The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-12 00:00:00

THE POPE'S ENCYCLICA.

The following is a very able epitome of the
Encyclica of His Holiness, as summarised by the
Morning Post's Roman correspondent :
Induced by the present religious and political
condition of the peninsula, his Holiness has
addressed an encyclica to the cardinals, archbishops,
and bishops of Italy, which has just been published
under the date of the 10th ult.
In the first paragraph the Pontiff laments the
sacrilegious war waged against the Catholic Church
in almost the whole world,but especially in wretched
Italy, by the Subalpine Government. The firmness
and constancy of the prelates under such a trial
affords his Holiness matter for the warmest con•
gratulation. Irreligious, heinous, and obscene
publications are next complained of, with theatres,
houses of prostitution, abominable vices and crimes,
incredulity, indifferentism, and contempt of eccle-
siastical authorities, depredation of the property
of the Church, and persecution of her ministers, and
many other wickednesses committed by the enemies
of Catholicism.
The final triumph of the Church is next predi-
cated ; and the example of bishops, priests, and
laymen, who have laid down their lives and suffered
tortures for Christ's sake, in Tonquin and Cochin
China, is earnestly held up for imitation.
His Holiness goes on to condemn the grievous
error fallen into by some Catholics that salvation
may be obtained out of the pale of the Catholic
faith and unity. Invincible ignorance, combined
with a moral life, is allowed as deserving Divine
clemency ; but the Catholic dogma is repeated
clearly that no one out of the Catholic Church can
be saved, and many passages of Holy Writ are
quoted in support.
After recommending the use of Christian charity
towards all such erring brethren, the Pontiff pro-
ceeds to reprove the insatiable love of riches and
power which at present leads men into all sorts of
crimes, inquiring very justly, " What profits it 'a
man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
soul ?"

Members of the regular and secular clergy are
next reproved for forgetting their holy vocation SO
far as to excite the people against the temporal
sovereignty of the Holy See, and to form the
societies vulgarly called Cierico-liberali Di Mutuo
Soccorso, Emancipatrici del clero Italiano, and
others animated by an equa:ly depraved spirit.
Impious publications of all sorts, and the open en-
couragement of non-Catholic worship, with public
instruction by non-Catholic masters, form a source
of deep regret with his Holiness, who goes on to
urge the clergy to combat these rising evils by their
personal integrity, moral habits, sound doctrine,
and industrious teaching, and winds up by a tri-
bute of praise to the greater part of the Italian
clergy who have proved faithful to their duties, to
the virgins consecrated to God, who, expelled from
their convents, have continued to offer up prayers
and wait for the mercy of the Lord, and to the
people of Italy, who, animated by Catholic senti-
ments, detest impious attacks on the Church, and
endeavour, to relieve the difficulties of the Pontiff
and the Holy See bysubscriptions of money or other
oblations.
His Holiness concludes with reminding his vene-
rable brethren and beloved children that the gates
of hell shall not prevail against the Church, and
requesting their urgent prayers for the assistance
Of the Almighty, that she may :Pass through the
pre,eent tremendous tempest, tritiblA over her ene-
mies, and enjoy peace and liberty on the earth.
Time flies rapidly, for this encylical letter of Pio
Nono is dated in the 18th year of his Pontificate.
It is to be hoped that the numerous evils which
afflict the paternal heart of his Holiness will be
alleviated by the devout procession which is to
take place to-morrow of the image or rather picture
of the Saviour, known as the Achcropita, which is
painted on a panel of cedar or palm wood, six feet
high by two feet and a half, and represents the
Saviour standing with a long beard. Pope Inno-
cent 111, covered it with silver, save the face and
feet, and a scar under the left eye is attributed to
an outrage of the Iconoclasts. It is traditionally
assigned in the outline to St. Luke and in the

