The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-02-16
CATHOLIC CHARITY.

Wherever we travel, whatever way we
turn our stops, we shall find aroHad Ills or
near us, the most abundant evidence OF tho
practical charity of the Catholic Church.
No valley SO low that it does not penetrate
.itssdeptfis; no mountain so high that it can
not reach its summit. The poor, abandoned
outcaSts from society-women whose lives
have been spent in prohigacy and sin, find,
in the charitable institutions of our holy
church, Il refuge to which they may fly for
reformation and shelter, where they will
meet with holy women of God to raise their
thoughts from earth, which has spurned
them and cast them out, to Him who par
doned the sins of the woman talse4. in attil-
terry, and is willing to extend to them the
same merciful forgiveness if they seek it
famine cannot extinguisf this holy spirit of
practical charity, which is Il part of the
Divine constitution of the church; nav,
these terrible agents Of aeselation and death
seem rather TO increase and inspirit the mins
listers of Catholic charity, and, as if in holy
defiance OF the dread condueror, more dread
fiji and terrible when he comes amid the din
OF battle or in the infested atmosphere to
carry off, at n moments notice, his hccatomb
OF victims, to. gather around tho diving
couch, and point the expiring soul to that
everlasting kingdom where war, nor pesti=--
~lence, nor trouble shall ever enter. u
But the spirit of Catholic charity provides
Il,
looks after the wants of the body. How
many institutions has the provident spirit
OF the Catholic Church raised up throughout
the world fer the temporal assistance of1he
poor; the needy, the frienhess, the old man
tattering over his clutches, the infant ex-
pOsett to the wild beasts of the forests :-Tha
annals of the Propagation of the Faith, and
the reeefds-of the Holy Childhood reveal
thousands of instances in which Catholic
charity has stood between such objects of
pity and the inhumanity of their own flesh
and bloc. Who is ignorant of tho good
deeds dene by tho Monks of st. Bernard
How many valuable lives they have saved
how manyencomiums they have received,
even from Protestant Isnsf There is an
other institution similar to that of the Monks
of St. Bernard, that is not SO well known
even by Catholics, of which we will speak
1t is on the very summit of Mount st. Co
thard, in Switzerland, the route over which.
however rugged and dreary, was, previous
to the formation of that over the Simplon,
the most frequented of any from Switzerland
to Italy, and is served by members of re-
igious order. Its design is TO afford hes;si-
tality and assistance to travellers who NAV
not be able to endure the cold and fatigue
OF crossing the mountain. These monks
make report every year to the federal gov
eminent, and that of 1867, published in the
Gazette IessinoiSe, shows that the TosDital
OF st. Gothard distributed gratuitouslv,
from 1860 to 1867, 30, va rations to 8, 795
poor travellers from all countries, great
number of coats and other articles of wear
ing apparel, especially shoes and wooden
stpcklnSs. OF these travellers, thirty were
sick and half frozen, and consequently re-
NAMED long time under the care of the
holy monks. The total expenses tiefraycd
by the hospital, during the alove-named
period, was g ,432 francs.
What mountain so high that Catholic
CHARITY cannot SlrT1Op-f what -,
deep that its holy spirit does not cptor,Zt
,Rnlfinlnrn GnfhnIic iIirrnr