The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-05

amount. This is one of the most beautiful
features of Catholicism in France, and il is
doubtful whether there could be found else
where anything superior, or even equal, to it.
1t is true that celibacy is great help towards
this frugality, and that without the charges of
family it is easier to bear the burden of life
and to be contented with q little. Still, as
the inferior clergy are recruited from among
the lower orders, the position of a parish
priest, for all its poor remuneration, seems
far from inconsiderable to persons who were
born in misery, and we're otherwise destined
to live in it. Yon peasants son, who would
have followed the plough, considers himself
and finds himself almost great gentleman
when he becomes ''your reverence" and such
is the power of vanity that the ecclesiastical
profession is embraced with sort of Joy not
always to be diminished by the privations of
every kind which it entails.
This justice, moreover, may be rendered
to the French clergy: their morals are gene
rally very good. Scandals are extremely rare,
and they would be far less so if their conduct
were not fundamentally regular. Vice is
sometimes concealed, but when it really exists
it sooner or later crops out. 1t is all very
fine to wear cloak, but the cleverest hypo-
crisy is never long successful. 1 am not the
champion of cehbacy, and in England, no
doubt, it excites horror and disdain. But it
has this advantage, that the priest, if his heart
be In his duties can give himself up to them
entirely, and that he has none of those dis
fractions which are always and very properly,
caused by wife and children. That it is con-
trary to nature does not admit of question;
but if individuals suffer by it, society derives
che great gain of having folks whom there is
nothing to distract from holy mission,
and who give themselves up to it without
the least suspicion of by-ends or of a
calculating spirit. History is our witness
that up to the time of Gregory VII, and
| even subsequently, ecclessiastics did marry.
There is little probability that the Church
was the better for it, and the reform which
took place some seven or eight hundred years
| ago has become so engrafted in the moral
code that no priest, even on quitting orders,
| can marry. The law permits it, no doubt, or
rather does not prohibit it, but the moral
| code and the respect of mankind, more pow
| erful than the law, forbid it.; and there is no
| idea, even in these times of not over-sensi-
tive morality, which excites more repugnanee
than that of a married priest. 1t is a sort of
sacrilege that the most shameless dare not
commit; and among women, even the most
| ignorant and gross, there are very few who
would consent to join their lot with that of
| one who has been unfrocked The day when
| priests shall marry in France, on that day
| there will be an end of Catholicism. But
that day is not near us yet; though the ex.
! travagances which are in course of prepara.
ton at Rome may bring about religious
changes very unexpected and very mo
| mentous.
Poverty, chastity, and charity-we have
here three virtues eminently practical, and
from the social point of view eminently use
full. But what the French clergy above al
things lack is enlightenment; not that they
are not far more enlightened than most o
the clergy of any other religion; but the,
have to do with a society far more advanced
than themselves; and it is the contrast which
lowers them and often makes them appea
beneath their work. The ecclesiastical cours
of study is very insufficient SO far as al
opinion can be formed from outward an'
visible signs. The priests are brought up il
the small and great seminaries, and thes
establishments are placed in the hands of tn
bishops exclusively. This is perfectly natu
raj, and no one would dream of introducin
the laic element into the direction of thos
houses which ought to be entirely ecclesi
tical. But less praiseworthy and far les
useful feature is that they are kept in stat
! of obscurity through which no ray Of pub
licity can penetrate. What is done in the
seminaries? What studies, what moral dis
cipline, what exercises, what tests are in
posed on the novices? That is exactly whf
nobody knows. If the bishops know them
selves what is done in their respective die
) ceses, they are in absolute ignorance aboU
t the doings of their fellows; and if they ha
to give some general information abor
clerical education in France, they would be 9
, much at a loss as the first laic you could pic
| up. 1t is not that the bishops seek concea
, ment, or even desire to put their light undt
t bushel; but it is a remnant of obsolet
o customs Before the great revolution, th
y clergy, who formed an order apart in til
o State, rendered no account to anybody
o what they did, and the curiosity of lai
'- would have appeared an outrage. Nowt
: days it is just the same; and the seminars
r have remained inaccessible when all the re
t of society submits what is done to the mo
), extensive and unlimited publicity. The
IS are most precise statistics in respect of laic
[ instruction; and there is not a detail co
o cealed from the public AS for the cleric
on the contrary, absolutely nothing is know
d about them; and society, that knows to 6
10 how other functionaries of whom it has ne
At are made, has no idea at all about the way
N making those ministers of religion who mus
10 nevertheless, play an important part in
ut midst Is this proper state of things? l
W the age and the Church reap advantage fro
O. this secrecy? Assuredly not; and, so lol
le as the clerics do not invigorate themselv
ID with the open daylight of public discussio
rs they will remain in the condition of inferiori
as in which they now languish, to the detrime
10 of religion, and of society, which religi
a. ought to leaven. 1t is notable that t
le clergy produce scarcely any remarkable wo
an amid the host Of distinguished works whi
ne the age begets from day to day. In
d, Middle Ages the Church was the mother a
of nurse of all the sciences; nowadays, owl
'e- to multitude of causes, it is but natu