The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

ALLOCUTION OF POPE PIUS IX.

The following Address was pronounced in Secret
Consistory on the 17th of December, 1860 :
(Translation.)
Venerable Brothers,—The Church, from its origin
assailed by fierce and continual tempests, is in our
day the sad object of the attacks of enemies so great
and so numerous that their hatred, long since exist -
ing, their rage, swollen to its height, appear to be
let loose all entire against our Pontificate. There
is no need, venerable brothers, to repeat one by
one the sad and cruel events ,A hich have come
to pass within a few years, and the recollection
of which fills with anguish our heart and yours.
We cannot deceive ourselves that, without pre-
judging the impenetrable designs of God, no
bounds have yet been placed to calamities so
great. In fact, -we have to deplore the invasion
of perverse doctrine which, sprung from the
principles of the disastrous Reformation, has
acquired almost the force of public law, on the one
hand by the perversity of impious men, who pro-
claim themselves the sons of the Church, and whom
we must call the sons of darkness, and on the other
hand by the fury of the Pagans, which, in the lands
of the East, has burst forth with such vehemence
as to cause the massacre and extermination of the
faithful.

In truth, it is impossible not to deplore in how
many countries of Europe have penetrated the most
pernicious errors on the power and rights of the
Church. In one they labour incessantly to invali-
date the Concordats concluded .by the Apostolic
See on ecclesiastical matters; in another they de-
vote all pains to prevent for the future the conclu-
sion of Concordats with the view of regulating the
affairs of the Church, or at least that the civil au-
thority should interfere for the conclusion of such
treaties. We have experienced all these recent
contrarieties, venerable brothers, not without seri-
ous regret. During the last year, as you know,
while fulfilling a duty of our Apostolic charge, in
order to improve the condition of the Church in
the Grand Duchy of Baden, we concluded a treaty
with his Serene Highness the Duke of Baden, and
after its ratification we waited, as was just, until it
should be executed.

But, in presence of the opposition given by the
Chamber of this Duchy, an edict was published by
the Grand Duke in virtue of which the Concordat
lost all its force, and a law was substituted for it
which is in the highest degree contrary to the
liberty of the Church. This state of things, as we
know, is the result of the false doctrine of the Pro-
testants, who think that the Church is a sort of
corporation (collegiunt) existing in civil society,
enjoying no right with the exception of those which
are granted to it by the civil power. But who does
not understand how much such a conception differs
from the truth? In reality the Church has been
instituted by its Divine Founder as a true and per-
fect soelety, which is not circumscribed by the
bottadaries of any State, or subject to any civil
power, and which exercises its power freely, and for
the salvation of men, in all quarters of the world.
In truth, those solemn words addressed by Christ
our Lord to his Apostles have no other significa-
tion :—" All power has been given to me in heaven
and on earth; go and teach all nations, instructing
them to observe all that I have ordained to you."
Inflamed with these words, the heralds of the
Gospel, the Apostles, despite of kings and princes
who opposed them, despite of threats and punish-
ments, exercised courageously the ministry which
had been imposed upon them.
We, also, most anxious for the preservation of
the salutary rights of the Church, no sooner learned
that it was attempted to invalidate the Concordat
' in question than we sent letters to the Grand Duke,
exhorting him to remove that scandal ; and we have
given the necessary orders to the Cardinal charged
with foreign affairs to remonstrate with the 'Go-
vernment of Baden, in order that the Concordat
should be put into execution, as of right. But, as
all our endeavours and all our aniiety have come
to no result, we have deplored in your midst,
as is our duty, that that Convention had been
abolished, contrary to all the laws of justice,
and without the consent of the other party,
and we have protested, within the limits
of our power, against the rights of the Catholic
Church and of the Apostolic See being violated—
outrageously annihilated. We have ordered that
these protestations should be transmitted to the
Government of Baden, and we have prescribed to
the Bishop of Fribourg the conduct he ought to
pursue to the midst of these difficulties. We could
not sufficiently recommend to that illustrious chief
and his clergy to protect with constancy the liberty
of the Church, and we have full confidence that
they will not fail even in circumstances the

While a lively grief had setted us on aecouti, of
a most infamous
the state of the Church anew
source of grief, produced by
anc 6, anew placed in peril in the
Paris, has cp. . pamphlet lately published in
publicat;- ~me to add to our sadness. In that
oppp -on there arc so many things so completely
_ ,oed to truth, so many absurdities and contra-
„actions combined by the author, that it is more fit-
ting to throw aside and despise it than to refute it.
What is, however, intolerable is the audacity and
impiety of this writer, who, not having feared to
attack the Civil and Ecclesiastical Principality of the
Roman Church, has endeavoured to contrive a par-
ticular species of Church, to be founded in the
French Empire, and organised so that it should be
removed from the authority of the Sovereign Pon-
tiff and completely separated from it. But what
else is this than to overturn and rend the unity of
the Church ? Behold the words which Christ our
Lord has addressed to His Father on the necessity
of
for those
:0
be
unity
o n
e who, pray not only for them, but also
shall‘ believe in their words, that all
f:---‘ I A
Thou, my Father, Thou art in me

