs 

 of literature, philosophy, theology, and philology ; a 

 library of extreme value, a most precious museum, and 

 a polyglot printing-press. 



Taking these considerations as your guides, your 

 lordship will have the goodness to call the attention 

 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the gravity of this 

 new attack on the rights of the Holy See ; on the ex- 

 ercise of Pontifical power ; on the tree use of means 

 indispensable in the propagation of the faith. Your 

 lordship will take the opportunity to speak of the 

 multiplied outrages and vexations which render the 

 situation of the chief of the Church daily more pain- 

 ful. If reasons of right, and honorable influences, 

 have been powerless to prevent a sentence so injuri- 

 ous and prejudicial to the Papacy, and so impolitic in 

 the opinion of the judicious, it may well be feared that 

 the audacity of the revolution may gain still more, and 

 reduce the Sovereign Pontiff to most difficult straits. 



This was followed by a circular letter of the 

 Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide to 

 the Catholic bishops throughout the world, in 

 which was said : 



The Holy Father, most deeply grieved by this new 

 and ^ overbearing attack on the imprescriptible rights 

 of his apostolate, and foreseeing the deplorable conse- 

 quences which will arise from the conversion of the 

 present patrimony of the Sacred Congregation a patri- 

 mony, moreover, already alienated for tne greater part 

 by the Government " lite pendente " feels it his duty 

 to provide in the best possible manner for the future 

 security of so deserving an institution. With this ob- 

 ject, he has, therefore, deigned to command me to de- 

 clare, as I now do by this present circular, that hence- 

 forth the administrative seat of the Propaganda, for 

 all donations, legacies, and offerings by which the 

 piety of the faithful may wish to meet the constant 

 and considerable expenditure of the institution, is 

 transferred out of Italy. And for the greater general 

 convenience, he has decided to establish in different 

 parts of the world centers of procurations, where the 

 offerings of the faithful may be put out of all danger, 

 and be at the free and independent disposal of the Sa- 

 cred Congregation for the benefit of the missions. 



The action of the Italian Government, 

 through a court in its pay, to sell' property 

 in which all the Catholic churches in mission 

 countries throughout the world were interest- 

 ed, and to deposit the proceeds in the national 

 treasury, excited protests in all countries. As 

 the American College at Rome was directly 

 menaced, Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of 

 New York, at once addressed President Ar- 

 thur to claim the protection of the United 

 States for the college. Secretary Frelinglmy- 

 sen, through Mr. Astor, the American minister 

 at Rome, laid a protest before the Italian Gov- 

 ernment, which in March annulled, so far as 

 the American College was concerned, the judg- 



