Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-08-28
NUMBER 243.
Correspondence of the London Times
The Catholic Church in Italy, Spain, and
Switzerland.

=
| Correspondence of the London Times
The Catholic Church in Italy, Spain, and
| Switzerland.
Position of The Cierqy in Pieelmont-Resistance
Of the Nans-Ihe Pope's Aiiocutions
TURIN, August 6.
The execution of the Convent law progresses
with as few mpedments as could well be ex-
pected The episcopacy generally recommend
ed resistance, which, in the case of the con-
vents to be taken possession of was in many
cases obeyed, as far as locking the outer doors
and giving the officers of justice the trouble Of
| breaking them open. With regard to the parish
priests who were entitled to an additional stipend
under the same act, and which their bishops for
| bid them to accept, there would not probably have
been found SO much subordnation, and convic-
ton to this effect is not unlikely to be the cause of
the following paragraph, which appears at the head
of the leading article in the Ammonia of this day:
| 1--WE bow with reverence before the Masters in
lsreal. Our bishops thought it right to supplicate
the Holy See before permitting the parish priests
to receive the benefces, and the Sovereign Pontif
has allowed it, while protesting, &c. From this
time, therefore, that which was illegal becomes
lawful by permission of that sovereign authority
which prohibited, and all discussion for US ceases"
Thus the Court OF Rome yields the point which
it could not maintain, but under protest, as it in
variaby does.
The text of the allocutions pronounced by the
Pope in the Consstory Of the 26th ult. has reached
u.s. The first aocuton refers to the affairs of Sar-
dinia. 1t commences by saying that on the 22d
January last his Holiness complained, in an allocu-
ton, of the grave wrongs" which the Sandman
government had, for long series of years, daily
perpetrated against the Roman Catholic Church.
and against the supreme power and dignity of
the Holy See; and declared null and of no
effect, each and all of the DEGREES issued by that
| government to the prejudice of the Church, and
especially the "uniust and fatar' law for the sup.
preston of religious houses. In making those
complaints and that declaration, the Pope had
hoped that the Sandman government, returning
to better sentiments, would "cease to persecute
the church, and hasten to repair the wrongs done
it," But it had not done So
| "We say with sorrow, not only that the Pied
montese government has not lent ear either to
the supplicatons of its bishops, or our own exhor-
tations but making new and more serious attacks
on the Church, on our authority, and on that Of
the Apostolic See-openy despising our reiterated
protests and our paternal warnings-has not fear
ed to approve, sanction and promulgate the law on
| religious houses"
The Pope laments that this conduct "obliges
him to depart from the mildness and meekness
which are natural to him, and to have recourse
to severity "in order not to fail in his duty and
abandon the cause of the church !" and after sta
ting that this severity is in accordance with the ex-
ample of his predecessors, who never hesitated
10 hCb tne ana reOelllOu5 chill
dren of the church, and to smte the vioators and
obstinate usurpers of its rights with the penalties
set forth in the holy canons," his Holiness thus
proceeds:
"We, therefore, again raise our apostolic voice
in your august assembly, and we blame anew we
condemn and declare null and of no effect the law
above mentioned, and all and each of the acts and
DEGREES which have taken place in Piedmont to tho
detriment of religion, of the church, of our author
| ity, and of the rights of the Holy See--acts and
DEGREES of which we spoke with sorrow in our
| allocution of the 23d January last. We are,
besides, obliged TO declare, with the most pro-
found regret, that all those who in Piedmont have
not feared to propose, approve, and sanction the
said measure, and the law against the church and
the rights of the Holy See, that all those also who
are employed by them, who give support, counsel,
and adhesion, and who execute their orders, have
! incurred major accommodation and the other &C.
clesiastical penalties and censures enacted by the
holy canons, the apostolic constitutions, and the
DEGREES of general councils, particularly those OF
the Council OF Trent"
The Pope concludes by stating that after exer-
cising severity, he remembers that he Occupies
the place Of Him who in his wrath remembers
mercy" and that, therefore, he humbly prays
| the Lord our God" TO bring back TO better senti-
ments the degenerate children of the Holy Church
in Sardinia, and to shower his blessings on the
bishops and clergy OF that kingdom ''in their pre-.
sent agony and fluctuations"
The second alocution OF the Pope is on the a.
fairs Of Spain and Switzerland. After recapituli.
ting the principal points of the Concordat conclu-
ded some time ago with Span-one Of which was
that the property of the church should be inyioa.
ble-hs Holiness declares that that convention
has been impudently outraged and violated:
Laws have been passed which, to the great
damage Of religion, destroy the first and second ar
ticles Of the Concordat, and which order the sale
Of the property Of the church. Various DEGREES
have been published, by which bishops are inter
dcted from comforting sacred orders; by which
virgins consecrated 70 God are prohibited from
admitting other women into their institutions and
| by which lay chsplances and other pious institu.
tions are to be completely secularized."
The protests presented against these measures
had, he says, been disgraced by the Spanish gov.
ernment, and some bishops who had opposed them
had been forcibly removed from their diocesos. H.
| had, therefore, deemed It necessary to order hi,
charge daffares to leave Madrid and, moreover,
says his Holiness
| "Raising our voice in your assembly, we com.
plain Of all that the lay government has done and
is still doing in Spain, u1justy against the churcl,
| against its liberty and rights, against us, and the
authority Of the Holy See and especially we deep
| ly depore our solemn Concordat violated in de
fance Of international law; the authority Of the
| bishop prevented in the exercise OF the sacred
ministry; the violence employed against them;
/
Of all divine and human laws. We therefore, IN
virtue Of our apostolic authority, censure, abro-
gate aud declare without value and without force.
null and Of no effect, for the past and the future,
| the said laws aud DEGREES. Lastly, we, with all
our power warn the authors Of all these audacious
acts, and we exhort aud supplicate them to con-
slider seriously that those who do not fear to act
and torment the holy church OF God, cannot es-
| cape the hand of the Almighty"
| After a few words of praise TO the bishops ard
clergy Of Spain, and to the faithful who have sup
ported them, the Pope concludes by brief ref
crence to the woes which affct the church in
| Switzerland:
1--WE must also tell you, venerable brethren,
that we suffer indescribably the deplorable state
to which our most holy religion is reduced in
Switzerland, and especialy-oh sorow!--in some
of the principal Catholic towns Of the confcderat-
| ed cantons. There the power OF the Catholic
Church and Of its liberty are oppressed the au'
thority of the bishops and of this Apostolic See
are trampled under foot, the sanctity OF marriage