and I in Thee." But the pover and economy of this
unity imperiously demand tat all the faithful dis-
persed over the different pacts of the globe should
be united and joined to the Roman Pontiff, the
Vicar of Christ on earth, as the members to the head.
It is for this reason that ilerome, a Father of the-
Church, has written to Damascus, our predecessor
of holy memory—" I am united to your Holiness by
the communion of the See of Peter ; I know that
the Church is built on this rock; also that
whoever shall eat of the lamb out of this
house is profane." What injustice does the
author of the aforementioned pamphlet not do to
the most illustrious French nation in believing
that that nation, the most attached to Catholic
unity, could let itself be drawn into schismatical
errors ! What boldness must not that writer have
who dares hope to detach from obedience and faith
to the Holy See the clergy of that nation, and,
above all, the illustrious bishops who count among
the number of their predecessors St. Ireneus,
Bishop of Lyons, who has written these words—
" It is necessary that the whole Church, that is to
say, the faithful of all places, should turn towards
the Roman Church as being the principal Church"
—these bishops who, by word and writing, have
not ceased to combat for our rights and those
of the Holy See, and have vindicated them with-
out letting themselves be moved by any fear,
without regard for any peril! Certainly, they
have not neglected any occasion of furnishing
us with proofs of their attachment. We cannot
but give well-merited praise to them and to the
other bishops of the universe for their pastoral zeal,
their vigilance, and their firmness; and, although
we know them to be spontaneously most zealous
for the defence of the Catholic faith, we cannot re-
strain ourselves frem exciting, in these days of
iniquity, a zeal—which is so much the greater as
assaults of the enemy are becoming more impe-
tuous—to oppose to them more firm resistance, and
to exhort the faithful to take care of the tricks
and snares employed by most audacious'men to
tear them from the bosom of the Church.

