The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-02-20
CLAIMING ON CATHOLICS.

We commend the following excellent
sentiments of DR.. CHARMING, to the
careful perusal of some of his admirers
in this vicinity. How nobly, how bold
ly and how eloquently these remarks Of
that great and good man, rebuke the
niggardly, narrow prejudices that pre-
vail at the present day. The following
is an extract from an article written
some years ago, " on the Character and
Writings of FENELoN." We hope those
who deem it their duty to make the pro-
scription of Catholics the corner stone
of their political faith, will lay aside
this extract for frequent p~erusal. This
prescribing a man for his religious be-
lief is certainly assuming to perform
more than God eve required at the
hands of his creatures-the high Court
of Heaven is alone capable of deciding
who is right and who is wrong. Here is
the extract:
1--WE have said, that we welcome the
book under consideration. because it
came from SO pure and gifted a mind.
We add, that we do not welcome it the
less for coming from a Catholic. Per-
haps we prize it the more for we wish
that Professionalism may grow wiser and
more tolerant, and we know not a bet
ter teacher of these lessons than the
character of Fenelon. Such a man is
enough to place within the pale of our
charity, the whole body to which he be-
lopged. His virtue is broad enough to
shield his whole church from that un-
measured, undistinguishing ~reprobatioD,
with which Protestant zeal has too of,
ten assailed it. Whoever remembers,
hat the Catholic communion numbers
in its ranks more than one hundred mil
lions of souls, probably more than all
other Christian Churches together, must
shudder at the sentence of prescription
which has sometimes been passed on this
immense portion of human beings. 1t
is time that greater justice were done
to this ancient and widespread commu-
nifty. The Catholic Church has produ.
ced some of the greatest and best men
that ever lived, and this is proof enough
of its possessing all the means of saliva
ton. Who that hears the tone of con
tempt, in which it is sometimes named,
would suspect that C~harlemagne, AL.
fred, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Tasso,
Bossuet, Pascal, Des Carries, were Cath.
olics? Some of the greatest names in
arts and arms, on the throne and in the
pulpit, were worn by Catholics. TIC
come down to our own times, has not
the Metropolis of New England wit.
messed a sublime example of Christian
virtue in a Catholic bishop? Who,
among our religious teachers, would So
licit a comparison between himself and
the devoted Cheverns? This good man,
whose virtues and talents have now rails.
ed him to high dignities in Church and
State, who now wears in his own coun.
try the joint honors Of an archbishop
and a peer, lived in the midst of US, de-
voting his days and nights, and his
whole heart, to the service of a poor and
uneducated congregation. We saw him
declining, in a great degree, the society
! IF the cultivated and refined, that he
might be the friend of the ignorant and
1rl6QQleSS ! lea "S VIC VI PoAioH
ed life, which he would have graced, fol-
the meanest howell bearing, with a faith
er's sympathy the burdens and sorrows
of his large spiritual family; charging
himself alike with their temporal and
spiritual concerns; and never discover
ing by the faintest indication, that he
felt his fine mind degraded by his seem
ingly humble Office. This good man,
bent on his errands of mercy, was seen
in our streets under the most burning
sun of summer, and the fercest storms
of winter, as if armed against the ele-
ements by the power of charity. He
has left US, but not to be forgotten. He
enjoys among Us what to such a man
must be dearer than fame. His name
is cherished where the great of this
world are unknown. It is pronounced
with blessings, with greatful tears, with
signs for his return, in many an abode
of sorr ow and want; and how can we
shut our hearts against this proof of the
power of Catholic religion to form good
and great men
These remarks, we trust, will not
be perverted. None will suspect us Of
Catholic partialities. Of all Protest
ants, we have the fewest sympathie:
with the Romish Church."