The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-10-11
praE HyAcrrrHr on RELIGION IN AMERICA.

The Paris correspondent of the London
Weekly Register says that in the last num-
Der of the Correspondent, published IN that
CITY. is contained something of the highest
Importance to Catholic minded Anglicaus.
It 10 a short and pithy discourse, addressed
by Father Hyacinthe to an American lady,
lately converted TO the Catholic religion, |
and whose recantation took place in the |
Chapelle des Danes de PAssomptlOn, IN
Paris, on the 14th of July. The right of re
producing the article is reserved by the
Correspondent, SO that a translation is not
likely soon to appear. Under these clrcum-
stances, an analysis of the discourse will,
probably, be welcome. In it the Reverend
Father considers the counsels of God on the
past, present, and future OF the convert. In
the first part he maintains that the lady,
though born and bred in the midst of here
sy was not a hereto. This leads to an eX-
animation of what heresy is. He quotes st.
Augustn as maintaining in several OF his
works that those are not heretics who, born
outside the visible pale of the Catholic
| Church, have conserved in their hearts a
sincere love of truth, and who are disposed
to follow it in all its manifestations and in
/ all its exigencies. 'sWhat constitutes here
sy. - he continues, els that spirit OF prlde,
Of revolt and of schism, which broke out III
heaven when Satan, dividing the angels OF
| light, tried to reform the eternal tneoiogy
and work of God in the world" To show
what an educated person, who is neither
Catholic nor hereto, really is, he related
the following anecdote of the Rev Father
Hecker, founder and superior of the congre-
cation Of st. Paul, American aud Protestant
born. but at. that time, of no religion
g What were you before becoming q
Catholic 81. asked Father Hyac;nthe.
belonged to no Protestant communion
/ had been baptized in the Church of my
parents, but l had never shared thei
faith s You were then a nationalist 7
0No: we were unacquainted In Amerlc;
with that mental malady of the Europeans.
, I blushed, continues Father Hyacinthe, ant
I begged him to explain himself. He the
. made me this magnificent answer: wa
c | a natural man, seeking truth with his min
a and his heart" In the second part he liza
: the following fine passage :" what wer
e the bloody Contradictions which made you
: choice, free as it was, SO dithcu't ana pan
d full ~ s'I will not speak of them. Family
d friends country have seen these wounc
too near to dare to touch them. l will onl
i saw that till to day knew not what it cos
=, even the most convinced mind, even I'll
r firmest will, to abandon the religioIt OF one
d. mother aud ones country. All! why upr
t the noble soil of the United States must O,
er Church be still, do not sag unknown, b
SIS misknown by SO many souls Would
ay God that she were only unknown. A re
ia apostle would go and invoke on tho
l shores the God whom St.Paul invoked befo
ly the Areopagus, ignotuD Dean, the Cbur
which they love in its idea, without kno
he ing it in its reality, and free from pref
en- dices, serious America would welcome h
be better than giddy Athens" In the thi
lac part, the eloquent preacher points out
of what the converts apostolate consists. i