The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-12 00:00:00

dioecss of Westminster :

" Nicholas, by the Divine mercy, of the Holy Roman
Church, of the title of St. Pudentia, Cardinal, Priest, and
Archbishop of Westminster, to our dearly beloved brethren
and children in Christ, the clergy, secular and regular, and
the faithful of the dioces., health and benediction in the

Lord.
" We regret, dearly beloved in Christ, that indisposition
prevents us addressing you as fully as we could have wished
at the approach of the Lenten season; a few lines dictated
from our couch must take the place of our wonted pqstoral
letter. Since Christmas-day it has pleased Divine Provi-
dence to afflict us with a partial relapse into that same
malady which last year deprived us of the annual consola-
tion of opetting our heart to you, and suggesting more par-
ticular objects for your prayers during this period of special

humiliation and supplication.
" For we can safely and unanimously commit to the un-
tiring zeal and to the instructions of our devoted clergy the
task of nerving yon to the discharge of your penitential
duties and supporting you through the holy exercises which
usually accompany them. It has, indeed, on this account
been hitherto our practice in our Lenten address to suggest
to you rather some special and great topic of meditation or
prayer in which it was our desire that the members of every
congregation and the clergy of every mission should unite in
a common, warm, and persevering entreaty at the Throne of
Grace. It would be difficult this year not to invite you,

dearly beloved in Christ, to join the Univel sal Church in
prayer for great and general purposes connected with her
welfare and that of her august and beloved Head.
• "We could not easily give expression to our sentiments
on many of these subjects without introducing, contrary to
our established custom, reflections on events and circum-
stances of a secular or political character, which have greatly
afflicted the position of the Church and her Supremo Pontiff.
We will therefore content ourselves with recommending to
you, as an object for your most fervent and affectionate
prayers during this holy season, the distressed condition of
the Church in many countries. Remember often before
God the spoliation of His sanctuaries, the banishment of
His pious prelates ; the imprisonment of His zealous priests,
the cruel 'dispersion from the houses in which they had
vowed to live for ever as His spouses, and which they had
endowed with their little patrimony of innocent and virtuous
religious, without compensation and without shelter; the
encouragement given to the diffusion of error, immorality,
and scurrilous attacks on sacred things ; the confiscation of
the patrimony of the poor and of the Church; the total
depression and affliction of the virtuous, and the triumph
and boastfulness of the wicked.
" Remember more especially, when in the presence of our
dear Lord exposed to your adoration, the afflictions of His
vicar upon earth, the calamities which have overwhelmed
the temporal State, the deep sorrow which has struck and
penetrated his paternal heart at the sight and knowledge
of the wars which threaten the spiritual kingdom confided
to his charge, and then, with all the earnestness of filial
devotion, pour out your hearts unto the sacred and adorable
heart of your Divine Redeemer, and entreat Him to console,
to strengthen, and, if it so please Him, to gladden the soul
of your afflicted father, and by the exercise of His Almighty
power to rescue him and his own dear spouse from sur-
rounding and impending calamities. But limit not your-
selves to prayers, however earnest, but show your loyalty
and affection no less by works. Lent is a season of alms-
deeds as well as of fasting, and remember that, however
painful it may be to employ this term in connection with
such an object, it will be one of the noblest and most sacred
applications of what we can most justly call charity (for
charity is love) to bestow freely and lovingly in alleviating
the temporal necessities of your spiritual father what at
another time you might have applied to other pious uses.
The institution of St. Peter's pence has, as you know, re-
ceived our warmest approbation and encouragement, and
we are anxious that the world should see how zealously our
desires have been seconded by your wonted charity and
generosity.. We hope that our Holy Father will derive
some little consolation amidst the sufferings and calumnies
of his enemies in this country from seeing how we have
endeavoured, to the best of our power, to lighten his tempo-
ral burdens, as well as to sympathise with his inward suf-
ferings.
" The publication of this, our pastoral, is almost coinci
dent with the opening of the Parliamentary session. We
have already expressed to you our strong desire to have the
condition of Catholics in workhouses and other similar in-
setutions brought under the notice of the Legislature, in
the hope of obtaihigg a getter measure of judo() iii, their