The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1871-07-16
Tho Late Roman Procession.


One has to read it in order to conceive of
of language in which the most deadly
thrusts can be given and with which the
most malignant bigotry can be covered.
But take the flowers and feathers out of
the basket and at the bottom there lies a |
serpent, one of the progeny of him who |
tempted Eve, and as that one commenced
by slandering God, so this one continues
by slandering the Church.
He says, sthe Church is the enemy Of
civil and religious liberty" just as Satan
said that God was the enemy of knowledge. |
Now for the proof of his proposition. On
the civil branch of it, T. refers to four
events, the condemnation of Magma Charta,
a rumor that the Confessor of Charles X
was opposed to a liberal change in the
French Constitution, a letter of Leo XII to
Louis XVIII against liberalism and an
allocution of Plus TX against the liberal
principles of the Austrian Catholics.
Our fair-spoken author does not cite
| word from either of these documents, where
by one may judge for himself that they are
| contrary to civil liberty. We must take
his word for it, and we all know how Ian
guage may be distorted in its interpreta-
ton by men whose minds are distempered
with fauaticism and hatred. Bnt what if
he be right Four instances in eighteen
hundred years! why, this is making out
case against himself from very weak
ness. And if the instanceowere hundred
fold more numerous the Church is not re-
sponsible for the vagaries of confessors or
the individual opinions of Popes. The
gious matters, not civil, and then it must
be ex-cathedra.
But this is all pure nonsense as well as
sheer bigotry. The whole civil Liberty of
Europe and of the world is due to the
Church. Magma Charta itself is q splendid
Catholic triumph wrested from royalty by
Catholic Prelates as we'll as Catholic Bar
ons. The Church has always resisted the
tyranny of kings and potentates over sub
ljects, and, in the long run, successfully.
All history acknowledges that the Church
stood as the only bulwark between vassal
and lord. She found Europe overcome by
barbarian tribes, feudalism succeeded con-
quest, violence was law, the mailed hand
!, of the chieftain bore irresistibly upon the
covering, unarmed serf; in fact the peas
, antry were slaves. Year after year, CEN
tury after century, the Church struggled
on against power in favor of right. Pa
tiently she contested the field inch by
0 inch and won it. Slavery was abolished
2 2 serfdom ceased, feudalism gave way tt
S personal monarchy, and personal mon
Q archy softened into constitutional mon
% archy. No historian fails to see th'
o active agency of the Church in all this
q or denies that it was her work. In afte
70 years it will be equally apparent that til
" Republic is but continuation of the sam
saving influence.
IS AS regards religious liberty, it
evident that the Church can neve
concede the right of Austria or an
80 other country to trammel her freedom b
aggressive laws. Besides this, she does NJ
oo understand by religious liberty the libert
, to do wrong and give scandal. Certaj
90 things are grave offences among peop
90 exclusively Catholic which would not be
90 90 elsewhere. Thus marrying within pr
hibited degrees is a sin. The Church cou
SO not expect this to be regarded as a Ell,
offence in the United States, yet she cou
95 fairly ask a Catholic republic of Sou
% America to put it down in the crimir
IS code and punish it as an offence against
md, State. And 80 in many other matters g
10 10 may invoke the aid of the State to pun
.ort offences which are not such at all by
amt natural law, but only by the scandal VIII
lent they give in violating the Christian ls
Thus bigamy is not against natural Ia
vet no one bIames the State for recogniz
an it as crime against society.
ence AS to the dread of T. thai. the Churcl
and coquetting with the civil power in
the country, to gain control over it, let him
oitS aside his fears. He has only to look
France and Austria, where he will see gr
Catholic countries ruled always by al
.a,, Catholic influences. Even small minor
!, of Protestants and Infidels ALWAYS mana