BIOGIUPIIICAL SKETCH. XXXI H 



movement -which took on i^roat airs of liberaUty and cJKirity had 

 bci,^un to be popular in Paris, under the title of La Morale Indé- 

 pendante, or " Independent Moralit3\" The aim of it was to rom- 

 l)ine men in a sort of New Church, in Avhich there sliould be 

 neither Christ nor God, but only an absolute morality independent 

 of all relations to truth and divine authority. Infidelity never 

 l)Uts on a fairer disi,'uise than when, in rejecting; Christ and God, 

 it atTeets the virtues of Christianity. It was, therefore, a most 

 timely service to Christianity when Father Hyacinthe stepped 

 into the pulpit of Xotre Dame, to be the champion of reli^^ion as 

 the true foundation of morality. 



Ilavinir proceeded from the doctrine of the personal God to tlic 

 duty of man as an individual, the next step was to the relations 

 of doctrine and duty, — in a word, of religion — to man in organ- 

 ized society. Following this course, the intrepid preacher boldly 

 laid out before himself a course which must inevitably, if faith- 

 full}^ followed, bring him into collision with the sins of the pub- 

 lic, of the government, and of the hierarchy; for he announced 

 as the subjects of the next three j^ears, the Relations of Christian- 

 ity to Domestic Societ}^ or the Family ; to Civil Society, or the 

 Nation ; and to Religious Society, or the Church. These three 

 courses of Conferences M^re commenced in December of the j-ears 

 18G0, 1867, and 18G8 ; and at the close of the last course, in Janu- 

 ary, 18G9, Father Hyacinthe descended the pulpit of the cathe- 

 dral of Notre Dame, perhaps never to reenter it. 



No abatement of the public interest, and no failure of the signs 

 of a profound and salutary impression upon the vast audiences, 

 suggested that the Conferences should cease, or be transferred to 

 other hands. On the contrary, with each succeeding year, the 

 impression of the preacher's words seemed deepening, and the re- 

 nown of them widening. Neither was there dissatisfaction on the 

 part of the eminent prelate who had opened to him the Cathedral 

 pulpit. But another set of motives were at work, bringing to bear 

 another set of influences, to embarrass and hinder the preacher in 

 his duty. Year by year tlie language of the friar had been grow- 

 ing in boldness, and n.s in the order of his subjects he was drawn 



