The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-06-16
Protestant Testimony to Catholic Missions.

III Z
Protestant Testimony to Catholic Missions. :
Occasionally, amidst the abuse which is
heaped upon Monssticism by Protestants,
you find an honorable exception. The fol-
lowing extract from the special correspond
ence Of the New York Iribnne ,is an in
Of the self denying but eminently success
full labore OF Catholic monks and mission
aries in California, Central and South
America, before their eyes, and also w1tn
their Own utter want Of success in their at
tempts either to civilize or Christianize the
ants should so systematically depreciate
and misrepresent Catholic missions. Fro
testants have never been able to do any.
thing with an inferior race when brought
into contact with it, but exterminate 1t, As
they are now doing with the Indians. Ca
educated such races. They may not have
been able to impart to them either the in
tellectual vfgor, or the fulness anu COM
pleteness Of civilization, which character
iZes the more advanced races of mankind
Ia modern times; 6nt this certainly soeld
Of the inferior races DO not admit Of it;
neither can, what was the work of ten CEN
turtles with the SAxons aud Celts, be accom-
plished with the aborigines of America in
one or two or three. Bnt In contrast with
the universal failure of Protestant mis-
marked that only those who are judicially
blind can fail 10 see IL. The extract re-
ferred to eAyA:- --..LLl-i all-+
CAT Temeculs, twelve nsiies from the
Laguna, We cause upon On IAdian settle
ment. You know already that these Cali
cred by pious.. priests into missions, whore
they were taught various useful industries
and tho habit OF labor. Tue old Missions
Of California, now mere shells and ruins,
show yet abundant evidence, in aqueducts,
buildings, mills, reservoirs, and orange and
ance which the Dominican friars brought
to their task of civilizing the savages.
Those old fellows knew better how to
| manage the Indians than we do said q
rough man, whe walked with me through
one Of the old Missions. They did q good
and left them, ct least, thoroughly tanned.
These Temeculs Indians are, am told,
descendants Of those who forme rly lived
! around the Missions Of San Luis Rey and
San Diego. "A thoughtful man cannot visit
these and other old missions In this part Of
fot the good men who erected these now
ruined churches, gathered around them
communities of savages and patiently
taught them, not only to worship in a
Christian church, but also the habit of la
Dor, the arts Of agriculture, and some use
diane to bring water in soiidfy-buiit aque-
ducts, often for distance of miles, and to
store 1t in tanks built of stone AID cement,
which still stand, empty, and some with
trees growing out Of their depths. They
introduced into this State the olive, the
as the cereals. And the olive orchards at
Hthe San Diego Mission, the earliest planted
| in the State, still bear heavy crops, and are
a source of muoh profit. Moreover, when
you have seen two or three of these old
Missions, it will dawn upon you that the
good old pddres had an excellent eye for
country. What they sought, apparently,
was fno view, shelter from rude winds,
good soil, and the vicinity of water; and
SO well did they secure their object that a
nilsson ate is, without exception, so far as
1 know, the very best spot for residence
and for agricultural pursuits, in this dis
trict. At Santa barbara, for instance, the
white mission buildings can be seen for a
dozen miles in almost every direction; they
are completely sheltered from rough winds;
the adjoining mission lands are notorious
~ among the most fertile in the country.
About San Diego the country, which gets
but little rain, has an arid look, until you
drive into the Mission Valley but even in
this dry year the view from the old Mission
Church, now sad ruin, is lovely. You.
| nave oroao expause or green before you,
with the beautiful grayisl1 green of the old
olive orchard for a background, aud stately
palms rearing their heads above the olive
trees. The history of the missions in Cali
fornia has never, I believe, been written.
am told that materials for it exist In the
hands of old residents in different parts of
the State, and it would be a pious work for
some competent hand to gather this ma
terial into volume. But is IL probably
too late to learn much concerning the
character aud objects of the old Dominican
} friars, to whose patience and perseverance,
in noble work Southern California is, to-
day, indebted for misunderstanding force
y -Philadelphia Standard.
IAMENsE DEPTH OF ENGLISH Coal
MINEs.-Science seems helpless to prevent
explosions in the bituminous mines oil
England and Wales. In America nearly
all the accidents are the result of gross
negligence and defiance of statute laws on
the part Of the companies nearly all OF