The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-12-11
POPE GREGORY XVI.

tTiarchS, Pyinlates, V9rchbtSlop8 and Bishops
POPE GREGORY XVI.
VENERABLE BRETHREN-Health and Apos
tolieal Benediction. Wedoubt not but you ar,
surprised not yet having received from US, sine,
the government I'll the UnigersaE Church ara
committed to Our Humility, Letter In &C
| cordance with primitive usage, and with Ou
affection towards you. It was indeed eur mos
ardent desire, without delay, to lay open Oul
| hearts to you, and in communicating Our owl
sentiments, to address you in a language suita
bic to the command which, We have received
IN the person of Saint Peter, to confirm Oul
brethren. But you were not ignorant Of the ga
thering ealamities' and anxi0ties (which burs
upon Us in the very first moments Of our ponti
ficate, when, had not the right hand of God
| supported us, ysu might ere now have lament
ed Our having fallen victim to the dark con
spiraey of impious men. But eur mind shrinki
from the memory of troubles, whose sad recital
would be only re-opening the sources of sorrow:
| and We rather bless the God of Consolation
who in subduing the rebels has shielded US from
| impending danger; and who in stilling the tenn
pest, hath granted pause to eur apprehensions
HereupOn We resolved to delay no longer to
communicate Our advice to YOU for curing the
bruises Of Israel: but again the fulflment oil
Our desires was impeded, by the weight oil
care imposed on Us in the reinstatement Of pub
lie order
Meanwhile another cause of our silence aro.e,
from the ins6lence of faction, which labored
again to raise the standard of rebellion Find
ing that long endurance and mildness, instead OF
softenmg, appeared rather to foment the spiri
ef RIGHTEOUSNESS, We were at last, with ex-
IRENE sorrow of heart, compelled to raise the
scourgs entrusted to Us by the Almighty, for
subduing the obstinacy Of men, Hence you will
easily conclude that Our anxieties have been
every day multiplied
But having at length taken possession of our
See ir the LateTan Basilic, according to our
customs and institution of our predecessors, We
return to you without delay, Venerable brethren,
and IN testimony of Our feelings towards you,
We select for the date of eur letter this most
joyful day on which We celebrate the solemn
festival of the Most Blessed Virgins triumph
ant Assumption into Heavsn, that She 1chO has
been through eueTy great calamity Our Patron
esS and PyOtectTeSs, may aoGtch over Us, aCTt-
ting to you, and lead our mind By Her heeUen-
ty influence to those co.eRseLs ichich may prore
most sal,Gtary to Ctrist'S flock.
In sorrow, and with a mind broken with
grief We address yOu-you, whom we know
from your devotedness to religion, to have suffer-
ed proportional anxiety of mind in witnessing
the depravity of the times with which religion
has now to struggle For we may truly saw
this is the heur and power of darkness to sift as
wheat tho of election Truly eshath the
earth mourned and faded away-iniected by the
inhabitants thereof; because they have trans
gressed the laws, they have changed the ordi-
nance, they have broken the everlasting coven-
ant"
We speak, Venerable Brethren, of what your
own eyes have witnessed, and ever which our
tears flow in common. WIckedness is restless,
science grown insolent, RIGHTEOUSNESS unre-
strained. The holiness of things sacred is des-
pissed; and the majesty of the divine worship
at once so efhcacious and so Necessary, is call
ed in question, is villifed, is Knocked at by evil
men. Hence the perversion of sound doctrine,
and hence the effrontery with which errors of
every kind are disseminated. The law of the
sanctuary, its rights, its customs, whatever is
most holy in discipline, is attacked by the
tongues of them that speak iniquity. Our Ro-
man See OF Saint Peter, en- which Christ laid
the foundation of His Church, is assailed on all
sides; and the bonds Of unity are ecs,y day
weakened, and breaking dSst1lder The divine
authority Of the Church is opposed, ROBBED OF
HER RIGHTS. She is laid PROSTATE to satisfy
human expediency and iniquity, expose her
degraded slave to the hatred of the nations
The obedience due to BiShopS* is i9ttiinged,
and their rights trOdden ufder foot. The schools
and the universities echo monstrous novelties,
which no longer content themselves with under
mining the foundation of the Catholic faith, but
quitting their lurking heles, rush openly to hor-
rid and impious war with it. The youth corrup-
ted by the doctrines and examples Of their teach
ers, have inflicted deep wound upon Religion,
and have introduced a most gloomy perversion
of manners. Hence it is that men hinging away
the restraints ef our Holy Religion, which alone
can keep together the elements of kingdoms, and
impart strength and stability to government, |
have brought as to witness the destruction of |
public order, the downfall of States, and the |
overthrow of all legitimate power. These ac |
cumulated miseries owe their origin principally |
however, to the activity of certain societies, |
in which is collected, as in one eommon
whatever heresy, or the most imn;-
,us sscts, offer OF crime, ofsacrlege, and of blss
phehy,
These things, Venerable Brethren, and many
others, some perhaps mere distressing which it |
were long to enumerate, must still as YOU are
we'll known, embitter and prolong Our grief
seated as We are In the Chair of the Prince of
,he Apostles, where the zeal for the whole of
,ur Fathers House must consume Us more than
others. But aware at the same time, that We
nave been placed here not onlyto deplore, but al
10 to crush the evils to the utmost of Our pow
'r, Weturn to your fidelity for aid, and we APP
peal to your solicitude for the salvation of the |
Catholic flock Venerable Brethren, because
.our tried virtue and religion, exemplary pru-
leace, and unremitting zeal, give Us courage.
md shed a sweet consolation over Our minds. !
afflicted as they are in this season of trial.
Cor it belongs to Us to give the alarm, and
o leave no means untried which may prevent
he boar of the forest from trampling down the
Vineyard, or the wolf from taking the lives of
he fiocks Our is the task to drive the sheep
tito healthful pastures which precludes all sus-
Iicion Of danger But God forbid, Dearest
Brethren, God forbid, while so many evils
ress, while SO many dangers threaten, pastors
hould be wanting to their duty, and that fear
tricken, they should fly from their flocks, or
lumber in idle and inactive forgetfulness of
hem. In union of spirit, then let us be true to
ar common cause, or rather the cause of God;
nd let us unite our vigilance and exertions a.
;ainst the common enemy, for the salvation of
he whole people
i. Now you will best correspond with these sem
lments, if in compliance with the nature of
our station, you "attend unto yourselves and
o doctrines" ever bearing in mind, ssthe Uni