The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-12-18

which In many Of our Allocutions we have |
constantly profsssed, No reprovcd in our |
answer TO the King his unjust demands,
and yet so ~ to show that, with our bitter |
sorrow, there was conjoined that fatherly
affection which cannoS wholly repel from
its solioitnde even sons who initiate the re-
oelhous Absalom. But this our letter had
not yet been conveyed to the King when
the cities Of our Ponti6cal Dominion, which
were. az yet untouched and at peace, were
invaded by his army, the garrisons when
ever they attempted to make any resist
short time the unhappy day dawned, the
10th of last September, on which we
beheld this City, the See of the Prince
of the Apostles, the centre of the
Catholic religion and the refuge Of all ma
tions, beset with thousands Of armed mem
it's wallis battered down, and itself terror,
stricken by the cannon shots fired upon it.
And we had to mourn over it's capture al ct
arnis by order of the man who just before
had protested SO strongly his filial affection
towards us, and his fidelity to religion
What could be to us aud to all good men
more affecting than that dayi On it, when
the troops entered the City, the City was
filled with a large and promiscHous crowd
OF disorderly persons, and we Immediately
beheid public order overturned; we saw
the dignity and sacredness of the sovereign
pontificate in the humility of our person
insulted with impious language; we behold
our very faithful troops treated with every
kind of Insult and licence, aud impotence
let loose without restraint far and near,
where but just before the 6lial affection
was conspicuous of those who were endeav-
oring to alleviate the grief of q common
Father. And ever since that day there
have ensued befose our own eyes things
which cannot be mentioned without excit-
ing the just indignation Of all good men;
wicked books stuffed with lies, obscenity
and blasphemy, have begun to be exposed
for ready sale, and to be disseminated
every where; a multiplicity of newspapers
intended to corrupt minds and morals are
published, tending to insult and calumni-
ate religion, and to influence public opin-
ion against us and against this Apostolic
see; foul and improper pictures are dis
played openly, and other contrivances of
the same kind, by which sacred persons and
| things are held up to ridicule and exposed
| to public derision, are exhibited; honors
and monuments are decreed to those who
| have suffered by legal trial and sentence
the just punishment of most heinous crimes;
| many ministers of the Church against
whom every species of odium is stirred up,
| are harassed with all kinds of insult, and
some OF them are stricken and wounded by
the blows of treacherous assassins; some re-
| tlgious houses have been subjected to life-
gal search; our Quirinal palaces have been
broken into; and from his residence in one
of them Roman Cardinal has been roughly
| thrust out by violent orders; and other &C.
clesiastics of our household have been shut
out of their use, and subjected to molesta-
ton; laws and DEGREES have been put forth
| which avowedly injure and destroy the
liberty, immunity, property, and lawful
rights of the Church of God; and all these
most terrible evils, unless God avert it,
we grieve to see are likely to progress; and
we meanwhile are hindered by reason of
our present position from applying any
| Vol nlu. md do, ,lalx
reminded of the captivity in which we are
| held, aud of the absence of that full liberty
| which is pretended in lying words to be
left US for the exercise of our Apostolic
ministry over the world, and is professed
to be meant to be secured to US with safe
ing Government.
! We cannot here, Venerable Brethren,
pass under silence the commission of an
atrocious crime, which without doubt is
known to you. As though the possessiOns
and rights of the Apostolic See, sacred and
inviolable by 30 many titles, and respected
during 30 many centuries, could be to-day
controverted and disputed, and as though
the grave censures, which are incurred ip-
so tacto and without fresh declaration by
the yiolaters of these rights and posses.
sions, could lose their force by rebellion
and popular audacity, they have had re-
. course to cover the sacrilegious spoliatiot
We have suffered in spite of the common
law Of nature and of nations, they have haG
, recourse 1--WE say to the show and comedy
, of a ptebiscite already employed when the
other provinces were robbed from us. Ant
those who are in the habit of rejoicing il
the worst actions did not blush to parade
, as in triumph, through the towns of Italy
, rebellion and contempt of ecclesiastical
censures, thus insulting the true sentiment
, of the great majority of Italians, whose re
. ligion and fidelity towards us and toward
= Holy Church, forcibly repressed in all sort
of ways, cannot have free course.
AS to ourselves, charged by God to rul
t and govern the whole House of Israel, ant
pade the supreme defender of religion, O
r justice, and of the rights of the Church. il
order that we be not reproached before CO.
Q and before the Church for having been 81
q lent, and for having by our silence consent
o ed to this unjust revolution, renewing ant
confirming that which we have already de
g cfared in the allocutions, encyclica1s, an,
Y briefs aforementioned, and recently il
t the protestation which, by our order an
1 in our name the Cardinal-Secretary Q
t State communicated on the Goth of Sep
/ tember to the Ambassadors, Ministers, an
t Charges d'Affaires of foreign nations &C
i credited to us and to this Holy See, we de
d clare anew before yon, Venerable Brethren
: with all possible soleMnity, that it is GU
= intention, resolution, aud will to retain il
! their integrity, intact and inviofabfe, al
t the dominions and rights of this Holy See
@ and so to transmit them to our successors
Y that all usurpation of these rights, whethe
. | of a accent or of an earlier date, is unjust
0 violent, null, and void; and that all tn