The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-12-11
1efntng Star and Catholic Messenger,
aKw ORLEANS, SUNDAY. DEcENBEa II. is7c.

1reenont Temple, Boston, on the evening
Of diie 22d ult., to hear a lecture by
the Rev. l. T.. Hecker, OF New York,
on the sabject of. the proper admin
sfxation Of charities, the ground which he
took being that charities belong to the
Ch0rch alone. The lecture was given un-
oant de Paul The Rev. lecturer engaged
the attention Of the audience for an hour
md; = quarter. The Boston Daily Adper-.
e sw publishes an abstract, from which we
take the following. q -
Asssng the most important questions
which drinking men are now asking them
selves, ooe Of the moot Important is that
q the sphere of religion. What has sreli-
with eAucatioG, with political economy 2
What has the Church to do with the sick
nnd the poori The Catholic Church teaches
that the whole man comes under the juris-
1iction Of the Church. Hence, society,
education and political government, are
true destiny. She afirms that religion is
1yfnaary and all other truths are secondary.
1here is no interest of man which she does
ms hook upon with great concern. The
Church caPtivates the intelligence of man
~ presenting herself to him as truth in it's
maa the whole truth, it cannot claim the
Wke4e allegiance of his intelligence. She
preeents herself to man under the forms of
tho beautiful. Ter this reason the Catholic
Chaech has retained all the monuments of
axt. She was the mother of modern art.
Oct Of her bosom sprang architecture
a6bcsa, music and poetry. She uses them
tDpcoduce religious effect upon the mind,
Aecazse her mission is to captivate the en-
tire mind. Man cannot arrive at his des-
tiny By piecemeal. You have got to take
i HIM rs G whole, as a unit; and as'God has
we'll ~ the logical faculty, it follows that
religion, TO fulfil it's mission, must take in
Ha1ss whole nature. Therefore, we find
the Church everywhere embodying art to
ensstxvate mans sense of beauty. A reli-
3Soa that does not take in the whole of
famanity cannot come from the Author of
hamaaity. Religion must present God to
xsaz- this very God who created us,
and came down to earth to captivate US.
And when religion comes in this way, the
4uestio0 arises, what shall be done to reci-
procate the love of God q and the answer
=, kore demands love. Religion tells US
ne must do this by loving God supremacy,
and loving our neighb0r as Ourself for the
) sake of God. Here is a motive power great
enough to move the whole world. The
pAgans never dreamed of hospital. Christ
has given to the world this greatest of all
notives-a divine motive to aid our fellow
men. The Church has continued this mis-
ZION Of love from the foundation to this
day. Hence, hospitals were spread every
where where the Church existed. Hence
the care of the sick, and the poor, and the
prisoper, all came within her scope, and
cut at her bosom were those souls filed
wi6k ezzis charity in snch q heroic degree,
tasrE Ekzex gave up their entire existence to
z ~ {RStse Of Charts. saTaka4 the
4 f)aI8er Sf sAs. Redemption Of Captiyes, the
Sz,us3.k, ,yhi oh
GcAres ia ealsom to redeem a captive from
tine TedSzs, or institutions like that of St.
J0ha <sf God, who made it q principle to
take charge of prisoners. And then we
have the Sisters of Charity, whose principal
object is 60 &c into our hospitals and devote
themselves to the sick and those who are
snfferiGg- If you once admit this first
rrinciple, that in helping suffering human
My you are helping God, you can easily see
that those souls actuated by such motives
joys of Paradise. And then come still fur
ther the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which
ID found in nearly all the parishes in our
country, aud in England, France, Italy,
Germany and elsewhere. These men come
together with the same motive of charity,
and devote themselves to the outdoor poor
wherever they are found in the parish; and
latest Of all are the Little Sisters of the
Pooc. When you look at the Church in
the charge of the sick, poor and aged, do
y00 not see now naturally this all flows
from this divine principle in the Church I?
BUt you tell me the religious revolution in
the sixteenth century changed all that, and
gave all these suffering members of hu-
Manity TO the care of the State. Very
truly there was an attempt in the sixteenth
century, but the result was just what we
Migtt expect, divorcing divine love from
powes, and if we continue we shall become
cruel, cold and degraded. We shall return
10 paganism, and look upon the poor as q
degraded set, and the sooner we get rid of
them the better. The facts will fully war
xanE what have said. England has shown
fully the effects of this change. Henry the
Eighth robbed the Church of that property
which was entrusted to her for the poor,
for. one-third to one-half of the revenues
Of tie Church were scrupulously devoted
TO the poor and sick. This property was
handed over mostly to the satellites of his
court, and what was done with the poor
I'm Henry the Eighth's time large numbers
were got rid of by hanging, and after that
time il a man was found three days with
cut work, the one who found such man
had q right to brand on his breast with a
red-iaot iron the letter V-vagabond. He
was then to remain two years with the
06tler-two years his slave, and if during
these two years he left him for fifteen days,
the master had the authority to brand on
his forehead the letter S-elave for life. In
addition to this, the sick and poor were
treated with a cruelty that no language can
express. This has been an attempt to make
money substitute for divine love, and