In this condemnable pamphlet the author and
those who partake of his opinion have dropped the
mask, and unveiled the plan they are pursuing to
overturn the civil authority of the' Holy See; yet
they have no other end but to sap the foundations
of our holy religion. We groan to see these wicked
men going to spread the doctrine through the pro-
vinces unjustly taken from our government, as
well as through the other countries of Italy. Be-
hold the end of these translations of the sacred
books, everywhere scattered to corrupt the/faith—
this host of most shameful books, made to poison
the morals of youth—of this licence without rein,
of this contempt for the Church, trampled
under foot, of this violation of sacred immunities, of
the removal from the authority of the bishops of the
education of youth, and of the inspection of doctrine
and morals. To the same end tend those men, super-
intendents of instruction, who hold opinions hostile
to the Church ; this decree, published in Umbria,
ordering the expulsion of religious congregations
from their convents, the annihilation of collegiate
chapters, the abolition of benefices of every kind,
and the occupation, by a supreme injustice, of the
property of pious associations. It is to attain the
same end that they have cast into prison ecclesiastics
and even bishops, among whom we have lately seen
our venerable brother the Archbishop of Urbine,
who has been conducted to prison in the midst of
soldiers. Another venerable pastor, clothed with
the dignity of cardinal, IFirmin, was taken from his
see, aid prevented from all contact with the flock
confided to his charge. Many bishops of the king-
dom of Naples were either cast into prison or were
obliged to take to flight. It is, also, the same ten-
dencies which make them erect Protestant temples
in many cities of Italy, and erect public schools, in
which they teach doctrines the most pernicious and
hostile to the Catholic religion. Finally, the same
end is assigned to the decree promulgated in Um-
bria, by which the sacrament of marriage, declared
great by the Apostle, is submitted to purely civil
forms, which remove marriage from the ecclesi-
astical authority, and which are combined with the
intention of making a civil institution, and, whish
is most displeasing to God, of transforming it to a
legal concubinage, to the great injury of souls.
Conformably, then, to the dutiee of our apostolic
mission, we reprove and condemn, we declare null
and void everything committed against the rights
of the Church and its patrimony, against the per-
sons of those consecrated to religion and against
their property.
And where, indeed, is the man who will not .de-
plore with us the disorder which has seized upon
both public and private affairs, the terrible agita-
tion which reigns throughout Europe, the revolt
which rages like a fire from Heaven from end to
end of Italy ? Considering these numerous and
deadly wounds inflicted on religion and on the city
itself, we are forced to cry out with the prophet,
" The earth is infested with its own inhabitants,
because they have transgressed the laws •, because
they have falsified the right and torn the eternal
pact." This multitude of evils can only be attri-
buted to those who, styling themselves the promo-
ters of public happiness, have, in order to extend
their power in Italy, laid a sacrilegious hand on all
laws, human and divine; and who have left in
their track but ruin and desolation througl
their impious fury. May they, returning to
sentiments of honour, at length understand
that without religion there is no longer
any protecting refuge for society, that religion is
the sole desirable bond of nations, and it' they
proceed so far as to burst this bond peace and secu-
rity would be ever banished from the World ; may
they be convinced that the Catholic religion is one,
that it is it alone that disseminates virtue, especially
those virtues which make man attached to man, a
good citizen in a tranquil and prosperous kingdom;
in fine, may they remember that the Apostolic See
has never shown itself hostile to the true and solid
happiness of peoples, but, that at all times and
under all circumstances, it has made the happiness
of all the chief aim of its labours. History is open
to all—let it be consulted.
Has it not been the See of Peter which has civi-
lised barbarous nations by . teaching them the
commands of the true religion, allaying strifes
in the world, everywhere introducing civilisa-
tion and refknement ? Was it not the Papacy
which foundeJ those charitable / institutions where
the poor found is daily bread, where the sick re-
covered their health ? Was it not also the papacy
which, aildressing :tself to peoples and to kings,
has promulgated and established, even in the midst
of the greatest political perturbations, the principles
of justice and of honour
Yes, we repeat it, thi See has rendered the
greatest service to humanity, and there are in
existence numerous monuments of its wisdom ; and
history, which has enrolled them, even in our own
days, will not fail in its task for the future.
But our paternal heart has not forgotten the
evils by which the Church in the East is afflicted,
evils which only the palm of the famous martyrs,
whose blood the land of the East has drunk, could
demand. We wish to speak, venerable brothers,
of the kingdom of Corea, of the Chinese empire,
and the countries bordering on the tropics,
where torments and punishments of all kinds
have not been able to shake the confi-
dence of the Christians in the faith of Jesus
Christ. We wish to speak of the kingdom of
Cochin China and Tonquin, where the bloodthirsty
cruelty of the infidels has sworn the annihilation of
the Christian name and renewed the infamous per-
secutions of the first years of our era.
Will it be necessary to point out to you the col-
leges, the convents, the temples, the public and
private buildings razed to the ground or delivered
up to the flames ? Will it be needful to exhibit the
torments which were experienced by the Faithful
of every age, of every sex, of every condition driven
from their homes, despoiled of their wealth, drag-
ging out a wretched .existence from hiding-place to
hiding-place, or groaning in dungeons, exposed
without relaxation to the impious fury of the im-
placable enemies of the Church, Oh ! these chil-
dren of our holy Mother, who suffer with hope and
resignation all punishments for the honour of our
Divine Master, will possess the part of the glory of
the olden martyrs of the faith. The pitiable situa-
tion of the Christians in Syria does not less deeply
touch our soul.
These unfortunate people, who have escaped
with difficulties from the massacres which have
decimated their numbers, are a prey to a continual
fear of seeing full career given once more to the
rapacity and cruelty of the infidels, by the retreat
of the military forces of Europe. In order to aid
as far as possible those great miseries we have
Wished, despite of the state of our treasury, to
trans-eztit to the Christians in Syria a considerable
,t" the sum which the piety and liberality of
portion ,etions have presented us with. And
the Catholic, ike. sion which is here offered us
we profit by the cm,. een homage to the touch-
to render public and sole,.- • our well-beloved
ing example of the charity whit_ they opened
children have recently given, when . "en in
their purse to the allotted poor, their brete- •
Syria, and to rejoice within our soul at provin
once again that that virtue has not declined which
the Divine Redeemer of the world has given as the
principal mark of the Christian religion. We have
just exposed the state of affairs, sacred and pre-
fane, in calling your attention to the subjects of
of and to the causes of joy which it presents
to us.

This state, venerable brethren, inspires us with
well-founded fears it agitates us deeply, and fills
our soul with sadness.

We do not doubt that you who are called to par-
take in our mfb'siol took also your part of the great
affliction which ;18:3 overtaken us. But, let us not
become disheartetod—let us, on the contrary, raise
up each day our 'yes and hearts towards that

celestial mount whence f rue succour must ar-
rive to us. God will be ever with his
Church ; He will cease not to be with
His humble servants. 1 gull of strength from
on high, we will never f 'ail in our apostolic ministry,
and neither shall ther e b e fear capable of making
us despond, nor misfortLi.n ijs sufficient to make us
doubt ourselves and Him' who has sent them to us.
May the innocent blood of the Christians expended
on the Eastern soil mount towards the Lord as the
odour of an expiatory sae rifice, and may He turn
aside the calamities to whi, 3h we are so long a time
a prey and those which st 11 seem at this moment
suspended over our heads May the Lord, through
the intercession of the mos t blessed Mother of God,
ever Immaculate, and at the prayer of the happy
Apostles, Peter and Paw 1, accord victory to His
Church over her enemies f May the Lord arise to
judge the world ; may He ; repulse and disperse with
His avenging arm the mei ones of His name, who
plot the ruin of religion, I Ind who make the exter-
mination of the Church 111 3 object of their dark
intentions ; or, rather, m yHe and those whom we
invoke with fervour, gm 'ant to our supplications
that Divine grace may dea tend upon them, and the
Infinite Mercy make th em re-enter the path of
justice and of truth!