The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-12-04

Was never fully sustained In practice. Auc
Prince claimed 10 be sort Of Epteccpsss e1,
the Church, not seldom went 2
beyond his sphere, and either US ped the
functions Of the Church, or interfefed with !
their exercise. When not; hostile he was
of1cious, and put forth his hand, Ike OsIa, II
Church, as It obliged her to confde to the
prince sort of ownership Of her ahairs ip
his dominions, which, If it aided in some !,
respects, it impeded In others, the exercise
of her disciplinary Aut6Orfty.
Church affairs, SO long as they were imbued
with the faith, and possibly obedient 20 tne
Sovereign Pontiff, WAS perhaps q not I'M
mixed evil. 1t served some good purposes,
especially when direct onmunlcations oe-
tween the head sof the Church and the
members were in most countries slow, diff
ficult, and often interrupted by princes at
war with one another, if Eot with the Pope
himself; many Catholic princes, kings and
queenswere nursing fathers and nursing
mothers of the Church, and deserve 70 DO
held in grateful memory by her children:
But two evils sprang from tt.A l. The
Church in each nation, after the modern
nations of Europe beganto be formed, as;
sumed exteriorily something OF national
character, and accustomed community WIN
the Holy See through the medium of their
prince, the faithful gradually came to feel
that they held more immediate depend
ence on him than on the head OF the Church;
| as the allegiance of the subject was, under
| feudalism, more Immediately given TO tnelr
liege lord than to the lord paramount.
Hence the faithful could be persuaded, to
great extent, that if they obeyed faith
fully their prince, it was all that was re-
ouired of them, and that if they took sides
! with the Pope against their prince, it would
be treason. AS the prince cialmea ana IN
sisted on the right of investiture, if not with
staff and ring, at least with the temporarily,
he could ordinarily control the Bishops in
his dominions, and carry them aud their
focks away with him, even in war against
1.-THE Supreme Pontif. This was grent
j evil. and prepared those nations in which
feudal ideas were strongest for the schism
and heresy of the sixteenth century.
The other evil is, that it fostered in the
minds of princes the idea that they were,
by virtue of their civil dignity, something
more than mere laymen in the Church, and
that they had authority in ecclesiastical
! affairs by right of their principalityi that
the Sovereign Pontiff had NO right to com
municate with the prelates or the akhful
in any nation without the pldcet of ltefem-
I poral sovereign, nor the prelates the'4 y
to assemble, to deliberate on the atfairs
n the Church, or to communicate with 0De
!, another even by letter, without the permis-
. sion of the temporal sovereign. Such is
n substantially the civil law ins all the So
called Catholic stassssf EgSeR 48 fa Sc
!, first fir confded to Cal pfiaass IS trdSt
:, held from the Chuft ri 70 bc srcis9s
: for her benefit, thus lame, great5y extgs
a gerated, to be claims by the
10 soyereigns as the indefeAethfe right OF the1
t. crown, virtually denying the right OF tn,
r. Church to enter any nation WltnouVleaVs
10 oltained from its sovereign.
N Thisnot only crippled the Chnrclt1n he
ic disciplinary authority, compehtn$ yher t.
IL leaSdthe bishops, clergy and peopi& IS be
l. come enfeebled in their faith, and<Oftel
in In the their snamss
y Church the occasion, but not right, Z
al charge this very enfeebled faithSAnd tht
" very corruption, due in fact only to tn
tyranny exercised by civil rulers over tn
Church, upon the Church herself. It !
Al thrown in our faces as the result OF tn
AZ "practical workings of ROmanism," as 1T
n, said, and we are held responsible as "a
as tllolics for all the vices and crimes, "a
re misgovernment and despotism of profel
as sedly Catholic princes and statesmen. w
ne are told that the abasement of character
~ and want of true manliness and energy, l
u old Catholic populations are the practices
IN effects of Catholicity, when they are th
10 effects of the tyranny of the temporal soy
ne ereigD over the Church, which has hindere
MS MS her from freely exercising her rightft
as authority.
a The first of these evils has passed ava
ce with the memory of feudalism, and til
nat facilities for the direct communication,
as not tyrannically interrupted, of all tn
Ter world with the Holy See are so great thu
"; it is not likely to occur again the secon
;;l is in fair way of passing away through i
ell own success and the dearth of so Gale
TO princes and States. There are no long'
d Catholic governments in the world, an
OF the relation between Church and State
ne practically that of antagonism, as 1T Wi
WIS before the conversion of the Roman emplr
ne; Modern nations are bodies without soul
II and have only q phosphorescent SPLENDID
he They are dead or dying. The Catholic n
10 tions are the first to be Frustrated ana 81
ore for in them the contrast between the re
ole gion professed and the poles followed
GU the most striking, and internal dIssenslo
es- preceding dissolution are the most violer
Ivy The Church is now thrown back IN
re. nearly the same condition In relation
on' the powers of this world that she was Wh
hS' ST. Peter, the humble fisherman OF Gallllt
entered Rome, the capital of the rag
or world All the powers are either lnditi.
rs. emit or hostile to her. The Holy Faith
aS. has been robbed of bis possessions, and
adj held prisoner, by a foreign power, In
ar own capital, and not finger is raised
los release him. The world has to be reco
ion verted Yet it is not for the Holy Fath'
emit nor for the Church, we grieve, but for t
hem wickedness of men, for the nations gol
Ter to destruction, and for the loss OF so ma
the precious souls for whom Christ died.
ing Y. 1aotet.
)aS-