The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-05-11

Dr.. aEewas0a On the TuianpAs- Of che cAszsA.-
We have seen the Church in AZ great strait.
as sne 10 now moro than once. She was 90 an
ger me Arian Emperors when,. In the streDe
LANGUAGE Of 81. Jerome. atbs, world ayoks
bismarc& does Little else than ,copy the astute
policy of Jafian the Apostate, and we see no
reason why he should succeed in the nine
tsenth century any betterttba Juiiauadid An
suscitated paganism. So, after the Protestant
1 heresies, We may have revived luaganiSni, for
t which every hssesy 10 2 pssparetioni but af,
cer Paganls9a 81. came orthodoxy in the foarth
Churchs history: Then came the Basils, the
Iregorys, the Cbrysostoms, the Hilarys, the
Amoroses, the Jeromes, the Augustines, In the
sPlendor of whose virtues the names Of the
champions Of Arianism and pa ganism have be-
come invisible. The Italians would do well
to remember Arnold Of Brescia who held
against tho Papacy. Their ancestors drove
the popes from Rome, and forced them into
what the Romano call the q Babylonian cap
Of the and yen asa sa IS thsy
were by secret societies which covered all
Europe then as now, Panlicians, Albgensss,
of the degrees of Freemssonry. they did not
sncceed IN 'oyeFthrowipg the Papacy OF de-
stroyIng the Church, any. more than had done
ing defeat by Pope Alexander III, the city of
Alexandria, in the Subalpine Kingdom was
built to commemorate. When Innocent III
was elected Pope, Rome was barred against
rope, as now, were in schisn, and hostile to tho
Papacy; and yet at the close of his ponti6-
cate, which lasted sixteen years, all the pow
err. had become submissive to his authority,
and never before had the Papal throne been
more powerful, perhaps, SO powerful, through
ont the Christian world. His pontiicate was.
did Frederic II, who included in his empire ali
Germany. all Italy. except Venice and Flor
erce and considerable portion OF what Is
years of struggle against the Papacy, marked
on his part by great ability, 6nesse, treachery
OF every species. lying; periidy and cruelty not
surpassed pas If elualled by tho most Profligate
had done his ancestor, Frederic Barbarossa.
Az Europe at length rose against him. Tho
Holy Father, Innocent ~, if We reco.lect
apostolical authority, the Council approving,
excommunlcated him, deprived him of the in.-
perial dignity, absolyed his subjects from their
ken in an obscure village, deserted by all his
friends, except one bishop implicated in his
condemnation, who, it is said, gave him in &C.
treHts the last sacraments.
Lnther raised what has been called the
standard of Reform, which was soon favored |
openly by some, secretly by nearly all the SOW
ereign princes of Europe, and he felt sure of
t hls as he was by the Turks
dom-over the Pope, and declared the Papacy
was at an end, the reign of Autichrist finished.
Yet though at the tail of the Apocaiyptic dra-
gon, he drew after him third part of the
stars Of heaven, or states of Christeudom, the
Papacy survived. and left the Reform to de- !
vour her own children. The Church also was
in as great q strait at the close OF the last CEN
tnry, as now. There wac not o Catholic power
that stood by her; there was less faith in the
European populations than even at present
the French revolution, everywhere victorious
down temples and palaces, thrones and affairs,
and carrying everything before it, and leaving
only ruins in its track. France beheaded her
king. massacred her nobility, or forced them
to crate, abolished the church, established
constitutional or national church, such as the
" Old Catholics" dream of for Germany, sup
pressed the religious orders, and sent the reii-
dro Wned or deported her faithful bishops and
priests, invaded by her victorious armies tho
Italian peninsuar, took possession of Rome,
dragged the Pope from his throne, and hurried
him off prisoner to France, where he soon
died at Valence broken by grief, by age and by
physical satering yet the PaPaoy was not
to victory, when Napoleon I, bestrode all Eu-
rope as . conqueror, and dreamed of universal
monarchy; or, at least, of making all the
pire. He founded the kingdom of Italy for his
placed brothef, and then n brother
in.law, on the throne of Naples. transferred
the brotherto the throne of Spain, crushed
Prussia, rendered Austria powerless, formed
the Confederation of the Rhine, with himself
at its head, despoiled the Pope of his tempo
raj possessions, and held him prisoner at Sa-
vona, and then Mt Fontainebleau; and all the
world rushed to do him homage. / remember
the exultation of the Protestant preachers, and
the triumphant air with which, whom he cast
the Pope into prison, they cried out Babylon
is fallen, the reign of Antichrist is over, the
Mystery of iniquity is ended"
Well, they did not after all taste the oy ster.
They reckoned without their host. The Pope
returned amid the joy and acclamatiops of the
people to Rome, recovered his temporal pos
sessions, repaired to great extent the dam
age done to them by the revolution, resumed
the free exercise of his Pontifcal powers to
the great benefit of the church, and, full of
years, and heroic virtues, he calmly and peace
fully breathed out his pious and noble soul in
his own bed, in his own palace; while his per-
secutor, stript of all his power, denied the inn
perial dignity, was sent TO fret away his life |
under brutal English keeper, on the barren
rock of st. Helena. Herr Won Bismarck is re-
ported to have said, that 1.-THE Pope will find |
III I'll" present war between him and the em-
pr" no Canossa" 1t is possible; but the few |
In rmts of ecclesiastical history to which we !
lave referred, will suffice to prove that the |
Church is Divine under Divine protection, up
held by Divine nr,E ; for if she had been hu-