The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-05-31

of external devotion, Wherever a church
was built, q monastery planted, or a mum
Der Of people gathered Together to worship
shs ayo
lief !; the AFFECTED, consolation and the
ignorant of the female sex, enlightenment.
There the young whose parents were
scarcely ont Of the slough of barbarism were
taught their catechism and the beautiful
prayers and litanies Of the church, as we'll
as to weave, spin, and all the other duties
| Of civilized housewife. While the clergy,
secular and regular, went among the adults,
preaching, instructing, and baptixing, holy
women were near at hand to pray for the
success of their efforts, and to show, by
their gentle charities and meek demeanor,
the loveliness and benefcence of the
Cb, istian religion.
One of the greatest glories of the Catho-
lie Church is that che, and che alone, freed
woman from the grossest slavery, and
placed her in her proper sphere of useful
ness and influence. By the sacrament of
equal of man 1; by her commandments and
precepts, the church guarded her lib
erty and her purity, exalted her authority
in the family, and recognized in her, even
in death, the loving protectress Of her off
spring. But the church did more than all
this. She gave to woman part in her
divine mission, share in the most glorious
task ever allotted to humanity-the pro-
pagation of the law of the Most High; and
the dispensation of his mercies and bene-
violence. We are not surprised, then, to
learn that in past ages, "when faith was
their sex in every Christian land, daugh
ters of mobiles, and princes, abandoning all
the destinations of the world, even those
of royalty itself, were to be found eager to
take part in the great work of religion,
and conaecrate their lives to prayer, pen
anee, and charity, for the sake of the poor
and helpless.
Such humility and implicit faith in the
goodness of God could not have been una
vailing; and we who now enjoy the
blessings of true morality, with the refine
ments and graces of true civilization,
seldom cast a thought back to the days of
semi -barbarism among our forefathers,
when the only light that illumined the
gloom of the outer world proceeded from
the lamp of the sanctuary, and the only
asylum open to the affectionate and modest
soul of woman was the humble convent,
where she could surround herself with the
innocent and unstained children of both
sexes, and teach them the way of salvation
Beyond those sacred enclosures, in bygone
days, were little but passion, grossness,
and self-indulgence while within reigued
peace, delicacy, and that knowledge which
is justly called the beginning of wisdom.
The world at length commences to ac-
knowledge the Incompatible services of the
monks and doctors, the penmen and
preachers of the Be- called dark ages but
who shall count up the debt Of gratitude
we owe to the thousands upon thousands of
| holy women who, spurning every earthly
allurement, abandoning home, friends, and
country, have sought, generation after
generation, to win an eternal reward by
| unceasiDg prayer and continuous acts of
benevolence Europe is still, as in the past,
enjoying the benefits of the labors of her
pious daughtersj India, China, and the
furthest confines of the eastern hemis
phere are reaping the advantages of the
missionary efforts Of the good nuns and
Sisters but America seems destined to
be in the future the field wherein the full
effulgence of Gods goodness is to be made
manifest in thu persons of His chosen hand
maids.
To us especially the presence of so many
pieus and educated women is of incalcua-
BILE advantage. The Catholic body in the
United States has to combat a much more
insidious and dangerous foe than was ever
arrayed against the church, even in her
darkest days of persecution. Then Christi
anity had only to shatter the idol of impe
rial Rome, already tottering to it's base
now we have to fight against what may be
termed civilized paganism, energetic, un-'
scrupulous, and worldly wise, which aims
at mere sensuous epjoyments, cultivates
the intellect at the expense of the soul, and
even attempts to use the very evidences of
Gods works as a justification for their CON
tempt of his law, and as an argument
against his existence itself. At the worst,
the rude pagan of Northern aud Western
Europe had belief in. q superior Beisg,
and an Acknowledged, innate dependence
on his will; but the fashionable sceptic of |
to-day, the learned doubter Of our schools |
and academies, believes in nothing but |
himself, and obeys his own whims as his |
highest rule of morality. 1t is q melan-
choly fact, but none the less true, that, ac-
cording to ofncial authority, nearly one
half of the people of this country, male
and female, practically believe in no form
of religion whatever. Disgusted at the
perpetual wranglings and Engagements of
the scots in the name Of Christianity
trained into mere cultivated animals by a
system of public tuition which ignores
God, or recognizes his existence only to
ridicule and travesty his word and freed
from all the restraints which the church 40
wisely throws around her children from
their earliest infancy, is it wonderful that
the majority of the youth of this nation
ehn -, i