colouring to angels, whence its name of Acheropita
(not made by hand), which is traced back to the
ninth century. The arrival of this picture in Rome
is variously attributed to St. Peter, to the Emperor
Titus, and to St. Germanus, patriarch of Constan-
tinople under the Iconoclast Emperor, Leo Isauricus.
This prelate, flying with the sacred images of the
Virgin and the Saviour, encountered in a storm in
the Archipelago, and entrusted the Acheropita pic-
ture to the mercy of the waves with a letter directed
to Pope Gregory /I. The Pope, informed of the fact
by a vision, proceeded at the head of the Roman
clergy to the port of Ostia to receive the picture and
transport it solemnly to the capital.
It appears to be proved that the picture existed
in Rome in the eighth century, and it was carried
about in times of public calamity, whence Pope
Honorius HI. called it the Athlete, or defender of
the public. The first public record of these prc-

cessions is under Pope Stephen M. (752), when
Astolphus, King of the Lombards, threatened to
exterminit3 Rome and the Church. Pope Leo IV.
had recourse to a similar procession in 847, to deliver
Rome from a terrible serpent which had taken re

'uge in a cavern under Santa Lucia, in Orphea

and by its pestiferous breath killed all who passed
by that way. The serpent
.disappeared after the
procession of the Acheropita.
Numerous miracles succeeded in after ages, and
a special adoration was paid by the Romans to this
image, which appeared in public on every occasion
of public danger or calamity, until Pius VI., on
the 10th of January, 1798, invoked its aid against
the French Republicans, who, notwithstanding,
entered Rome under General Berthier on the 10th
February following. The last procession of the
Acheropita was in 1831, when Pope Gregory XVI.
feared that the revolutionists of Romagna (Napo-
leon 111, included) would have succeeded in upset-

ting the Papal throne.
To-morrow I hope to witness this renewal of a
most ancient custom, and to give you an account of
the impression it makes on modern Romans.

A Few Bold Words on the Great Social
Evil•

(From the Law Times of to-day.)
The evils that flow from this state of things are quite
certain. Disease transmitted from parent to offspring, and
tainting the healths of the present and the constitutions of
future generations, is the foremost mischief. Next to this
comes the degradation of our streets by the flaunting harlots
who have taken possession of them; vice forced upon the
notice of virtue ; our wives and daughters expelled from all
public places of amusement by the immodesty that throngs
them ; temptation meeting our boys at every step, and
turning them to premature debauchery; England pointed
at by all foreigners as a hypocrite, who preaches against
vice and professes extraordinary virtue, and yet leaves her
streets to be what they are.
These are the facts. We have already dealt
ineaglrtobwylag
out
wwiothf
adultery, seduction, and bastardy, off
the same passion. We have partially subjected prostitution
to police regulations, and so far we have recognised its
existence. Is not the time come to deal with all of it
that yet remain& untouched ?
But what to do? Plainly it cannot be prevented. But
may it not be regulated ?
May we not learn from experience? What has been
chile by other countries? Certainly we do not see in them
the scones that nightly disgrace our own towns and cities.
They have succeeded in restraining and regulating vice
they cannot prevent, and in reducing it to the most harm-
less condition possible.

This they have done by placing prostitution under police
regulaii9n, compelling it to observe strict rules, and requir-
ing medical inspection and hospital cure. To this they add
a license, But reasonable objections may be raised to so
far assimilating harlotry to honest trading, and therefore
we would suggest, in lieu of license, a medical certificate of
health, to be granted periodically, say once a week at the
least.

It is the opinion of medical men that, if some such plan
were to be persistently acted upon, the disease that is now
desolating so many farailies and sapping the vitality of the
nation, might be nearly if not quite extirpated, and in the
army alone this would be equivalent to the saving of seve-
ral regiments every year.
Perhaps some of our readers could suggest the outline of
a bill for embodying these suggestions in a practical shape,
to be submitted to Parliament nest session.

THE MEXICAN THBONE.-I.Gis stated by the
Paris correspondent of a morning contemporary that the
Archduke Viaihnilint has positively accepted tho Throne
lolemiool