The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-10-23

al intrepedity and public spirit, what
ever may be though of the issue before
them
Il he Career of Father lAy:acinthe.
| From the London Telegraph
Although still comparatively young
Pere Hyacinthe stands among the chief
pulpit forces of the Romish Church
Joining the order of barefooted Carme,
lites, he speedily won distinction by bis
scholarship and his culture, no less than
by his extraordinary power Of speech
At an early age he promised to add a
brig ght star to the galaxy Of French
pulpit eloquence. But, from the time
of his first utterances, he was regarded
with suspicious glances by leading
dignitaries Of Rome. He was seen to
be tainted with Liberalism. His words
had not that tone of absolute submission
to the Holy See which is now coveted
by the most powerful among the priests
ct France On France, almost as much
as on Ireland, the Ultramontane party
has laid its grasp. Much of the power
which the Jesui,s have more than once
lost in that country they kave won back.
Such dioceses as that ot Orleans are
ruled with a rod OF iron, in accordance
with the dictates of the Ultramontane
creed; and the rrelates who represeu,
the old liberalism of France inspire in
men like Bishop DubonIoup much the
same hostility with which the extreme
High Church dignitaries of England
regard their extreme Broad Church ri
walls.
The Ultramontanc party, however,
have been s,rccd to fight hard battle
with their Liberal foes. They have
had to contend with band OF men to
whom nature had given extraordinary
intellectual gifts, and whose piety it
was impossible fer the jealousy of
orthodoxy itself to impugn. Such men
as Lammeuais, Lacordaire, and Mon
talembert fancied that they could brid ge
over the chasm between the theological
creed of the fifteenth century and the
political creed Of the nineteenth In the.
encounter Lammenais was so utterly
overthrown by the members of his own
Church, that he cut lovse the ties which
bound him, not only to Rome. but to
revealed religion itself. Lacordaire
died while the struggle was yet at its
hottest; and Montalenbert's record has
vet to be written. 10 the same band Of
enthusiasts, although he occupies less
exalted place, belongs the present
Archbishop of Paris, Mopseigueur
Darboy. An ardent Liberal as we'll
an ardent Catholic, Monseigneur
Darboy has more than once been the
object OF Papal suspicion, and has been
forced to reaffirm his devotion to the
Holy See. But his chief ofense was
the admission of Pere Hyacinthe to
the Cathedral of N6tre Dame. To that
historic church the intellect and the
religious feryor OF Paris focked when
attracted by such eloquence as that of
the baretooted Carmelltc. And the
eager crowd Was not disappointed Letter
eu and unletlered, acadeuiiciaus and
epiciers, felt the fascination OF the bril-
liant preacher After the great church
had been filled in every part, man OF
short stature, and singuiarly bright, pre-
possessing face, would ascend the pull
pit and addresses the eApectant multi
tude. His oratory WAS ssrlklngly natu-
raj. 1t was very much like the best
speaking Of the forum transferred to the
sanctuary, and made holy by the ill.,
fusion of sacred themes. 1t was the
reverse Of ecclesiastical. About the
Church fhe Father did not say much;
about the doctrines he said stiiless; and
about the clergy be said little that was
not rebuke. On the other hand, he
made the aisles OF N6tre Dame resound
with the most uncompromisiug Liberal
ism. In words OF burning eloquence he
taught men that they owed duties to
each other as citizens, ami that as
fathers Of families they were lowered
with rights which even the Church could
not take away. The claim OF the
clergy to direct the conscience OF
the wife, and to set aside the authority
of the husband, was pretension which
Pere Hyacinthe denounced with that
peculiarly cutting, because personal
eloquence, which msn can WELD when
assailing the members Of their own
order. He asserted the right Of the
husband to be supreme liz his own house
hold, and the duty of the citizen to
obey the laws of his own country.
Unmoved by the threats Of Rome, he
raiseo up that old banner OF Freuch
Liberalism on which was inscribed
devotion to tue family aud to the
nation. Without directly assailing the
priestly pretensions fthe Ultramontane
party, he set forth doctrines which made
those pretensions null and void. Hence
the men of France listened to the French
preacher with undisguised rapture:
4 religious creed which did not compel