The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-06-21
smHDr u1LArHoaxz on coxvzxruA1 LIFE

! The persistent mendacity with whicl
; PROTESTANT sects perpetuate ISLANDERS agains
every thing Catholic, but particularly con
vents, has been q matter of surprise. A re
cent occurrence in one of the large Englisl
provincial towns-in which the magistrate.
OF the locality were the active REUTERS O.
the. vile charges-has had the effect of in.
ducing one of the ablest of the hierarchy in
England-Bishop Ullathorne-to .delive,
three lectures on cOnventual life. A review
of these lectures has elected the following
remarks from the Month, on the general
tendency of reiterated falsehoods, refuted
unnumbered illness:
DR.. Newman and other Catholic writers
have remarked on the astounding vitality
of the Protestant tradition" in which the
people of this country have been nurtured
for centuries. 1t seems almost to be of no
use to confute the falsehoods of which that
despair of quelling it. The story, for in
stance, of Maria Monk, was Investigated
from beginning to end at the time and in
the place when and where it sprang up. 1t
was proved to be not only a lie, but very
stale lie, fiction without even the merit of
originality, to be found in an old book of
the last century, which had rotted on the
stalls Of second hand traders before the
persons and characters to whom it was ap-
Piled in America were born. And yet there
are English gentlemen" and "ladies )"
banded together in Protestant association,
ing broadcast among the lower classes of
our towns this very story of Maria Monk
with few other inventions tackled on to it,
in which they do not scruple to assail in
the grossest manner the character of the
inmates of a convent not very far from
IOvp b. ~ H., L.
Der of our best Catholic families are sent
for education, and in which, in many cases,
they choose to remain all their lives as re-
Igious. A few weeks ago, the papers were
full of the infamous story circulated about
convent near Birmingham, and vouched
for as true by a person Of some position in
that town. The story was Investigated by
a committee of gentlemen, and was found
out by the confession of the alleged author
ity, to be an unfOunded calumny; but it
was remarked that many Of the Protestant
papers which had given it circulation were
strangely silent about its exposure. The
Bishop of Birmingham informs us that it
has already crossed the "narrow seas" as
the tale of Maria Monk went over from |
Europe to America and then came back to |
is now being circulated |
in France against the converts in that |
In this state of things, people may well |
ask themselves, whether it is worth while |
to confute any lie. But the true answer to |
such o question is not in the negative. It'll
is, unfortunately, impossible to deny that
there are many persons in our time, as there |
have been in all times, who deliberately !
propagate lies against the Catholic Church, |
knowing them to be such. Far larger is |!
The number of those who are impatient of
Ill exposure or explanation of the fialsehoods
which they have adopted as true without
having investigated their character just
sp<ys !, Al.
earned author of some book against the
doctrine of the Church from confessing the
,ogency of some refutatiOn of his arguments
which lie is far too wise to reply to, or from
his mistake when it has been
clearly proved that he has either simply
n ~ or SIMPLY misrepresented !
he authors he has quoted or the dogmas
# which he has been treating-so among
he more vulgar herd of anti Catholic
alkers and writer's it is by no means un
ommon to find too many symptoms of that
in the face Of a defeat on
matter of fact which can have its roots in
othing but dislike to the truth which is
hrust upon them. But truth always makes
q way to some candid mind every time it
put forward, and no lie is ever exposed n
7ithout doing damage to the party which
as put it in circulation over and above it's n
wn refutation. The strength of the Pro- 6,
estant tradition proves the dense igno-
ance of the majority as well as the malice n
the few who trade upon it 80 unscrupu- /"
'usly; and ignorance is cured by light, as
lalice is silenced by charity. There are :
gins on all sides that though the English
eople is still blind enough to be duped by
es though the trade of the sensational N
'cturer and tract-mongeris still profitable,
nd though undeniable danger still turks in x
he black cloud of ignorance and prejudice, b
hich requires SO slight a provocation to n
lscharge its bolts on every side, yet on the an
her hand the presence and WORKING of the CT
athOlic Church in this country has now an re re
fuence on the minds and feelings of the
,nefality which had not been obtained at
e time when the nation went mad at the :
stigation of Lord John Russell against
q newly established hierarchy. Attempts -
I'VE been made, in quarters quite as high A
those from which the Durham letter pro-
eded, to raise the No-Popery cry in de- MI