The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1873-01-26

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Unity, and thus what have been dedicated
to the nee and profit of the whole Church
will be impiousfy alienated to the gain oi
DINERS. g,,,s-rT -. D, --sss~ 50 y -.s.--,t
So soon, therefore, a. we learned tha,
she Suoaipine Power, by its miBisters, had
proposed to their Legislative Assembly
we made Known its mons.rous % sI,e Searins' rTas'
forth With, by q Letter, ON the 10th Of June
OF this yssr lla72l addressed 10 our Card
inst Of Public Afairs and we gaye IL in
charge 10 him that ho should declare to
the Legates Of Foreign Powers near the
Holy See, this new danger, as we'll as the
other evils that We suffer. But; now that
the ptcposition ia instantly threatened to
to DO enactsd, our Apostolic Office demands
urgently that we repeat, most distinctly,
TO you, Yenerabie Brethren, and to all the
Church, our already uttered protest and
this We now do. And, tierofore, in the
Name Of Jesnse Christ, Whose Vieegerent
we are ON earth, and by. The. authority of
the Holy Apostles Peter snd Paul, and by
our own, We condemn this wicked crime.
And, with 1t, we condemn W whatever scheme
Of law may usurp the power of distressing,
vexlDg, belittling, or snppressing the Reli-
giOus Congregations in Rome, and In it's
eircamjacent Provinces or of depriving,
in these parts, the Church Of her property,
whether by absorbing these into their
treasury, or deverting them to any other
use.
We, therefore, now pronounce az of NO
value Whatsoever is done against the rights
and patrimony of the Church. And NE
declare null and void every acquisition,
whatsoever, and framed under whatever
title, Of these stolen properties, against
the alienation Of which this Holy See will
thors, and approvers Of this law remember
the censures, and spiritual penalties, which
the Apostolic Constitutions inflict, ipso facto,
on those who have violated them. Let
them take pity on their souls, chained by
these spiritual bans, and cease to treasure
up for themselves wrath, against the day
of wrath, and of the revelation of the Just
judgment of God.
But the very bitter grief that weighs Oh
rs on accoant of these and SO many other
wrongs to the Church in Italy are not
little increased by the cruel prosecutions
to which she 10 exposed elsewhere, prin-
cipally in that new German Empire, where,
not only by secret contrivings, bat by open
violence it is sought to destroy her even to
the foundations. Men are found. there,
not only not protesting our most holy reli
gion, but who do not know It, and yet
claim for themselves the power of defining
the dogmas and rights OF the Catholic
Church. And while they vex her exceed
ingly, they DO not scruple to say that they
are doing her no wrong. Nay, adding cal
umny and insult to their wrong, they are
ution as the fault Of Catholics because
the Prelates and Clergy, together with the
faithful, refuse to prefer the laws and
orders Of the civil Empire to the most holy
laws of their God, and of the Church and,
60 will not leave off their religious duty.
Oh that the rulers of commonwealths could
persuade themselves to learn, from 80 long
an experience, that there are none of their
subjects who, more scruplously than Cath
olics, render to Cesar the things that are
Cesar's; for the very reason that they
scrupulously take care to render to God
the things that are Gods.
The civil authorities of some of the
Swiss Cantons seem to have entered on the
same road as the GermaniC Empire. They
show it, both in trying to define what are
Catholic dogmas of faith, and in fostering
Rpoststess aud in interdicting the exercise
of Episcopal authority. - And the govern
rdent Of the Canton Of Geneva, though
bound by solemn treaty to guard and pro-
tect the Catholic religion within it's terri
tory, after having, in bygone years put
forth laws hostile to the authority and lib
pressed Catholic schools, or driven from
them the religious who were teaching them,
or deprived these from the right of teach
ing, to which they are vowed. And Last Of
all, it has attempted to take away the au-
thorty for many years exercised legitt-
mately there, of our venerable brother
Casper. Bishop of Hebron, mgr. Mermii-
lodi and to rob him of bis parOchial bene-
hce. Aud matters have gone so far that,
by pnblie appeal, the citizens have been
appealed to, to overthrow ecclesiastical
discipline.
The Church suffers, in Spain, also, not a
little, from the civil power. We have
learned, in fact, that proposition OF law
Red by the Legislature, in regard to the
endowment of the Clergy, that not only
violates settled compacts, but tramPtes on
all principles Of right, ThiS lave dsyiseda
for, r,iaGreSaiaG the,peedR Of the OleEgyS a9a