The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-08-01
The Persecution in Poland.

TOianu arc leaking GUS 8hu coming 10 pun
lie notice, notwithstanding the unwilling
#nesa ofthe ProtessAnt press and the OBJ
durate silence of secnlar joarnalss One Of
thsmost frightful pessecations known sinoe
the days of the Roman EznpeEors isnow go
ing on in>nnharpy Poland It isnot indeed
true that coGfsssS eare covered With pitch
and set up for toxeIlhs af the street corners
of st. Petersburg; ana that martyrs are not
tried by being thrown te wild beasts in the
arena, but the end il eonnpassed just as
surely. 1t is NOT fashionable just now to
be violent. Persecution follows the ETH
quette of the age, and murders it's victims
in more genteel and quiet way. They
are sent to Siberia. It is true that holy
Bishop recently died on the route, but gen.
orally they are kept alive till they reach
their destination, and sometimes survive
for miserable remnant of slow martyr
dom.
The Government can't afford to trans
port all the common people, and it is not
now the fashion to kill them in cold blood !;
therefore more ingenious modes must be
adopted. Their priests in great numbers
are either exiled or kept in prison. The
few remaining clergy are reduced to power
ty, and derisively allotted a small pittance,
nominally for support but really In scorn.
The most rigorous police surveillance is
maintained over their pastoral relations.
No priest dares to preach to his congrega-
ton without having first written out his
remarks and subjected them to examine
ton by the authorities. If not entirely re-
jected, they are perhaps returned after two
or three months, when no longer appropri-
ate to the occasion. The police absolutely
prohibit rendering honor to certain saints,
and the remains of one have been recently
transported to st. Petersburg. Many
churches and chapels have been entirely
closed by military order, as MANY as thirty
one by a single decree. These measures
not having had the expected effect, severe
fines have been imposed on parents for
permitting child to receive Catholic bap-
tism. Thus for the common laity rigorous
repression and poverty; for the clergy and
distinguished laity, prison, exile and death.
This persecution is not confined exclu
sively to the territory of Poland it is par
TALLY extended to Catholics in Russia itself.
The Imperial despot holding control of
that Government 10 not only ruler but
master of his subjects. They are treated
as children, or alaves- He has taken q within
that Catholic Bishops within his dominions
must not participate in the approaching
Ecumeuical Council at Rome, and an edict
to that effect is issued. Those Bishops
must not stir from home for any such
purpose Men by all odds his superiors in
every attribute of manhood, physically, in
tellectually and spiritually; men far his
superiors in experience and wisdom, are
controlled in their freedom of movement
like little children. How elated must be
the pride of narrow minded mortal,
clothed in a little brief authority, at being
enabled by it to perpetrate these acts
of petty despotism, and thus enjoy the en-
forced obedience of men whom he must
feel to be his superiors. '' i'-4 ~
The atrocities perpetrated on the unhap
Ply Poles attract as little attention among
men of the world now as did tile persecu-
tons of imperial Rome among the polite
circles of that day. A nation is grooming
in torture, but it is only a matter of reli-
gion, and the world finds no interest in it,.
If it were a question of a false religion,
however, the world would be horror
| stricken over it. If France or Austria
should absorb the Protestant Cantons of
Switzerland, and act as Russia does towards
Catholic Poland, the civilized world would
be in a paroxysm of horror. If their min
listers and leading laity were kept in chains
most eminent aud amiable of their religion
lists were treated with such refined barbar-
ity as to die ON the way or within a few
weeks after arriving at their destination;
if, on one pretexsOr another, nearly all their
churches were shut and the few remaining
ministers prohibited under the severest
penalties from preaching; if the perform
ance of the rites of the religion in which
they had been reared were visited upon the
people with fines and penalties which