The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-02-20

Pere Hyacinthe, the distinguished preIate
on Christmas Day, 1870, addressed letter to
the Roman Catholic Church, in which he re-
viewed the proceedings of the Ecumenical
Council, declared that the dc ctrine of papal
infallbility is not sanctioned by the early
father, and pointed out the five leading errors
OF the church We publish part of this re-
markable episte:
Let me be permitted now, in the preseRce Of
those evils which aff1ct my country and my
church, to address myself to the Catholic
bishops throughout the whole world, those,
above all others, who see the situation as my
self see it, and they are numerous, as nave
reason to know. l am myself of but little
consequence in thus addressing them. But
did not the illustriOus Gerson dare to say that
in times of crises it was the duty of the hum
blest female to call together an ecumenical
council and save the universal church? L use
this right; fulfil this duty; l conf ure the
hishops to cause that latent sChism which di-
vides us, to disappear-a schism which is so
much the deeper because it is the less per-
ceved.
Before all hey should tell us whether or not
the DEGREES of the recent council bind our
faith In an assembly the first conditions of
which should permit an entire liberty of lib
erty, and in which there should be moral
unanimity of suffrsges, a considerable num-
Der OF bisf ops, men OF repute, of authority and
science, did, at different times, complain aloud
that all manner of restrictions were imposed
upon their liberty, and finally, refused to vote
Will it be possible for them, on returning to
their dioceses Gas though waking from long
dreamy, to recognize the fact OF their having
in retrospect enjoyed in reality, during their
scjourn in Rome, that moral independence of
which their consciences have never before been
aware? Such a supposition is an insult. The
question here is not one of those mysteries
which are above the comprehension of the hu
man mind, but simply fact of intimate con-
viction; and to change an opinion in such
matter would not be to submit ones reason to
authority, but to sacrifice to that conscience
itself
And if this be so, let us remain free, after as
before the Council, TO reject the infalhbility OF
the Pope as doctrine unknown to ecclesias-
tical antiquity and as having no foundation
save in those apocryphal stories upon which
criticism has pronounced its judgment
Let us be free to say aloud, and Loyalty, too,
that we do not accept the last encyc cals and
Syllabus, which their most intelligent defend
ers are constrained to interpret in method
that conflicts with the common sense and well
known thoughts of their author Ii these
documents are seriously acted upon, the result
will be to establish radical incompatibility
between the duties of faithful Cathol and
those OF an impartial savant or free citizen
Such are the most salient points upon which
division is produced. Every Catholic who
looks to the integrity and dignity of his faith,
every priest whose heart is devoted to the
ministry, has the light to interrogate the bisll-
ops on these points, and the latter are in duty
bound to answer without reservation and in
frank spirit. Reticence and want of frank
ness have ruined us, and the time has come for
us to restore in our Church that ancient sim
certify in religious matters which has become
enfeebled.
But, let it be well noted. that the facts and
doctrines which l have indicated are com po-
nent parts of vast system, and in order to ap-
ply them to details, it is necessary that the
remedy should be apple to the whole, The
| question has grown larger because of the ex-
cess of the Ultramontanes, and henceforth the
matter for us to determine is whether the nine
teenth century shall have its Catholic Reform,
as the sixteenth century had its Protestant re-
form.
Contemplate, o ye bishops, the spouse of
Christ, which is also your own, that HOLY
Church pierced, as He was, with five wounds!
The first is that Of the right hand, the hand
which bears the light, that is in making OBJ
scure the Word of God. The sacred volume
opened to the world in order to its enlirbten-
ment and Observation-Disclosures has it been
left in the obscurity of dead languages and up-
der the seal of the most severe prohibitions?
The bread OF doctrine and OF lire that Cod had
prepared for infants as we'll as for sages,-
wherefore has that been taken away: In vain
has the pretext OF heresy and ncredulity been
given. Let us place the Bible in its true rela-
ton to science, and that by means of an intel
i5Oh1 cAoStSis, we Sudu ma That neither
ought to fear the other. Let us place it in its
true relation to the people by means of re-
llglous education worthy of the people and of
itself The Bible will become the surest guide
TOR the life OF people, and the safest inspra-
tim of its worship.
The wound ON the other hand il the onnres
sion OF Intelligence and consciences through
the abuse of hierarchical power. Truly ,Jesus
Christ said to his apostles: $50 and teach ali
nations put he also said: THE kings of the
mot pnyrY Ia
thing happen among ourselves! Successors of
the apostles, made haste so relieve our should
ers from the burden which neither we nor our
fathers were able to support, and give back to
us at-amlable and endearing yoke with which
the love OF the Redeem er is in accord!
What shall l say of the wound in the heart?
call 1t by name, inasmuch as1hose who sui
fer most are the ones who speak less of it, /
mean the celebacy of the priesthood do not
speak OF voluntary celibacy; so much the more
agreeable to God because it is free and Joyous
as the love which inspires it, the patrimony of
small number of souls who are
called to it, and who are maintained
IN 1t by an exceptional grace. But when
the question extends without distinction to ma
lures OF the most diverse Kind and least pre-
pared for it, when it is imposed as an eternal
oath upon their inexperience and enthusiasm.
cellbacy becomes an institution without COM
passion, and too often immoral People who
believe that they therein see the only ideal Of
perfection, contemn the sanctity of couiueal
life, and lowering the family for the benefit of
the cloister, they make it the refuge of vuIgar
or at least of worldly minded souls! Domestic
hearths are nothing more nor less than affairs,
But now We approach the last wounds of the
church, and these are the infrmity of its feet.
when look for support on earth. l wish to
speak OF worldly politics and superstitious nj
ETY.. The church has its politics, inasmuch as
1t necessarily has its connection with the now
ers of the world; but the most complete exnres
eIo L..
lifted up above the earth, l shall attract every-
thing toward myself" Is this that policy of
temporal power and secular strength which
makes the possession of certain provinces IN
Italy and certain privileges in Europe the con-
dltion, even, of The empire OF souls, and as it
were, the pivoton. whict turns every spiritual
edifice? A pontfcate as sad for the church
and the world as the revolution which it
serves while combating it, and whose weak
and blind obstlnacy it is proposed to raise to
the height OF dogma. Notwithstanding this
it is not the want of spiritual force which is
the defect of Catholicism of day. 1t
counts many thousand devoted souls and there
is seen hourishing in its bosom virtues and
works of the most admirable kind. Where
fore is it that this piety, so touching earnest,
is so often given over to the seductons of a l
mysticism without limits and an asceticism
without austerty, very different from those
which made the grandeur of the early Chris
tian ages? External-I was about to saw ma.
terial-rules multiply without end. The wor-
ship OF saints, especially the Virgin, develops
into larger proportions; and more than that, in
way that is foreign to veritable Catholic SEN
timent. We feel that the alteration of the Fa-
Their III spirit and truth, which Jesus made the
soul of his religion, is diminishing among u.s.
Here we find the body of Christ in that state
where our sins have brought it upon the earth
the sins of priests much more than of the
people. o bishops, will you not have pity?
Will you not afford an efficacous remedy? lis
there no longer balm in Gilead, and is there
no longer physician?"
Items.