The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-19
THE ARRITAL or FATHER HYA-
CLNTHE.

CINIIE.
FATHER HYAcrSTHE arrived at New York yes-
terday in the steamer Pereire, but as he has
managed thus far to keep himself secluded,
and particularly as he only speaks French
and Latin, the reporters who are anxious to
t'interview" him are as yet at a nonplus. The
New York Councils have not offered him the
hospitalities of the city or the use of the City
Hall for the reception of his friends, nor are
they likely to do 80, owing to certain peculi-
arities of the Fathers position. Boston, how
ever, has entered the field with commendable
promptness to do the honors of the occasion
and redeem the neglect of New York. 1t is
announced that the evangelical ministers of
the ''Hub" propose to extend him public
reception, and they have appointed a CON-
mittee to confer with him on the subject.
This is probably just the kind of attention
that Father Hyacinthe desires to avoid; and
although the Boston pastors would probably
be glad to have him turn his back altogether
upon Catholicism, and would welcome him
most cordially as a convert to their peculiar
religious views, they evidently do not under
stand the exact bearings of the case, and are
likely to let their enthusiasm get the better of
their Judgment. Any such attentions as they
propose to offer would only embarrass the
French priest and make his position more
difficult than it is at present. Father
Hyacinthe is a sincere Catholic, warmly
attached to that Church by every pos
sible tie, and he has as yet given no
reason for anybody to imagine that he will
ever be anything else than Catholic. He is
now the representative of a large and infuen-
tial portion of that Church who are dissatisfied
with the way things are managed at Rome
by tho Pope and his immediate
admirers, and who strongly protest against
an Ecumenical Council being called merely
for the purpose of registering the DEGREES of
the Vatican Cabinet. He desires to see the
Church take its proper position in advance of
the age, and not tagging behind it and exert
ing all its influence to retard progress and
civilization; and he recognizes the loss of
prestige that the Church labors under as due
to the infatuated and headstrong policy of
the Ultramontane party. He holds that party
as responsible for much of the inidelity and
dislike for the Church that prevails in France,
and his object is rather to reform than to
defy.
What he proposes to accomplish by visit
to the United States we are unable to tell,
but it is most probable that he has come here
simply for rest, and to escape the pressure
that was being made on every side by the au-
thorities of the Church to force him to retire
from the position he has taken. 1t is said
that he will remain in this country until the
meeting of the Council, when he will proceed
to Rome to press his views upon the assembled
magnates of the Church.
The probabilities, however, are that before
that time he will be degraded from his eccle-
siastical functions, and debarred of his right
to speak as representative of the Catholic
Church. The full text of the letter written
to him by the superior of his order at Rome
has been published, and after a remonstrance
against the course he has seen fit to pursue,
he is plainly threatened with the greater ex,
communication if he does not Immediately
resume the gown of his order and acknow-
ledge the error of his conduct.
His coming to the United States is in direct
defiance of this threat, and the next news
will probably be that it has been carried into
execution. This controversy between the
Church and one of the most influential and
eloquent of its clergymen is highly interest
ing, and, as in Luther's time, it may produce
results that neither party anticipate; but as
yet Father Hyacinthe appears before the
world as sincere Catholic, respectfully but
firmly protesting against doctrines and in
fiuences that he believes are injurious to the
cause of true religion, and as calculated to
iniure the Church and aid its enemies, and
the probabilities are that the kind offices of
the Boston evangelical pastors will be de-
clined as inappropriate to the occasion, and
as likely to do more harm than good to the
cause he advocates.