The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-01 00:00:00

PASTORAL FROM DR CULLEN.

A pastoral letter from the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Dublin was on Tuesday read in all
the chapels of the diocese. In this document Dr.
Cullen inveighs with his accustomed energy against
the national system of education, mixed marriages,
and the present state of things in Italy. The pas-
toral is as' follows :
" Very Rev. Brethren,—Allow me to request of you to
exhort your faithful flocks ttt celebrate the approaching
festival of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin
Mary with great fervour and devotion. On that festival
we commemorate her exemption from the stain of original
guilt. Being destined to become the mother of the eternal'
son of God, who, in His justice, hateth sin and iniquity,
and to give birth to the Redeemer, who was to vanquish
all the powers of darkness, it was meet that among the
children of Eve she should be free from the contagion of
every•sin, and be preserved from the pestiferous breath of
the ancient serpent, whose •head she was to crush, and that,
like the rose which rises soft, beautiful, and fragrant from
the rough, and thorny stock, she should come forth pure
and immaculate from the corrupt and fallen lace of Adam.
Bright as the sun, beautiful as the moon, terrible as the
array of battle, from the first dawn of her existence as she
was the cause of joy and hope to fallen man, and the
pledge of the blessings of • redemption, which, through her
Divine Son, she was to spread widely through the whole
world. Explain, rev, brethren, during the novena, the
great privileges of the Holy Virgin to the faithful, and
show them how the infinite sanctity of God required that
when He wished to become man for our salvation, He should
assume our nature from the purest and most perfect of all
human creatures. Point out to them also the virtues of the
Virgin, her humility, her obedience, her patience, and resig-
nation, her unspotted purity, her faith, and her charity :
exhort them to meditate on those virtues and to meritherpro •
t action by endeavouring to copy them in their lives. Ohovith
what affection will our holy mother stretch out her hand to
assist us in our trials and difficulties ; how powerfully will
she intercede in our behalf if we walk in her footsteps, and
study to be the faithful followers and disciples of her Divine
Son, Jesus Christ I There is nothing that more frequently
prevents Christians from fulfilling their religious duties
than a bad education. Hence I beg of you to propose to pa-
rents the example of the Virgin, and to exhort them to
teach their children to devote themselves from the first
dawn of reason to the service of their Creator, and to walk
in the fear and love of God. Your zeal is the more neces-
sary, inasmuch as great attempts aro now made to mis-
lead the faithful on so important a subject. You are aware
that some modern philosophers have propounded the absurd
theory, that no mention of religion should be made to chil-
dren until th.ey should have reached their 13th or 20th year,
thus leaving them to forget their Creatol• in the days of
their youth. There is another theory somewhat different,
% iz., that persons ofall religions, Arians, denying the divinity
of Christ; Baptists, rejecting the purifying laver of water and
the Holy Ghost; Calvinists, who hold that God has created
a great portion of mankind for the purpose of condemning
them ; Rationalists, who deny mysteries and miracles ; and
Catholics, who condemn all those heresies and errors—
should be mixed together in the same schools under masters
of every religion, and that in order to prevent such discor-
dhnt elements from coming in collision, all mention of the
peculiar tenets of any denomination should be banished
from the schools. In school hours the master is nottospeak
of religion; the books are to inculcate no special religious
doctrines; no images of saints, no crucifixes, no prayers are
to be allowed in the time of common instruction, and a
teacher, by mentioning the name of the Holy Mother of
God, or making the sign of the cross, or speaking of the
holy Catholic Church, or its supreme head, the Pope, would
expose himself to the severest punishment. This is what is
called the mixed system of education, and it is so much in
favour at present that British statesmen, though it would
not be tolerated in England, are anxious to force it on us,
and to establish it for every class of society in Ireland.
Will any ono pretend that such a system is calculated to
raise the religious feeling of the people, or to make them
more attached to that faith which is the only precious inhe-
ritance left to them by their forefatheis ? Will the mixed
system tend to strengthen Catholicity among us ? Will it